beijing okay

Miamians and Otherins,

Yesterday was Mid-Autumn festival day, or 中秋节，which is the celebration of the fullest moon of the year, among other things. The streets were packed, especially around 6-8pm, and Ariel and I walked a lot marveling at the hideous crowds and traffic, then had pizza and Belgian beer for dinner. Later this week most parks will be dressed up with many red lanterns and people will continue to burn joss to bring money to the dead and release red balloons into the air for ancestor spirits. Still, this is a much quieter holiday than Chinese New Year, and it's mostly a time to spend with families.

Annoying news; I was just told today that I'll have to work the weekend since we have a few days off next week. The thing is, we only have three days off, so they are giving us two more days to make it a full week that we'll have off, although I'd rather just work those weekdays so I don't have to work a weekend. Confusing and kind of stupid.

Ariel made some short videos of our apartment and the view from our balconies yesterday. The video below is a view from our living room balcony. (Note the giant "in progress" buildings right in front.) Our place is cute but not gussied up completely yet, as you can see from Ariel's blog.

东直门内大街 （This video is first overlooking a local mall and housing complex then pans to 鬼街，or ghost street, which is a major restaurant district.)