Trip to Beijing

It seems too early in my China adventure to be taking a trip already. And after skipping a day over the international date line, running around jet-lagged, and having no idea what day it was for almost a week, some of my plans weren't as smooth as I would have liked them to be. But now I have a month until my next trip, and I will be a bit more organized this time around.

But anywhoo... I just got back from a whirlwind trip to Beijing.

I LOVE Beijing! I had kind of built it up in my mind as being everything I love about China, and I was ready to be disappointed. But this morning was a beautiful spring morning with a clear blue sky. I actually walked outside and blissfully breathed the fresh air. Ahhhh.... Beijing. (?) Weird, I know. But it was actually very clear and fresh today.

The last time we were in Beijing was in 2006. Since it was 2 years before the Olympics, everything was under construction, everything was dug up, and everything was slated to be finished by 8-8-08. That was 3 years ago, and it was awesome to see how spit-and-polished everything looks. Some people might not think it's so, but there's a lot of polish-- especially compared to Shenyang, where it's mostly just spit.

This morning Penny and I walked around a local neighborhood to find breakfast, and we stopped to sit in a courtyard and play. I try to point out all the gou gou (doggies) for Penny, but she hardly shows any interest. Then this morning we found a dirty old mother dog lying in the dirt, and Penny wants to do nothing but go pet the thing. The dog eventually ran off, and when a nice, clean, old-lady-led dog stops by, Penny shows very little interest again.

But she did eventually play with the doggie, a little bit.

Penny's pretty shy and doesn't really say anything when strangers come and talk to her. I'm happy with that, and I'm also happy that Penny now says xie xie (thank you) to people. We've been here almost a week, and she already says one word in Chinese!

For lunch (yesterday), we ate at a Xinjiang Muslim restaurant. I taught English out in Xinjiang in 2002, and I still absolutely LOVE their food. We ordered shou zhua fan (hand-grab rice/polo/plov/pilaf) and a few yang rou chuar (lamb kebabs). The kebabs were for me, since they're seasoned with hot chili powder that Penny wouldn't like.

She wanted to try some anyway, so I gave her some without much spice on it. She devoured that and then commandeered the rest of my kebabs.

So much for my chuar. I'll have to order twice as many next time.... and there WILL be a next time. I love those things!

Note on learning Chinese:

Not only do I love lamb kebabs, but I love the character for kebab. Is it weird to have a favorite character? Because mine is chuan: 串 (kebab).