China — Day Three

At this point, a few of us broke off from the main group to make a trip to the Beijing International School of Singapore, or BISS for short. Now, keep in mind that I normally hate kids and went to this portion of the trip because I thought we were going to some sort of university or college of some sort, so when the bus dropped us off on the street before we walked through an alley of cars with no brakes or brakes that connected to their horns since they both seemed to go off at the same time, I began to suspect that no college could be that small.

Entering this school full of English-speaking teachers, faculty and students was an interesting surprise, considering we were in the middle of China, but was extremely entertaining to say the least. The children were unbelievably well-behaved and even said, “Excuse me!” and phrases that I hadn’t heard from even adults in a while. We were ushered into a conference room where we heard wonderful stories from some of the faculty of the school, including the principals of both the elementary and junior high-level students. Perhaps the highlight of the pre-tour part of our visit came from a recently-graduated student named “Yuri” who told us all about her time at the school, and the fact that she was from Japan but was heading to the states to go to college in Massachusetts, I believe. Later, we found out that she had wanted to go to Pepperdine, but was denied entrance and was waiting a year to learn Chinese and try again. I wonder if she would’ve changed her mind had Farzin gone to BISS with us, but I’m straying off topic. We also met with their Director of Business, who had graduated from Pepperdine a number of years earlier. Small world, for sure.

After our visit to the school, went to lunch and then to a tea store, where the representatives showed us how to drink tea and which ones were most popular and so forth. We then made our way to a great show put on by the Shao-Lin Warriors. Truly mesmerizing and entertaining, the show was spectacular and would have been a great way to end the day … but alas, there was more.

When I was young, I remember watching demonstrations that were taking place in China in which a young man stood in front of a tank to keep it from progressing. I never found out what happened to him, nor was I very interested in it at the age of ten or so. Still, that image was forever etched into my mind. So, when I found out we were headed to Tienanmen Square. This vast region in the middle of the city just felt historic while walking through it at night and whenever someone would come near me, I would utter, “I’m in China and walking through Tienanmen Square.” Though most kept away from me after that first utterance, the vendors listened to me as I walked around and took pictures. In fact, I’m sure they were encouraging me while sticking kites in my face, but I was too in awe to listen – plus I didn’t speak Chinese. I kept imagining being that young man in this huge square while protesters and police were yelling at him, but it’s too hard to imagine. Truly, this was a magnificent site and possibly the highlight of the trip just from the feeling you get while being there.

On the way home on the bus in between whoops and laughs, I looked outside my window and saw a dog. When it looked at, it put its head down but maintained eye contact. I nodded. I think the true details and translation of that silent interaction will forever remain between us.