On my own

Today was the first day on my own. I struggled to explain -- in Chinese -- to my host father that everything was okay, I was just walking around the corner. But to no avail. Molly was called downstairs to help. She repeated what I said, using correct tones of course, and I was on my way. It felt great to be on my own, although my heart did skip a beat when I remembered one, just how new I am to Beijing, two, that the odds were against me to return home without getting severely lost, three, that I don't speak Chinese, and four, that the Chinese I do speak seems almost impossible to understand.
Anyway, I kept walking, and things seemed to fall into place. I found the mall no problem. I tired to call Hannah so we could meet up, but Molly's phone had some message on it that forbid me to use the keys. I pressed every button in every combination, until I managed to unlock the keypad. Looking up the street I recognized the Tongren Hostpital (Everyone's Hospital), which is right across the street from the train station, and thus learned one way to get home from the subway! That's key.
After some time Hannah and Victor met up with me and we went to find a present for Molly. Victor bought her a Mickey Mouse mug; Hannah and I got her a dress. It has an argyle print on it, pom poms and a flowing turtle neck top -- a combination of everything I've seen her wear -- so I hope she likes it. I imagine her wearing it with her favorite high-heel boots she bought in Boston.
We then took the subway to the Wangfujing Bookstore. We walked straight past the best sellers, the senior high books, junior high books, early junior high books, fourth grade books and landed ourselves in the baby section. Victor wanted us to buy some how-to-pronounce-Chinese books. I got some great flash cards.


I then took the subway back and walked home proving I really did learn how to get home from the subway earlier. Later that night Becky and I went out for her brother's birthday. He just graduated from college and is spending the year teaching highschoolers in China. It was an incredible meal. We had duck, pig stomach that you place in dumpling type things, fried goose liver balls (that were actually incredible), some sort of spicy kung pao chicken that was the best thing I've ever had, some sort of beef or pork sliced thinly, spicy fish head, some sort of cauliflower dish, and more. Oh, and scallion pancakes! It was all great and it's right by school. I can't wait to go back. I again took the subway home and experimented on a new way to get home, which I thought would save me a lot of time -- if I got it right, of course. My heart again skipped a beat at the thought of getting lost at night on some Beijing side streets. Buuut, all is well, and I made it back home way quicker than if I had taken the other way home.
When I got home Molly was trying to learn the words to Avril Lavigne's "Skater Boy." I don't think she knew I could hear her. Her door was closed and lights were off.