Monday, June 14, 2010

Maybe the crust is the body and the sauce is the blood? [Day 9]

Our never-ending week finally ended. And it ended a bit early! We got out of work at 4, which the entire office seemed to be happy about. I asked my cubicle-mate what she was doing for the holiday, and she said she was going to visit her family, who live about two hours outside of Beijing. Courtney said that Steven, another American employee, said he was spending his holiday searching for "real deodorant." I didn’t know what this meant until I looked for some myself. I bought some called "Fa Man" which smelled really good, but I think it might be cologne. That would explain why it was so expensive.

Courtney, Brian, and I got caught in a rain storm on our way to find food and groceries. On our way, we walked past a couple screaming at each other in Chinese. They started getting violent - grabbing each others arms, kicking, etc. Everyone else was just walking by like nothing was happening. It was extremely awkward. Not knowing what to do, Brian ran to the police station, where no one spoke English or would follow him. We let them work it out themselves without getting too involved, but feeling uneasy.

There is a police station really close to us, but they don't seem to do much enforcing. They will ride around with their lights on at times, but without sirens. Not sure what that's about. The only thing I've seen them actually do was shut down a street vendor. Well, that's what I'm guessing they were doing. All of the cart's food was on the ground, and the cart was being hitched to the back of the police car, leaving a little Chinese lady unemployed for the night. I guess they have to have permits, and she didn't have one that day.

Anyway, after THAT, Courtney and I had our first "Western" meal since being here - at Christian's Pizza! It was surprisingly good. We tried to pay with credit cards, but they said they only took one type that I had never heard of.

In other news, we got a Beijing cell phone - and it has a dictionary in it! WIN!

Hellooooo 3-day weekend, Dragon Boat Festival, Great Wall of China, and Clutes!!!

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