beijing okay

Sadly, the weekend's over. Saturday night Ariel and I took a terrifying motorbike taxi ride to Silvy's apartment and then to a 粥 （zhou1， it's like an oh-so-delicious rice porridge） restaurant and then a ghetto, but cheap, beer garden. Yesterday we met up with an acquaintance of Silvia's who is working with a luxury hotel company and traveling all over Asia. His company is building a hotel directly on the grounds of the Summer Palace, so a new crop of incredibly wealthy people can live in controlled opulence just like the Dowager herself. Other than that, some painting, resting and homey time.

I came out of the subway station this morning to find the grey sky even more grey than usual and rain pouring down in a steady stream. I started walking quickly, but soon a man came and held his umbrella over my head and asked me a few friendly questions. Another lent me an extra umbrella he had so I didn't come to work soaked. Very kind.