QiXi Festival and WangJing gets cooler

Today is Chinese Valentine's Day (a.k.a. QiXi Festival). My wonderful assistant, Bella, has been teaching me for the last week or so everything I need to know about this holiday. She explained that roses are very expensive today and dinner reservations can be hard to come by. Well so far it sounds pretty similar to the American Valentine's Day which we all know and love. Actually, they are two very different stories. QiXi Festival happens on the seventh day of the seventh month on the lunar calendar. Basically the story goes like this: Zhinü was the daughter of a goddess in heaven. She had the important job of weaving clouds. Apparently she did not love being in heaven. She decided to escape and come to earth to have some fun. She ended up meeting a boy, Niulang, and they fell in love and got married and even had two children without the permission of her mother, you know, the goddess in heaven. When the goddess found out she ordered Zhinü back to heaven and back to her cloud-weaving job. Needless to say, Niulang was very upset that he had lost he wife. One day his ox began to speak and it told him that he could kill it and wear it's skin and then he could go to heaven to find his wife. So the man sadly killed his ox and clothed himself in the ox hide and brought his two children with him to heaven. When the goddess found out the Niulang had come to heaven to find Zhinü she got very mad and she made a river in the sky with her hairpin which formed the Milky Way and it also separated the two stars, Altair and Vega. Zhinü and Niulang have to sit on opposite sides of the river while one weaves clouds and the other takes care of the children. However, once a year all of the magpies (which are apparently a type of bird) in the world go to heaven and make a bridge for the two lovers to meet. So on the day of QiXi Festival married and unmarried women are supposed to go to the temple and make a single wish. Married women wish for a baby and unmarried women wish for a husband. It is important not to be greedy and make more than one wish or there may be dire consequences. Young girls practice their sewing and weaving skills to show they will make good wives. Apparently people also paint ox horns in memory of the sacrificial ox of Niulang. I was a little bummed to hear that temples are not just open 24/7, so unfortunately I could not make it after work to wish for my husband. Bella and Herby also joked with me that maybe they could not understand English anyways. But I did learn how to say, "I want a rich husband," and I looked to the stars tonight to make my wish. Perhaps they heard me?

In other news, WangJing may actually be cooler than I previously thought. I decided that in honor of the holiday I would take myself out for a nice dinner. I had seen a Ganges Indian Restaurant the other day when I took the bus out to Sanlitun (i.e. America Town). I hopped on the bus from work and took it a few stops passed my apartment to eat some yummy Indian food. Then I walked around for a little while and found a foreign grocery store, an Irish Pub, a few bars, what looked to be a cafe of some sorts, and a STARBUCKS! As you know, my obsession with Starbucks has really skyrocketed since moving to China. I am so happy to know that there is one only four bus stops away from my home. While I was waiting for the bus to come to take me home I checked out my Chinese surroundings. I found tons of restaurants, including a few dumpling places. I am thinking Theresa and I will have a lot to explore in our new home city. There were also a lot of foreigners. I noticed a few Americans, some Indians, Europeans, and others from all around the world. I am really happy to know this area is so close to my house. I am thinking it is not so bad here!

Note: Starbucks, Cafe del Mar, Ganges, and MORE!

Street food! I have no clue what he has on that grill... Some sort of bird.

Mandarin lesson:
Wǒ xiǎng yào yīgè yǒu qián de lǎogōng. 我想要一个有钱的老公 (I want a rich husband.)