Today was quite the marvelous day. It started
off with a trip to the Forbidden City to meet with Lee Satterfield (a U.S.
government official, who is part of Hillary Clintons group to China right now.)
My host family was the only family with all members present, which they were
shy and uncomfortable about, but was fun nonetheless. Like at most tourist
locations we Americans attracted a lot of Chinese people with their cameras
raised, and flashes snapping. Sage in her turbaned head was a big attraction to
middle-aged Chinese women; Abby and her curly hair were a magnet for
split-trousered toddlers. After the sweaty tour of the son-of-heavens expansive
living-quarters, several Americans, my host sister, and I went by subway to the
only restaurant in 北京 (Beijing) that
serves 饺子(jiao zi) in brightly colored skins. We
ordered meat in purple, shrimp in orange, and vegetarian in green.
After lunch, my host sister went home
to study, but we continued on to Sanlituaner (pronounced San-lee-twar) a very
international, and rich, section of 北京。We almost did KTV (karaoke) but the
waiter was annoying and trying to over charge us, so instead we got mango milkshakes!
We strolled to the center of
Sanlituaner, slurping our milkshakes in the glaring sun. In the main plaza
there was a huge photo shoot for Converse, with flashing lights, a mammoth
screen projecting the going-ons, and many beautiful high-tech cameras. Normal, street
walking people were lining up, donning clean black Converse shoes and having
their photo taken for the big campaign. Sage and I hopped in line, signed the
permission forms and waited as the line slowly crept forward. About 5 minutes
in, a worker came over to us and told us to follow him. He led us to the front
of the line and told us to change our shoes. Both Sage and I were really
thrilled, but we both thought that giving foreigners special treatment is not a
good way of furthering Chinese-American relations. After the photographs they
gave us a free t-shirt and bag that say “I <Converse symbol> 北京.” Sage and I immediately pulled ours on and a
street fashion photographer asked if he could take our photo! Today was a day
full of snapped photographs in all directions.
For dinner we went to “First Floor,”
where I ordered Salmon Pasta. Cheese! The fish was fresh, pink, and moistly
flaky. As we were wandering side allies we bought a little jar of yogurt. It
tasted exactly like the yogurt we make at home, sweet, tangy, and runny.
As it was getting dark we went to The
Bookworm, a cozy, two-roomed café with pink walls, dimmed lights, a piano for
open use, and shelves and shelves filled with glorious books. At a glance I saw Neil Gaiman,
Shel Silverstein, Qiu Xiaolong. On the shelf of books by authors who had
visited The Bookworm was “The Joy Luck Club!” Amy Tan visited The Bookworm! We
sat in the back reading Shel Silverstein poems, many of which were surprisingly
morbid (but painfully true.) A personal favorite:
Masks
She had blue skin.
And so did he.
He kept it hid
And so did she.
They searched for blue
Their whole life through,
Then passed right by –
And never knew.
Since I had never gotten home on the
subway before, and the nearest subway stop to my house is still quite far, I
decided to take a taxi. Unfortunately, the taxi driver did not think my written
address was enough, so he had me call my host mom twice, which she was very gracious
about. Once arriving at my apartment I realized I didn’t have enough money to
pay him, so my host mom came down and paid for me. Needless to say, I was
absolutely mortified, but again, she was sweet and laughed it off.
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