Apologies, Winter, and Illnesses

Hello everyone,

First off, I’d like to apologize for not updating my blog for the past two weeks. I was going to update it last week, but unfortunately I got a virus and felt very sick until recently when I went to the hospital to get medicine. Suffice it to say, I wasn’t feeling too well and am sorry. I’ve also been busy trying to figure out where I should visit during winter break. PKU students don’t have Christmas off because that isn’t a holiday celebrated here, but from the beginning of January till the middle of February I have a month long vacation time. But this also means having to plan ahead and buy tickets as soon as possible, particularly if you want to travel during the Chinese New Year (also known as the Spring Festival), because train tickets and plain tickets become sold out very quickly. As such, I’ve been a little stressed with figuring that out. I do have one thing finally planned though. Right after my final exams, I am going to visit Harbin, a city in northern China which has an ice festival. I’m going to be traveling with some classmates and friends from school, so after I return from that (probably around January 10^th), I should have some awesome pictures for you.

So last week nothing particularly interesting happened, but the week before that I went to Sanlitun, a district in Beijing which is known for having lots of embassies and foreigners. My Korean language partner’s girlfriend, Min, my friend Janie, one of her roommates, and I all went out to see the shopping mall there. Janie had told me that there were really pretty Christmas decorations that I should see, but since it was during the day and the pollution level was over 400, it wasn’t quite as glamorous as she remembered it. Still, if one evening the air is clear and I have time, I might go back to see what it’s like. 

Here’s a couple pictures:

(My friend Janie and her roommate)

While we were at the mall we saw an exhibition of children's artwork which was being sold to raise money for disabled children.

(This statue is actually similar to two others I saw in Wudaokou. I actually have pictures of these other statues in an earlier post, but I have yet to find out who the artist of these sculptures is)

We also ate Persian food. There are actually a lot of Middle Eastern restaurants in the area we explored, and the food we had was fantastic!

Here’s what I ordered:

Don't worry, I didn't over stuff myself. The large platter has lamb, beef, chicken, rice, a tomato, and a tomato sauce. The large platter is also meant to be shared with two people, so I split it with Min.

Speaking of which...

(This is Min, my Korean language partner's girlfriend. She's really awesome!)

(Janie on the right and her roommate on the left. I unfortunately forgot her name because Janie has two other roommates, so I keep mixing up who is who)

Desert: Colibri cupcakes. Flavors (from the green going clockwise): mint, cookies and cream, chocolate, mocha. Mine was the mocha, and it was glorious to eat such a wonderful cupcake!

Dinner was delicious! It reminded me a bit of home when my dad would take us out to get Middle Eastern or Mediterranean food back home. It was also really nice to eat solid, real meat.

After looking at some of the embassies and exploring in general, I went back to Janie’s apartment to watch an Indian movie which we began in October but hadn't finished until two weeks ago.

Since the semester is ending in January we're all preparing for our exams, final essays and presentations, etc., which is a little sad because lots of people will be leaving to go back to their home countries (those who are staying for only a semester that is, most other people are just traveling during the month long break). 

I’m afraid I don’t have much else to report from here. Getting sick really sucked though. Everyone here at school is sick, and in my dorm everyone has the same type of illness I have. I’m worried that my roommate will be next (she’s already showing the symptoms I had), and the last thing I want is for her, or anyone else for that matter, to get what I had. It was miserable, but I’m taking medicine that the doctor prescribed to me which is helping a lot.

I wish everyone back home good health!

P.S.

I got a haircut today ^.^