This is called "hot pot". Basically, you have a bunch of raw food and a pot in the middle of the table to cook the food. The twist on this hot pot is that it was mostly mushrooms. My friend Jun Ning (if you remember from the 3rd Ring Road journey) decided she wanted me to experience this type of hot pot. Hot pot usually has a divided bowl where one side is spicy and the other is mild. This one was only mild and was specifically for calming one's stomach. (I had been having some 'intestinal difficulties' due to the overabundance of spicy food in Ningxia Province on vacation.) I've been trying to spend as much tme with Jun Ning as possible because she's going to head back to Taiwan soon. She finised her medical degree and needs to return home. The bowl of 'broth' in the front is a little of the soup base before we added the food. It was so delicious! I don't really like mushrooms but for some reason, I love them in China! The cup you see in the lower left is the tea that we were drinking. The best translation I had for it was "deer blood" but it's also some type of mushroom tea.

This was an interesting night. Jun Ning asked us if we wanted to see some Peking Opera with her. I had never experienced Peking Opera before, so I was excited to do something new! We met for a hot pot supper at a famous Beijing hole-in-the-wall near the theater and near the hutongs. (Hutongs are the old-time communities that you can get lost in if you aren't careful.) I experienced eating stomach for the first time (and the last time) during this hot pot experience. Afterward, we wandered through the hutongs to find the theater. Jun Ning told us that she didn't actually have the tickets. We didn't mind because we thought we could get them at the door. Nope. Show is sold out. The best part about that is that Jun Ning knew that. So, we asked her how we were going to see the show. She was kind of hoping we could beg them to let us see part of it or that we could hide in the bathroom until the show started. 🙂 Ha! When we got to the theater it was completely dark but the door was open so we went in and found the bathroom. This picture is of us waiting in the bathroom. We finally found out that there wasn't a show that night. Sometimes companies will purchase the whole night so that the 'cast' can take a break. This was one of those nights.

...so instead of seeing the show, we wandered around downtown for a while. This is the National Theater. (sometimes people call it the "egg" because it looks like an egg! I will be attending a performance of western opera on Saturday night here! We have the tickets already! I had no tripod for this picture. I'll remember to bring it on Saturday night so I can get a better picture. 🙂

One morning, Jun Ning and I decided to get up early (5 am) and take the subway down to 日坛公园 (the temple of the sun park) to see the sunrise and catch the awesome leaves. Before we left I turned on my camera to see if I had a full charge of battery. 🙂 I wanted to be able to take lots of pictures of the leaves in the great lighting. We got on the very empty subway, traveled 12 stops, transferred to a different line, traveled 7 stops, and got off. I wanted to take a picture of the clock when we got off. I tried to turn on my camera and it wouldn't power up! 🙁 Not cool. (or in Chinese 不好!) I didn't know why it wasn't working. I was a little bit sad and kind of upset because I was really looking forward to capturing the beauty. We walked by many many embassies and finally made it to the park...before the sun came up! We wandered around for a while waiting for the light to come and listening to people yelling across the park. (apparently this is some form of exercise that I am unaware of...also deep belly laughing is included...it was hilarious!) I was so happy that I had my phone with me to take some sub-par photos. I was able to record a bit of the beauty but still sad about the camera. Here is one picture of the awesome yellow leaves! It was so gorgeous!

That same day, I took my camera to the Canon store. I had noticed this store many many times before (it does say Canon after all) and always wanted to go there. I didn't know what the Chinese below the Canon sign said though. (It said "camera fixing" or something like that--perfect!) My friend came with me to the store so that I could express what was wrong with the camera. Of course, the first thing the lady tried was the battery. I understand that some people probably would not think of this. I was a little insulted. When she realized that it wasn't the battery she said it would take a little while to see what was wrong and then to fix it. I was hoping to get the camera back by Monday so that I could venture to the park again and try to capture the last of the beauty with a non-mediocre photo taker. She called a couple hours later and informed us what was wrong with it and how much it would cost. I said go ahead and it was finished the same night! 🙂 I wasn't able to go back to the park the next day because I had to teach all day. On Sunday I went to 任丘Renqiu to lead an adult study and also a kid's study (which ends up being a whole day event). The next possible time for me to return to the park would be between my classes on Monday. Check. As soon as my first class was finished on Monday I was on my way. Most of the leaves were off of the trees because of the big wind in Beijing the day before. Also a little sad. 🙁 It just wasn't meant to be. But, there were still some trees with green leaves. I was able to capture this gem while wandering the park. Praise HIM for his wonderful creation and for allowing me to photograph it! 🙂

This is my friend Wei Bin. He was recently Washed with Water and the Word. He was going to be leaving Beijing for a job but certain events kept him in Beijing. He and I study the BOOK one-on-one. He aproached me to ask me if we could study. He's also studying with another FOCer. I decided to try my hand at Chinese cuisine that night. I made a dish that a Chinese person would call 土豆丝 which is potato strips cooked in oil with some vinegar and peppers. Really, you can make it however you want. Instead of being Tu土dou豆 (potato) si丝 (si = strips), mine was tu土dou豆 clumps. It was still delicious. 🙂 I also had another dish made with green beans and some leftover potato chunks. I also attempted a soup. In the soup was jiao饺zi子 (dumplings) some noodles, cabbage, some onions, and some other random (never measured) spices. It ended up being pretty good. Wei Bin doesn't eat meat so dinner was a challenge. Normally I would just make something involving chicken but I had to be creative. This week he's going to cook for me. I'll take some more pictures.