We’re getting a little behind on our posts but working hard to catch up. We were in Beijing around Feb 17 and 18th during the weeklong Chinese New Year holiday. It was great to visit the capital during such an important national holiday…but it was also really cold. That first picture is the famous CCTV building built before the 2008 Olympics. We didn’t actually go there; just took this picture out the cab window. What’s not shown in this picture is the devastated building next to it. (more…)
We got up early Monday morning to make it to an American bar here called Malone’s to watch the Superbowl. It’s the first time since we’ve been here that we could hear English all around us! It was actually kind of strange…. I also noticed what a distinctive look Americans have. I can’t really put it into words, but there’s just something about Americans that stands out.
This Friday is Chinese New Years Eve and we’ve been invited to a friend’s house to celebrate. It’s the same house we spent Thanksgiving at when we visited Shanghai in November. We’ve been told to come prepared for lots of drinking and gambling, so I plan on doing some practice online Mahjong before then. On 2/14 we’re headed to Shijiazhuang, a city 2 hours south of Beijing by train. One of my friends will be there visiting her family and we are really looking forward to spending a couple of days with them. Most of the people we know here are Chinese Americans, so it will be a special treat to spend time with China Chinese. 
After a couple days there we will head up to Beijing for a few days. It’s going to be pretty cold, but it will be nice to see Beijing and compare it to Shanghai.
I’m anxious to check out the more rural areas of China, but I think spring will be a better time for that. It’s a bit cold now for that kind of travel.
Speaking of weather– the last few days we’ve had an unexpected bout of warm temperatures. The high yesterday was 72 degrees! It was raining, but I didn’t care…. it felt so good to be warm. It’s supposed to get cold again starting tomorrow, but boy was the warmer weather appreciated. Especially since we’re headed north soon. bbbrrrrrrrr!!
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