斯来花儿

Today I bought two books (one which came with a CD), and five CDs (three of which were double-disc sets) for 30USD. China rules.



Today's small victory:
-Ordering a coffee boba milk tea, small, with no problem, didn't even have to repeat myself.
-Successfully securing a HuanHuan plushie, even though they're sold out in a lot of the stores around Beijing.

I looked up the address of a gigantic bookstore and set out looking for it in Xidan, assuming it was close by. Since I'd already gone a little bit out of my way to find a store that had a HuanHuan, I checked a roadside map and kept on walking. I ended up spending an hour or so traversing old hutongs, with no idea where I was but enjoying the scenery. I came across a ridiculously cute little dog, but when I cooed to it it leapt at me, fangs out, and I had to fend it off with my HuanHuan. Finally, using just my compass, road signs, and a mumbling old man at a busstop who saw me with my compass and happily remarked in Chinese, "North! South! East! West!" I found my way to the biggest bookstore I've ever seen. It's a trip to be in a a six-floor bookstore where not only are the books not in English, but there are aisles and aisles devoted to learning English, easy-to-read books for students of English to study, and dubious titles like "The Parents' Guide to Raising Magical Boys." The five cds I got are all classical Chinese instrumentals and Mongolian folk music, stuff that'd be at LEAST 25USD a pop back in the States. *beneficial exchange rate dance*

I met up with Kyle and Hannelore at the bookstore, and as we left, they informed me that despite the long miles I walked in circles earlier, the bookstore is actually just around the corner from the subway stop. D'OH.

I've been having a political debate with my dad through e-mails. It's much preferable to talking to him in person, since he can't yell, and I'm much better at expressing myself in words. I don't know why I bother--I send him links to graphs and statistics and use exquisite logic and argument, and he replies back with "BO is a radical leftist, & he and his cronies don't know anything about the economy." It's futile to argue with him, he's one of those people who shut his brain off at his 35th birthday, but I can't help but try. I think it's one of those awkward father-daughter relationship things: just once I want him to admit that I'm right.