Hustle and Bustle

This morning I broke the news to Mama that my camera was gone. She freaked out and started talking so fast that I couldn't keep up. I told her the whole story (or as much as I could convey in her language) then she worked up every single way of getting the camera back. They ranged from calling the police to check security footage to see what cab I got into, to asking one of the school professors to take me around to retrace my steps. She noticed that I wasn't eating as much for breakfast, attributing it to my loss. She was a great encouragement saying that this was not a big problem. If I lost my health it would be a big problem but I have a good life and a camera is too small to worry about - I could always get a new one.

Baba returned home then took me over to IES to figure things out. Brian - the program director - broke the news to me that there was really nothing I could do and should start dealing with the loss internally. He also gave me a chengyu (Chinese saying), 吃一堑长一智meaning we learn from our mistakes. Chinese are so full of wisdom.

All that commotion made me late from heading over to the Silk Market with Andy and Vinh. I took the subway there, which took about 45 minutes. Right outside of the subway was a Starbucks, I had to investigate. I decided to purchase a black cup of coffee which ended up being 18 元 (just under $3) and the quality did not compare with that of the US, which you think it would seeing as it is way closer to huge coffee plantations than we are. The Silk Market was pretty cool. It wasn't what I was expecting because it was in a building with several floors dedicated to a general theme. I went up to the one floor where they sold silk and bartered with them for a while. Now bartering is really fun. What you've got to do is be really friendly and speak to them in their own language. Its crazy to believe but these guys speak fluent Engish...and/or French...and/or Russian...on top of Mandarin. They should work in foreign affairs.

We had our fill of haggling for the day so I split off from them and went to meet Adam! Adam Gemar (a high school friend and the brother of one of my best friends) is also here, to visit his freshman roommate who lives in Beijing. Talk about small world! I met him at Wangfujing then we went out for lunch at this Taiwanese place. Pretty spendy bill (by China standards) but I must say it was worth the food we ate. After that we walked around the streets and through the super touristy food vendors. He said he ate scorpions on a stick a few days ago but I was not willing to try it. We ended up getting strawberries on a stick dipped in a syrup that gives them a hard shell. I wish I had my camera this whole time so I could document it. He walked me to the subway station then we agreed to meet on my side of town for lunch on Monday.

I did some fieldwork on the subway which was pretty boring. I chose to observe the passengers from one line as the train got to its terminal destination. People are all traveling home for Spring Festival so many carry suitcases with them that take up much space. The platforms are also super crowded and people often do not make it into the train before the doors close on an already jam-packed car. I'll have to do this observation two more times as part of my homework for the month.