Scavenger Hunt

Today it was mandatory that everyone participate in a scavenger hunt. We met in the lobby of the dorms at 9am and were given our list of things to find/accomplish. Basically, we couldn't use google for anything. We had until 2:30 to get to the Summer Palace and the group with the most points got some type of reward. I was in a group with Allegra, Nich, and Cheyenne. Allegra basically did the talking because she was the best at Chinese. Cheyenne started taking pictures for the group because sometimes you had to provide proof but then her batteries died so I took over. We were doing pretty well actually. I was taking pictures of all the ATMs because each were worth some points as well as coffee shops that sold lattes and restaurants. We also had to take a picture of a sign that apparently said all the countries the study abroad students were from. We looked around for a while, even asking women working in the foreign students admissions office but they said it would take a week for them to get us that information (which basically means they didn't understand us). I did find this really cool magazine with articles in English about Chinese culture. It also had a detailed map of the northern part of Beijing, including the Summer Palace. I couldn't find our school though no matter how hard I tried. And I tried for a while! Even after Allegra said she could get us to the palace without a problem.

And that's when I fell.

I was so busy trying to find our school on this map that I tripped over this traffic concrete block as wide as my shoulders and as high as my knees. It was quite a magnificent fall I must say. And it hurt like crazy. Lets just say my scratch-resistant glasses were totally scratched. I'm sure I'll look worse tomorrow since everything still hurts- bruises are starting to form on my shoulder and knees. My face got nicely scratched up as well. Unfortunately, I had to turn in my camera for the hunt so I don't have my pictures so this webcam one will have to do.

Like I said, I'll probably look better tomorrow and it will look as bad as it felt (I sure as heck hope so 'cause it really hurt!).

In any case, we returned to the dorms to clean me up and rest and then we went out for lunch. After that it started raining and so I called Marketus to see if we were still meeting at the Summer Palace. Instead, he said we could meet in the lobby of the dorms. So Allegra and I watched the first half of Sherlock Holmes and then we all met Marketus in the lobby. As I said I had to turn in my camera and then he said (I think) that we'd know by Monday who won. We never found out what the prize was but all of us were pretty tired and gave up before the end anyway.

Next weekend is a tour of Hutong and some other place... I don't know either of them so it will certainly be an interesting experience! Hopefully less painful. :p