Friday January 15 0758
Yesterday, I woke up and did a walkabout before work, getting comfortable with the area immediately next to my workplace. I didn't see much new stuff I hadn't seen before, but the morning pedestrian rush is impressive: they get a lot of crossguards and police to enforce the jaywalking laws, otherwise traffic would be completely and utterly halted. I went to Carrefour to get a Pepsi, then went to work, where I mostly just worked hard all day: it's Thursday, and so the weekly deadlines are due Friday leading to people being a bit more absorbed in their work than the Wednesday I came: even the artists were all working quite diligently rather than playing games or watching movies.

After work, Blake took me to People's Square, which is home to a rather extensive below-ground market. The result being like a hybrid between Pike Place Market in Seattle and a high-class Macy's, it was full of "girly" shops. I was looking for a pair of practical, affordable shoes, which became quite a task indeed. We eventually found a Nike shop, which had a shoe big enough for my feet: although my shoe size isn't that large for in the states, here in China it is hard to find a shoe larger than a Men's 9. We stopped for a Subway, then got onto the subway back to Jing'An Temple, which is near where I work (today I plan to buy AA batteries, and will start taking pictures).

And so I came back to the apartment and played on my computer, and went to bed early: I hadn't gotten a long sleep the night before. This morning, the sky is a bit cloudy + smoggy, and I'm having hot chocolate.

Life is good!