七月一号，星期日
After making a cover for a foam cushion with the the sewing machine, Mom and I went to 东四 to pick up the pants and shirt we ordered a couple weeks ago. We got there around 10am. My pants were finished, but there were still some adjustments to be made. Mom’s shirt wasn’t completed yet. When the tailor finished his extra measurements, I took Line 5 to the Yonghegong stop to meet my cousin, Cōngcōng (pronounced tsōngtsōng). My cousin is staying in Beijing for these next few days, so before she leaves, she wants to spend day with me. Since she’s never been to the Lama Temple, Yonghegong, either, we decided to go there together.
While looking around at the various shrines and statues of gods, 聪聪 explained the different natures of the gods and how to pray properly. First of all, each god you pray to gets three incense sticks. We saw a lot of people praying with whole bundles of them – that’s over doing it. Also, when you stick the incense into the main pot, you should should put it in with the lit part facing up. Proper praying etiquette says that a person must start with putting his or her hands together and setting them once above the head, then at the forehead, and finally at the chest. Addressing the god comes next: greet the god by its name, state your name, your Chinese zodiac, where you’re from, what you’re doing in this city, and other personal information you’d like to share. Finally tell the god three of your hopes or wishes and bow three times. To bow, first stand up, then kneel, and lastly bow to the ground with your palms facing up. Do that three times. for each wish. The open palms show your acceptance of the god’s help and luck.
We prayed at four gods in the main Buddha hall and also prayed to the Buddha. The four gods in the temple were the God of Progress, God of Sight, God of Focus, and God of Hearing. I wished for my family’s good health, specifically my mom, dad, grandma, and great uncle. I also wished for helping my studies of Tsinghua, as well as my studies in New York as an architect.
We quickly walked around the rest of the temple grounds and went outside to meet 聪聪’s high school classmate, Xiènán. We ate lunch together at a fancy western food place in one of Beijing’s old 四合元儿(courtyard). It was a very quaint setting and reminded me of some small restaurant cafés in Soho. We ordered pepper steak, pizza, and fish. The food was relatively good – very expensive though. We didn’t pay for the quality of the food so much as the quality of the presentation. We had a pretty good time chatting about useless things and so on. For dessert, we went outside and got a bottle of Chinese orange soda. It was really fizzy!
Around 1:50pm, we went our separate ways. Xiènán took the subway, Line 5, I went to Bus #116 bound for home, and 聪聪 went to meet up with her mom, my mom, and Dayi zhang at a karaoke place nearby. I got home around 2:20pm. For the rest of the afternoon, I updated my blog up to Day #19 and watched some cartoons on my computer.
~ end of entry, 9:57pm
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