2 Weeks In China!!

I cannot believe another week has gone, mon-fri just flys by! I thought that today I'd post a kind of round up about the past 2 weeks, highlights, things i've learnt, stuff I might have forgotten to mention etc.
So here goes:

• I learnt that pollution can actually be seen, one day you can see buildings and the city and the next you can wake up and literally not see outside your bedroom window!
• People on the subways in Beijing are mental, and will not stop for anyone or anything! Today my dress got ripped as someone pushed past and their bag caught on my dress, and instead of stopping they just kept pulling, making a big hole in my dress.
• Same goes for buses, as my cut heel shows.
• Make up is a waste of time for work as by the time you get there on the 2 subways and a bus ride, its all melted away - yet I still keep doing it! 
• Street food stalls are very popular and are everywhere you go, they smell delicious and I wish I was brave enough to try them! 
• Cereal is very hard to find!
• Chinese supermarkets are just weird, too much yelling and too many gross things. 
• And the "pharmacy" if you can call it that, is very different to a western chemist. I went looking for plasters and came out with a 30cm roll of bandages and some tape that hardly even sticks!!
• I saw my first chinese drag queen with a moustache in the supermarket, why he decided the moustache was good for his look that day, with his neon dress and platform flip flops I'll never know. 
• I have only got lost about 3 times, twice being in the past two days after taking the wrong buses, thankfully worked out a way home after much walking around. (my boss said oh yeah you can get pretty much any bus between work and the subway - hes wrong!) Although I did get to catch a mahjong tournament when I was lost yesterday, was very interesting to see.
• Chinese is a very hard and unique language.
• Miming is a good way to communicate!!
• The chinese people love to stare at foreigners and have no shame in doing so, even when you directly look at them to let them know youve seen them staring, they will carry on. It can be quite uncomfortable especially on the subway, today this guy even moved places so his view of me wasnt blocked. Feel like holding a sign saying I'll be here everyday for the next 6 weeks, you dont all need to stare.I might start selling tickets! 
• First experience in a tuk-tuk.
• Tried so much new food, often whether I wanted to or not, but most of it has been yummy!
• Took a trip to the Summer Palace, very pretty but very hot!
• Met some very nice people in my office who have been very kind and helpful, even though it is hard for some of them to speak english.
• Food etc, is so cheap in China.
• Clothes from branded shops are expensive.
• Sometimes people just want to start talking to you, even though you clearly have no idea what they're saying (twice today!)
• Normal people live in hutongs, not just poor people, it is quite common for retired people to live in them. 
• Beijing is definitely a city that never sleeps!

I think that covers most things, if I think of anything else I'll tag it on the end.

Vivian went on holiday today, and her mum came to stay, she speaks no english. This could be an interesting two weeks!! 

xxxx