If I were to spend 1 day per week at the Panjiayuan Jiuhuo Shichang, I do believe I would cut my life expectancy in half. Spending one afternoon however in crowded rows with vendors selling their wares, may be worth shaving off a couple of days. We forget so quickly that almost every Chinese male in the population here smokes. After a couple of hours our eyes were stinging and we all had headaches…and the market is OUTSIDE. The market is often referred to as “The Dirt Market” -for obvious reasons if you could have seen my children once we returned to the hotel, or “Ghost Market” because the locals come at dawn on the weekends to snag the best stuff.
One of the most entertaining parts of our days for you all back home would be watching our family attempt to hail a taxi when wanting to return from an excursion. Keep in mind we need two… If we all stand together, they completely blow us off and try to avoid us at all costs. Keeping half of the family at a distance is near impossible, so what you would witness is a group of “waiguorens” screaming out, “Zhi yao si kou ren zuo!” repeatedly until they get the nod of acceptance. It’s entertaining for the locals, so my bet is that you would enjoy it as well…
This evening was very special for us. The handsome young man that I wrote about last April returned to Beijing from a business trip tonight. Simon took us out for dinner and it was soooooooo good to see him again. Dave and I miss this boy so much. We went to a restaurant that is very famous for their baozi. Baozi are steamed bread pouches filled with vegetables or meats such as pork or shrimp. They were incredibly delicious. Selah has developed quite an affection for shrimp. She was completely full when Simon brought out the shrimp baozi…she found room for 1 ½ more! (They are the size of a dinner roll.) Everyone made it through dinner without falling asleep in it with the aid of some caffeine enriched Coke. It seems Lexie is having the biggest struggle with jet-lag this go around, but she made it till 9:00.
4 more days until we meet our sweet girl…the excitement is mounting! There were a couple of families in the lobby tonight that we just united with their teeny little ones. Oh, they were so cute!!! I am happy not to be rocketing back into the baby phase, but I could have totally eaten them up auntie style!
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