It seems hard to believe that there's only one week left in February, but here we are. I had a good weekend, kicking of with a rather busy Friday. After class, I went and had lunch in the cafeteria with Martina, then ran to get lunch for Carissa because she was busy getting homework for her 1:30 class done. Once I had dropped off her Muslim burger and gone back to the room, I called the bank because they had called me Thursday night. We were able to establish that an error had occurred in a transaction all the way back in January and that they wanted me to come in as soon as possible to correct it (they had given me too much money in the way of $50 U.S.). I told them that I would start walking over as soon as I hung up the phone because I needed to change over some more money anyway. I had to wait about an hour before I was all done with the bank, at which point I called Kathleen and we agreed to meet to go to a place I can't remember the name of.
We left at 2:30 and got to the district about forty-five minutes later. The area has a lot of paintings, caligraphy and supplies for said artistry. We ended up going into a gallery and looking around, although I got the impression right off that it was going to be expensive. We happened to talk to one of the employees, whose English name is Lily, and she confided that we probably shouldn't spend money in the store. She said they would mark up things for foreigners. After talking for quite some time, she asked if we could be friends and we exchanged phone numbers. If all goes well, Kathleen and I should be meeting her for lunch next Saturday. I'm very excited because she's my age, originally from the Shandong province and very keen to help Kathleen and I learn Chinese better.
Upon leaving the gallery, we went across the street and looked into a few smaller shops. In one of them I spotted some old posters of Mao and other revolutionary things. Kathleen immediately questioned their authenticity but I don't know why. The wear-and-tear plus the dates printed on the paper all scream that they were actually printed in the late 1960's. I ended up getting two that I really liked for 5 kuai a piece. I'm really excited about them, but I have to figure out a way to hang them up without hurting them. Tape is out of the question, but maybe I could use tacks? I may just wait until I get back to the states to hang them up anywhere.
We finished up browsing and decided to head over to Wangfujing to have McDonalds because Kathleen was craving it and to look around for a jacket for me (after I mentioned I might want to get a new one, Kathleen wouldn't let it drop). We hopped on the subway and then accidently got off at the Tien'anmen Square stop. We took a few minutes debating whether or not to just stay there and explore or to go back on the subway and get off at the right stop. Ultimately, we decided to take the subway, because both of us know the Wangfujing area better.
Once at dinner, I realized that I had a really bad sense of time....it was about 7:45 and I was supposed to be back by then preparing to talk to mom. McDonald's was pretty yummy anyway and since it was clear that there was no way I could get back in time to talk on-line, we proceeded to take our time and relax at dinner and then explore a little bit. One note of sadness in the day, while we were eating, I noticed a man who wasn't dressed very well and was kind of dirty. When another group of diners left, he quickly moved over to their table and began eating what they had left behind. I suddenly wished I hadn't finished all of my food. When we got up to leave, I mentioned him to Kathleen and she asked if we should buy him a sandwich. We agreed to not do that because we weren't sure whether or not that would embarass him and from my understanding, it's possible that embarassment would be considered a million times worse than even the worst kind of starvation. I still felt uncomfortable not doing anything, but since I didn't know what to do, we just left.
We looked in a few stores, but since I really wasn't looking for anything and was pretty sure I didn't want to buy anything I really didn't pay much attention to the things. After poking around in a bookstore, we decided to come back to UIBE. While returning, Kathleen got a call from Gary and we went to hang out with him, which involved a trip to the dvd store to buy some things to watch. We then watched a Korean movie whose English title was Tell Me Something. It was a pretty good thriller and I look forward to watching some more foreign films. I finally turned in around 2 a.m., very tired but very happy.
Saturday was pretty relaxed. I went to lunch with Kathleen and Gary, then came back to the room and did laundry, then worked on some homework for a little bit. Then Kathleen called me and I went shopping with her for an outfit for her to wear to the rave. I had decided not to go to the rave because it was 150 kuai for a ticket, plus transportation, plus an outfit but a large contingency from TBC did go. We managed to find some really good pieces to make a fun outfit and a few stores that seem to be very inexpensive. We then had dinner and came back so that Kathleen could get ready for the night. I read for a little bit then went to the lounge and ended up messing around on the computer for a few hours, not going to bed until 3 a.m.
As for today, I really haven't done to much. I went to lunch with Father Gene and a few other TBCers to discuss the Yunnan trip and what changes we would suggest for next year. Then I came back and did some more reading for class, fell asleep and now I'm doing this. Actually, I should probably get back to doing homework or call my tutor, since I keep putting that off. Later!
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