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We can’t believe a week has already gone by….this time last week I was in tears because there wasn’t any toilet paper. Or towels. Or dishes. Of course we had some travel tissue packets, but I was delirious from being tired and not thinking rationally. Hee hee. A nights sleep and a trip to the store solved all those issues.

School was rough for both of us this week because the language is really overwhelming to learn. There are so many words that sound the same because the difference in tones is so slight. Mike is really enjoying learning the characters because the teacher gives him the history of the character. The last half hour of class was rough for me today because it was like my mind just couldn’t take anymore. Then my tutor gave me gobs of homework that I am in denial about. Hee hee.

Today we trekked it over by subway to Wal-Mart again where I was able to get Land O Lakes butter and sliced American cheese. That was great so we can make sandwiches in the apartment and have butter on our noodles. The cheese was the most expensive grocery purchase yet because cheese really isn’t popular in China. I also found lemon creme filled Ritz which are totally yummy like the orange ones. They really need to make these in America! We tried to get some dinner at KFC, but they didn’t have a menu in English or a picture menu like some other places around here. The Pizza Hut here is very fancy and there was a huge line of people waiting outside for a table, so we didn’t attempt that on a Friday night. It’s funny how serious the Chinese are about pizza.

This weekend we are going to play tourist a little bit and I will put photos up of our adventures. We are going to some places that we paid for last time, but didn’t go too because I was sick when we first got to Beijing. It’s supposed to be in the low 70’s this weekend, so it should be nice. I leave you with some photos of the gridlock on the corner by our apartment when we went out to grab some dinner tonight.

Self portrait of Nadia and I…

Just a few things to start this post off:

A) If you have ever come to visit me;

B) Or I have come to visit you;

C) Or if we have ever gone on vacation together, you have heard me say, “It’s all about the food!”

So of course I did some research on food in Beijing. We have walked all around our area checking out the choices. I have been to the store every day trying to get the kitchen stocked up with some basic foods that you can cook in the microwave or the one pot that I bought ( for a whopping $6 thank you very much).

And the Chinese really like oranges – in any form. Juice, jello, candy, soda….you get the idea. Well I have become addicted to these Orange Cream filled Ritz. They are SO GOOD! And also very tasty are orange Chips Ahoy! They are just like the regular, but with orange flavored chips mixed in. The Ritz crackers here are better than at home and Nadia has been enjoying them too.

Yesterday we went to a place called Bravo Italian Restaurant (don’t say it – I know we are in China, but I needed some comfort pasta after my rough day of language lessons – hee hee). For $7 we got an appetizer and 2 entrees. The appetizer was fried mashed potatoes and they were so tasty. Nadia was loving them too. Then I got pesto spaghetti with pine nuts and green beans and Mike got a penne pasta with spicy tomato with bacon.

Today Mike was craving a burger and I told him I saw a place on my walk with Nadia the night before called “New York House – Coffee and Burgers” so we headed over there. I kid you not people – those were possibly the best burgers either of us has ever had. I have no idea what they seasoned them with, but on signs at the restaurant and on the menu it said, ‘Never frozen patties’. The fries were done perfect for me….extra crispy and salty. Total price with tip? $13! And the burgers were giant! We will be going back there during our stay here.

On the way back to the apartment we stopped at this bakery that caught our eye. The following photos are for Jessica P. especially! My friend – we would be all over this place every day if you were here with me. Today Mike got a piece of cheesecake and I got their version of a swiss cake roll with sprinkles. YUM! I will find my favorite item there by the end of this trip. And learn how to say the name of the place.

Here’s the cute girl reading her book to us.

Attending language school is the reason we are here and we have settled into a routine. Mike goes over to the school and is learning Chinese characters from 8-10 am. Then the 2 other students join him for conversational lessons from 10 am – noon. Mike is really enjoying learning about the characters because his teacher tells him the history behind the symbol and learning that helps him to remember it. Then Mike comes home, has lunch with us and goes in the bedroom to work. It’s very awesome that he can work remotely from China and that is what allowed us to be on this adventure.

My tutor Kiki comes to the apartment from 10 am – noon. She is really nice and just adores Nadia. Nadia sleeps through most of my lessons, but has been getting up from her nap about 11:30ish. Kiki asked me if I wanted to learn the characters and I told her not right now, I would rather focus on learning the tones and vocabulary. The only real problem with that is that I can’t read anything when we are out and about. That is the most disorienting thing for me since I am such a reader.

Monday – this was a good first lesson because it was all stuff I was familiar with. She told me I did a great job and I was a good student. I told her not to get too excited since that stuff was all familiar.

Tuesday – at one point I almost broke into tears because I knew as I was saying some of the words that the tones were coming out wrong. I tried and tried and couldn’t get some of the letter combinations correct. And of course I got frustrated because tones are the whole basis of the Chinese spoken language.

Wed. – This was a good day. She moved me onto some longer sentences and of course in the beginning I got all jumbled up because of the odd letter combinations. It’s just so different from English or Spanish (or any romance language for that matter) and my mouth wants to pronounce things like you would in English. But I did much better on my second tone practice which was what I had all the trouble with the day before.

I think this is a great way to learn the language because you need to be in the middle of it, but the key is going to be to practice a lot when we get back to the states.

Here is a photo of Kiki and Nadia.

Nadia and I took a walk tonight and went all around Leisure Garden near our apartment. She wasn’t really sleeping, but the photo was cute of her being silly.