Pops and Paige in Beijing

My father and stepmother were here for two weeks and came just in time to stay at my new place. In fact, I only slept in it for one night before they came! And the location was perfect for them. Not only that but they adapted to Beijing extremely well, my father becoming the most diehard of bargainers I've ever seen in such a short time, even outdoing me, and I can speak Chinese! Go pops! That was hillarious! They were able to see most of Beijing and even became familiar with some of the sidestreets and shortcuts. I was worried about my stepmother's extreme allergy to MSG, but I guess the line "If she eats it, she will die. And if she dies, YOU are responsible" pretty much convinced them not to put any in. And from the look on the their faces and the time they were gone after we ordered, I wouldn't be surprised if they were in the kitchen watching the chefs!



The traffic and endless crowds sometimes got to them but they were troopers and I was happy they enjoyed their stay. My father even wants to try to come again and I hope he does. If so, then we go to the countryside since on this trip they only saw the big cities (we went to Shanghai for a long weekend too). And I don't know why but they had some sort of fetish for paintings of Qing dynasty maidens and managed to bring home something around the order of twelve! I told my dad he's subconsciously fulfilling his fantasy of having a harem! "No, they are gifts (smile)." Sure pop, ah huh.

While in Shanghai we got to meet a very good friend of mine, William, who I met at UCLA. We hadn't seen each other in at least four years and it was great seeing him again. He took us out to lunch with his girlfriend and we had a blast. He and my father really connected and I think by all of our laughing and demands from the servers, we drove out some of the customers and drove some servers insane! Very memorable time. But Shanghai is not a place for traveling unless you like shopping. Nothing else really to see there except people and skyscrapers (if the air is somehow clear that is), and madness. Made me realize how happy I am to be in Beijing.
Willy!