Hello!

Today was amazing! We walked all day today. We saw the Forbidden City, Tian'anmen Square, and went to all sorts of markets and street vendors. We took pictures in traditional clothes (Picture #1) and did a lot of touristy shopping and picture-taking. I also learned a few important things- the main points which I have laid out below.

1. Lesson number one- Chinese candy is nothing like American candy. We kept passing all these stores with beautifully-wrapped candy and so a few of us got really excited and wanted to buy some. We got a whole bag, and eagerly tore it open. Gooey rice starch covering slightly sweet dried bean paste was not exactly what we were expecting. I thought one crunch candy was pretty good, until I asked a Chinese speaker to read the package, and I found out it was shrimp-flavored candy...

2. I now now a few more Chinese symbols. I saw this symbol 中, and thought it was pretty cool, as it looked like half of the only other character I know, 串 meaning skewer, so I told my friend Yi this, and asked what the half skewer symbol was, jokingly guessing it meant literally a skewer with only one piece of meat on it. When he realized what it meant he laughed and laughed! Apparently, half a skewer means China. Yi had a blast telling everyone about my "half skewer" hypothesis. I also know the word for big and mouth now. I see them everywhere, and I get really excited when I can pick the symbols out.

3. I learned that I am really weird looking here. We were standing in line to the Forbidden City and a lady came up with her cellphone camera. She pointed it right in my face, literally two feet away and started taking pictures. I wan't quite sure what to do, but Josh got out his camera and started taking pictures of her, and she LAUGHED, realizing how funny the situation was. He got a really good picture of her too! (Picture #2)