Dishwasher mishaps, Mandarin lessons

Funny story.  I ran out of dishwasher detergent that I had brought from the States, so I broke out the bottle of Chinese detergent I had bought.  My first clue should have been the hand soap like pump bottle which made getting it into the detergent cup in my mini European dishwasher awkward.  Contortionist awkward. As I was squirting it, I'm thinking "This is wrong.", but I think that a lot these days and it usually ends with me being the one that is wrong.  So I started the dishwasher, and left with Oleg for the bus stop.  Oleg got on the bus, I chatted with some of the other parents, stopped at the bank machine and got some breakfast.

I open the door to my apartment and I can only describe the sound my dishwasher was making as crying.  I turned to look at my kitchen and it was full of fluffy soap suds which were multiplying in front of my eyes. Good news is, I cleaned it up, literally picking up armfuls of suds to put in the sink,  ran the dishwasher again without soap and it works fine! I also have an incredibly clean floor now.  If you haven't guessed by now, I used dishwashing liquid in my dishwasher.  Here is the evidence:

Meow...please don't put me in the dishwasher.

Small dishwasher that was full of suds

In other news, I went to my Mandarin language school and set up my Mandarin lessons.  I will be going Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10-12.  Fun fact.  Right across the street from my school is a donkey restaurant.  Not a restaurant for donkeys, but a restaurant where they serve donkeys.  I will get a picture next week.

Another thing I'm thinking about is that last night (Friday evening about 9pm) when I was walking Schnitzel, there were a bunch of people walking around the neighborhood with bags of fruits and veggies and yummy street food (more on that in another post-street food is AWESOME).  There is a night market somewhere in my neighborhood and I must find it.  I know you are thinking "just ask someone", but unless I speak Mandarin, I'll never find out from the locals.  The people who work in my building that speak English are probably not from this neighborhood so they wouldn't know anything that neighborhood specific.  It's just going to take some investigative work on my part, meaning I need to tail some unsuspecting local person one of these nights. Or learn fluent Mandarin, whichever I can accomplish first.

Steve is coming home this afternoon and we are going to Peter's Tex Mex in Lido Place tonight.  I know this has nothing to do with China or its culture, but I'm just excited. They are supposed to have the best and most authentic Tex Mex in Beijing.  Tacos y margaritas, por favor!