the rain even smells like pollution.

So, happy 4th of July everybody! We rang in the holiday here with... well... nothing really. However, it seems to rain every 4th of July, even here. 

Today, we toured a few news outlets in Beijing. We got to see the goings-on of the People's Daily website (http://english.peopledaily.com.cn) and the Beijing Youth Daily newspapers and magazines. The newsrooms there seem so much less hectic than the ones I have worked in or visited before. The reporters are very calm it seems. They may have just been wary because of the mass of Americans in their space, though. We all got some free things from the places too, including a blue mouse backpack. Adorable, I know.

In between our two media tours, we went to a superfancy restaurant buffet at The Emerald restaurant in a Zhalong Hotel (I think that is what it was). It cost 100 yuan a person, which is about $15. Considering we have also eaten for 2.5 yuan, it was a lot. 

We returned to our hotel where I slept some more. I tend to be doing that a lot. I don't know what it is. Jetlag? I hope so. Anyway, when I woke up, we wanted to go get some Americanized food in honor of our country's birthday. Since Hard Rock Café was so far away, we opted for Pizza Hut. The pizza was delicious. Oh man. Cheese is always good. On the way back from our walking adventure to the Hut, it was raining really hard. The rain smelt like the rest of China too. Just... lovely.