Yummy...red meat...preferably still mooing on my plate...

So, Peking Opera was pretty cool, and I appreciated it for the cultural aspects of it. You also definitely had to appreciate the impressive showmanship and elaborate costumes. However, I have never really been into that kind of theater stuff, so content wise I was not the most excited. The coolest part was though when they had this part where they were throwing these spear things and the other actor was hitting them back with her feet – I know, weird to explain but was sort of Beijing Acrobats type stuff so that got my interest. Verdict – definitely something I think one should do if you have time in Beijing, but not something I would likely make the time to go again...see the pics!!

The coolest part of the day though was our meal at Outback Steakhouse! Meat is not the most plentiful here, especially beef, so this was quite the treat (and we paid for it too…most my meals here end up costly no more than $4-5, this was standard U.S. prices of roughly $30) and let me tell, it was quite the treat. 12 ounce prime rib, in all its juicy, pink, tender glory, steamed veggies, and rice. A little slice of home, and this kid is super spoiled after Mexican with Teresa for lunch then Outback for dinner..can't you see how satisfied I am in the pic? The, the boys and I had to burn some of the fatty off by pushing around giant soccer balls...

That was Thursday – last night, Friday night, had a CRAZZYYY night!!! It is our first weekend without a scheduled Chinalink trip where we had to wake up at 7 AM to go somewhere, and so the evening was wide open. So what did I do? Went to the giant store Carrefour to get some snacks, fruit, and a haircut (more on that later) – basically, the super wal-mart of the rest of the world and one of the 20 biggest companies in the world. The place is pretty sick – its like a super wal-mart, Costco, and best buy rolled into one, just massive. Now, there are plenty of places to buy fruit from stands in the street, but I tread carefully with that b/c they use a lot of pesticides here and are not necessarily known to be the cleanest. Washing the fruit doesn’t make me feel so comfortable either considering we are not supposed to drink the tap water here ;-) - not sure how comfortable I feel washing my fruits with non-drinkable water, you know? So when getting fruit I stick to a big, international retailer like Carrefour and stick with peel-able skins like oranges and bananas (unless I am eating apples from Teresa’s 5 star hotel). A successful trip, and one I was happy to get out of the way since I hate shopping. I did find the funniest thing though – rice alcohol, but in a plastic, squeeze top sports bottle. In case you are working out on a hot day, and you just need that sports bottle to quench your thirst with a 56% alcohol refresher! I have a friend that just moved to Chicago this might be perfect for, you know who you are Mr. D; heck the company you work for probably makes it...

So, the haircut – I don't want to sound prissy but I have to confess I have been slightly stressed out about this for a few days now. Its not that there are not plenty of good haircut folks in Beijing, its just that I very rarely seem to see anyone here walking around with a similar haircut, which I consider pretty basic. I think the style is just different here, and I wasn’t sure if it really fit me. I just did not want to end up feeling like I look funny with the company visits I have coming up in Hong Kong next week, you know? So I ended up going to a salon inside Carrefour (they seriously have everything), and “Jack” did just an incredible job. A shampoo/condition, haircut, another wash, then blow dry and style for just 38 RMB, or about $5…and since they do not tip here, I feel really bad like I’m ripping them off or something. Nevertheless, I had nothing to be nervous about, and I will certainly be coming back right before I leave for a haircut right before school starts. You can’t even go to Supercuts for $5 in the states, you know? See the pics and tell me if you approve:

What’s up for the rest of the weekend you ask? Well, since this weekend is, for once, wide open, I am doing the complete opposite of last week’s all-night Great Wall party and essentially sequestering myself in my room to do all my required pre-MBA work. Fun. It’s like a math, accounting, and some other stuff review that’s supposed to take a few hours and is required to be done by August 1^st. I will concentrate especially hard on the accounting section in order to review for the exemption exam. I will be sure to take lots of exciting pictures. Talk to y’all later!