Today was not the best day as I experienced my first wrestle with sickness. I'm not certain if it's from something I ate or dehydration, but it sucks. As long as I'm within 10 feet of an unoccupied bathroom though, I'm OK. Let's hope tomorrow is better.
Last night, our group went to see the Chinese Acrobats at a theater in the Olympic Village. These people are amazing and made me feel like I should take Chinese yo-yo lessons. I once watched a documentary on the training process of these acrobats and it's incredibly difficult. Makes my little stomach bug look like nothin.
Afterwards, a few of us got in a cab and headed to the shopping and club district of Beijing. Up until now, I was isolated within 3 blocks of our hotel and Peking University so it was nice to see some life in China. The part of the city where I've been is definitely a bit old fashioned and not very attractive, but this area was swanky! There were stores like Espirit, Nike, American Apparel, etc. We went to a club "arena." I'm not kidding. It was the size of a sports arena with the club entrances all the way around. We went to another section where the street was closed off and there were food and cigarette vendors lining up the sides of the street and people crowding the middle. Bars were packed together and most of them were 2-5 floors of djs and live music. Most of the people were expats or travelers. My eyes must have been the size of silver dollars.
I had another milestone last week: I had my first squat toilet experience. Imagine a western toilet had fallen into the ground and all that was visable was the toilet seat. I'm not quite certain which way I'm supposed to face when utilizing the sqaut, the door or the wall? A few things I've learned: BYO toilet paper, there's a pedal that you push that flushes the toilet and skirts are much easier for this act than pants.
Funny China moment: a bunch of us were sitting on some steps on the Peking University campus. A man riding a bicycle with a cart full of watermelons stopped infront of us and started unloading the watermelons. Apparently, they were a gift. We must've been a sight: a bunch of Americans carrying around watermelons.
Time to study for a Chinese test tomorrow. I'm learning how to write the characters. They don't look like scribbles anymore!
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