After her explorations around Southeast Asia and before she conquered the rest of the world, Emma (a great friend from Rice) stopped by Beijing! Absolutely loved the incredibly large amounts of laughter we had over...pretty much everything. Best ab workouts ever.
Thankfully, Emma could also use a break from Asian food, so we promptly indulged in some good old American burgers. It's about as American as the Chinese food in the US is actually Chinese. But we will certainly take up the opportunity to taste a little bit of home.
And.... we introduced her to some good old Beijing foot massages.
When in Beijing....
Very typical view of Madeleine as we would find various study/work spots to crash in. A sweet smile as she looks up from her studious studies, her classic earphones wrapped in colorful string, the side braid, and her dad's old Young Life sweatshirt.
As you will continue to see, Emma captured a lot of images from our everyday life in China which I often don't think to document. But even looking back on it now brings back floods of memories, hence some pictures (in the next few posts as well) that are more just about surroundings then anything else. Thank you, Emma!!
How we boil water for coffee/tea/washing dishes/etc: in a saucepan. Later converted to the wok.
Complete with the ever-present smell of gas throughout our whole apartment.
Drying.
I will always appreciate dishwashers forevermore.
Note the Ikea candles for an attempt at good smells... planted throughout the whole apartment.
Our view from the kitchen window:
A MASSIVE dirt pile (that mysteriously appeared overnight) and the ghost houses that seemed to never actually make any progress. This was a very low pollution day. On the bad days, you can't see the dirt pile or concrete homes at all. And it's directly across the street. (Also, most homes are made completely out of concrete. This means thumbtacks and nails do not go into the walls....)
(On the right side, you can see our fridge, covered in sweet letters written to us in China. In the middle is our attempt to bring life into our apartment. Incidentally, Ikea plants, and a random tomato plant, last the longest. (Our plants somehow had record dying times in our apartment.))
Hair washing. In the sink. With water warmed on the stove.
Just in time for Emma's arrival, almost every appliance stopped working (which is unfortunately very normal). This meant the shower, toilet and washer machine were broken the entire time (very similar to when Tiffany came...). The only appliance left to break is the stove, which has never worked properly anyway. (And the heater doesn't do much anyway.)
More sink hair washing. One thing I do not miss about China. Aside from the laughter that would result from the sheer ridiculousness of everyday life...
Waiting at the bus stop.
One of the precious few days where you can see the sun!!!!
In the background, you can see what our apartment building looked like. We were on the top floor.
Typical Chinese soup with lots of random unknown things thrown in. But somehow (usually) delicious.
I had the best time with you and Mad in China :) Makes me smile just thinking about it!
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