A busy but fun week...

Whenever people ask me why I would want to live in China, I often think of weeks like this past one. Everything is so crazy and random it's almost impossible to be bored. Starting from Wednesday, I only had classes in the morning (yeah!). I met one of my Chinese friends, Rain, for lunch near SanYuanQiao. I hadn't seen her since July so it was good to get together again. Then I went to a Chinese school to talk about when I could take lessons and what level I was at. The only class they have close to my level is half a book ahead of where I left off and on Saturday and Sunday afternoons but I said I'd give it a try and bought the new book. Then I biked down to JianWai SoHo which is a HUGE shopping and office area. There are eighteen buildings each with 30 stories or more. I decided that if it were flattened it would be bigger than the entire city of Neenah. (This is just one of the many SoHo complexes which are just a few of the many business complexes in downtown Beijing and now you have an idea of how big of a city Beijing is.) I had to find building 18 to pick up my Paralympic tickets. Unfortunately they only had the tickets for one of the events ready. On my way home I stopped at the Bank of Beijing to add more money to my gas card so I could use my stove again. It's been out of gas since July which didn't matter because I wasn't in Beijing and it was too hot to cook. I went last week to the office in my apartment where I usually pay for my utilities but they said I had to recharge it at "Beijing Bank". I wasn't sure if that was the name of a bank or any bank in Beijing (this is the problem when a language doesn't have articles) so I went to my regular bank and they said no go to Beijing Bank and I realized it must be a specific bank chain. When I found one it was actually very easy to do and I celebrated by making mac'n'cheese for supper. And that was all on Wednesday afternoon. I have no idea how many miles I biked but it was a lot.

Thursday was less busy because I had to be at school most of the day. I invited some friends over for study but only one person reply that she would come another night. I had no idea if anyone was coming or not so I still had to clean my apartment and be there. Seven came and passed and no one came disappointing but I got in contact with some of them later on. I had the rest of night free so I decided to make "American mooncakes". This week is Mid-Autumn Festival which really isn't in the middle of autumn but it's the night of the harvest moon. The traditional food to eat and gift to give is mooncakes. Most Chinese mooncakes taste awful. They are a small round pastry that is filled with a gel-like paste that can range in flavor from meat to duck egg to fruit. I made my American mooncakes with the same idea: an outside crust with a filling except I used brownies and peanut butter. The teachers who I gave them to at my school said that they tasted much better than the traditional mooncake.

Friday was another super busy day. I only had to teach two classes in the morning because in the afternoon was the Teacher's Day celebration. I wasn't sure if I was invited or not and decided I would rather have the afternoon off than listen to speeches in Chinese. (It wasn't a hard decision) Friday mornings is study at Angel's Tea House which is always lots of fun. It usually just some of us foreigners and Angel who loves having us come. During study, I was distracted by the store next to Angel's laying out a whole bunch of shoes so I had to go check it out when we finished. The workers were actually just cleaning then shoes not laying them out for a sale like I was hoping. Rachel and I went inside the store to see what else they had. I found a great pair of black boots for school. They were expensive compared to Chinese shoes but considering they were Clarks and made of Gortex (dry feet!) I decided it was worth the extra expense. Plus it was way less then I would ever be able to get them for back home. After shopping, Rachel and I went down to JianWai Soho (which is odd for me to go so often, it was only the third time I've been there) for lunch. I found a review for a new vegan restaurant and wanted to try it. Rachel was brave and came too. The food was really good! I had a stir fry that had "meat" made from gluten. Rachel tried it and said it was surprisingly realistic tasting. Then we went to Jenny Lou's, a foreign food grocery store chain. The store in JianWai Soho had lots of books and games at it and we had lots of fun looking at them. Books are dangerous for me... I ended up buying the first one I looked at and refused to look at anymore after that. It's a super cute children's book about a cat named Mr. Pusskins. The illustrations are the best part. Then I found the best thing ever... El Gran Tabu! AKA the game Taboo in Spanish!!! Of all the great ironies, buying a Spanish game in China. Hehehe... After Jenny Lou's, Rachel went back home and I went to get the rest of my Paralympic tickets. Then I went back to Angel's where I had left my bike. I stayed and visited with her for a while. I got a phone call from a friend of one of my adult tutor students who also wants me to tutor her. I knew I would busy for the next couple days so I went to meet her right away. And I was headed back to JianWai Soho again... I'm really looking forward to having her as a student. She's my age and really nice. We met at a coffee shop and talked for almost an hour and a half. She even gave a card for ice cream mooncakes (those are safe to eat). When I was finally heading back home, I was crossing the street on my bike and heard a thump! thump! Grrr... My back tire was flat! I turned around and went back to the bike guy. Sure enough, I had a tack stuck in my tire. He replaced the inner tube (which had already been patched a couple times) and then noticed that the outer tire was also torn. I said I would replace it another day because I didn't have much cash with me but when he pumped the tire up the inner tube was sticking out so it had to be replaced. So, ouch! that tack cost me an extra 60 yuan that I wasn't planning to spend. When I got home, I quick cleaned up my apartment again because Naomi was coming over. I made mac'n'cheese (again) for supper for us (it's a treat here in China) and ice cream smoothies with American mooncake blended in. (I had tried to order the ice cream mooncakes but they hung up on me twice when they realized my Chinese was really slow. I think they were really busy and didn't want to deal with it) When Naomi left around 11:30, I finally had a chance to start reading Twilight which I had been looking forward to all day since one of my students gave it to me in the morning. That kept me up until 1:30 when I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer.

Saturday and Sunday brought four hours of really hard Chinese lessons, more Twilight, Paralympics swimming at the Water Cube with Josh and Naomi, church and finally a two hour nap on my couch late Sunday afternoon after so many busy days. Today (Monday) I have off of school for Mid-Autumn Festival. I've just been hanging out at home cleaning my kitchen, catching up on other work. My friend Ivy is coming over for supper tonight and now I'm off to the grocery store. She called the ice cream mooncake place so dessert it taken care of. :)