Woke up to a breakfast prepared by Andy, including a very soft tofu (not my favorite) and some bread things that came both with and without meat. It took me a while to determine that the meat was donkey, which I was not brave enough to try.
We went to the museum of science and technology right after breakfast, stopping on the way to pick up Andy's niece, who is visiting for 20 days, now that school is out. At the age of 17, she is going to be a senior next year and is studying for the gowkow, and the college enterance exam. She is putting in 100 hours a week. Her goal is to go abroad, to New York city, for college.
The museum was massive, like everything in China and crowded, like everything in Beijing. I particularly liked the DNA sculpture made of men and women, and the stegosaurus skeleton. There was a large exhibit on Chinese science and technology on the first floor and as we made our way around it I really enjoyed seeing Zachary engaged by the exhibits, especially by the math puzzles.
We ate lunch in the museum cafeteria, though we didn't buy anything there. Stubbs we knew that it was expensive and not that good we stopped in a grocery store on the way. It took us a solid 20 minutes to get two tables, which we got by hovering and sitting as soon as people left. The tables were not adjacent. Whenever one of us got up from one of our tables, even for a minute to pass something to the other table, a person would try to take the seat and the remaining people from our group would need to defend it.
While I was looking at the exhibits a Japanese boy, about 12 years old approached me , declared that I was "so handsome, " and asked if he could take a picture with me. I consented. After he took a selfie, he said "I have prepared a gift for you," and handed me a pair of chopsticks in a small cloth bag. I thanked him politely and went on my way.
About an hour later I was sitting on the floor, resting with a thousand other Chinese museum goers when another person approached for a picture. I obliged and that was the start of a string of four or five. I sat back down and a few minutes later noticed a middle school girl with a couple of friends starting at me, whispering, but unable to work up the courage to approach, so I gestured her over. Her friends took a picture of her with me. Then the friends wanted one too. By that point the rest of her class, which was on a field trip, had noticed. I must have had 20 photos taken with members of that class before I sat back down.
As I sat and rested I heard a familiar voice. The kids who gave me the chopsticks was doing his routine again. I briefly thought about telling him that he already had a photo with me, but just let it play out and was presented with another pair of chopsticks. He reminded me of a girl who approached Joshua a couple of weeks ago. She was excited, breathless, gushing. She took a bunch of photos, got Joshua's wechat ID, and has been sending him love messages ever since. She even charmed her name to in wechat to the "you are my boyfriend." He tried to brush her off, but eventually had to block her. As much as Joshua was asked by her we year him that he loves it. I believe that part of him felt flattered.
After the museum we went to a mall, where we left the kids in an arcade. Andrea looked at shops while Andy, Serene, and I sat on a bench.
Then we went to pick up Tommy, an exchange student who will be staying with LiFeng for two weeks (but with us and Serene here, but he is going to be at Donna's for a few days). He's 17 years old, from Queens, and has had two years of high school Chinese. We took him to Dayali, where he met Donna, the kids, Ray and Jack. We all agree in a private room. He must have been pretty overwhelmed. Joshua, whose phone has been out of commission since it fell into a pool at the water park, was deeply engrossed in a cell phone screen. It took me a while to understand; Ari won a high end cell phone, selfie stick, charger, and case at the arcade.
So ends another interesting day. Tomorrow we see the hutongs in the morning.
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