an example of how small the beijing expat community is- the other day i was taking the train home with a french guy from work who's only recently arrived in beijing. as we exited the train station, i saw my friend mike hatch, who i was meeting for dinner that night. at the same time that i said "hi", the french guy also gave mike an enthusiastic hello. turns out that three weeks before, having just arrived in beijing and desperately in need of housing, the french guy had run into mike leaving his apartment and grilled him about finding a place to live.
more smallness with an added awkward bonus- we later ran into the french guy at the very restaurant where we had chosen to dine. but because i have terrible terrible face recognition (and to be fair, the guy looked really different when sitting down and not wearing a hat- because he was very short and bald) i didn't recognize him. he looked at me and said "have i met you somewhere?" in a tone that in retrospect was supposed to be teasing but just sounded like blatant hitting on to me. i looked at him to check if i did know him, but totally didnt realize, so i sort of awkwardly said, "no, i don't think so." then mike said hi to him, and i realized it was the same guy. i think i managed to cover it up by being very enthusiastic from that point on. although i think he actually is a little creepy, so maybe that wasn't the best idea. oh well.
oh also- the character for "constitution" (xian4) is composed of the radicals for eyes, heart, and harm/pierce. who finds constitutions dangerous? this guy (thumbs pointing at china).