Shénme?

Today, I woke up early on my weekend day dreading going out to the subway in the cold to be crammed into a subway train to get to my Chinese class. I'm sure glad that I left my cozy, warm bed to get out there to see what Beijing had to offer me today. I got to witness some great Beijing magic today. Here's a short list of observations and thoughts from today.

1. James and Miles whispering "five" to me in Mandarin as I desperately try to tell my teacher the date she had written to me on the board.

2. Listening to Miles talking about his wife and hoping someday some man will talk about me like that.

3. Successfully answering how old I am in Mandarin!

4. My friend from another school excitedly telling me about a possible teaching position in Italy that she thinks I should apply for!

5. One of the women at Starfish telling me about her acceptance into a university in Russia to study languages!

6. Watching a women selling haircuts at a bus stop!

7. Having a discussion with an U.S. Embassy agent's wife about the importance of whole wheat bread at a French cafe.

8. Seeing a gay couple, a Chinese middle age man and an African middle age man, both very handsome holding hands and discussing their sugar selection at Jenny Lou's.

9. Buying tofu at an outdoor fruit and vegetable stand!

10. Cooking a successful Mexican dinner for my friends and throughly enjoying sitting around my little coffee table with them eating and gossiping and drinking lots of tea.

11. Stephanie and Joyce meeting Bartholomew and asking me questions about my friends and family in all the pictures I have up on my wall. Their favorite picture was the framed one that Alex gave me of him, Patrick and Dylan.

12. The most hilarious moment was that I noticed a street sign of a trumpet with a big "X" across it. I realized that it must just mean don't use a horn, but it just cracked me up. I then started to notice it everywhere. I can't believe I've been so oblivious to it for eight months!