Help Is On Its Way

Today was a good Friday:

• I got a free smoothie from our principal (delivered right to our building!), we got done at 2:30 instead of 4:00 and we had a lovely little hangout with people in our apartment complex in the evening. We got together at Ellie’s house and drank smoothies, while talking and building her new coat rack (fresh from BaoPals!). It was super casual and just lasted about an hour and a half…it was really nice to just hang out without the expectation that we were going to be there all night.
• After that, Nate and I decided to join a gathering at a nearby Western restaurant with some other teachers. It was close enough that we knew where it was but far enough that we had to go there by bus. We successfully got on the bus (with a bunch of older men who were excited when we said “Ni Hao” to them) and only missed the stop by one. This meant that, to get back to where we needed to be, we got to cross a 10-lane road…with no walk signs! We followed the stoplights and scooters and did not dawdle…and we made it! As we continued walking, someone from a group of people taking a photo together asked if we spoke English. I thought they would want us to take their picture but they were actually looking for a mall. They were visiting Beijing (from El Salvador and the Dominican Republic) for a three-week long conference (about economic development in third-world countries) and had gotten off the subway nearby in search of something to do. We directed them to the nearby mall (Europlaza) and walked with them, since that was the direction we were headed. They were super grateful for our help and amazed that we had moved to Beijing. And that we’d only been here one week! It was nice to be able to help someone find their way :) Once we got to the restaurant, we had some delicious burgers and talked with the BIBA staff who were there. After dinner, we went next door to Jenny’s, the Western grocery store in the area, to do our shopping. It was nice and not-busy in there and we got lots of things to finally cook for ourselves (we’ve been subsisting off of the school cafeteria, dinners out, and peanut butter for the last week). We got a DiDi home and crashed shortly after getting back. But riding the bus and directing other people around were big wins for us today!