Neighborhood pics & Peter's Tex Mex review & other stuff

I deleted a post I wrote last night that was really negative.  I realized that it was just one bad China day, and that it's both big city shock and culture shock combining into a negative stew that bubbles over when I am tired or hungry.  I have read a lot about the differences between Chinese & American culture and that helps.  It also helps that I have made the acquaintance of some of the other expat parents of Oleg's school and they have been giving me tips on where to find this or that, where to get a haircut, etc... The one part of Chinese culture I will never get used to is the spitting on the sidewalk or street.  And when I say spitting, I mean a full-on, throat-clearing loogie hock that you literally have to jump out of the way to avoid.  Men & women do it, although I have to say I almost never see it in anyone under the age of 35.  That, among other big city grossness, is why we have taken up the Chinese habit of ALWAYS taking our shoes off when we walk in the door.

I had my first 2 hour Mandarin lesson today and my tutor, Cici, is a real taskmaster!  I came out of that 2 hours with a whole new feeling of confidence.  I'm sure that will grow with each lesson.  I walked all over trying to find the donkey restaurant after my lesson, and finally found it.  There was a delicious aroma surrounding the restaurant and I though "OMG, I must like the smell of roasting donkey flesh", but then I realized the smell was coming from an American BBQ restaurant a few doors down.  Here is a pic.  It's not as good as I would have liked.  It's the little green shop and the sign says "Donkey Flesh Hamburg" and there is a donkey grazing in a field in the background.  Sounds delicious.

Here are some random pics of my neighborhood.  The day I took them was really smoggy (like most days) but then I had a clear day today because of some wind last night and took one more.

Side pic of my apartment building

Across the street from dog poop mountain

The street Oleg & I cross every day to get to the bus stop

In the middle of my street waiting to be run over.  But I can see the sky!

Onto our excursion to Peter's Tex Mex.  We got a late start and got lost and it's a long story, but we finally got there tired and starving.  Typical U.S. Mexican restaurant set up inside down to the Chinese servers all wearing traditional Mexican outfits.  The servers spoke fluent English which is enough in itself to make this place feel familiar.  Chips. salsa (although you only got like a tablespoon) & margaritas were awesome.  The rest of the meal was fine, a little off like all Western food here tends to be.  For example, Steve's shrimp tacos had mushrooms in them which is a little weird and the food was all sort of bland.  However it was all edible and homey feeling and we will definitely return,  even if for the chips, salsa and margaritas alone!

There are 2 things that could happen that would make me really happy this week. 1)If Steve can get my kitchen water filter working this weekend and 2)If our first shipment makes it through customs.  It arrived, and customs has my passport while they attempt to clear the shipment.  This can take 3 days or 6 weeks.  Hopefully, we will have ours on Friday and our stuff will make our apartment feel more like our home. Then I will resume my Beijing shopping bender when I determine what we still need.  More on this in another post, but the shopping here makes me want to cry with joy.  That is for another post on another day.