Written: June 2, 2008
And, I know, I did a terrible job on the costume. But lets face it, I wasn't really trying to look perfect, I just wanted to have a nice mojito. Or two.
Here in Beijing the temperatures are rising, the sun is out more often, and we students are dying from the heat. We study as much as possible, but mind you that isn’t very often because there is always something much more interesting to do.
For example, this weekend there is going to be a Superhero party at Vics (a club). Superheroes have occupied our minds for the past two weeks. We can’t possibly pay attention in class; it’s just not possible. Everyone needs a costume, otherwise it won’t be worth going, and this kind of party is worth participating in.
Today, some classmates of mine -from Holland, Korea, Arabia -and I went to the new Wudaokou market to shop for costumes. Aladdin, Jasmine, the girl from Kill Bill, and an Incredible were the costumes needed to be found. And we finally decided that I would go as Marilyn Monroe. OK, I won’t really be a superhero, but at least I have a character now (In the end, I went as Celene from Underworld).
Shopping in markets in China is hard. You try not to get ripped off by bad quality clothes, paying too much, etc. So when you shop you must always think on your feet, know when to bargain, know what price the clothes are worth, when to walk away in attempts to lower the price, and never, ever begin bargaining over something you don’t really want to buy, you may end up with it.
The five of us walked through four floors of little shops, looking for costumes. We found many Aladdin and Jasmine things; gypsy things. We tried on ridiculous pants. Ones that were really wide around the legs so they would look right after the ends were tied around the ankles. We found big belts full of hanging ‘coins’ and decorative shoes. But we didn’t find any appropriate white dresses for me and nothing yellow and no red suits. We did settle for a purple set of pants and a monkey and a maroon pair of pants and a coin belt.
Maybe tomorrow we will go out again for more costume material.
Enough about shopping. This week I tried the Beijing Roast Duck, Beijing Kao Ya (北京烤鸭). It was some of the best meat I have ever eaten!
I went with classmates of mine to a small restaurant in the middle of an old, dirty Beijing neighborhood. The taxi brought us to the edge of a big group of houses built of brick and stone. We had to ask three people for directions, but ended up at a tiny place in the corner of a neighborhood that would never be visited by foreigners except for the fact that it had a Roast Duck restaurant in the middle of it.
The place was filled with foreigners. We were brought to a room and were told that our three ducks, which we had already ordered over the phone, would be there soon. We could now pick side dishes and drinks.
Our side dishes arrived first, and then a fuwuyuan (服务员), waiter, brought in the ducks one at a time. He brought them whole, cut them into small pieces and served them on plates to our table. Then, you added a dark sauce, maybe a cucumber or onion and wrapped it all up in a small, very thin, pancake.
It was the most expensive dinner we have had in Beijing so far. It totaled over 1000 kuai for the nine of us. 1300 or so to be exact. But it was worth it.
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