Sanlitun, Sanlitun, Sanlitun

Well, this past week has been very busy for me.  I had several client deliverables this week which kept me late at work.  I'm working with a graphic design intern who is sweet, but terribly terribly slow.  At any rate, between the commute, evenings at work, and Muir's language partner meetings, I just haven't seen him that much. :(

We managed to spend Tuesday evening together at a Cornell/USC alumni mixer in Sanlitun.  It was held at a bar called Punk in a boutique hotel called The Opposite House which itself was very trendy and modern.  Luckily, I had gone out Monday night and purchased a few nicer things to wear to work from ESPRIT and didn't feel underdressed.  Does anyone else remember that brand?  It seems like they practically disappeared after 1995.  More about that later.  We were mostly outnumbered by USC grads at the mixer, but still collected a lot of business cards.  Exchanging business cards is, as one attendee phrased it, "the Beijing handshake."

On Wednesday afternoon I had my first Chinese lesson at the new school, called Capital Mandarin, which is conveniently located on the 10th floor of the building where I work.  :)  My teacher is a 13th generation Beijinger and is great.  He makes me talk a lot, corrects my mistakes, and then has me repeat the correct sentences several times for practice.  I think it will help speed along my speaking ability significantly.

Muir's new favorite store

The weather has turned quite chilly here rather quickly.  Even though the high is probably still around 60F, it's 35F when Muir and I leave for work in the morning, and the sun has long since set by the time I leave work in the evening.  For this reason, we decided to go out and purchase some warmer clothes and headed back to Sanlitun for some serious shopping.  We found a few good go-to stores.  The first one is called Uniqglo, which I think is Japanese.  It's basically like the GAP and a great place to buy affordable basics.  Next, I took Muir to the ESPRIT store, and I think he fell in love.  It had an entire floor devoted to men's clothes and many many jackets and blazers. On Sunday, we went out to the smaller mall in our neighborhood and picked up a few more things.  I have a new hat, which I love, and Muir has a smart new black felt jacket with a hood and fancy toggles.  We both got several pairs of long underwear and warm pajamas.  Sadly, I couldn't buy any new boots because they just don't carry my size.  My feet are officially too big for Beijing.  :P

Enjoying big bowls of wonton soup for
less than $2USD each!