a quick trip to beijing

June 20, 2013-

Want to head with us to Beijing this morning?  We're on a mission-critical trip – we need to go pick up Mark's passport from the US Embassy.  His passport will expire in less than six months and we went about a month ago to get the renewal process started.  Now it's ready to be picked up and unfortunately Mark is super busy at work and can't make the trip with us.  

Hey…that seemed like a fast drive to Beijing.  Actually, I'm sure it wasn't but I'm reading my favorite book (The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie) which makes the time pass too quickly.  

We're at the US Embassy- it's a non-descript building surrounded by high fences and guards.  You can't bring inside electronic gadgets (including mobile phones) so I think I'll just leave my phone in our car.  Okay, I've also asked our driver – in Chinese – to just wait for us.  

Mercifully, even though there is a L-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-ONG line of Chinese nationals waiting to get inside the Embassy there is a separate line (and much shorter!) for Americans.  Whew!  I think getting Mark's passport took maybe ten minutes- if that.  That was FAST!  (thank you American Embassy for making that  painless for me!)

We're done!  That was so easy….but WHERE THE HECK IS OUR DRIVER?????

He left us!  Ack!!!!!!!!  Oh NOOOOO!!!  And of all things- I left my phone in the car! That phone is my life.  I'm already feeling anxious and slightly aggitated as it is.  Well, let's just walk up and down the street next to the Embassy and hope (& pray!) that he returns.  

Huh!  There are LOTS of Chinese people trying to enter the US Embassy – I think they're all applying for visas to visit our beautiful country.  Hey, by the way, did you know that the Chinese name for America is MeiGuo – which means "beautiful country".  :-) There are also lots of people handing out brochures- they jammed some papers in my hands….HA HA HA HA!!!  It's map of the USA in Chinese.  Oh boy- there are a few places listed in English on the map – and several of them are misspelled! Whoops.  I seriously hope the Chinese don't think they'll be understood saying the Chinese names of these places while visiting the USA.  

Now, that was very curious….very curious indeed.  A woman wearing a veil (Muslim) just approached me and started talking to me in excellent English.  That's not really very curious but it's what she was asking me that I found strange.  She was telling me that she got a visa in Saudia Arabia to visit the USA for business purposes.  She says she's a Chinese national (but she really doesn't look like one).  She talked about wanting to study at some university in Michigan and wasn't sure about …something. ??? I think she was trying to ask me what visa she should get in order to go to school in the USA but I honestly can't be sure.  It was all rather confusing.  I explained to her that while I am an American I don't know anything about visa regulations and that, sadly, I wasn't the person to ask about such matters. And after all that she started talking about how pretty my girls are (yes, I do think they are too!) AND asked if I had any lunch plans as she'd love to take me a certain restaurant for lunch.  Mr. Li????????  Where are you???????  This is getting weird.  Thank you but no thank you (we do, in fact, have lunch plans). 

OH THANK GOD!!!!

We've been walking up and down the street for close to 45 minutes and our driver *finally* pulled up!  {whew!}

Let's head to lunch at the Blue Frog in Sanlitun, okay?  I promised the girls I'd take them there for lunch after our errand was finished.

We're here- I mean at Sanlitun. 

Check out the colorfully decked-out UNIQLO building:

The girls loved all the colors!

A rather unfortunate dress:

Am I the only one that thinks this dress is hideous? The placement of the bunnies is just off. (although, I do think the bunnies are cute)

At Blue Frog:

The girls brought along an UNO card game to pass the time. Good thinking, girls!

My delicious miso salmon lunch: 

Yum! Don't you dare try to steal any of my salmon!!!!

I've still got a few last-minute gifts to purchase.  Let's do a super quick trip to the Yashow Market (which is conveniently located next to the Sanlitun shopping center).  

Yay!  I found the gifts I was hoping to find and a few things for myself (I can't resist buying scarves!).  

Check out the fake Marimekko fabric pillowcases:

There is NO WAY I'm going to buy knock-off Marimekko stuff.  Plus, the quality of the fabric is wimpy and poor.  It's definitely NOT the real thing.  I do know what the real thing is like as we I bought several Marimekko items while I visited Finland a few years ago.  (I actually have two pillowcases)

Pondering in thought: Is there anything that China won't create a knock-off of?

Well, it's 2:00pm….time to head back home.  Thankfully our driver is waiting for us.  What a relief!

I think I'll take a little snooze now….see ya back home!