our first big adventure around town

The day began with more of the same--we had textbook distribution (I placed into high intermediate classes, which is probably about right), a welcome luncheon and a group photo. When that was finally over, we were all clueless as to what we wanted to do. Finally, we decided on getting a traditional Chinese massage. Unfortunately, we had no clue where we were going.

Getting to the subway was an adventure in itself. We had been walking for quite some time in what we thought was the right direction, but we were sorely mistaken. We stopped to ask two young women where the subway station was, and they actually volunteered to walk us there. Without their help, I honestly think we would still be searching for it. When we finally got to the subway station, none of us really knew how to get where we needed to go, so that took even longer. Luckily, we finally figured it out and weaved our way through Beijing.

We eventually found our massage parlor, Bodhi. Most of us got a traditional Chinese massage, which was my first massage ever! They gave us cotton pajamas and everything, and I was so comfortable I just wanted to spend the night there. The massage was a little hard (I'm still sore in my lower back), but for the most part it was really relaxing.

The massage parlor was in the area of the Worker's Stadium, so we walked over to see that for a few minutes and got some pictures of the famous statue there. Next, we kept walking down that street and stumbled upon an area called Sanlitun, where a bunch of Western stores (like United Colors of Benetton and Apple) and bars are. We walked around for a while (it was freezing!), and then we found a noodle bar that we all wanted to try. However, said noodle bar was on the second floor, and there was no clear entrance to this place. No ladder, no stairs...hardly even a functioning front door. So after a while of staring at the place with confused looks on our faces, we decided to call them. The man came to the window and on the telephone guided us to his restaurant, which mean going into a dark, sketchy alleyway and finding the right door. There was no sign that even remotely advertised which one it was. It was definitely an experience. But the noodles were good, so I guess that is all that counts.

After that, we visited Wudaokou, a kind of student district with restaurants and bars. We didn't stay long because everything was so packed, but it was fun.