Jan 27

Today was an interesting day. I made plans to meet up for dinner with my cousin Bei bei and my aunt. I was so excited, but since I wasn't sure whether my schedule would allow me the time to meet with them, I hadn't brought them anything from America. My teacher suggested I give them American chocolates, which he said I could find at a big department store by the subway station. Thus began what I have dubbed "The Great Chocolate Hunt." I walked to the department store by myself, and it was just past the 地铁(ditie, or subway) which is a good 15 minute walk from our apartments. Then, it turns out chocolate is on floor -2, which I only found out after searching every floor up to floor 4, then being instructed to take the elevator back down (which only went to floor one), then hunting for the one lone escalator that would lead me to -1, which would then lead me to -2.

I returned just in the knick of time to join a bunch of people who were heading out to see the Bird's Nest and Water Cube at the olympic stadium. We wanted to go just in time to see it in the daytime as well as the nighttime, so we went around 4pm. It was beautiful, but cold.
In the nighttime though, it was even more stunning. The architecture of the two building is amazing. They are so sturdy and simple in design but so beautiful in their simplicity. At night, the water cube glowed with its bubble tiled outside lit in a blue glow.
It really looked literally like an igloo or stacks of cubes of water. The bird's nest provided a striking contrast with the steel "branches" of its outer frame webbing dark and looming, as the inner building glowed bright reddish orange.
I really almost couldn't breathe, feeling the piercing cold air and yet seeing these ambitious structures, these feats of China's pride and ambition, set right before my eyes almost close enough to touch. Certainly close enough to take nice photos of (sorry for ending in a preposition).

I got back just in time to meet Beibei, my 表姐 (older female cousin), back at my apartments so we could then 坐出租汽车 (take a taxi) to 她的家 (her house). The dinner my aunt prepared was amazing, and I also got a chance to talk to my parents on Skype. It was the first time I had seen them since leaving, so it was really cool and very nice of my aunt to do that for me. She also gave me lots of presents, and I gave her lots of chocolate. The best part of the night was the fact that it wasn't at all as awkward as I feared it might be. The communication wasn't a problem, and I was so happy to get the chance to use my Chinese around my relatives. My cousin's knowledge of English also helped the situation a lot, and I ended up staying and enjoying their company and conversation for about 3 hours before heading back to my dorms. It was one of the nicest parts of the trip by far, AND I got to meet their dog, who is the cutest and furriest and smartest dog I've ever met.
They gave me a really funny grabbag of gifts for myself, my aunt in the states, and my mom. They got my aunt a gold colored plate with a picture of Beijing on it, some tea, and a hairbrush shaped like a cat (well actually it's one that she had left there when she went to visit back in October). She also gave my mom some tea as well. She gave me a really helpful Chinese phrasebook, an English-Chinese dictionary, really cool Olympics chopsticks, a Peking opera spoon and fork, three bags of candied walnuts, the Haw juice leftover from dinner, a necklace, and a dvd on Xi'an.