I decided that I would start the day with a chicken sandwich, and another piece of chicken to eat when I reached the top of Gujimingsi, which was my destination for the day. I didn't know much about it, but I had read it was a place where I could have an excellent view of the whole city after climbing the tower. I figured this would be a relaxing, as well as a safe activity for me, as my laoshi (teacher) had told me it was not far from the University. Little did I know, it would be a long time before I got there.
I started off getting on bus 20, which goes to quite a few historic spots. I could not hear the bus stops being announced, so I ended up getting off at a stop I thought was the bus station for bus 20. Unfortunately, it was not. I asked to girls standing at the stop how I should get to the bus stop I needed and they told me the easiest way was to take bus 11 and get off at the second stop. Even though they only spoke Chinese, somehow, they helped me to understand how to read the bus stop signs correctly. I had been reading them somewhat correctly at first, but they showed me that the characters went up to down, not right to left, and some had alternate names in parentheses.
After arriving at the correct bus stop, I remembered that Zhang laoshi said that I would need to ask people in the area which way to walk. I asked several people, who gave me conflicting directions (at least from what I understood) and ended up walking back and forth on the same street and through an unfamiliar neighborhood, only to have 2 security guards tell me I was headed the wrong way altogether and would need to walk all the way back to the bus stop.
Finally, after wandering for over an hour, I saw a middle-schooler. I knew this would be the easiest person to communicate with. Unfortunately, I was unable to express the exact place I was looking for in Chinese. After a minute, she said, "Wait, you speak English."
Then she told me to take a right, take a left, and then a right again when I saw a small mountain. I gave her a big smile and told her thank you. I wished I had told her she was extremely good at speaking English, but she disappeared before it fully registered in my mind that a small Chinese middle-schooler who had just given me directions.
Right before I got to the tower, I wandered into a park. Tired of walking, I decided to sit down there because it was so pretty and study Chinese characters for a while. Finally, my eyes got tired, and I figured I should get up and make my last right turn. Once again, I ran into security guards. "It has to be here", I thought. This is the right street.
I smiled at the security guards, who probably figured I was crazy and kept walking. Finally, I saw a sign and an arrow pointing to where I needed to walk. I walked up a long hill, but at the entrance I saw everyone handing the man a ticket. I sighed. "Now how do I buy a ticket in Chinese... and where are they getting these things anyway?"
I kept walking and saw the ticket counter and a sign that read Xianwu Lake. I looked at the ticket counter and back at the sign for the lake. I had been wanting to go to the lake forever. The sign said the tower closed at 5:30. I had plenty of time. I wandered around in the lake area. I saw a funeral ceremony or something similar, several photo shoots, numerous brides and grooms, families, and even couples just hanging out. The area was so beautiful and peaceful. I was actually tired of walking by this time and wasn't able to travel the whole parameter, but I knew I would be back again. I still wanted to climb to the top of the tower before they closed it for the day, so I made my way back out of the lake area and down the long hill to the entrance to the tower. There were so many stories I almost couldn't believe it. I was so tired, I didn't think I would ever make it to the top.
Along the way, I realized that the tower was some type of temple. There were statues and big sculptures of people on the walls. I also noticed that on each level, the people stopped to give their thanks and pray. I was a little afraid to take pictures, but I took a few because I saw that some of the people had cameras.
When I finally made it to the top, it was so beautiful! I was a little afraid that I might fall, but I could see everything, the whole city. I wished I could stay for a few more hours, but I still had to climb back down before they closed. I made it down about 5 flights before my muscles started tightening up. I had to stretch and then walk very slowly, but finally I made it down. Luckily, I knew exactly where the bus stop was. It only took me about ten minutes to get there, as opposed to the almost two hours it had taken that morning.
After waiting for over 20 minutes, I got on bus 20. I believe they were late. It was the most crowded bus I had ever been on in my life. I got off near the school and got dinner. My piece of chicken from earlier, a piece of fried bread from the street, and a fudge sundae from Maidonglai (McDonald's). Then I happily walked back to my sushe (dorm) and climbed in the bed to give my legs a good, long rest. It had been a good day, a very good day, indeed.
~Tishira Echols
Ai Ting Sha
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