Starbucks

Starbuck’s has taken over, resistance is futile. Today I went to the Forbidden City and smack in the middle is a Starbucks. Very disturbing.

The film crew from channel 8 wanted to get footage of Phil in the city, doing sight seeing. Since I didn’t go to the Forbidden City when the rest of the students went, I asked to tag along. I feel a little guilty about blowing off the exhibit today but oh, well, I’ll go all day tomorrow. We were supposed to be back by noon, but Phil really wanted to play hooky and is it really my place to tell Phil that he needs to go back to work? So we were out until 2pm and then had lunch.

We took the subway to Tiananmen Square and then walked through the Forbidden City the whole while being filmed. It was kind of weird, like having an annoying uncle with you on vacation with a camcorder, recording everything, but this was Jeff’s job. Every once in awhile he would tell us to stand somewhere particular and talk, or to wait for him to get ahead of us before we could walk through a gate or up some stairs.

The City was impressive, but so much of it is refurbished that you don’t really know what is new and what is old. The gardens were my favorite part.

We then took a cab from the north gate back to Tiananmen. The cab driver didn’t want to take us because it was such a short drive but he said he would do it for 14Y. We couldn’t all fit into one cab so we got another one and the first cab driver told the second how much he was charging us. I got into the second cab in the front seat. I asked him to turn on the meter. He said something pointing to the other cab. I said that I understood it would be 14Y, but I needed a receipt. He turned on the meter, but at the next stop, he yelled out his window at the other cab and then turned off the meter. I was trying to explain to him that I would pay the amount he wanted, but I needed a receipt and I pointed to the word in my little book. He said something else and then when I tried to say, “ I need a receipt” in Chinese he wouldn’t say any more. I think we were both frustrated by the language barrier. So then when we stopped I just too the receipt from the meter and he was angry and got out of the cab to talk to the other driver and then I gave him the receipt and my pen to write down the amount and he wrote down 40Y instead and I said “no!, I’m not giving you Y40!, the other driver said 14!”

He was yelling and I tried to give him the 14 and he was saying no 40. At this point we attracted a police officer and the cab driver just wanted me out of his cab, so he took the 14 and got back told us to go. The media people who were with me in the back seat were impressed that I wasn’t going to be scammed and the decided that they would stick with me for the rest of the trip.

I really do not like the language barrier. It makes me very nervous, and wary, and maybe a little more suspicious than I need to be. I think that I would feel much more confident and trusting of the people here if I could communicate effectively.



The other night we went to a hot-pot restaurant for dinner. This was an experience. They bring out bowls that fit into the table and have a flame underneath. The bowls are split in two yin-yang style and filled with a mild soup and a spicy soup. They then bring out many plates of vegetables and meat and you put the stuff in the boiling soup for a short while and then pull it out and eat it, kind of like fondue, but different. The veggies were very nice and so was the fish, but the brought us tripe and cow throat as well, which was gross and crunchy and I couldn’t eat it. I was quite good other wise, and I might try this style again.

I have several things I would like to do before I leave. This is my list:

Lakeside walking tour which includes hutong

Summer palace

Great Wall

Dirt Market

Dunes encroaching on the city

I think that’s it. And I should be able to do those things. We’ll see.