One-Day Adventure in Beijing

The quest to find cross-stitching patterns for my auntie.
3:15 Left the dorm and go to the bus stop to take the bus to 公主分.
3:50 Still on the 74 bus. Stayed in the same spot because of traffic for 30 minutes. I counted.
4:00 Finally arrived. Walked down the steps to the subway, and bought a delicious, juicy weiner on a stick on the way.
4:10 Boarded the 1 train to　国贸. It was pretty empty at first, but then it got fuller. I noticed that a lot of the youth don't give up their seats to the elderly even though they are standing there waiting for a seat. Culture change? This "Pretty Women" show started playing on the TVs inside the sub. It was disturbing. Then, it got really crowded, so everyone started pushing. Chinese people smell.
4:40 Arrived. Took the 28 train to the bus stop nearest where the shop, 本色十字绣, was supposedly at. As I passed by a shop that looked similar to it, I noticed that it was empty, closed down, or being remodeled. Uh oh.
5:05 To make sure, I got off the bus and walked back to the shop. It closed down. I took 2 hours to get to that damn place and it closed down. But, I wouldn't have known. There was no number I could have called to make sure. As a result, I bought a delicious 1元 包from a random hole-in-the-wall. Nom.
5:19 Boarded a train to 三里屯, because I had nothing else to do until later. While I was walking to the station, I noticed a distinct difference in the modern versus traditional (sort of) Beijing. The left side was all new, modern style: skyscrapers, glass, big facades with bright LCD screends. THe right side was red brick, older (although not totally old) and smaller apartments with the air conditioning units outside. A dormmate and I once compared Beijing to New York: Chaoyang district is Manhattan (UES?), Haidian is like Brooklyn, and Dongcheng is like lower Manhattan. If such a comparison is apt.
5:40 Next, I looked for this French bakery called Epicerie. It was supposed to be on  三里屯路, but I never found it. Getting frustrated, I decided to just blow some cash on food at the Village shopping center, because that was 2 failures in one late afternoon. I ended up getting a Wondermilk frozen yogurt (quite yummy), and searched around for a place I could get real food.
6:21 After walking around almost the entire southern perimeter, I settled on getting MangoBox, but then saw a Macanese restaurant, Macau Taste, next to it. So I got a pork sandwich and three Portuguese egg tarts to go. Nom. I realized that it was getting late, and I was going dancing at 8, so I started back for the subway back to school.
6:30 On the subway back, I saw a man wearing a gray trench coat with skinny flat fronts. It looked impossibly chic (fashionable, as a male word). I started drowsing. At one point I feel asleep so that bag holding the egg tarts slipped out of my one, yielding finger. People looked at me. I stared back, willing into their minds, "You've never fallen asleep on the subway standing up?"
7:20 Off the train, waiting for the bus from the subway to campus. It's a journey.
7:28 Caught the 658 bus to campus
7:38 Got off the bus
7:40 Got back to campus. 20 minutes to change.
7:58 Changed everything in less than 20.
8:00 Paul was already waiting in the lobby for me. The Salsa Story.
2:30 Got back to the dorm, and passed by the 丳儿 couple. Despite the temptation to buy some delicious skewers of meat, I went back to my room and took a shower. THen pondered getting some.
3:00 At Frank's nudging, I went back down to get some 丳儿 only to discover they were packing up and leaving. Damn. Oh well. The Big Bang Theory is awesome.