马可波罗与哈利波特: Marco Polo and Harry Potter

And so another weekend passes . . .

On Friday night, a few of us Yalies went to a coffee shop for a mixer with some students from Peking University (Yale-PKU Language Partners). It was certainly a nice opportunity to speak with people our own age and not in a classroom setting. However, there were certainly moments that night when I realized that if an American student has half-decent Chinese and a Chinese student has half-decent English, it's not exactly equivalent to having a full-fledged conversation. Particularly when we played "two truths and a lie," (Yalies spoke Chinese, PKU students spoke English), the complexity/strangeness/ridiculousness usually present was admittedly lacking. But, the game aside, it was interesting to know that Chinese college students also have an appreciation for "The Big Bang Theory" and "Desperate Housewives" (in addition to "Friends").

On a miscellaneous note, unfortunately that night was also a prime example of China's "early to bed, early to rise" lifestyle. In addition to the subway closing by the time the mixer ended, many of the cabs were turning in for the night or already occupied. Fortunately though, we eventually made it back to campus, tired but unscathed.

On Saturday morning, I went with PiB to visit the Memorial Museum of the War Against Japan and the Marco Polo Bridge. The bridge, also known as Lugou Bridge, was recognized by Marco Polo during his travels and also served as the backdrop for a battle during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The bridge itself has more than 450 stone lions, all of them unique.

Saturday afternoon, I took my second trip to Wangfujing, but this time I had a chance to visit the bookstore.

With six floors of books, the bookstore is one of the largest in Beijing. I bought a copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (in Chinese of course) as well a poster of the Periodic Table (with Chinese characters as well). Much more interesting than purchasing books, however, was just watching other people in the bookstore.

While not every aisle was filled people trying to read through books, the bookstore was not short of people. It's certainly quite a sight to see as well as something that I've never seen in the States.

This weekend I also had the chance to bargain for tourist-y souvenirs in Wangfujing and clothes at Dongwuyuan, but I'll save the details for another post. Overall, this weekend was pretty enjoyable.

-艾琳