Staying Optimistic

Breakfast this morning was a little more western than I've yet had. It was a bowl of milk (that came out of a room-temperature pouch) and sliced bread, and these really sweet bite sized sugary dough things. Mama came back late last night and woke up early for work so Baba and I were left to eat alone.

Class with Jeremiah was interesting as usual. Today he tried to explain China's political system, which from a foreign perspective seems complex...and power centralized. Apparently this year is the 10 year handoff of power from Hu Jintao to someone else. Not only does the head of state change, but so do each office official down to the local level. China is advertising that this is going to be a peaceful exchange of power without the "vicious hatred of campaigning like the Americans." I cracked a smile at that one.

We had a guest speaker today, Wu Qing. She was a fiery constitutional activist who fights the government left and right it seems. She was the first person ever to vote no in the People's Congress and fights for women's rights in rural regions. Her plea was to raise legal awareness and urging 'global citizens' to rise up. She was captivating and presented in a very different way, using her life story to get her points across.

A few classmates and I studied up in the library for a while then decided it was lunch time. We walked down my alley, that my apartment was on, and found a sit in place. We couldn't completely read the menu so we just pointed at something and expected a surprise. It ended up being noodle soup and greens - not too bad. Back at BeiWai I transitioned to another group of students who just walked around and made observations of the neighborhood. We ended up in a supermarket pretty far from school. I wish there was one of these smack dab in the middle of Northfield because I'd go there all the time. They had everything from tea makers to assorted mushrooms to Pepsi brand underwear and socks. After that Andy and I walked around some alleys to take pictures. People are starting to get the red lanterns and Spring Festival decorations up. It's really starting to look like the China as seen in the movies.

 Dinner tonight was cornmeal soup, mantou, fish, old Beijing jelly stuff, and pork noodles. I told Baba and Mama that it was a classmate's birthday and we wanted to go around town. We ended up going to a couple clubs for fun but it got lame so me and a few others took a cab back to a pizza joint by the school. Unfortunately, I lost my camera. I think it was left in the cab. And even worse was the fact that I didn't grab the receipt from the driver so I have no idea what cab it was. Someone told me that I might as well forget about it. We sat in PBD for a while and I felt awful. The only thing I could do was pray to God it would show up and have faith it would show up. It was kind of a bummer night after that so I just went home.