Listen closely to others when they read menus aloud; Make sure they actually speak what the words say

Most recent album has photos of the little outdoor alley market closest to my apartment and some of the nightlife spots in the Sanlitun area: http://picasaweb.google.com/jdorrian2334

For all those who were panicking for Jon and I the toilet got fixed last evening, approximately 4 hours earlier than we had anticipated that someone might show up to repair it. That made us happy.

We decided to get some Peking Duck last night so we glanced @ a couple of our guidebooks and located a restaurant in Chaoyang district that was recommended. Chaoyang was an area we wanted to check out in the first place, so that worked out well. We order the duck but that won't be enough food so we order a couple of additional dishes.
Jon: How about this beef tenderloing stir fry
JD: (half paying attention to Jon) Sure man, sounds good
Jon: Ok, then we'll get that plus the duck and maybe a vegetable dish
JD: Sounds like a plan.
[place the order w/ the waitress mostly by pointing to the menu which had Chinese characters, English, as well as pictures]

The food gets to the table. Duck looks great. Asparagus stir fry looks great. Beef does not look appetizing. Before I even tasted it I had a flashback to what the menu actually said. The menu was advertising "Beef Tendon Stir Fry". Ah haaaaaaaaaaa..... I chuckled to myself but didn't point out what it was to Jon because he is a picky eater in the first place. I tried it, it had an uber-chewy consistency and didn't taste that great. I waited until Jon had a bite or two and announced that he wasn't the biggest fan of the dish either. Then I told him what we were in fact eating. So we had Beef Tendons last night. Sorta gross tasting and definitely an unappealing texture, but not the end of the world.

I had my inaugural 3 hour one-on-one Chinese class this morning. It went OK. I am a bigger fan of the teacher I had for the final hour rather than the teacher I had for the initial 2 hours. It doesn't seem there will be a lot of outside the classroom busy work, which is good as my time will be occupied w/ other academic endeavors.

We have to go to the local police station and register as residents now. If you don't register you run the risk of getting fined 500/day. And potentially getting in even more trouble perhaps? I'm not sure, so we're just going to do that now.