Coldest December 15th for Beijing Ever!

Baby, it's cold outside is an understatement! It is obnoxiously cold up in here! I think I'm being punished for every hot weather woe that has ever crossed my lips!

I started my day trying to get to my Chinese class! I had to wait for four trains to go by before I was pushed onto the train by some of my fellow passengers. It wasn't a pretty ride! I got to my final destination and exited out from the wrong exit! I found myself in a mall that had an Armani store! Eventually, I got myself out of the mall, and could see the EF building I needed to get to. After numerous attempts to get to the other side of the road (it took me three times to cross and a trip in an underground parking lot) I made it to the other side! I got to class only five minutes late . I would have been on time if I hadn't gotten confused with the super secret elevators that make me think that I should be in a Bond movie. I think the class is going to be at a perfect speed for me. The instructor speaks in both Mandarin and English when needed. A lot of today's vocabulary was familiar to me which was very exciting and surprising. I can now ask someone how they are! I'll see how it goes after missing two weeks during my holiday. I'll have to be doing some studying on my own. Tones are still real hard!

Then, the student became the teacher as I went to Starfish for my adult classes that I teach. I brought goodies in for my students since I won't be seeing them again until the New Year. My beginner students are doing so well. Today, they got excited because they went through my Chinese class text book and found words that they wanted me to translate for them into English. The women gave me a beautiful starfish necklace that they made. I'll treasure it!

Then, after some long waits for buses, I met Marie and Cindy in the Lama Temple Hutong to meet up with some of Cindy's high school friends... a few who had witnessed my wedding fiasco! We went out to eat at a hot pot restaurant and it was delicious! I hadn't had much to eat that day since it was a go-go-go kind of day, and it was all nice and warm. We took a cold walk to a nearby coffee shop. The coffee shop looked like it should be in South East Portland. There were local artists' works on the wall and jazz playing in the background. There was even a friendly residential dog!

Holiday Countdown: 4 Full Beijing Days to Go!