Day Eight

I awoke to the noise of jackhammers and traffic this morning! I think I forgot to mention it, but yesterday another tourist booked my room before I told the concierge I was going to extend my stay. The room they moved me to was on the other side of the hotel and it had a lot of service vehicle traffic and building construction.

After I packed everything up and figured out where the Courtyard Marriott was I walked down the street and hired a taxi. I got to the hotel around 10:30am and was treated with great care. Our group was very fortunate and was upgraded to an executive/penthouse suite room for free (regulary $1000 a night)!

When the other students arrived I felt obligated to share my fortunate experiences with Luting. I first took them to the Wangfujing Mall. My friend Chris unlocked his phone and I bought a Chinese SIM card (In case of emergency my local Chinese cell phone number is #136-9363-4837, but I will still use my US SIM card to call home). Once we situated our phones I took everyone to the Silk Market again, (I bought Mom and Evie really nice scarfs).

I also took everyone to the snack street, (with the exotic foods), and then we came back to the hotel to have a nice buffet with our instructor and teacher's assistant. I think I'll probably stick it out in the hotel for the rest of the night and probably read. Night!