A wonderful, assimilated weekend.

This weekend wasn’t filled with sightseeing, but I really enjoyed it. It might be my favorite weekend so far, if for no other reason than I didn’t have to feel too much like a tourist.

Saturday I was supposed to be meeting Fiona to go to Chaoyang Park for a “beach festival” in the park. It poured Friday night, and was still drizzly Saturday morning, so I called Fiona and we decided there probably weren’t going to be many people out at the park. Instead the two of us made plans to go shopping!

Here’s Fiona, by the way:

I told her that I wanted to buy some souvenirs for friends and family, but I didn’t want to go to the tourist markets where everything is very expensive. She took me to a market about 10 bus stops away, and while the selection was different, it most definitely was not a tourist market. I think I saw one other foreigner the whole time I was there.

Fiona was great; I told her how much I wanted to pay and she did all the hard bargaining. I got about 5 gifts for less than 100 Yuan ($15). She also helped me design and negotiate the price for a Qipao, the traditional Chinese dress that I’ve been wanting. I paid a little more than I wanted for it (500 Yuan, or about $75), but I didn’t pay nearly as much as the tourist market was asking for. Not to mention, $75 for a tailor-made silk dress isn’t bad at all. It should be ready by the end of the week!

After that, Fiona had a date so we parted. It was about 4 p.m., and since the other interns were nowhere to be found I came up to the office to play on the Internet for a while and see if I could find something to do. I was just about to give up and go home to read, when I got a call from a strange number on my Chinese cell phone. I almost didn’t answer but I’m glad I did.

The call was from George, one of the employees who spent the spring semester at UNC this year. He called to say he had an extra ticket for a show that night and wanted to know if I was interested. Uh. Yes!

I already knew about the show— UNC journalism school former-dean Richard Cole (who heads up this exchange program at UNC) was going with Brian and Dr. Tuggle to a show called “The Legend of Kung Fu.” I was jealous that I couldn’t go, so I was elated when George offered me this extra ticket.

After a cab ride that must have taken at least 45 minutes, we arrived at the Red Theatre near the center of Beijing.

The show was awesome, but I think it wasn’t what the guys were expecting. It turned out to be a ballet mixed with Kung Fu choreography, with a little bit of real Kung Fu thrown in every now and then. Having danced for 13 years, I was quite entertained. The show tells the story of Chan Yi, a boy who trains in Kung Fu and becomes incredibly strong, but doesn’t learn to balance the exercise of his body with the exercise of his mind, and when life gets tough he can’t handle it. Pretty cool.

From left to right, Brian Conlin, Dr. Charlie Tuggle, Me, Kung Fu Photo Guy.

Sunday the UNC interns attended a dumpling party at Editor Karen’s apartment nearby, along with Dean Cole, Dr. Tuggle and Johanna, a UNC alumna who interned last summer and was later asked to come on as a full-time employee of China.org.cn.

This is Celine!

Celine's dumpling filling had pork and pumpkin, along with green onion and a little ginger.

Celine and Karen made the filling for the dumplings—pork and carrots, and pork and pumpkin—and Karen also made the dough. We got to help put them together, which was both challenging and rewarding, because those dumplings were delicious! We made some fried and some boiled. They were both good, but the fried dumplings were awesome. We made more than 100 of them, and there were absolutely none left.

From left to right, Johanna, Courtney, Dr. Tuggle, Dean Cole, Dan and Brian grab a UNC photo after the dumpling party.

Work today was slow, but I did some research and found both a few of story ideas for the next few weeks and some travel ideas. Details about those to come as they develop!

I’m feeling pretty good right now. I went to the gym after work and really pushed myself, and I feel accomplished. I also had a huge egg sandwich and some Easy Mac from the States for dinner. Yum!