Tuesday June 16: In the spirit of becoming more self-sufficient, I took a bus trip to meet Peggy at the McDonald’s near the Silk Market, by myself. She doesn’t live near Bei Wai, so we agreed to meet in the middle. I figured, “Hey, you’ve been there twice right?” Didn’t matter…took the north bound/wrong bus on the way to the subway and ended up waaay above the Summer Palace. It was cool to meet some Europeans that were more lost than myself though! haha. I had an ice cream at a corner store at the last stop as I looked around for the return stop. It took a while to find because it was on the other side of the bus depot, a block away and not on the route itself. After an hour ride back the other way, I finally reached the subway stop. From there I was good. 
McDonald’s was an interesting site. First, it was underground. Second it was chock full of Chinese people (not really so strange anymore). Everything was comparable priced, and I was having a mild culture shock, so I ordered a “large” bigmac meal with a coconut pie and garlic chile sauce! Is this a new thing in the states as well? After I finished, we sat for about 4 hours just asking each other questions. We did my homework, I asked her to teach me how to swear (she wouldn’t), it was great.
On the way back, I put on some music for the subway ride and conducted an experiment. The goal was to see how long I could stand during the train ride back with my eyes closed. The last time, I made it the final two stops with my eyes closed and my arms crossed, headphones in. I was actually bumped less often! I’m not really sure why that was fun. It was harder to keep balanced.
Apparently got on the wrong bus again on the way back to Bei Wai. At this point it was around 8, so I was kindof running out of time because the busses shut down at around 9. I really have no idea what happened because I got on the same numbered bus on the other side of the street from where I got off, and it went ahead and took me to the end of the line. I have traveled the entire route of the 374 bus twice in a single day! Think about it. Was trying to use some phrases Peggy gave me, and some people actually understood me. To no avail, however, because they had apparently never heard of Bei Wai. Eventually a man that spoke some English held me by the hand to the correct bus stop.
After all of that, a woman named Minky was waiting outside my dorm to offer me a job teaching English. “The Veritas Academy” Sounded pretty impressive. We exchanged numbers and I went to sleep.
ps - McDonalds upset my stomach more than anything else I have eaten here yet.
pps - Francis called me.
