11/24 Friday

I called up some of my family in the states to with them a happy thanksgiving. The connection seems to cut out very often when using Skype Computer-to-phone. When I was calling Pittsburgh it seemed to cut out whenever people were poking fun at China, so we though maybe someone was tapping in on the conversation from the censorship bureau. It was probably just a very busy internet time in China, making the connection more unreliable than usual.

I posted some ads in That’s Beijing about language exchange, and have been getting tons and tons of requests to meet up and practice Chinese/English. I have already added a number of Chinese people on my MSN messenger, and talk to them when I go online in Chinese.

After the phone calls I went on a long bike ride in the morning, around north west parts of the 3rd and 4th ring roads.

I finally got a massive load of laundry done for 3.5 yuan. It is now drying on racks on my porch, probably getting filthy again from the Beijing air.

For dinner I decided to try a tiny restaurant (seats about 7) near the school. I had dumplings and meat buns (6 yuan all together) and they were delicious, especially after being dipped in a lot of vinegar. After dinner, I dared to buy a sweet potato from a woman on the street. She was cooking a bunch of them on something that basically looked a trashcan fire with a grate for a lid. When I pointed to the one I wanted she scooped it up and weighed it with a handheld scale and charged me 3 yuan for it. I had picked out a small one (which was still pretty large) and the woman started complaining that foreigners such as me who are big and have lots of money come here to buy just one and the smallest one at that. I bought an apple for 1 yuan a little farther down the street.

Later I posted an ad on That’s Beijing about finding a travel companion for the spring. I am now thinking of traveling to all 23 provinces in the spring, spending 3-4 days in each, for a totally of 2-3 months. I will take trains, buses, motorcycles, boats, whatever is most convenient and cheapest. I will find places to sleep, even if I have to pay a family some nominal fee to sleep on their floor. I am not sure these plans are very realistic, so I will consult with other foreigners and Chinese who have traveled around China.

I couldn’t finish the massive sweet potato. Maybe it’ll be for breakfast.