DAY 5, Tues 6 Sep

My last day in Beijing! I regretted my Wednesday flight selection from the beginning, but I figured it'd be a less hectic day to travel. I woke up and relaxed and chatted with the French-Canadian couple who are also staying in my hotel. They came for tourism reasons, but they are also on a adoption list for a Chinese baby girl. I think they said it's been 6 years? After about the year 2000, the adoption process in China became more difficult and takes longer. They still seem positive and hopeful about their situation. I wondered why they didn't also add their names to a list in Vietnam or another country that has a shorter waiting list, but in Canada you can only be on one list at a time, and their don't want to risk losing their spot since they have already committed to China.
After breakfast, I head to a little hair shop in my Hutong (alleyway) for a wash and flat iron.

Front door to my place

The bingmasi hutong (my alleyway neighborhood)

The bingmasi hutong (my alleyway neighborhood)

The lady who did my hair kept telling me I should get a permanent chemical straightener instead of using the damaging heat from flat iron. I didn't know how to explain to her that I already had chemicals on my hair and it didn't matter I still have to flat iron if I want it straight :-/ but it was fine, she did what I asked and it turned out fine. The shop was ran by a mom and daughter from Hunan province, but of course moved to Beijing for work. They enjoyed chatting with me a bit, and when I told them I was also planning to go for a massage today, they insisted that they could do it for me. The daughter did my feet. She is my age (28 yrs old) and really wanted to know my opinion about getting married "so late" and talked about how difficult it is to find a man in Beijing with a suitable job and income, but she's getting too old and doesn't know if she'll find someone soon enough :-/ In Chinese, girls who aren't married are called "left on the shelf".
Her mom also wanted to know how many kids are you 'allowed' to have in the US, she didn't really seem to understand that it's up to individual families to decide. China still has 1-child policy, but mostly only in the big city. After my massage, they cooked me lunch! Winter melon with pork and rice. They live and work in the same place, so it was interesting to see their home situation. In fact, my massage was in the daughter's bedroom!
After lunch, I went back to my room to grab some candy for them, and of course they couldn't have me give them something and nothing back in return :p so they also gave me an apple!


From the salon, I took the subway to the Temple of Heaven, a huge complex of Taoist temples

The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, made of all wood, no nails

After I was done walking around there, I went to meet Amy for my last dinner in Beijing. It was rush hour and it took her quite awhile on the bus. We grabbed dinner at the closest place we could find. It turned out to be really yummy! One kind of odd cultural difference is that in Chinese restaurants the waitress will hand you a menu, and then stand there and stare at you waiting for you to order. It's very awkward feeling. A lot of times, you want to take your time, look things over--come back later, but no, there she is glaring over your shoulder pen in hand.

Salty peanuts, tofu strips, and celery

Another interesting thing I learned dining in mainland China is that if you call the waitress "miss" or xiao jie 小姐 as we are taught in Chinese school, it's rude because the new accepted meaning of miss is prostitute. Great. I'm sure I get a pass since I'm a foreigner, but when I went to dinner with Anna from my hotel she called the waitress mei nü
美女 which literally means pretty lady. It sounds weird that pretty lady sounds better than miss. Try it out--"hello, beautiful woman! I want to make an order!" 
After dinner I went to walk to the theater where I was supposed to see an acrobatics show, but realized I read the paper wrong and it was 东四十条 not 东四 oops! I gave Amy a quick hug and ran to the subway. I got there about 10-15 mins late, but it wasn't a big deal. Overall the acrobatic show was pretty whatever. Again, another reason not to travel alone :-( if there was something exciting or cool, I had no one to look across at and go "did you see that?" 

 

Last night in Beijing was pretty sad, but I still wasn't ready to go on to Hong Kong and be alone again. At least in Beijing I knew my neighborhood, I knew the people at my hotel, but it's time to move on.