Xidan

I headed down to the Xidan Bookstore for my last try at finding traditional Chinese finger painting.  Charades are not their strong suit.  They always think I mean stamps.  Even if you show them Chinese painting books.  They finally understand and say no.  No luck.

I got some lunch at the fast food street vendor booths.  Lots of fried chicken places, noodle bowls and meat on a stick booths.  I tried pizza in a cone.  Eh.  Not something I would get again, at least here.  As it's not very pizza tasting, lots of cheese with a bit of tomato paste and various things(bacon, corn, crunchy  vegetables) mixed in. 

I finally tried Crazy Fries.  Looks good, like chili fries.  So I opted for the fries a la mode.  White icecream, chocolate sauce and sprinkles.  Eh.  The icecream was fruity not vanilla.  I'd rather have french fries and a frosty!

Shopping isn't that much fun, when you know you can't buy anything(no room left)!  But I got to experience shopping in the dark.  The power was out on this one market(I saw people guarding the manhole covers.   Most of the stalls had one big flashlight sitting in the middle of their booth pointing up at the ceiling.  

I went to another market, listed as a clothing market.  Didn't see a lot of foreigners here, but lots of young people.  Too much neon colors for me.  Too many cell phone covers and nail places.

The rain started on the way home.  Luckily I was on the bus and had brought an umbrella.  Every time I pack the boys rain ponchos, it rains the next day.  I am not packing them till the last minute!

You would think these people are made out of sugar, as they freak out that it's raining(misting).  

The boys have been having a hard time waking up the past 2 mornings.  I find out it's because my mother-in-law is back to waking them up in the middle of the night(even though she was told not to).  Just a few more days!  I did wake up early this morning to the sound of someone running around.  Not my kids, they were all snug in bed.  The people above us.  And loud crying too.  But it stopped and I went back to sleep.

I 've been watching some new TV shows:  Mister French Tastes, 10 3-minute shows from HongKong and Insecurity from Canada.  Both very good.   There are a disturbing amount of Chinese(and Japanese) movies that deal with  students in their uniforms and how they lack parental supervision and go clubbing, get drunk, get into fights and get raped.  Why can't it be, follow the butterfly?