Wow, that week went fast.
I just reset the apartment's wireless connection, so that my flatmate did not have to run a 50 meter cable from her room around the eating table, over a door and a divider to the old position for the modem and router. Then I showed her how to check the status lights.
Now, I have restarted an rsync so that my pics will end up in the usual place. dialup- 185 12Megapixel pics takes about all night.
The lady at the right was a chance encounter at the top of a hillside in the Summer palace, last weekend. Between her quiet aloneness and the delightful curiosity of my companions, I had excellent examples for how to greet this city.
This week I worked very hard on translating a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale I bought last Sunday at Wangfujing bookstore. Lots of flowery baroque vocabulary but I learned the words for pearl - zhen1zhu1, garden- hua1yuan2, and forest- shu4lin2, among many more. I wish any of these words would stick. I work two hours a day with a lovely lady, named Silvia. My pronunciation finally got a " you must be from China" 3 days ago. 2 days ago Silvia liked my sentences that I had written. I am still the world's worst conversationalist in Chinese, but I am beginning to hear better.
I can get feebly around a restaurant, now. Subways are a breeze(I have my very own multipass) and I can shop in department stores and do a little haggling. I am in awe of Kim and her haggling skills, she bought a gorgeous shirt for her boyfriend in the first shop we looked at. She did have second thoughts after she saw another shirt with dragons. This is a problem with looking seriously at the first store that grabs you, literally. Her running shoes purchase was much more rational. We looked at unstrung pearls, silk clothes, messenger bags: 24 kuai ( before haggling) for the ubiquitous Chairman Mao bag.I take lots of garden, historic venue, and demolition pictures. If you really want to look, ask me by email, and I will give you the webpage.
Last night I was traveling on the subways at rushhour. People were so packed that I watched some fall out of the cars, when the cars were opened. Not my favorite situation. Today, the subways were much less crowded, and I got to travel on one of the new lines. number 5. ( There are 4 lines that are opening in time for the Olympics) I noticed the next lady sleeping while she road the rails. A lot of people are able to nod off on the train. I am still too excited about finding the odd Walmart one stop away from my home station- WuDaoKou.
I often feel I have been thrown into Snow Crash or The Fifth Element. Even, Blade Runner at night when I am taking the long ride home in a cab. My subway line stops fairly early- before 23:00pm. I have a number of photos of things that are in reflection or through glass- the subways have ads that flicker on the outside of the train. They also have some kind of flatscreen video feed that you can see all the time, and hear when there are lulls. In one of the bathrooms I visited yesterday, there was a video feed that you could see in the middle of the mirror above the wash basins.
I have had some memorable experiences chatting with my family via iChat. The video is excellent. This morning, I had dinner with my husband, son and mother( last night) I have a dinner date, Monday morning at 6:00am with friends. Very new way of interacting and being connected. I know one young thing who leaves video chat open while sleeping so that an absent sweetie can keep closer touch. Cell phones help keep people connected here, too. I have been texting everyone in my family on a fairly regular basis. My mom enjoys texting back. Huz keeps me informed, as well. My tutor will often tell me how her commute is going, to manage arrival times, and to be let in the door.
