Hitting the road
I have a shirt soaking in the sink, so I have a few minutes to give everyone a quick update before heading off for some last minute shopping. (Soap, razors, and batteries, if you must know.)
Took exams on Thursday, and finished up school yesterday with a movie and a two hour lesson on slang. Maybe that should have come first? Because now I know three different ways to call myself stupid.
They threw us another huge banquet with a similar menu as last time. And again, dish after dish came out of the kitchen. There must have been 15 different tastes. We're celebrated the end more than a little bit, and last night ended with a walk around Tiannamen. The idea came to me because when in DC I always try to take a walk on the mall at night. So I figured ending a trip in Beijing in the same way might be appropriate.
Beijing has ended much the way it started: two food accidents in a row. But they were not unpleasant. The first was wandering into a very, very expensive restaurant last night (Damn you Insider's Guide to Beijing1). My companion is a good sport, and we both decided to splurge. So we reclined on couches, drank a bottle of grape wine, and had a really nice meal. I performed a trick that L taught me: 'which do you like better, the duck or the lamb?' I think the waitress liked that, because when she came back to the table to tell me they were out of the duck, she said that I should have the black cod. She must not care for lamb, or she somehow sensed that I've had too much 羊串 (lamb on a stick) in the alley this week.
I shared some of my friend's field greens with apples, walnuts and goat cheese. She had tempura tofu that was laid out like a plate of sushi (very pretty) which was fantastic.
I also think they really, really liked that we spoke a little chinese (and i even corrected my own grammar when I said I was finished. I tend to say 'eat finish' rather than 'finished eating.') It was a definite foreigner restaurant--except for the Chinese girlfriends in tow of at least a couple of the expats. And I'm pretty sure one of them was a pro.
The second accident happened at lunch today. I wound up having chicken feet. It's not that I don't care for them, they're just not filling and I didn't have time to order a second dish.
I'll try to post a last round of photos before leaving Beijing. After this it's all work and travel--expect the wackiness quotient to increase as I navigate to smaller cities.
Took exams on Thursday, and finished up school yesterday with a movie and a two hour lesson on slang. Maybe that should have come first? Because now I know three different ways to call myself stupid.
They threw us another huge banquet with a similar menu as last time. And again, dish after dish came out of the kitchen. There must have been 15 different tastes. We're celebrated the end more than a little bit, and last night ended with a walk around Tiannamen. The idea came to me because when in DC I always try to take a walk on the mall at night. So I figured ending a trip in Beijing in the same way might be appropriate.
Beijing has ended much the way it started: two food accidents in a row. But they were not unpleasant. The first was wandering into a very, very expensive restaurant last night (Damn you Insider's Guide to Beijing1). My companion is a good sport, and we both decided to splurge. So we reclined on couches, drank a bottle of grape wine, and had a really nice meal. I performed a trick that L taught me: 'which do you like better, the duck or the lamb?' I think the waitress liked that, because when she came back to the table to tell me they were out of the duck, she said that I should have the black cod. She must not care for lamb, or she somehow sensed that I've had too much 羊串 (lamb on a stick) in the alley this week.
I shared some of my friend's field greens with apples, walnuts and goat cheese. She had tempura tofu that was laid out like a plate of sushi (very pretty) which was fantastic.
I also think they really, really liked that we spoke a little chinese (and i even corrected my own grammar when I said I was finished. I tend to say 'eat finish' rather than 'finished eating.') It was a definite foreigner restaurant--except for the Chinese girlfriends in tow of at least a couple of the expats. And I'm pretty sure one of them was a pro.
The second accident happened at lunch today. I wound up having chicken feet. It's not that I don't care for them, they're just not filling and I didn't have time to order a second dish.
I'll try to post a last round of photos before leaving Beijing. After this it's all work and travel--expect the wackiness quotient to increase as I navigate to smaller cities.
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