{"id":359,"date":"2013-08-28T19:49:46","date_gmt":"2013-08-28T12:49:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/?p=359"},"modified":"2013-08-28T20:06:55","modified_gmt":"2013-08-28T13:06:55","slug":"fire-alarm-irritation-82713","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/?p=359","title":{"rendered":"Fire Alarm Irritation, 8\/27\/13"},"content":{"rendered":"

The fire alarm starts up again this morning at 6:45 am.\u00a0 I text Lisa, and \u00bd hour later, a UHN technician comes by.\u00a0 He checks out the alarm, pulls out his pliers and cuts the wires to the alarm, solving the problem rather permanently.\u00a0 I check in with my parents on Facetime, and then walk over to the wet market for fruit and vegetables.\u00a0 I fill my cart and drag it home.\u00a0 When I walk in, Courtney is calling on Facetime.\u00a0 It\u2019s still hard to believe how easy it is to contact family and friends.\u00a0 The toughest thing is working around the 13-hour difference in time zones (9:00 am Beijing, is 8:00 pm in DFW).<\/p>\n

I head back out to the train and ride to a station near Sanlitun, the \u201chip and happening\u201d foreigner mall.\u00a0 I find ink for our printer in Sundan (finally), the store where I bought the printer.\u00a0 To reward myself, I find a Mexican food restaurant and order a carne asada burrito, called \u201cBurrito Mamita\u201d.\u00a0 It\u2019s really very good.\u00a0 Check out the pictures.\u00a0 I relax with some iced tea, and build up my resolve for my next stop, the Soushow Clothes Market.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Cantina<\/a>

Cantina Agave, in Sanlitun<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Burrito<\/a>

Burrito at Cantina Agave, Sanlitun<\/p><\/div>\n

We\u2019ve been hearing about this place since we arrived, but this is my initial visit.\u00a0 It\u2019s four floors of very crowded kiosks, lots of counterfeit goods, and aggressive sales people.\u00a0 When I say aggressive, I mean they will reach out and grab your arm if you show the slightest bit of interest in their products.\u00a0 No prices are marked, and bargaining is expected.\u00a0 We\u2019ve been told to offer 10% of the asked price.\u00a0 Most of the time I don\u2019t get the chance to offer a price.\u00a0 One verbal exchange at a place selling \u201cNorth Face\u201d parkas went like this as I walked by:<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, you need jacket?\u00a0 200y ($36 equivalent)? 150y?\u00a0 You need two?<\/p>\n

What color? \u00a0Two for 200y\u201d?\u00a0 150y?\u00a0 120y\u201d<\/p>\n

They were still yelling at me as I went up the escalator.\u00a0 I was almost afraid to come down the escalator later, knowing how much they wanted me to have one of their jackets.\u00a0 It continued even outside the building.\u00a0 One older woman tried to sell me socks, following me for over 100 yards, as I walked away, and I never looked at her.\u00a0 If I\u2019d made eye contact, she might have tackled me.\u00a0 She was hollering at me \u201cWhat you want, What you want?\u201d as I crossed the street.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think she understood the phrase \u201cleave me alone\u201d.\u00a0 I know she didn\u2019t understand \u201cno\u201d.\u00a0 I can\u2019t wait to take Judy.\u00a0 I\u2019ll just need to make sure she doesn\u2019t have any money when she goes in.<\/p>\n

Judy was excited when she got home tonight.\u00a0 She found a desk she could use.\u00a0 Prior to now, all she had was a table, and everything was spread on window sills, the floor, and a tabletop.\u00a0 She found a desk in another room, not being used, dusted it off, and dragged it into her room.\u00a0 She is beginning to feel like a \u201creal\u201d teacher, with a desk, staplers, and everything.<\/p>\n

\"Judy's<\/a>

Judy’s new desk! She’s a real teacher now!<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The fire alarm starts up again this morning at 6:45 am.\u00a0 I text Lisa, and \u00bd hour later, a UHN technician comes by.\u00a0 He checks out the alarm, pulls out his pliers and cuts the wires to the alarm, solving … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=359"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":365,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359\/revisions\/365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}