The Kro's nest was located in the "American" part of Beijing, by the American Embassy, where there were a lot of American grocery stores (which were very expensive) and other American stores.
On Monday, we had language class in the morning and learned about how to order food. I good skill to have here in China but we still don't know how to read the menus! So we've been forced to go to restaurants where they have an English menu or pictures on the menu so we can point and say "I want this." In the afternoon, we meet with a sociology professor here at Peking University to talk about education and population in China. Since there are only 5 of us here, it was very informal. We did find out, however, that the Chinese National College Exam was being administered on Monday and Tuesday for recent graduates of high school. She said it was a very stressful exam because the students are only allowed to take the exam once and it basically determines which colleges the students attend/what they study/the rest of their lives. On the way home, we passed by a high school and there was an ambulance parked outside! I definitely don't remember the ACT being that difficult!!!
On Tuesday (June 7th), we had language class once again, where we continued to learn about foods and how to order them in restaurants. We learned some Chinese characters so we wouldn't be so illiterate in the restaurants, but they are hard to memorized! I do know that meat is 肉 and fish is 鱼 (mainly so I can avoid that one hahaha!) For the afternoon, we went back to the art district (Hepingman) and got some delicious dumplings and wantons for lunch. Then, a few of us bought some more paintings/picked some up that we had ordered. Our language instructor, Oliver, cam with us which was nice because he was able to communicate with the shop owners. One of the shop owners had a bird in a cage outside that could repeat what you said and knew how to say "ni hao," or hello! There were also a lot of shop owners who had HUGE crickets in cages...just like in Mulan! Except, unlike the Disney movie, they fight the crickets; I'm not entirely sure why, but Oliver said you could spend thousands of dollars for a good cricket!
On Wednesday (June 8th), we had our final language class, and it was also Oliver's birthday! We went to the bakery before class to pick up a cake for him but unfortunately found out you had to order the big cakes ahead of time, so we ended up just buying a bunch of little ones, which was actually good because we got to taste a lot of different kinds! Oliver did say that it was the most interesting cake he had ever gotten :)
The desserts here in China aren't that sweet, but they are still really good! Some kinds we got were kiwi, walnut and chocolate, strawberry and vanilla (my favorite), strawberry and chocolate, and red bean/green tea.
After lunch, we went to Carrefour, the supermarket that's close by, to buy some snacks and some hangers because we discovered that the clothes dryer in our apartment doesn't work. Then, for dinner we met up with some students from PKU who will be going to Michigan in the fall for graduate school. We went to this amazing restaurant that specializes in food from Shanghai.
Today (Thursday), we were all suppose to start work. However, my mentor emailed me saying he's been super busy and hasn't come up with a project for me for the summer and that he wouldn't be able to meet with me till tomorrow, Friday. So here I am updating my blog while everyone else is in their labs...I'm not complaining too much :) And we're going to Xi'an (where the Terracotta Warriors are) this weekend! We leave super early on Saturday morning and get back late Sunday.
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