July 21 - Not much to talk about...‏

Hey, guys,

Just wanted to let you know that we're still here! We haven't done much this week, so there wasn't much to say. Summer is arranging a little trip for us to Beijing through a local travel agency - five days long, hitting all of the bit sites up there - The Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the Great Wall, Olympic Park, and a whole bunch of other stuff I can't remember. Hopefully we'll leave in a couple of days. I'm soooooo excited to be seeing these things I've been reading about since I was a kid. And I'm soooo excited to get out of the dang hotel room. My heck. We all have cabin fever pretty bad. :)

So I got Nat, Pooh, Jake, and Troy birthday presents (you're next, Pats), found some wrapping paper and birthday cards on Stinky Street, along with tape, and scissors to cut the wrapping paper and the tape (I can't find normal tape dispensers here. You have to sit and cut it with scissors - a pain). So I got it all ready and asked Summer to help me at the post office.

Ohhhhh, what an ordeal. It took, like, an hour and a half to get these dang things sent. I swear these girls had never, ever mailed anything to another country before. I had to fill out like seventeen different forms...it was crazy. And then it cost me like $20 to send these teeny little things. I couldn't believe it.

I was so proud of myself yesterday - Sadie and I grabbed some soda on Stinky Street, and the lady said something to me, which I obviously didn't understand. It's so funny, when I shrug, or indicate that I don't understand, they just keep repeating themselves. No attempt at acting it out, or just letting it go...no. They think I'll figure out what they're saying if they keep repeating themselves. So I finally remembered the phrase I learned from Rosetta Stone: "Wa bo ming bai ni schwa shemma." - "I don't understand what you are saying to me." And she understood! Gooooooo ME!

I forgot to tell you guys - people of the same sex often walk along, holding hands. Especially the women. When I first got here, I was like, "Wow, there are a lot of lesbians in China." But then I read that, often, people who are just really good friends often walk hand-in-hand, and that it seldom has any sexual overtones. And that you need to be careful about making physical contact with members of the opposite sex - that they might get the wrong idea. So, if I was to, say, pat one of Ben's work associates on his arm or something, that would be considered really inappropriate. Interesting, huh?

Well, I'm going to go - I want to play some Plants vs. Zombies. It's my new obsession.

Oh, and Nat, Pooh, Jake, and Troy - your presents won't get there for two weeks. Sorry 'bout that. OH, and Mom, I got a birthday card for Aunt Terri and sent it to her, too.

Alright, friends, I'm outta here. Gonna kill me some zombies.

Lovies,
Kar