The instructor made us practice saying "handsome" over and over again, but if you say the improper tone then you are accidentally saying "impotent" instead. Not a mistake to make. Of course, I've already insulted a wedding party in Chinese and have survived... I am already imagining the boys at work "practicing" for the next week.
James and I took the subway back to our neighborhood and actually got seats. The subway is starting to get less crowded due to people already escaping Beijing to visit their hometowns. The man sitting next to us played a tape recording of scientists talking about trying to find the human soul in the body. He turned it up really loud and pointed it at us. Not sure what point he was trying to make to us... Creepy. Luckily, he got off in a few stops and we had a good laugh over it.
I usually go to the Starfish office on Wednesday, but all the women that I visit with are already making their journeys home. It was odd to have the afternoon to myself. I got to talk to both Laura and Crystal on Skype, something I normally wouldn't have been able to do on a Wednesday.
Tonight, I decided I didn't want to eat the same thing I had made myself for lunch, so I decided to walk to the Korean restaurant that I like that makes a great vegetable noodle dish that I enjoy. I walked past two different people making little fires in the street. In China, it is normal that people make these special fires to commemorate an ancestor. At first when I arrived I was apprehensive of them, but now I think that they are quite beautiful. They never seem to get out of hand, and they are just small and low to the ground. The person makes a circle in the soil and lights special tiny pieces of paper on fire. I relate to it by thinking it's like lighting a candle at a church or at your home for the person you are thinking of. It's sometimes those little moments and observations that make me realize how lucky I am to be here, crazy subway rides, tones, traumatic small star classes and all...
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