Andrew Gets His Legs Back

At about 9, I checked the United States embassy air which turned out to be of "good quality." I decided I'd go on my first run in 14 days. I ran all the way from the BeiWai dorm, down the city canal, all the way to the Summer Palace. To stay warm I tried to keep in the direct sunlight. When I got into shadows I crossed the canal at points where I knew the ice was thick enough.  It was around 5 miles there to make the round trip 10. I ran against the wind the whole time there but didn't  experience it as much on the return. In the Summer Palace park, I found some old ladies practicing taijiquan - or taichi. Naturally, I walked over to them and asked if I could join. They were happy to let me try it out. I stayed with them for a good 20 minutes then kept on running.

Upon my return to BeiWai, I took the longest shower yet. A few classmates decided to check out a coffee shop that my roommate suggested. We got to it, it wasn't open. We went over to another shop and finally ended up going to the upstairs of a bakery near BeiWai. I bought a whole loaf of bread to eat for lunch. Up in the 'nook' area we cranked out a lot of homework that needed to be done. When I got finished, a classmate joined me on a trip to the Silk Market. The ride there on the subway took a long time and by the time we got there, the place was closing down for Spring Festival. It didn't look like anyone involved - with the exception of the city officials - wanted to close it down. Shop owners were angry and all the foreign customers were ticked off that they couldn't enter. We tried all the doors but they were all guarded by police.

My quick thinking classmate said we should go to the Red Bridge Pearl Market. I hadn't been there yet so we made our way over there even though it was a longshot at being open. Turns out we had about an hour left to get stuff before it would get shut down like the Silk Market. This place seemed a lot nicer and less touristy than the other one. My friend was on a mission to get an overcoat and ended up bargaining one down from 1600元 to 300元! I'm pretty sure it isn't really quality cashmere or even cashmere at all but it looks good. We gandered the four other levels to see if we wanted any more souvenirs. I was exhausted and hungry so we made our way back. It was such a clear evening that there was actually a purple tint to the sky at dusk. The skies were blue all day but I didn't quite realize it until that moment (other than being able to run).

Here's a comparison between today's weather and two days ago...Theses pics are around the same time.

Priority number one was getting food. At this point I had only eaten that bread and and apple so I was starving. We rounded up a few others then walked as little as possible to find an open restaurant. I ordered this amazing fried noodle and mushroom dish then polished off two other dishes that my buddies didn't want. I was still hungry after that so I got some pickled vegetables to top myself off. The air was extra cool tonight so I didn't waste any time returning to the dorm. The people at Helen's invited us over later to light off some fireworks before Spring Festival actually started. We lit off a few huge ones that dwarf the ones back home. After losing my hearing from explosives I had to call it a night.