Like A Rolling Stone

Work was more of the usual.

I did find out two important things about the UAE for my visit soon, though:

1) Ramadan started today, so when I get there it will be illegal to eat or drink or smoke in public, punishable by arrest, during daylight hours; and

2) Dubai is home to Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building.

So part of the day was spent lamenting the future lack of sustainance and booking a ticket to the top of the tallest manmade structure on the planet (which, interestingly enough, costs less than a ticket to the top of the Empire State Building, though it's over twice the height).

Had lunch with Evonne at the Japanese place in SOHO Building A and spent the afternoon at work, well, working.

I left at 6 and got the bus at 6:22. While yesterday's bus was characterized by obscene traffic and non-existent bus movement, today things went more smoothly. I got off at 6:45.

As of today, I've been traveling for 58 days. And I got a haircut a few days before I left. But I haven't gotten one since. So, needless to say, my hair has become quite the little Jew-fro. And when last night my hair was compared to that of Jonah Hill, I decided it was time for a haircut. There are a few places on Chunxiu Lu where my hostel is, so before I even got back to the hostel I stopped in for a haircut.

My Chinese is decent, but I'm not up on my haircutting vocab, so I mostly pantomimed that my hair was too long and it should be short. She cut it in a matter of minutes for 20yuan ($3).

Alex passed by while I was inside and came in to keep me company.

The haircut was over circa 7:10. I had cut it quite short - not too much shorter than usual but a huge change to what it was until today. I figured I was about to go to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, with temperatures around 110F every day, and I should probably not have a sweater growing on my head.

I went back to the hostel after the haircut and changed. Went downstairs and Alex and I sat around for a while. Jonas joined us, and Jeeyoung. We had the hostel's free hotpot they do on Wednesdays for dinner.

During hotpot I got a text from work: "Marshall, can you come in on nine tomorrow?" Ugh. Kill me with the time.

"Sure, I'd be happy to!" hmmmm.

At 8:30 Alex went up to nap and Jeeyoung and Jonas went to buy Jeeyoung her native Korean Soju (that vodka-like stuff).

Eventually Cole came back and we all gathered (with Patrick, who intruded on our group most rudely) outside the hostel in the courtyard, as the weather was fantastic by Beijing standards (not even a drop of sweat at the end of the night after 4 hours outside!).

We rolled cylindrical stone seats to the tiny table and got a bunch of beer from the local Circle Q. That, plus the Soju and my gin I still had from earlier last month, and we had enough alcohol for 15 people, which is about how many we ended up entertaining. Max, one of the English twins (I remembered his name!) joined, and Chris from CT, and several more too.

We played a Korean drinking game Jeeyoung taught us (using the Soju cap to flick with your fingers until bits come off, then shots to the people adjacent to the successful flicker), as well as a beer-Russian Roulette game to the AC/DC song Thunderstruck (one drinks until the song says "thunder," then the next, and so on. But some people get "thunderstruck," which means they get to drinking and then there's a long solo and they have to keep drinking for a long long time).

I spent some time with one of the stone chairs on it's side, standing on it like a rolling log-- Cole joined in and we tried to do some cool tricks with them. I managed to balance on one, move to another one, turn the rolling stone around, roll back to the first stone, and get back on. It was my night's crowning achievement -- and I did that drunk.

Also, tonight I learned Sunny's Chinese name.

Sunny works at the hostel; she's a cute Chinese girl who's been flirting with me since day one ("Oh my Goddddd!" "为什么?!"). It's been advantageous, to say the least, because she's given me lots of free stuff, probably up to 150 yuan in value. Her Chinese name is Rongrong (荣荣). I need to figure out how to keep in touch with her because she and I have become very good friends.

At 1 I went upstairs and at 1:45 I slept. Gotta be in early, after all.