friends and family

hello hellooo. i am exhausted, but writing this evening because a whirlwind of activity is approaching, and i know i won't be touching my computer until at least monday! in the next 48 hours, it appears that america is coming to me :) andrew pazdon arrives at peking international airport from vietnam at 3 pm, friday. after morning class, i'll go meet him there, we'll ditch his stuff at his hotel, and get started on conquering beijing! he'll be here till tuesday (see www.yankeesojourn.com ... aren't we just a bunch of little bloggers?) then, 4 pm saturday, MAMIE AND DAVE WARRICK arrive at the very same airport and come to stay with me in wudaokou for the next 12 days! ahhhh i am far too excited. winter clothes, chocolate, tide to-go, and pepto-bismol will also be in tow. score.

some tentative plans with andrew include:

1. eating. what else would we do.
2. taking him to get a qipao (traditional chinese dress) tailored for someone special at home!
3. meeting up with friends from my program at the bars in sanlitun 'expat town'
4. hearing about vietnam and being really jealous

with mommy and daddy:

1. showing them around wudaokou's universities, restaurants, shopping centers, and parks, which together form the world's sweetest student ghetto
2. walmart
3. a little orientation into the city (tiananmen, forbidden city, etc) on sunday, before i must return to classroom confines on monday. pressure is on for tour-guide grace :(
4. high tea at the peninsula because it's mommy's bday and i'm a princess muahaha. sorry dad.
5. the capital museum and military museum, among beijing's other obvious tourist attractions
6. a weekend trip to qingdao (shandong province) to visit relatives we have never met and see an ancestral home we have never seen!
7. visiting an orphanage for mentally disabled children that we are connected to through a friend at home
8. meeting various friends of mommy's, because obviously she has guanxi 关系 even in beijing :)

ah yes, clearly my mind is set on the week ahead. as far as the week past, it's quite a blur. adding our english-taught major classes into the afternoons (understanding china through film, contemporary china's sociology, china's economy since 1970) + gym routine/pick up soccer with BLCU students + coincidentally hanging out with a high school friend that discovered i was in beijing + going out in wudaokou (let's classify that constructively under group bonding) + tons of chinese homework = no time to breathe! i would love to write more but i have a test tomorrow and i'm falling asleep on the keyboard. i will try to detail my courses, professors, and some of wudaokou's drink deals in the next edition ;)