Perhaps more adventure than I can share at once

So we didn't do THAT much, but I certainly adventured more yesterday than I have so far. And yesterday started off pretty bad, with a headache and a disappointing lunch.

But after work, we went back to the apartment, and Brian and P.A. were going with Celine to a nearby gym to check it out and to see if they wanted to join. Annie and I decided to come along. We pulled up to this building that looked like it was being renovated; there was broken glass in places, boards lying around, torn pieces of drywall littering the entrance. It looked pretty bad. But we followed Celine into this building, up the stairs, around a corner and up some more stairs.


And then it was like walking into another world. Everything was clean and carpeted; there was an elegant pool hall with deep colors, stone columns, dim lights, and gold trim. And just past that, the gym. Not nearly as elegant, but not unlike walking into any gym in the U.S. The membership is 410 Yuan ($60) for 3 months, so we're thinking we'll probably do it. They have Zoomba and other dance classes, which would be awesome, but I'm afraid that I wouldn't be able to understand anyone in the class.

My decision was dependent on whether or not Annie wanted to join, too. I don't want to go alone, and I don't want to just go lift weights with the boys. She said that she wanted to, but didn't bring sneakers to China. So we set off to the mall to find sneakers!

Celine drove us to the nearest mall. During the ride she told us a little more about herself, about which I will comment later.

The mall was definitely not what I was expecting, but it was pretty cool. There were 6 floors, divided into categories like grocery, shoes, clothes, housewares and the food court. But rather than having a mall with tons of different stores, this mall was just one big store. Here's a picture from the escalator:

The escalator also had an interesting feature: fake grass and flowers. There were strips of it most of the way up between the railings.

No luck finding shoes, so the gym is still up in the air. But it was a cool experience. After that we walked around outside for a while, looking for other interesting things to see. There were a bunch of peddlers outside of the mall, and one was selling books in English. He offered Alice in Wonderland for 20 Yuan, or about $3. I didn't really see a book there that I wanted, but I'll keep an eye out in the future for more books. Then I saw a man who was selling handmade Chinese shoes. They were really cute, but he didn't have one that fit my huge feet.

We also almost adopted a dog. He was small and adorable, and he followed us around for a while looking up at us with a really happy face. Of course, I know better, but it doesn't stop me from wanting to.

After discovering that there wasn't much else that was interesting around the mall, we caught a cab back to the apartment. It was my first ride in a Chinese taxi, and from Annie and Dan's reactions it seems it was a good one. The very nice driver spoke a few English words, and he was very courteous.

We went upstairs, and Brian and P.A. were back from the gym and ready to go to dinner. There's an older Scottish man who works at the office named John, and I asked him at work yesterday if he knew of a bar or fun place to go to dinner. He directed me to the place we went last night.

It was a sort of market street a few blocks from the office. There was a little room for a car to get through on the roads, but there weren't really any cars there. The restaurant we went to had a big outdoor buffet-like setup; there were 3 or 4 different tables, each with different types of food. It wasn't clear if they all belonged to the restaurant or if they were owned by individuals. There were grilled meats and vegetables on kabobs, lots of shellfish, and mixed veggie dishes.

We decided to eat inside because we weren't sure what the system for paying or ordering was outside--but we'll go back soon with someone who speaks Chinese. Inside the restaurant, the ordering system was more Japanese-style; that is, there were bowls with plastic versions of their dishes, and all you have to do is point at the dish you want. I had a rice bowl with chicken, carrots, green peppers and onions. It was probably the first dish I've had that's similar to American Chinese food, but it tasted much different. It was delicious, but I couldn't finish it all. I need Steven around to finish my meals for me! :)

After dinner, we decided to explore this little market street. There were lots of small stores with just about anything you could want--from socks to dishes, cleaning supplies to cigarettes. There were also tons of small restaurants and several hair salons. We stopped at one shop and bought ice cream. It wasn't any different from our ice cream, but it sure hit the spot.

We kept walking until we came to the end of the little road, and when it ended we were standing at one of the busiest roads in town. I don't think I've ever experienced such a drastic change in so few steps. The road busy roads looked pretty cool at night. We were at the intersection of two major roads. There are walkways over the major roads, so we got to get up over the traffic, which was neat. There's something about a city at night--no matter how busy, hectic, cluttered, or industrial it looks during the day, I love the way it looks at night. My pictures don't do the scene justice, but here are a couple of them:

This is the intersection. You can see that there are three levels here, the ground, the crosswalk bridge, and then an exit road above.

This was taken from the crosswalk bridge. I wish the background was better illuminated, like it was when I saw it.

Needless to say, when we first left the little market road, we weren't entirely sure where we were. But my keen navigation skills told me which direction we needed to go. At the very least, we knew how to get back the way we came, but I guided us back.

On the way, we passed the fancy restaurant we ate in the other day. I took a picture of it from the outside at night.

We went to the office for a while, where I watched the season finale of Glee, which was AWESOME, and then we went back to the apartment. End of adventurous day! It's 4:57, so I won't have time to talk about Celine today. Maybe I'll come back up here after our adventure tonight and share.

Here are a few more photos I have taken:

The English part of the newsroom for china.org.cn, taken from my desk. The guy in the foreground is Steve. He's a permanent employee from Missouri.

This is my desk! It's not much, and it needs some decorating, but it's mine for 9 more weeks, and it's my first desk in a real newsroom!

This is the front desk of the office.

Finally, by request, here is a picture of our bathroom at the apartment. The hose in the top right corner is the showerhead. The small gray square is the drain. The floor looks dirty most of the time, because if we walk in there after someone has taken a shower, the whole floor is wet.

Oh, and I will have some fun tomorrow: Keen, one of the writers who spent the spring semester at UNC, will be going to the Chinese Cultural Heritage Day exhibition tomorrow and I'm going with him! I'm so excited!