After work today I went with almost all of the local teachers back to La Bamba for dinner. We split a huge salad and an even bigger chicken and mushroom pizza. It was my first pizza in Beijing and it was tasty.
Our true purpose for the evening was to shop at the open air market in the same neighborhood. It was busy and noisy and lots of fun. Today had been ridiculously hot and it seemed like Beijing was coming out of it's heat wave induced lethargy and hit the open air market for the evening along with everyone else. Vendors just lay out blankets and some tables to set their merchandise on. There was tons of jewelry, clothing, bags, household needs and shoes. There were some food vendors selling kabobs. There were quite a few people selling animals in tiny, tiny cages that made me sell. There was even one person selling squirrels.
We had fun walking around and looking for treasures. I wouldn't want to go there by myself since it is all done through bargaining. I bought my little sister a beautiful fan that smells really good... I have no idea if it will smell very good after it's long plane/boat ride home to Oregon. I also bought three paperback books in English for really cheap with Stephanie's help. I thought it was kind of funny buying the latest Dan Brown novel from a person who couldn't speak any English.
We wrapped up our evening at a bar downstairs from La Bamba called Propaganda! Stephanie had a "Ladies Card" which got us in for free and we each got to have a mojito. It was refreshing after a long, hot day. We didn't stay too long because we all have to teach in the morning/early afternoon tomorrow, but we made a pact to come back and dance the night away after the summer course finishes!
I just wished I brought my camera.
Captain's Log: 10 weeks and the adventure continues...
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