I looked over my journal for the first couple of weeks when I first lived in Beijing and here are some of the things that I feel you might be interested in.
First couple weeks I lived in Beijing:
One thing that I have noticed is that I have no contact with any news about the 
celebrities in the US. There are no pictures of Paris Hilton or Britney spears, they just don’t exist.
So here is a list of all the foods that I have tried while I have been here: Some of these were accidental with me not knowing what they were until after they were in my stomach–mainly because I thought I was eating something and it turned out to be something else: snake, scorpion-black and the little ones, silk worm, cow lung, duck, duck brain, sea shell, grasshopper, pineapple rice bowl, and kelp. I have also had KFC, McDonalds, and a some other street food which I can’t really describe, but the locals like them and they taste really good.
I also went to another market where people where selling the most amazing jewelry and handmade crafts. Bargaining was such a big part there. I have to get used to it because here everything you have to bargain for and the first price is always so extreme. I bought a Mao bag that the lady who originally wanted 350 yuan at first, for only 30 yuan and then my buddy bought one for 20 from the lady right after me.
I also met a guy that does martial arts and wants to give me lessons for English lessons; he wanted an English name so I gave him the name Ryan. He was really happy. We also gave him the nickname Panther. So Ryan Panther now has the coolest name in china. We gave his buddies some names such as Jack Gun aka Gun Jack and another buddy who is chainsaw. I can’t wait till they enter the business world. (Don’t worry I’ll take care of everything, I’m not going to screw anyone over with name and that)
