Ni men hao. That is basically, "Hey, y'all" in Chinese.

Here's what's shaking in my world.
-Celebrated National Day on Monday last by going to Tian'anmen square. I think we covered this before.
-Went to Silk Street with my American friend and we bought some bootleg dvd's from the shadiest backroom-through-a-mirror-in-a-clothing-store I've ever seen. Not to mention the only.
-Hung out with some more Americans. We got some candy from America, and basically it made me dance with glee. Almost.
-Found a service center for my computer. The man charged me 85 kuai to look at it, and he thinks the harddisk is messed up. (Bad news, people. Start passing a hat...) He will call me tomorrow to let me know, though he speaks Chinese and I don't, so I won't really know one way or another. I'll figure it out. Chinese is harder over the phone because you can't point.
-Went to class...
-Bought over-priced peanut butter and salsa from Jenny Lu's, which is an international grocery store.

Let me say that today I felt for the first time like a real Beijinger. No, I still don't speak good Chinese (thought I suspect that neither do they!). And I still get lost sometimes, but again, I don't think that makes me much different from the natives. What did it, I think, was the acquisition of a subway/bus card. Now I don't have to queue each time I want to get on the train. I can just press my card against the scanner and it beeps and charges me a pre-paid 2 kuai. I also rode all the way across town (including a train change) alone to take care of my computer and grocery shopping. I didn't know where I was going exactly, but I didn't for a single moment get lost. I used some form of landmark recognition and a clear sense of direction to steer me back and from the subway. I looked nonplused when the train shuddered and sighed at the different stops. I didn't even spend my whole half hour both ways staring at the subway map. I took the train like a pro. I walked, rode the train, and rode my bike like someone who has been here a hundred years but has only put 20 onto this body.

21 in a month, people. By the way, let me say in passing that I'm super-excited about the metric system. I understand the conversion, and even so, I've lost 25 pounds since I left the US so very long ago. Good for China making me walk around all the time. And ride a bike.

T