On March 1, I embarked on a 2.5 week journey- first stop, Beijing! I decided to fly this time after my previous unpleasant train ride (see my blog post about trains in China). To get to the airport in Xi'an, there's a shuttle bus that leaves from the bell tower. Friday morning, I headed out to get a rickshaw to the bell tower and told him I was going to the airport shuttle bus. The driver insisted there was one from the train station, which is much closer to my house than the bell tower. So I agreed to give it a try. Upon arrival, I was swept into an unmarked van crammed full of random Chinese people also headed to the airport. Turns out it was not the official airport shuttle bus, but in the end, I made it alive and in one piece to the airport! While at the airport, I was repeatedly treated like a stupid foreigner who didn't speak Chinese, even though I kept trying to communicate in Mandarin! It was so frustrating because they don't really speak english either so they just yell at me in broken English...
Anyways, I finally arrived in Beijing and took the subway over to Zan and Kate's apartment in the hutongs. After some minor difficulty getting into the apartment, I dropped my stuff off and went grocery shopping for our small dinner party! Wayne and I cooked the recipes from our cooking class in December- Kungpao Chicken and Stir-fried Sichuan Green beans. They were delicious! And Rebecca made mac and cheese from a box brought from the USA! (This is the height of culinary excitement over here in China...). It was great to catch up with my best friends, almost like I had never left! And Kate had only just gotten back from 6 weeks in America so we were all finally reunited again! :)
That night, Zan and Kate had a house warming party. Unfortunately the neighbors got angry around 11:30pm so we all had to leave for a bar to continue the festivities. The next day, Zan, Kate, and I just relaxed at Zan's. That evening, I met up with Ruty, Dylan, and a few other friends at Kro's Nest, a great pizza place in Beijing. Then I met up with Chantal, one of Zan's close friends, for her birthday KTV! Afterwards, we went dancing at the fanciest club in Beijing, Spark. The next day, Zan, Chantal, Shu (Zan's awesome Chinese neighbor), and I went for a traditional Beijing style lunch, and then the Beijing Flower Market! It was so pretty and green. Of course, Zan was freaking out because she LOVES flowers. Chantal and Shu also bought some pretty things. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), I couldn't buy anything since I live in Xi'an, but still fun to look around! Then Chantal, Zan, and I went for mani/pedis. Rebecca and I then went to our favorite spa, Kokoon at the Opposite House Hotel, the coolest and trendiest hotel in Beijing (in my opinion). To finish off a great day, Rebecca, Zan, Kate, Chantal, and I went to Apothecary (a trendy, fancy cocktail bar, complete w/ hand-chipped ice and a perfected "hard shake") for drinks, and then dinner at Carmen, a great Spanish tapas place.
The next morning I flew out to Taiwan for a weeklong Fulbright conference and then a week of Taiwan vacation! :)
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