Ni hao!!

I LOVE BEIJING!!!!!

Seriously, there is something infectious about this city and I don't think it's the swine flu. I've had a wonderful time since the last update, so let me think about what all has gone on, again in bullet form bc we have an hour in this internet cafe til we: go play pool, jerry and huay get a haircut (i might let them wash my hair and attempt to blow dry it, it might be fantastically humorous) and then... probably eat our way down the streets or go to HOOTERS (do they have boobs or butts to hang out, anyway? We want to take Papa Dong, but more on that later...)

Let's see:

-Omg. The bird's nest. Is. Freakin. Huge. When we drove up I really could not believe the sheer size of that place -- TV really does not do it justice. A simple $4 (25 Yuan) and we got to go into the Bird's Nest. (For Mum and Daddy, this was the Olympics stadium where the opening ceremonies were and the track and field events, in case you forgot!) We got to go onto the pitch too. One thing about the Chinese-- they're really into symbols, and really into little cartoon characters. All of a sudden, we saw these giant... blow up characters come out of one of the entrances and started running around.... and laying down flat on their faces. For this, you must see pictures, and the video I took (with me in the background going, what the hell are they doing???)

-Did some major damage in the gift shop. I don't want to share how much I spent but um, my wallet was completely empty, Jerry had enough for a cab ride, and Huay (the conservative spender) had about 200 Yuan. (The 'exchenge' rate [as Jerry would say, and as his papa would say too :) ] is about 7:1 if I haven't mentioned that already. One thing I really love about this vacation is that we have a general idea of what we want to do that day, but we take it really slow and easy and just go with the flow.

-Next: water cube. Much more awesome in person, but def smaller. I can't even imagine what it must have been like to actually watch the Olympics there.....

-Btw, I saw a few people taking pictures of the stadium/cube and I tried to get out of their way..... only to have them put their camera down disappointedly. Yeeeaaahhhh.... they were taking pictures of me. Discrete, China. Also, when we went to take a picture of the three of us, several people stopped and also snapped pictures. I felt like a celebrity but in a really weird kind of way. I never want to be famous, thanks. It's so damn awkward. And the staring continued.... especially one fool wearing a bright pink (brighter pink than the pink polo I was wearing that day) shirt with a spider and spider web -- IN RHINESTONES! Really, and I'M the one that looks weird??!? (the males here wear pink shirts and pull them up to reveal their midriffs. Quite odd.)

-Lots of girls holding hands for no apparent reason. Beijing = the city of love? And lots of boys really really far in the closet.

-Finally tried those sticks I've been eyeing!! So, there are these street vendors that have these metal tubs that are filled with some sort of juice or liquid or sauce and have tons of skewers sticking out of them (kabob, basically) with all sorts of meats and balls and stuff on them. Omg, each one was 0.50 Yuan. That's like. 1/14 of a dollar. !!!!!!!! Ridiculously delicious! We sat on the China squat chairs (for the people like me who can't do the China squat) with a tiny table right there on the street, and kept goin back for more. It was on the honor system. I think the three of us ate like 15 skewers (as a snack) for about... 1 American dollar? Jerry did not lie, Chinese food is cheeeeeeap! And soooo delicious.

-After that, when we were walkin back to Jerry's dad's apt, the park was freakin full of kids and adults. There are about 20 apartment buildings clustered so close to each other, and in the middle there's this little plaza.. just a bunch of benches, not much of anything else (lots of hidden steps... each one of us, including little and big Dong, have fallen because we haven't seen the steps). Huay heard a basketball (like on Up: "hi there....... squirrel?!??!?") and we saw this guy doing Chinese yo yo, so we found a seat and watched. I have video and pics.

This guy was really feminine. He was doing all sorts of flips and stuff. His routine became more of a, flourish, when he realized we were watching/videoing. Another thing: I am obsessed with the little kids here. They are so freakin precious. With their little bikes and toys and innocence. I love it. We had a good time just watching everyone play and watching Mr. Gymnast do his routine. This one old guy walked by, and was looking at me. Not unusual. I decided to start waving at people who were staring at me. His face lit up when I waved and he waved back and asked me something, pointing at the kids. Jerry said he asked why I didn't go play with the kids (I guess he saw me watching them happily). I said I wanted to (but honestly, I didn't want their moms to be scared of me giving them swine flu... you should see the propaganda they are teaching the general public about swine flu! It's scare tactics more than info!). He started chattin it up with us (and by us I mean Jerry), about how his Chinese was good and he said he grew up here. He was really nice and chatted with us for bout 10 minutes. I think he said something about Obama and agreeing that China's human rights needs to go forward (so many people here will mention Obama when we say we're American). Then, he added as he was walking off, that I was pretty. Wow, did not expect that one?!

