Beijingle Bells!

Today was the first day of break and so Geoff and I went to McDonalds for lunch. The place looked like the New York Stock Exchange. The Chinese haven't really got the concept of waiting in a line yet, so imagine a crazy lunch hour rush at McDonald's with no lines and you have something similar. Once we got our food, there was no place to sit and so we finally had the good fortune to spot two businessmen right when they were about to get up from a table that sat four, so we went and sat down. A few things to keep in mind here. This place is cramped and crowded, standing room only. There are two of us, and four seats at our table. We waited to see if anyone would come and sit next to the foreigners for nearly twenty minutes. Several people looked like they might, but then quickly turned away. Others simply ate standing up. When we left, it was a mad dash to our table. Afterward, we walked down to the Lotus Center which is a rather large department store. Inside the Lotus Center is well decorated with all the Christmas spirit of anywhere in America. Still can't quite figure that one out, but it took me record time to get annoyed with Christmas carols this year. Geoff and I bought a small Christmas tree and a few decorations (think Charlie Brown)and when we came back to campus decorated a little bit. A little later on, all the staff had a belated Thanksgiving dinner that, even though was lacking in the traditional elements, certainly was not lacking in spirit. As always, Geoff had his camera there and took a few hundred pictures then whittled them down to these.

Geoff's PicasaWeb