hi!

Okay, it's Wednesday, and I'm just relaxing, because they told me I didn't need to come into work today. Yesterday I had a really fun day. After class, I grabbed lunch with my friends and then I went with my friend Caitlin to the Chinese Military Museum. It was really incredible. There were no foreigners there, just us. The actual building is built like a nuclear shelter. The inside area was classic Cold War futuristic design. The interior was three stories tall, vaulted ceilings, white walls, the opposite wall from the entrance was lined with Communist flags on poles that, with their pointy tops, doubled as bayonets, just in case of American invasion. There was also a large red star on the wall. It was just like the American public would have imagined a Communist museum in the 1950s. OH, and in this main hall, there were rows of tanks, anti-aircraft guns, and military jeeps. There were two covered outdoor areas with more tanks, airplanes, and other large heavy machines. It was really amazing-there were American, French, British, Chinese, Russian, and Japanese guns, tanks, and airplanes from World War I and World War II. There were Sherman tanks, two downed American spy planes from the 60s...really amazing stuff. It was a very impressive collection, but museums are run very differently in China. In China, there are very few guards to watch the pieces, to the extent that people had scribbled designs and characters in the dust of some of the tanks. My friend and I joked that we should write "Meiguo di yi ci", or "America is number 1" on the Sherman tank. People were yelling, touching stuff, talking on cell phones, etc. Jeez, they had amphibious landers, howitzers, 4 MiGs...I couldn't believe the stuff they had. Oh, and a lot of missiles. Which definitely added to the decor, as two of them framed the red star on the wall, and Communist reg flags. Oh, I almost forgot, oh, I did. oh, yes, they also had a lovely room full of huge busts of Communist leaders and another room labeled "Chinese vigilance against American imperialist aggression." We particularly liked that room. It was funny when we were on the metro on the way back, because as is wont to happen, we were seated next to a gross makeout couple. They were acting like they were in a old movie, and they were the main characters. It's quite surprising, but that happens a lot in China. There are more amorous couple here than I ever seen in America, especially at Georgetown. So, after we got back, we went to a hotpot restaurant, which is where you get a bunch of raw food and cook it in your own little pot. It was really fun. Anyways, I think that's about it. I'm glad Felice and Ron are back in the States-just a couple weeks before I am too!