Day 3- eat, pray, love- the giant pandas!

Saturday morning, I woke up pretty refreshed (thank you,
melatonin) and we had a free day to get acclimated.  I
decided to find the 'local' Walmart for my first mission.
I needed some household items, and there were a few
grocery items I could not get at the local market.
This is the front view of my apartment building- so nice!

When I step out the front door, this is the courtyard.  I am in a gated
community of 27 buildings, each which have four towers.  I am in
building 24, tower 4, and my apartment is on the ninth floor.  I will show
you pictures of the interior when I am more settled :)  Let me just say
this, this is the nicest apartment I have ever been in- it's truly amazing.

It was Day 3 of the Beijing haze, and this is what the
sunshine looks like.  Oh how I miss the blue sky
and bright sunshine from back home- be it in Indiana
or on Marquesa down in the Florida Keys.

I was glad to get out and stretch my legs after days of travel, and lots of
standing and waiting as of late.  However, I had NO IDEA it was an hour
and a half walk to Walmart.  On the map, it looked like it was much closer.
I was never so happy to see a Walmart sign, and those who know me well
know how much I hate Walmart.  Not today- I was happy to see their sign!

Pictures are my friend :)  I will be screwed to go to a
restaurant that does not have a picture menu!  For
now, I simply point at the things I want.  It took over fifteen
minutes and five different Chinese people getting involved
to help me find a bottle of bleach!  I am using an app on my
iPhone for most things...I can type the words in English,
and I get a Mandarin translation to show the local person.
If I lost my phone AND had a menu without pictures,
I would be TOTALLY screwed, lol.

Who knew that purchasing eggs would require such
critical thinking...what bird did these eggs come from?
Are they fertilized?  Are the already cooked?  Are they fresh?
They all look pretty 'organic' to me, but I am sure that is
not the case.  In my confusion and trying to communicate with the
locals by sign language and pointing, I reverted to speaking in Spanish
in an effort to be understood.  That only made matters worse; but I
cracked myself up in the process!  They probably thought I was a
crazy person.  The good Lord was looking out for me once
again, though- I was the happiest girl to come home and make a
fried egg sandwich!  YES- I found sliced bread, too :)))

I have a friend who sings about "Ol' Ray, who wears the
same shirt every day."  Lucky for Ray, fashion doesn't
mean a thing on Conch Key.  The same is true in China.
I see the craziest outfits...blue striped pants with a neon
flowered shirt, purple shoes, and a red purse.  I crack a
smile every time I see an adult who looks like a three year
old that has dressed himself for the very first time.
Apparently in China, anything goes, just grab whatever! 

I came home with SO MUCH STUFF that I had to hail a taxi to get home.
The throw pillows?  $1.90 US  each. The stainless sauce pan?  $8.00 US,
and it's a good quality stainless.  I cleaned up- dutch oven pot, stainless
dish drain, hangars, clothespins, wire whisk, glass mugs, ice cube trays
toilet brush, pillows, colander and mixing bowl, a welcome rug and lots of
 groceries for under $50.00.  I even scored some black cherries, which made
me so happy as they were just coming in season back home when I left :)

After I put everything away and ate my fried egg sandwich, (delish!) it was still early afternoon, and I thought to myself, "Now what?"  When I had a conversation with my daughter Emily about China, she gave me some very wise advice.  She said, "Momma, you just need to Eat, Pray, and Love your way through China.  She was right.  It is my credo...

eat

pray

love

I obviously have much to learn in the coming months...but I believe this is a good starting point to discovering what I want in this next season of my life.  After we discussed this further, I said to Emily, "The first chance I get, I am going to make myself navigate that city of 22 million people to find the Giant Pandas."  So, while I savored the simple pleasure of eating a fried egg sandwich, I poured over the map of Beijing, locating the famous Beijing Zoo.  I got out the subway map and attempted to decipher what lines I would need to pick up to get myself there. I then looked up some information about the zoo in my Beijing City Guide that I bought when I accepted the job with Beijing National Day School last November.

