Quiet Weekend

This weekend was a bit of a quiet one. We went to the markets yesterday (it was raining) and had our Mandarin lesson as well (it was still raining). It was cold too, about 16 degrees. Which isn't especially cold even for Australian weather but two days ago it was 32 and really humid so it's a quick change.

People here say Beijing really only has two seasons, and given that Autumn started 11 days ago and tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival (we get a day off) then I expect winter to be in full swing when we get back from Australia. Last year it got cold early and they relaxed the government mandated heating period which meant building owners could turn the heating on on the 23rd of September! So I think this might be a short Autumn :)

Today we slept in a bit then took Anita and Adam to the same bike shop we went to, so they could get some bikes. They have been confirmed as also staying for 12 months which is nice for them, and they wanted something a bit better than the borrowed bikes they had.

Looking at the bikes, I think I will buy another, decent one before I leave to use at home. Before we came I decided I wanted to start riding to work but didn't get a bike because we were leaving. I think as far as price goes, a decent amount of money (maybe $500-$600) here would get me a bike that would cost $1000-$1200 at home. So even with the postage back I think I'll be ahead. A proper road bike isn't much good here though cause drivers don't expect people on bikes to be going fast so it's actually more dangerous to be going a similar speed to the traffic.

This evening we went to Carrefour, the department store/supermarket place. It was pretty packed and I have decided the thing that annoys me most about people here is the complete lack of respect for other people. So at home if two people are pushing trolleys down an aisle, they will get out of each other's way. Similarly, if someone stops, they move their trolley to the side (most of the time anyway). People don't do that here, at all and I find it intensely irritating. People have a sense of "I'm the most important person, I don't care if I get in your way or hold you up, you can just wait cause I'm the most important person" and I'm not a fan. Partly because I'm, the most important person :)

Anyway, they're not going to change so I guess I will have to deal with it but it does get me a bit annoyed.

As I said, tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday and we get a day off. I'm not sure whether stuff will be open but there are a bunch of lights and decorations set up in our apartment gardens so I guess something is going to happen. Stay tuned.....