... aaaand a few more.

Last night we went and had some *real* Chinese food. It was
fantastic. My tongue went numb from spicy Szechuan green beans.

I've got to say, there's something to all this talk about pollution in
Beijing. The weather has been absolutely beautiful so far, but after
a day of walking around outside my throat felt pretty scratchy. In
"Pattern Recognition" William Gibson talks about different flavors of
hydrocarbons in different cities and I've got to say, I really notice
it here. Beijing has pollution that sort of smells like burning
marshmallows and lighter fluid. Washington DC has its own fair share
of smog, but I grew up in it so I'm less able to describe it, I think.
Anyway, we're lucky to be her in October - it's apparently pretty bad
during the Summer. They've been working on the air quality for a few
years now (relocating factories, expanding the surrounding grasslands,
etc.) and Beijing natives have told me that there's a very noticeable
improvement.