-We finally got sick of the Chinese yo yo guy and decided to go home. This old lady in the lobby also stopped to talk to us! (Either they stare at me like what the eff is wrong with your face. or they are jolly and talk to us/Jerry). The old guys playing Chinese chess were gone, so we whipped out the set and chairs (they were just chillin in the corner) and started playing. Jerry went and got his dad from upstairs. We decided to leave though, when the guard/apt manager and some resident got into a really loud and angry fight... I wanted to stick around to see my first Chinese fist fight :) :)

Another thing I really love about Beijing: the feeling of community. People just.... hang. They sit outside, they talk to each other, they know who lives around them. It just feels closer. I don't know that anything like that is in America, even in the 'burbs (suburbs, like where I'm from). It's really refreshing. It would be really nice to live here for a few months, and even better if I could speak the language (Mo Ruck, I wish I could channel you right now!)

-We decided to go to dinner...... on my list of things I want to eat (oh yes, I've been keeping a list!) I had roast Peking duck (duh) and roast lamb. So Papa Dong took us out for those two! I've never had such a wonderful meal.... the duck was the absolute best I've ever had, and I must must have some more before I leave. (ooooh had to go to the bathroom while I was there, my second time with the squatter (no toilet.... I'll be sure to take a pic before I leave) and I was quite proud with my lack of splashage)

-Side note. I have yet to straighten my hair bc Mr "it's so easy to get a converter but my dad has one" has yet to get me a real converter. But for some reason, the curly hair isn't bothering me too much. Thanks to the curly stuff Affy got me (ty shister).

-Oooook so we finally get to this morning (we passed out after dinner last night). Apparently today is the 20th anniversary of the Chinese govt cracking down on the protesting in Tiananmen Square -- they whipped out the tanks and everything. Jerry thought there might be a rumble so we decided we'd go there today (no worries Mum and Daddy, we were planning on staying away from the po po & protesters so we won't get landed in a Chinese prison. yikes!) Of course in the tradition of this wonderful trip, we stopped at lots of places on the way. One of which was an art place. I've been wanting a few pieces of art to decorate my apartment with, so we haggled these four paintings of the four seasons around the Great Wall -- one set for me, one for Jerry, and Huay got a tiger. Of course he did.

-We got some delicious egg crepe thing with green onions and some hella spicy peppers (my nose was runny) that's all folded up and put into a plastic sack so that it's mobile -- sooooo gooooood and soooo cheaaaappppp. The guy was lookin at me funny while I was oohing and aaahing. But there were more of my people around (aka non-Chinese). If you ain't from China say "yeeaaahh" (if you don't know what that's referring to, go to www.youtube.com and look up Leprechaun news or something like that -- it's hilarious)

-Got some more meat on skewers: chicken, lamb, gizzards (tasted like nothing, chewed like cartilage), chicken heart (didn't taste like much either, kinda like chewy chicken), and I drew the line at kidneys. Another day, another day.... PS, Jerry isn't being as conniving as he claimed he would be about the food. He is very open and honest about what we are eating. :)

-Went and said wassup to Chairman Mao (well we didn't really go inside but we walked around). I got an absolute kick out of the po po, and especially the ones that were 'undercover' but were pretty obvious they were po po because they stood the same way and had the same serious expression! We had a little fun with them, more to come in picture form.....



Aaaaand that brings yo to the present! Huay is sadly disappointed that his computer does not have his favorite Mah Jong game where you get to play against a half naked chick who exposes herself to you as you win more. And I thought you weren't allowed to look at porn........ Jerry's computer had a similar game, and he got to play with Britney Spears. She owned him.


Miss everyone. Love from Team China.
L J H

PS! Emily! I tried the Diet Coke with Lemon. Pretty good, but has a different taste than the aspartame. Jerry said the ingredients said cane sugar, but it said 0 g sugar........... so I dunno if they're hoodwinking me with the whole Diet Coke thing. I'll try the real stuff later and report back. Vanilla coke on the other hand, is wonderfully delicious. Meggie, there is no Dr Pepper. I checked.