Monday.

This is the second day they have taken us on a walking tour of the hutong (that’s a type of old neighborhood with lots of skinny alleys connecting it) where we are staying. While I’m not opposed to tours in principal, they are slightly less enjoyable when taken during the hottest part of the day and in a frantic rush to cover 5 miles in an hour. My group (slackers that we are) finally just stopped at a café and got a beer. We got to meet two of the translators who will be helping us, and they are awesome. Wayne has the greatest knowledge of American television of anyone I’ve ever met, and was actually quoting lines from Friends and Gilmore Girls in the café.  Apparently there is this fantastic network of bilingual television enthusiasts who produce translated versions of every American t.v. show and post them online within minutes of airing in the US, including explanatory notes about the cultural references. Totally amazing.