YaShow, Hooters...and the Great Wall!

It has been a beautiful week in Beijing. A warm front came in and the weather's been hanging around 17°C. This was unfortunate for Michael, since he wasn't able to sport his John Travolta jacket much, but I definitely welcomed the weather with a smile. For the first time since I've been here I've been able to wear shorts. I must say, shorts are much more comfortable than wearing tights and tall socks under my jeans...

Michael and I started off the week with a lot of shopping. He showed me a market called "YaShow," and I found a few scarfs and bracelets I liked. Besides one incident when two Asian women death-gripped me and tried to trap me in their store, I was finally able to shop without fearing for my life. Shopping at YaShow was also really good 口语 (speaking) practice. Since most foreigners who come in there can't speak a lick of Chinese, all the salespeople were really impressed that I could speak some Mandarin. Since I knew the more legit I sounded, the lower the prices would become, I have never been so motivated to nail every tone. Who knew shopping would bring out my best Mandarin?

One saleslady in particular was really funny. She saw me being attacked, so she offered me a really good deal on a clutch I wanted. I was debating with her about it, and using my "I'm a starving college student, I don't have much money" line, and she asked me where I went to school. I told her Beida, and since Beida is one of the most prestigious schools in China, she knocked 20 kuai off the price.

I've also had a lot more luck finding food this week. Yesterday a few classmates took me to a cafeteria on campus that I've never been to, and I think it's the best eating option thus far. Eating on campus is the best deal because the food is much cheaper than off campus, and this cafeteria lays out plates of food so I can see exactly what I'm going to get. Nothing sucks more than being hungry and expecting something yummy and instead getting a big pot with a chicken's neck in it (true story).

Besides the cafeteria, I found another excellent eating option in Beijing-- Hooters. Ridiculous as it sounds, the food is pretty good (as I type this I am fully aware that I sound like one of those guys who says "I go to Hooters for the wings"). But yeah, Michael and my friend Tony wanted to check it out, so I went with, obviously giving them a hard time about their questionable intentions for wanting to dine there the whole subway right over. However, once we arrived, were greeted with a friendly, Chinglish "Welcome to Hooters!" and also realized students get 1/2 off the food, my opinion quickly started to change. Once my amazing fruit salad arrived, I was suddenly the biggest Hooters fan there. As sad as this may sound, I am now going to be a weekly regular.


Besides shopping and eating at Hooters, Michael and I also did a lot of sight seeing. Our greatest tourist adventure was going to the Great Wall. Our tour guide kept referring to the section we were going to as the REAL Great Wall, which didn't make much sense until we got there and saw the lack of foreigners. Considering I was the only blonde haired girl there and everyone had their cameras out, it's a pretty safe bet that a picture of me at the Great Wall is currently some Chinese person's computer background.
Our Great Wall adventure was all the more better because it didn't end at The Wall. Apparently Michael signed us up for the "package," which was a day long tour of China's finest- lunch in the boonies, imperial tombs, jade factories, and wax museums of Chinese emperors. The tour was definitely not what we had in mind and was overall really strange (especially since it ended in an informercial-esque manner where they tried to sell us jewelry), but even so it was a lot of fun. Definitely an adventure to say the least...

That basically wraps up my week. Here are some other random facts I have learned since I last wrote:
1. It's really hard to find real milk in China, they only have really sweet soy milk. Why? 90% of Asians are lactosentolerent.
2. Coat checks in China will "lose" (steal?) your belongings.
3. Beijing drivers excessively use their horn at inappropriate times, such as when they're waiting behind cars at a red light. It has been decided that there is only one clear reason for this: they are just really excited to finally have their own cars. Every once in awhile they get overwhelmed with excitement and have to give a little toot as a way of saying "Woo Woo!"
4. "Vanilla" flavor ice cream will often be something else, which won't become evident until inspecting the wrapper post purchase. Such flavors include 'natural fruit' and butter. Mmmmm!
5. The trick to the Beijing accent is, as Jon so elegantly put it, "Just make it sound like you're about to vom and you'll get it."
6. I have the best best friend in the world.