A day

On Wednesday I finally mastered the art of ordering a la carte in the cafeteria at Microsoft, therefore making a meal more delicious than usual. Show here: a huge hunk of watermelon, two heaping scoops of broccoli and cauliflower, and part of a chicken. Price: 16 yuan (less than $2.50).

At 4pm Kat, Katie, Xiaolin and I secured a tour of the part of the building where the make the Microsoft Surface. We spent about an hour with the team charged with creating games for it, being shown its current functionality and asked for our brilliant ideas.

After that, I headed out with Lorette to lavish myself with pearls. It was nice not to be the only person wearing a tuberculosis-grade facemask in the subway. Trust me, it's necessary. There's this great hall you have to cross when you transfer from line 13 to line 2 at Xizhimen. It's gotten worse while I've been here. As you approach from either side the aroma of -- is it aerosol? -- grows stronger and stronger. The air in the hall itself is thick with dust and chemicals. It's a terribly unhealthy-looking mix. When we pass through, Katie, Lorette and I wear facemasks, run, or both. We're getting over feeling silly about it. But enough about toxic subway stations...

Ok guys, next time you're in Beijing, go to the Fanghua store at the Hongqiao Pearl Market. It's absolutely fabulous. They seem to be the hands down favorite of visiting Heads of State and celebrities for good reason. The selection, the prices, and the service were wonderful. And Lorette, who has been teaching me about buying pearls (we visited twice to look before today) was proud of my skillful selection.

Then Lorette and I met up with Erik to continue the Quest. The Quest being, of course, to find DDR.

So, we failed at finding DDR. We found knock-offs with the pads in the corners. We were eventually successful at finding some 'real food,' and later, a sit-down Häagen Dazs.

Thus ended Wednesday.