Mesmerized by Beijing
Beijing is beautiful--- I don't even know where and how to start.We stayed there for four days --- three before moving to Xi'an, and one before we went back to the Philippines. And since I was still having an internship hangover the moment I boarded the plane to China, I don't have any expectations on what will the place, food and people be like in there. I just hopped on the plane, slept and landed on Beijing, also known as Peking --- the next thing I know, I was amazed.
Beijing's traffic is almost similar to Manila's, the only difference is that they don't have trikes and jeeps, and it is much more quieter --- no angry drivers blowing their horns anywhere and the city's buildings reminded me somehow of Makati. This is one reason why I think I did not experience culture shock at all.
We started touring the second day, and it was 12-13 degrees Celcius kind of morning, and I cannot help but to savor the chilly wind carressing my face. Our first destination is the National Museum of China (中国国家博物馆) located on the East side of Tiananmen Square.
Their museum is boasting of a total floor space of 200,000 sqm with four storeys, and it has a very tight security system wherein they would scan each visitor and his bag, just like in the airport. If they found a bottled water in your bag, they will let you sip it in front of them to make sure that it is not some kind of explosives.
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| Sorry for the LQ photos, I was only using my iPad and it was too dark. :( |
The next stop is the famous Forbidden City (紫禁城) located at the center of Beijing. The place served as home to the emperors and his wife, including his concubines for almost several hundreds of years. It was called forbidden because nobody can ever enter or leave the walled city without the emperor's permission.
The Forbidden City covers a total of 72 hectares, so yes, it was a hell of a long walk for us. But I must say, the view is great, and before I was only seeing this palace on TV and in encyclopedias, so it's definitely worth it.
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On our third day in Beijing, we visited a jade gallery and factory. What people don't usually know is that China is not just famous for jade jewelries but jade plays a big role in Chinese culture.
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| The jade gallery and store |
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| How a jade ball is being carved |
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| A pure jade ball |
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| Zodiac animals made of jade |
There are absolutely no words for this one. Yes, the Great Wall (長城) was hard to climb (because we chose the path where there were less tourists, but more steep steps!) but the view up there was breathtaking. I haven't managed to go up further and reach an end, (thanks asthma!) but the feeling was amazing. I climbed down thinking to myself, "I can climb anything now!" LOL!
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| Long way up |
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| Just before climbing the Wall |
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| View from the top... the "top that I reached", actually. ;) |
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| I met Minnie as I was going to the Olympic Stadium! |
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| Bird's Nest, finally! |
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| After the name shits before entering China, we are now here! Hello, ate Ellaine! <3 |
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| Paulinians represent! :) With Albert Tante in front of Beijing National Aquatic Center |
The Kunming Lake, which is a 100% man-made lake, dominated the palace, along with the Longevity Hill which is about 60 meters high. The place was called as the Summer Palace because way back during the times of Ancient China, the emperor used to go there during summer since the wind there would be cooler because of the waters.
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| Kunming Lake and Longevity Hill |
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| Last tourist mode before flight back home ;) |
Labels: Beijing, Mandarin, photography, summer
10 reasons to love Dao Ming Si
Since ABS-CBN will be bringing back the renowned Taiwanese show Meteor Garden, I might as well vent out my fangirl emotions here. Yes, fangirl emotions – you’ve read it right. A decade has already passed but this show still never fails on bringing me so much kilig vibes. <3 But since my summer internship won’t let me watch the replay on TV, I started watching a few days ago via Youtube. (Yes darlings, there is a complete set of Tagalog-dubbed MG episodes on Youtube!)
Of course, who wouldn’t forget the legendary F4? (Trivia: in Mandarin, which is the primary language in Taiwan, F4 is pronounced as F-si, since the word si means four in Chinese…) I’m pretty much sure every fangirl out there has their own favorite in the group. Surprisingly, Dao Ming Si, their leader, wasn’t my favorite guy at all way back then. I preferred the mysterious Hua Ze Lei, because I dig shy and quiet guys when I was young. ;)
That was then and today is different. Re-watching the episodes once more after a several years, I have realized that my perspectives have changed. Yes, I still find Hua Ze Lei and the two other guys cute, but it was Ah Si who made me swoon and my heart melt with so much KV. And I listed 10 reasons why.
