Weekend

The weekend always brings fun fun times. Or really obnoxious trips to the train station. You see, Chelsie and I are planning a trip to Inner-Mongolia this coming weekend for her birthday and want to get our train tickets in advance. So on Friday we went to the train station, stood in line for 30 minutes at the ONE counter that took foreigners, and when we told her where we wanted to go she said "sorry, you have to go to the international hotel." We thought this was a little strange since Inner-Mongolia is actually inside China, but since we don't always know how things work here, we just went with it. So we asked where this international hotel was and proceeded to wander for about 45 minutes before finding it. Much to our dismay, when we got there the train ticket office was closed. So we decided we'd better go back Monday which is our weekend. So Monday morning rolls around and off we go to the international hotel. Well the lady at the counter said they don't sell tickets to INNER-Mongolia there, only to Mongolia....seeing as how that would be an international ticket and all. So she said the lady at the counter probably misunderstood us and she kindly wrote out what we wanted in Chinese. SO back to the train station.....where we waited in line for 45 minutes this time, only to be told that we had to come back tomorrow because they only sell those tickets 5 days in advance and this was 6 days in advance. Needless to say, we are more than a little irritated with the Beijing train station.
NOW! Less irritating stories:
Sunday night Chelsie and I went on a DVD-buying trip and got several awesome titles, ranging from Rio and Rango to the Harry Potter series and The Ugly Truth. We each got over 10 dvds because they're just so CHEAP! Then we walked back through the shopping center and watched the little kiddies playing in the fountain. It was pretty funny. One little girl was absolutely adorable and kept telling her dad to take a picture of her...

On the way back to the bus station we saw the balloon man. It's kind of like you're at a state fair at all times.....and I finally got a chance to wear my fake toms :)

Monday night we went to the Central Perk ("Friend's" cafe) buuuuuuttttttt it was closed. Chelsie was still excited to find it though! When she peeked in the window she got even more excited: "it really IS the Friend's cafe!!!!"

Since the Central Perk wasn't open we decided to find someplace to eat. We were feeling ambitious and decided to grab some Chinese food. We went to a restaurant style that is common here in China: family style. I got some "brown sugar and ginger water" which turned out to be delicious, even though it was suuuuuper hot. Also, look mom I'm eating my vegetables!!!!!

China just has a way with vegetables.....they're always amazing. Chelsie and I have come to the conclusion that it's because they always use fresh produce.
So today we went back to the Central Perk, but before we grabbed a delicious cup o' joe, we went to the train ticket office that we found right next to the bus stop. We had to call Bella - our assistant who is our liaison when we need to communicate more than "I want that" haha - and she proceeded to inform us that only seats were available for our journey. No sleeper cars. Apparently we should have reserved them earlier than today....somehow. And the seats were only available for a 7:50pm train, which would be impossible for us to catch since we get off work at 6 and the train station is about an hour's journey away and we need to be there an hour or two early. Guess this means Inner-Mongolia isn't happening for us this weekend. As we were walking away from the ticket office I said to Chelsie "let's not talk about this for an hour or two"....I was really angry. China just hates us sometimes. Well we headed to Central Perk and it was absolutely adorable. We both got a delicious iced beverage and relaxed while watching some episodes of Friends that made the place very homey. There were some people sitting on the famous orange couch so we asked them if we could quickly sit on the couch and take the picture. The guy taking our picture said "Okay, make a big laugh!" Which of course made us laugh so I guess he accomplished his goal.

Notice the Chinese Phoebe picking at a guitar in the background :)
Well this weekend may have been a bust, but hopefully next weekend will be better. Sunday is Chelsie's birthday so we're gonna have to do something fun!