Dragon Boat Festival Weekend

After 2 weeks of arriving in Beijing, it’s been vital to me to establish a routine in this new environment. It’s pretty exhausting getting up around 7am and arriving back home around 7pm during the weekdays, but I try to exercise at nights or on the weekends to relieve stress. Work has been getting more busy, and I’ve joined a team of two other lawyers in my firm that handles litigations. So far, I’ve attended meetings to other law firms with my team in order to make a game plan about our next step. My work mainly consists of translating the English documents to Chinese, helping research Chinese environmental laws and regulations, and proofreading the firm’s monthly newsletters. Aside from work, I’ve been trying to squeeze everything I can see into these 2 months.

It was nice that last weekend we got 3 days off for the Dragon Boat Festival, and my friends and I took advantage by making day trips to the Temple of Heaven, Pearl Market, and Olympic Park. The Temple of Heaven was a lot larger than what I expected, and on the day we went, there were clear blue skies which surprised us all. I loved how there was nature and a campground in the Temple of Heaven park; it was so nice to be able to find a getaway in the bustling city of Beijing.

Next, we went to the Pearl Market, and I wasn’t particularly looking to buy anything, but the experience was quite eye-opening. Since my purse strap had broken off the previous day, I went to the second floor (each floor is divided up into different categories) just to browse through the purses. My friend and I were looking at the purses at the first shop, when the shopkeeper asked me to quote a price, and she started punching numbers into her calculator. I wasn’t expecting to make a purchase at the first shop, but the shopkeeper blocked the exit with her body, and I ended up buying a small crossbody for 120rmb. Although I paid less than 10% of her initial cost, I don’t think it was an extremely good bargain since the shopkeeper wouldn’t sell it to you unless they were making a profit. It was an interesting experience as most shopkeepers speak English, and all the shoppers are foreigners. I probably wouldn’t make another trip to the Pearl Market, but it’s definitely worth trying out bargaining if you’ve never done so before.

Thanks for tuning into my second blog post, time sure is flying here in Beijing.

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