- He’s not entirely a bad boy, after all. It was just a front, and behind the feisty disposition is just a misunderstood man waiting for someone to help him decode himself, and what he wants for himself. And then Shan Cai came along, and the rest is history.
- He is straight-forward. If he thinks you are stupid, he’d tell you that you are stupid. If he says that he doesn’t want to go to New York, he will not go. (Or if he will, he will come back the next day.) If he thinks that your chest is flat, he’d tell you that you’re flat-chested. And if he likes you, he’d tell you he likes you. And means it.
- He knows how to dance. Enough said.
- He’d take what you’d be willing to give, no matter how big or small it is. Remember how he woke up Hua Ze Lei to show him the burnt chocolate cookies Shan Cai gave him for his birthday? And how he fumed when Lei snatched it away and ate it? For a rich kid, Ah Si can be very appreciative of what Shan Cai is only capable to give, even if the cookies were burnt. :3
- He is funny and adorable – and doesn’t even know that he is. From the way he keep on saying SIZE instead of SENSE, to his clueless response every time the F3 is making fun of him, he looks so adorable and childlike – very far from the bad boy Dao Ming Si that everybody is already fond of.
- Those eyes, those expressive eyes when they look into yours. Enough said.
- His smile. And the way his dimple show. I mean, come on. I know that you know how his smile differs from the others’.
- How he can still be friends with the guy who almost took the girl that he loves. Hello, Lei!
- He knows how to cry.
- And the way he identifies the difference of the girl he loves among everyone else. The line, “Iba si Shan Cai, tandaan mo ‘yan” was such a strong phrase coming from someone so popular like Ah Si every time another girl forces herself to him. Though Shan Cai fails to recognize this sometimes, that doesn’t stop him from being loyal to her, and in the end, fighting for his love for her, even if it means sitting under the rain for four hours, or chasing her bus down the highway.
And I think the list goes on as I continue to re-watch MG Season 1. I don’t think I would be re-watching the second season, though. I didn’t like the way they focused too much on Ah Si’s amnesia that they aired almost ¾ of the season with Ah Si dealing with his memory loss and Shan Cai crying over it. But I might change my mind, since Jerry Yan has finally won me over – thanks to his mesmerizing eyes and smile.
GIFs and JPGs grabbed from Tumblr.
Labels: Meteor Garden
The good news... is here!
It was an ordinary last day of February.. not.
That dreaded Friday was our scheduled appointment with the Research Department of Manila Bulletin in their office at Intramuros. We were eight from our class who were called to come, and we did, despite that the rest of the class will be having a coverage/field trip to a coastal barangay in Hagonoy.
That morning, the Research Team made the eight of us, together with other applicants from various universities, took battery of written exercises. They gave us an hour of lunchbreak and proceeded with the interview afterwards. Each applicant will be grilled by the team for about an hour, so yes, imagine us killing time battling with nervousness at the MB lobby while waiting for our turn.
I won't detail each and every single thing that had transpired, because 1) I may not be allowed to and 2) if ever you shall apply, I don't want to be a spoiler. There is only two things that I can tell you: YOU HAVE TO BE YOURSELF, AND NEVER EVER BE LATE. :)
After my interview, I ordered a coffee from a nearby stall where other MB employees hang out. I badly needed a shot of caffeine after the four-hour-wait and because of the very low temperature inside the establishment. Good thing, I brought a blazer with me.
I decided to witness an Intramuros sunset while waiting for others to finish their interviews, so I brought several of my classmates with me and took some souvenir photos with our cameras and iPads. It was my very first time to spend a sunset in the Walled City after a couple of years, and I wasn't disappointed. There is something really special in Intramuros, perhaps the walls, that makes me want to go back -- if I would be given the chance to go back.
It was at 7 PM when the eight of us were all done, and we finally bid the team goodbye. We descended and went out of Manila Bulletin, and as I savor every moment before stepping out of their gates, I was thinking, "It was my dream to work here when I was a freshman, I hope you will give me a chance to show you that I deserve to.."
We battled the nonstop rush of people going home inside the LRT and went home.
Five days after, I received a text message Manila Bulletin, summoning me at the end of March for orientation.
I look forward to spend half of my internship days with them. It will take a few adjustments, from commuting from here to there, budgeting my money and time to the load of work that will be given to me as a part of a national broadsheet, but I know it will be worth it.
Everything will be worth it.
Labels: college, internship, Ojt
