No more lies!!! ...and the Great Wall

Jenny and I went out to the Great Wall today.  It was Jenny's first time.  I’ve been to several parts of the great wall in the past years, but it seems to always impress me.  She was so cute… so in awe… so pooped from the many unending huge steps… in awe of these older people who were still climbing just fine despite us feeling like dying.  As we left the apartment this morning, I debated the ankle brace and decided not to take it, but for whatever reason, after we had closed the door, the spirit must have come over me or something and kicked some smart sense in and told me to go get it… and boy… am I super thankful for that.  Several times it could have been bad without it!  Thank YOU!

So we planned to take public transport to the wall, but when we got there, the man who was flagging people into the bus told us the last one to the wall left at 10. We kind of got a later start so we had just missed it. He offered to take us in a car – it seemed a little shady, but not knowing what other options there were, we looked this guy up and down, saw him communicate with his buddies – he seemed to work for the bus company – and decided to go for it. It was a bit pricier than we had hoped but at that point, to our knowledge, we had no other options.


Anyhow, he was a nice man, but by the time we got to the Great Wall, and even more so upon our return back to the city, I was so mentally exhausted from trying to hold a conversation with this man. So sometimes in China, I tell a small white lie... that I am from China… so I don’t have to explain that I’m from America but look Asian… and so they don’t totally rip me off for being a western foreigner… but I AM DONE! I learned my lesson. I am an American and if you want to rip me off, have at it! No more lies!!! As I write this, I'm a bit ashamed of myself - I've got lessons from b study tapping me on the brain... I should know better...

But for story sake.. and well, since this is what I did but will not do again... what started as a small white lie ended up being this huge blown out convoluted story… a big lie! Forgive me… even for the small one!! He insisted on giving Jenny, “my friend from Korea”, a good “face” / image of China so he explained some history and culture stuff that he insisted I translate. Now, I can hold a basic conversation on simple topics, but when it comes to history and culture, it’s over! And he would ask me questions like, do you know what dynasty that is, or do you remember that person, and all these questions that I had not a clue what the answer to was… I have no clue what you are talking about buddy. As I played dumb because I am on those topics, he was so confused why I didn’t know anything about Chinese culture and history – my response was… I… uh… went to an international school… and I… uh… in my family… we speak half English and Chinese so that’s why I have not a clue and can’t answer your questions very fluidly. So bad… then he took us to look at these “pi xiu” – these ornaments that represent the dragon’s son that is supposed to bring luck and wealth and fortune. He insisted that I buy one for my parents because in Asian culture, one should respect her parents and buying one would help take care of them. I pretended to be interested (in learning about it), but I declined purchasing one. I tried to explain that we are Christian, and he retorted that this pi xiu had nothing to do with religion. I couldn’t go too deep on that topic because I didn’t have the vocabulary… anyhow, I learned my lesson. No more lies! I am who I am. He probably ripped us off anyways. I am an American – born and raised. Go ahead and be confused why it is I don’t look white, but I’ve got more white inside me than you can imagine! So be it!
oh.. and, I had songs from Mulan streaming through my head... okay okay.. I may have been seeing it too while we were trekking over the wall.