Back to HouHai...

Day 9,

Chinese quote of the day:  "the authorities however, have refused to explain what happened to applicants who disappeared after they submitted their paperwork." 

Article: Two Elderly Women Sentanced to "Re-Education" in China

Shobhit has some sort of nasty viral throat infection, so i'm hoping its not contagious... although he is keeping himself quarantined in his room pretty well so that is a bonus.  

Last night we went to our favorite bar in HouHai again.  I think we are their only customers ever, so they love us and let us plug in an ipod and play music in the bar.  There was a strange contraption leaning up against the wall that looked like a skateboard but instead of being one piece on top that you stand on, it only had diamond shaped pieces for each foot connected by a really narrow piece of wood in the middle that let the two different pieces twist back and forth independent of each other.  Also, instead of like a skateboard where the wheels keep the board upright, the wheels on this could flop all the way over, so that you had to balance each foot individually to keep it upright.  

Basically, it looked impossible... but once we started playing with it we couldn't stop.   Especially me since I hate it when I can't do something.   The guys who worked at the bar got theirs and we all went outside into the street and spent 20 minutes tripping and wiping out while the chinese dudes were wizzing back and forth past us on theirs.  Apparently is an inherent chinese skill, because they all seemed to be able to do it and got much amusement out of watching our attempts.   After a few to many near-catastrophic wipeouts into angry tourists, we admitted defeat and went back into the bar for more beers. 

Thats another thing... I've only been here a month but at this point feel I have the privilege to look down on all of the tourists who are here for the olympics.   Its pretty sweet; I get to walk around like I know where I'm going (which I don't most of the time) and mutter things under my breath when fat balding men wearing fanny packs and chacos with socks get in my way.  AND I had my first real conversation with a cab driver last night! Usually I can't understand a word anyone is saying because of the beijing dialect - mumbling and putting an rrrr on the end of every word, so that men is mer, and sanlitun is sanlituar, but last night we actually had a convo about where I was going.   That was a big step because I think it meant he didn't take me around in circles for too much more than he would have with a chinese person.