Never Doing That Again

I went to the hairdresser's and asked for chin length and curly. I got very short and straight.

I made a mistake of hinting that he stop cutting my hair so short. Instead of "er not too short" I should have bellowed "STOP RIGHT NOW" to get the meaning across. I've lived here long enough to know the Chinese can't do sarcasm or hints.

We only went to that one because the tried and tested ones had either moved to a new premises and not opened yet (we found out only after traipsing from the original location to the new- what a waste of time that was...) and the other was "having rest time until tomorrow".

Grrr.

I was in the Qingdao university foreign cafe when an Italian asked if I used to study in Edinburgh. Turned out we studied together last year when she'd been in Edinburgh as a visiting student. I was impressed she recognised me in my baldness.

How is it I can still accidentally run into people in China whom I first knew half a world away? I mean perhaps it is not so likely that two students studying Chinese should end up in China but this is a country of 1.3 billion. To meet despite that is something. It's so unbelievable I don't feel surprised-just acceptance.

I dislike being on a Chinese bus in rush hour. It's like being trapped in a sardine tin. Except not as roomy, or as fragrant.

Apparently Westerners move their faces more thatn Asians. Racial stereotyping still alive and well here in the PRC.

Tickets home have finally been booked. Mum and I will be getting the train from Beijing to St Petersburg. Along the way we'll visit the world's ugliest capital in Ulan Bator, ride across open steppes near Ulan Bator, see the capital of Siberia, admire the spires of Vladimir, try not to get murdered in Moscow and finally snap photographs in St Petersburg. I like the sound of that.