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No Naked Flames
All flames must be fully closed! Also, I tried to capture the dance class going on behind the bushes. Friday, May 18th, I had the day off from work because my entire group was in Chengdu for some sort of celebration. It worked out well, because I wasn't feeling great that day so I spent much of my time lounging around. I did take a little field trip to a park just north of our hotel which was really pretty! There's a lake and it was quite busy for a weekday afternoon. For some reason, there were also dance classes going on. I want to come back at like 6AM and find the tai chi classes! I went to bed really early Friday night and I got a LONG sleep which I think I needed. I also ate almost nothing - I cleansed myself of the salt and oil that I'd been consuming en masse and which were likely the result of my not feeling well.
Saturday, May 19th, I woke up from my long sleep feeling way better. I actually ate breakfast (but I had a small portion) and then my fellow USC interns and I made a trip to the other side of Beijing to visit a place called The Hutong. The Hutong is in amongst actual
hutongs, which are the old alleys. This part of Bejing (the East Side, aka where all the tourists and foreigners are at, aka NOT WHERE WE ARE AT ALL WHICH IS ALL CHINESE) is actually still somewhat preserved which is a rarity in this increasingly modernizing city. Old courtyard houses are all around the hutongs, and the city is working to preserve them. Anyways, The Hutong was hosting a food festival in honour of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution Day. So we got to eat delicious organic food. It was JUST what my stomach needed. There was SALAD (I had been craving salad) and the best vegan cake I've ever tasted and French cheese and just so much more. Plus, there were white people. Up until that point we didn't think there were other white people in Beijing. It turns out they're all on the East side.
After the food festival, we headed even deeper into the East side where we saw even more white people (and even black people!) in Sanlitun. We headed to a place called Soho where The Beijinger, the largest English newspaper in town, was hosting a big party in honour of the best bars and
clubs in town. We figured this would be a good place to scout out where we should spend future weekends. The party was outside in this courtyard area and it was beach-themed so there were lots of hilarious outfits. It was definitely a great way to spend our first Saturday. Plus, the whole thing wrapped up around 8pm which is good news for anyone who's jet lagged.
What I learned at the party:
-ex-pats are clique-y but if you go to lots of Beijinger parties you can become part of the clique
-the Canadian embassy has a bar open 1 day/month and they fly in, at great expense to the Canadian taxpayer, Canadian alcohol
-there are 60,000 Canadians in Beijing right now
-white people that can speak fluent Mandarin look really, really cool
As we were leaving the party, it started raining. Nothing like the thunderstorms the weather forecast said but the ground was wet. I had another great sleep last night and the air is super-fresh today. It's a nice change.
-Dafne
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Shannon
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It's so nice to see that you're travelling all over the place! What an exciting adventure, first LA and now China... I have to say I'm a little jealous. Have a fabulous time and keep blogging :)