Hello Sunshine

Sunny street scene from earlier this morning, always lots of racket on Sundays.

If you look closesly you can see that this little girl is drawing a picture of the statue of liberty, quite adorable.

Modern art, eww.

Li Na with George Washington, I am sad to report that I think more Chinese school children know who he is than US school children. He was pretty popular at the museum.

My first Georgia O'Keefe, up close and personal!

If anyone missed it Spring officially began earlier this week. Much to my delight the wheather here has been wonderful. For the first time since I arrival I have been able to leave the dorm without my cumbersome coat. Saturday was also the first real sunny day with no haze over the city. Believe me Coloradan that I am, that alone could have made this my best weekend in Beijing yet. However there were several other contributing factors to this epic weekend.

On Friday night, my study abroad program took us out to see a Chinese acrobatic show. Yes, there was an overpriced gift shop and snack bar in the back of the theater, but I have to admit that the show was very impressive. The acrobats were all very young, a fact that did not seem to pass any of the Chinese roomates who expressed curiosity about what kind of parents would send young children off to Beijing to preform in an acrobatic troupe. It was entertaining regardless, and for dinner I bought a jian bing from a street vendor, it's definitely my favorite street food here and it kind of resembles a veggie omlette and spicy pancake rolled into one.

Saturday was also a blast. Li Na and I went to the National Art Musuem of China to see an exhibition of American art. I am aware of how ethnocentric this sounds, but Li Na wanted to get my take on the art. I was actually quite impressed at the pieces in the exhibit. They were well captioned and were a fairly decent representation of our nation's innovative art history. I also got to see my very first Georgia O'Keefe painting up close and personal, very exciting.

On the upper floors of the museum I also got to see more traditional Chinese art. The thing I find most fascinating about their traditional style of painting is that it is all done with water color. I think it really requires great skill to use the properties of water color to your advantage. We also stopped by a few calligraphy exhibits which of course blow my mind. Anybody who has attempted to weild a calligraphy brush should understand why a seven foot character is such an achievement. The museum was one of the coolest places I have been to yet, I will definitely be going back soon.

Today is Sunday, I better get around to handwashing my socks. Just another part of a great weekend.