I remember the day I bought this-
to celebrate a new adventure :)

The first step of the Panda mission was to find the nearest subway station-
Check!  It was near the McDonald's that I stopped in at last night.

So far, so good!  I have been in subways all over the world, thanks to my
two oldest girls, Jennessa and Carissa who have been stationed overseas
with the USAF.  I was wishing they were with me, actually :)

I was imagining the subway system of Beijing to be a shoving, pushing,
mass of Chinese humanity, but again- so far, so good!  I am living in the
Haidian district, which is west of the city center, between the third and fourth
ring roads.  If you'd like to know more en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_roads_of_Beijing

By the time I made it near the city center to change lines- WOAH! Now
this is Beijing!  I also felt police presence for the first time...it was orderly
chaos, if you can imagine.  The station was so crowded with wall to wall
people (and HOT), that police officers with night sticks were shouting at, and
controlling, the crowd.  While it seemed a bit scary and intimidating at first, it
really worked very well.  The police would stop the flow of people for several
minutes until the hallways would clear, and then the crowd would be released
to walk a bit further.  While it was very hot and uncomfortable for about
fifteen minutes getting to the next subway line, it was much better than
getting trampled on or stomped to death!  I got to the next line, no problemo!

I was the happiest girl to pop up from the subway only
to see the entrance to the Beijing Zoo- I DID IT!!!
I had to do a selfie 'squishy' of the panda :)))

The Beijing Zoo complex is HUGE (I mean, really, everything in China is
bigger).  There's an aquarium, planetarium, and the typical zoo exhibits.
You can purchase individual tickets, or buy a combo pass.  Given that
I only had 1.5 hours until closing time, I bought a ticket to the Giant Panda
House, which included many other animals, too.  It cost a whopping $3.00.

I watched the red pandas first (known as the 'lesser' pandas)
but I couldn't get a good photo of them.  Then, I came upon
this guy!  He was hungry; chomping on his bamboo.  There
are over 20 pandas in all in the Giant Panda House. The Chinese
 love their Giant Pandas- you see them on signs everywhere.

This big boy was passed out- it made me miss Willis T,
the way he was flopped down, and belly up.  I wanted
to give him a belly rub, but the five inch nails and three
inch glass prevented me from doing so.

I loved watching the lemurs play- and then I wished I had
brought the Merry Madagascar dvd with me to watch at home!

I don't recall seeing a 'snub nosed monkey' before- the dude had a
beer gut like no other!

Another new one for me was the 'raccoon dog', about the size of a fox. Cute :)

There is beautiful green space, boat rides, train rides and such, all over the
complex.  I didn't have the time to explore, but now that I know my way there
I will definitely come back to spend an entire day- for less than $10.00.

I bought my share of 'street food' all afternoon.  I discovered
ice cream bars that taste like coconut for 15 cents.  While it was no
Blue Bunny Strawberry Eclair, or a frozen Key Lime Pie dipped
in chocolate on a stick, it was delicious- and ONLY 15 cents!
I had a quarter of a cantaloupe on a stick for 30 cents, and then I
tried this thing for 60 cents.  I thought it would be like a hot dog or
sausage. This was no Chicago style dog.  It was so greasy, and the
texture of the mystery meat was like a pate'- after two bites,
I pitched it in the nearest trash can :( 

Though it was nearly nine o'clock in the evening, I decided to make myself
a more nutritional dinner.  I made the sauce from scratch with fresh tomatoes,
garlic, onion, and peppers, and what I thought was ground beef.  After the first
bite or two, maybe it was yak?!  Very gristle-y.  I picked the meat out and threw it
away. I was happy to find Vitamin water here Beijing- berry pomegranate- my favorite!

A big electrical storm came through after 11pm.  I wanted to run outside
and get my hair wet like I do back home, but I thought better of it.
With the terrible smog thus far, that was surely acid rain pouring down!
Still, it was beautiful to watch the storm out my bedroom window.
I was up until 1am, just watching the night sky- the simplest of pleasures.
There is something to be said for truly being 'tuned in' and connected
to living in the moment.  It feels really good.  G'nite, y'all!