Allie arrived in Beijing on Saturday!! Yay! Now we’re a happy little family of three:) We went out to dinner Saturday night to a little Chinese restaurant in our neighborhood to celebrate. Allie has another friend from Wellesley who is interning in Beijing and she joined us, as well. It’s so nice to have more friends around now.
Here’s a picture of Min and I from last week when it was just the two of us. (Now I have to remember to get a picture of the three roommates next time we go out to eat! Oops!)
This past week was busy. With work and friends (now many more friends) I can barely keep track of the time. I’ve started cooking myself some interesting meals that mainly involve chicken, soy sauce and sautéed veggies. It’s an adventure. I feel like every college student goes through this awkward phase when they leave school where they don’t have a cafeteria or a parent feeding them, so they get really creative really quickly… I fell like I’m not doing too shabby though;)
Chicken, mushrooms, and cucumber doused in Chinese spices!
City Weekend had me running around seeking more gelato shops. Apparently a lot of shops have closed recently. My boss was surprised but I think its because yogurt is a lot more popular in China than ice cream is. I finally finished up the gelato reviews with this gem called Gelato-Stick. It sells gelato popsicles and HUGE mugs of coffee:) Needless to say, I was very happy. To continue my caffeine indulgence, I ate mocha coffee gelato covered in crispy rice and milk chocolate. It was seriously good.
Thursday night, my Chinese “family” invited me to join them for dinner. We went out to eat Hong Kong food at a very nice restaurant in a private room! It was a wonderful night and they even ordered lots of eggplant because they know how much I love Chinese eggplant.
My “little sister,” Duoduo.
Yum! Dessert;)
But probably the best I did all week was attend brunch with the Wellesley alumni club in Beijing on Sunday. They organized an amazing brunch for all the Wellesley interns to get together and meet each other and the alumni here. We went to a cool Mexican/Tex-Mex place and the food was amazing! They fed us SO MUCH. It was incredibly generous of them. I met a woman who is a woodworker in North Carolina but her family travels to China during the summer to be with her parents and grandparents. Another woman runs a successful education consulting firm here in Beijing. They do everything and they’re all so impressive and successful. Plus all the alums were so welcoming and cool, in general. I have never felt so welcome and at home, even in such a foreign environment as Beijing. There is truly something magical about the connection that Wellesley siblings share. Wherever I end up in the world, I definitely want to be an active member of the Wellesley alumni club!
All the interns introducing themselves.
Future Wellesley siblings;)
SO MUCH FOOD — 很丰富的饭菜！
Side note, yesterday I was taking a walk and a saw a man selling crickets! Like in Mulan!! I couldn’t help myself, I just had to take a picture:)
That’s all for now. 再见！