I WAS A STUDENT

This morning I got up and went to school with CJ at the Beihang University. We had to walk a few blocks to catch the bus. There were a lot of people out walking to wherever, waiting for the bus, riding bikes and a lot of traffic on the streets. The one thing I noticed was how calm it was. Even with all the people it just wasn't noisy. No one seemed to be in any great hurry to get where they were going. Once the bus came we just got on and squished in to find a place to stand. It was about a 15 minute ride to the school. The university campus was very nice, very large and almost like a park, there were a lot of trees and flowers all over. I went to 2 classes with CJ and met his teachers which were most interested in what I was doing there, if I liked Beijing, what I was going to see while there. If I liked Chinese food. They told me CJ works very hard. I am very impressed with how well he can communicate with the teachers and the other students in Chinese.



This is the school parking lot.



After class we took a little trip to the local Walmart, got something to eat and did a little shopping. We got a taxi ride home which only cost 14 yuan which is about $2.00. The taxi ride was quite interesting. I had been noticing the way the people drive here. They cut in and out of traffic with out signals, cars come out of nowhere and cut in, bicycles and pedestrians get a little beep of the horn to let you know they are behind you and to be careful. Taxis stop almost in the middle of the road to pick up passengers and yet there is NO roadrage or gestures. It is all just acceptable. We arrived safely at our destination.



I saw this bird a few times. It is a little larger than a pigeon. I asked one of the teachers what it was. Translated it means "lucky bird". The Chinese consider it to be lucky but I think they feel a lot of things are lucky.



So this evening we invited CJ's friends over. Keiko couldn't make it because she is leaving tomorrow to go to Southern China for a job. I did get to meet her and talk with her at the school this morning. She was a very sweet girl.



Guizi and Zhousiyuan did come over around 6:00. Ryan had made some sauce for his brother that we froze and I brought over. So I made spaghetti for them. They really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed having them here. We had fun. Guizi is Japanes and tries to speak English, she is a character and a lot of fun. Zhousiyuan is from a city near Russia and speaks English well but said he can understand what we say but sometimes he has a hard time saying things in English. They brought a watermelon and ice cream. I gave them each a Steelers shirt which they were excited about. I also brought some of CJ and Ryan's baby picures which was a big hit!!!