This morning when I got to Chinese class, we were informed that our TCM field trip had been cancelled, so we had the afternoon off. After an ordinary Chinese class where we went over what to expect on tomorrow's double exam (written then oral), I had a decent lunch at a cafeteria (green beans, cabbage, and rice with Philina and Gu Laoshi). It was pretty cool to get to talk to Gu Laoshi, especially because he's so busy with running the program that I could never tell if he knew who I was beyond a name on his list. For the record, he does, and we talked a bit about the program and what to expect, and he approved of the way I ordered my food without using English.
For the afternoon and evening, I went on an excursion with Maitreyi, Pooja, and Marissa. We started by going to the Panjiayuan Antique Market expecting to shop but actually just looking at the stalls. It was a flea market in the most classic sense of the term, and after a while of walking around, each stall seemed to be selling the exact same collection of stuff that none of us felt the need to buy. I'm definitely glad I saw it because it was very China, but I didn't really see anything I would consider buying except for shadow puppets, which I abstained from purchasing today.
When we were done, around 4:30, we walked back to the subway stop just as it started to rain. We took the subway to the stop with the China World Trade Center in the global business district because there was an Indian restaurant that Pooja had heard of as being the best in Beijing. We got off the subway and explored the World Trade Center for a little while, and then walked over to the building with the restaurant.
The China World Trade Center and surrounding area was basically a high class foreign (European and American) designer shopping mall. The one we walked through was fairly deserted, which was kind of depressing, particularly because of all the employees who looked so bored. We did a lot of poking around in that building, just walking around and looking at things. We ultimately found a bookstore that had books in both English and Chinese, so it was fun to look at the selection there, and I ended up buying a paperback because I have been without a book for two weeks and I really wanted a new one.
Getting to the restaurant was much more difficult than expected. We had to walk straight back from the subway stop, but there was eventually a building in the way, so we walked around it, except we took the long way around, so it was kind of a torturous walk. The restaurant was called The Taj Pavilion, and it was in the China Overseas Plaza which was another shopping mall. Walking around the district, though, let me look at the really cool modern architecture of Beijing's skyscrapers, so that was a plus. There were some really interesting buildings that I took pictures of.
The food at this restaurant was really good. Pooja and Maitreyi took care of the ordering since they were the experts on Indian food, and we ate naan, rice, daal, kofta, and two types of cooked cheese. It was all really delicious, and the restaurant had a nice atmosphere as well. The only strange thing was that it was entirely empty; we were literally the only customers the entire time we were there. The manager was Indian and spoke English, we ate with forks, and the food was wonderful, so we were all very happy.
We read magazines on the subway ride home, I stopped at the C-store, then I went to my dorm for some serious studying for tomorrow's Chinese test. I'm not too worried about it, I just need to go over the words a bunch so I can be functionally literate when he passes out the papers. I honestly believe that our daily vocab quizzes are not helping me learn the vocab because the characters I could write this morning I don't think I could write now. Lots of short term storage, but maybe the reinforcement is helping me move it to long term. I don't know; it's just frustrating to have to memorize so much each night.
Today is awesome because I had a really cool excursion this afternoon.
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