Great Wall of Chinese Death

Let me preface this by saying that the weather in Beijing has been AWFUL the last couple of days. Thankfully it has cooled down, however that is only the result of torrential downpours, and the worst thunderstorms I have ever seen/heard. Last night, I swear that the building I live in was hit. Everything was shaking and the thunder must have gone on for at least a minute. I'm usually a pretty big fan of crazy weather, but even these storms have me curled up under the sheets. 
The bad weather started on saturday, which was coincidentally the day we all went to "hike" the Great Wall of China. When our program directors talked about the Great Wall, they made it seem like our hike would be a vigorously paced walk across a scenic and historic piece of Chinese culture. FALSE. By hike, they were referring to a death-defying trek across a historic piece of Chinese culture that would have been scenic if we weren't amongst the clouds and completely soaked. I'm sure the view was absolutely breath taking, but the visibility was maybe 20 feet, making it difficult to admire the view, let alone safely climb the wall. 
Theoretically, I could have "walked" all the way to the end of the Great Wall as it currently stands, however my lungs and legs refused to let me go further than around a quarter of the way to the end. 
However, I did end up having a mini picnic on the Great Wall, a feat I'm sure few people can lay claim to.

From a distance, it seems like it wouldn't be such a bad hike after all. In fact, it looks quite enjoyable.

I started to realize something was wrong when I was standing down here, and the Great Wall was up there.

The stairs to even get on the Wall were seemingly endless, and treacherous at best. 

By the time we got on the Wall, the weather was quickly deteriorating, and visibility was shrinking. 

"Quick! Take a picture before it rains!"

There were Jackie Chan pictures EVERYWHERE. He is truly a national icon. 

Oh dear... I can't see the end of the upward bound stairs. 

It was disheartening not being able to see the end of the stairs. It made the trek upwards seemingly endless. 

Much of the Wall was covered with wooden steps to make the hike easier (especially since at this part in the Wall, it was mostly deteriorated. It seemed like a helpful alternative at first, until about halfway up, it would shake uncontrollably and start to pull away from the Wall with each step. So scary. 

My view from where I gave up and decided to have lunch instead. 

The stairs never enddddddd.

This was actually really cute/funny. All the "popular" boys went and got matching fake Nike's and basket ball uniforms. They whipped them out on the Wall and proceeded to have a basketball photo shoot on the Great Wall of China. They had the basketball and were dribbling it all the way down. The program director called them the "Calendar Boys" because it looked like they were shooting for a calendar. haha

To make things more interesting, the stairs weren't anywhere close to level. I can't even imagine what it would have been like to have to patrol the Great Wall of China as an ancient Chinese solider. If there was ever a sudden call to duty, it would have been death defying to get to any point on the wall quickly without serious injury. 

Clinging for dear life as we edge our way back down the wall. Keep in mind that by this point the weather was terrible and extremely windy. 

According to our language tutors, this sign is saying that any person who passes this point on the Great Wall has become a man. Cue the music! We actually sang this on the way down to lift spirits. Best part of the whole trip. 

Please do not poop or pee on the Great Wall... 

Oh? I'm going down this?

After our trek, we visited a local restaurant and got some really good local delicacies. While the Great Wall was not what I was expecting, it was a memorable experience. I plan on visiting the touristy spot when the weather gets more cooperative.