Sunday we made our second attempt getting to Beijing on a train. We got up at 6:30 to make it to the 9:45 train. It was a good thing we were so early because getting through security and everything takes a lot longer than it should in China. The Chinese don't believe in lines so wherever you go you have to be very pushy to get to the front of the crowd. As we were "in line" to get our passports and tickets checked for the train people started jumping the gate, which made it even harder for us to get to the front of the crowd. Sometimes it's insane here! As we were all trying to mentally prepare ourselves for a 21 hour STANDING train ride, we started to boarded the train. However as we started to board the train the aisles all filled up with people, so me and three other people had to move to a different cart on the train. I honestly had a small panic attack trying to get on the train. As I was approaching the inside of the train I felt as if I was entering a sauna room that smelled like smoke and body odor. My friends literally had to push me in the train. I think it is safe to say I got a small glimpse of what the Jews went through during the Holocaust as they were crammed onto trains.
As the train began I immediately got a headache because I was pushed into the smoking zone of the train. It almost seemed as if I were in the middle of a tiny circle full of Chinese men smoking in my face. My friend and I were smart enough to buy little 10" x 10" benches before getting on the train. We sat on those and held our luggage for the first few hours of the ride. A few hours into the ride we made our way out of the smoking zone and stood in between the seats. I really don't understand why they sell standing tickets on trains if there is no room to even stand... the whole time during the train they roll trolly's full of food and drinks on them back and forth. So the people standing in the aisles have to somehow maneuver around these trolly's they roll by every 5 minutes. The Chinese people I was standing by were very friendly to me and let me squeeze on their seat with them. They even happily offered me their food, which I noticed they didn't have a lot to offer! I have really began to admire the thoughtfulness of the people here. As it got later in the day one of the Chinese officers from the train came by trying to sell items. Of course I quickly became center of attention and he tried using me to sell his items. He wanted me to get my hair wet and dry it with his "special" towel, but I had no desire to get my hair all wet with his nasty water. I kindly refused to get my hair wet, which made the Chinese people laugh. After I thought I was done being the center of attention a girl around my age came up to me and said "My friends and I would like to invite you to a chat". She sat me down in a circle of people all very happy to be by me. They were so happy I joined their circle to talk. They asked us a lot of questions like where are you from? what is America like? and how we liked China? They also wrote down my Chinese name and taught me how to say it. Apparently it means good and beautiful. One of the Chinese men insisted we exchange e-mails!
When night came everyone fell asleep on their chairs except for me and Carmen. All the other girls I came with got offered chairs to sleep in for the night. Carmen and I definitely got the short end of the stick. We would alternate from sitting on our benches with our faces on knees to standing every few minutes. It killed our backs to sit hunched over on the benches but it was the closet we got to sleeping. I ended up only getting about an hour of sleep.
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