come buy pearls...

Apparently the Chinese stomach virus is slowly creeping up on the sixteen of us. Four people have been hit, and I seem to be the next target. Don't you worry. I am not letting a stupid little flu stop me!

Yesterday I FINALLY made it to the Pearl Market. Given my lack of knowledge on these types of things, it was the most overwhelming situation. You walk in the door and INSTANTLY all the people at their stalls perk up. "Lady you like my pearls? Come buy pearls." Ahh! Over 150 pearl stalls....and that is just one floor. I didn't know where to go, what to look for, or what was good. I took a while to just take everything in. The good thing was I was part of the last wave of people to go so I got to see other people's pearls, which at least gave me a basis for comparison.

Finally, after wandering the entire floor I just had to bite it and pick a stall. I arrived at number 73. A very nice young girl and her mother. She had AMAZING English. I asked for 20 inches and she knew exactly what I had requested and set right to work. They string the pearls right in front of you, making a knot after each pearl. The two of them were so quick. Vivian was her English name and we had a very nice conversation about who I was bringing the pearls home for. I left after getting two full sets but found myself right back there five minutes later. I had a sense of loyalty to her. She made a few more sets and I was off on my merry way. I actually really enjoyed the entire experience. I got to practice my bartering skills and I felt very accomplished at the end of the day. I can't go into too many details seeing as many of you reading this will personally benefit from my trip there. I can now come home, seeing that was the only thing I was TOLD to get.

The three of us did NOT want to take the subway back because it was 100+ degrees out yesterday. We walked up to a cab, bartered for a better price and even got him to stop at Starbucks on the way home for a little frap action. I loved this cab driver. He too had really good English, which we were both impressed and surprised by. He proceeded to tell us that he knows very little English and he learned by listening to tapes for the last two years. When he was in school there were 45 people in his class and he was number 44 in English but he decided to start learning again for when tourists came for the Olympics. It was really touching and it made me think about how we take so many things for granted. I don't want to get all emotional or preachy, I was just another eye-opening experience.

Yesterday was also the roommate's birthday...we celebrated as any American college students would, which resulted in probably over 1000 pictures taken of last night alone. The highlight of the evening: Durty Nellie's in China. That's right. I have now been to Durty Nellie's in America, Ireland, and China. It was the PERFECT idea (pat on the back for the person who thought of it...MEE!!) We had dinner and even got to watch a little baseball. Later we went to a bar called The China Doll, so amazing. Inside they have a little beach area, complete with sand (Laura you'd love it) and outside there is a rooftop bar that was so wonderful. I may have gotten 10,000 mosquito bites, but it was worth every itchy little bite. Overall, another successful day in Beijing. (Oh just found another bite! SWEET!)