Sunday a Day of Rest, Not

Saturday night I asked the concierge, Raymond, about his knowledge of catholic churches in the area. He knew a little but not enough. I had asked the relocation company about this earlier. That is where the idea of going to the Canadian Embassycame from.

I sent Raymond the email from Pricoa with the other church options. He called around that night to find out what churches had catholic masses. We determined the best route was the South Church which had a mass at 10am in English. I was there for Easter mass and the family also went back in May to this church. The church is called Nantang or South Cathedral. It is also called Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was founded in 1605. Here is a good link for more of the history of the church: http://english.hanban.edu.cn/english/features/Beijing/31092.htm

The church is not a Roman Catholic and is called Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association which has no ties to the Vatican. For more information see the following link:
http://www.answers.com/topic/chinese-patriotic-catholic-association

Roger, at the concierge desk called a taxi for us. It took him a little while to get the driver to understand where the church was (south and west of Tianamen Square). The driver got us in the general vicinity. I had to show him where the church actually was as he drove by. We got out of the taxi not too far down the street from the church. I am so grateful that I had been to the church a couple of times previously otherwise who knows how far we would have gone past the church.

The church is beautiful and they had great singing. All the words for the songs are on screens to follow along. They sang many good old favorites similar to our home parish, "St Patrick Church". The priest speaks very good English and his homily was very good both in content and delivery. Seems like a nice parish. They are even preparing for the Beijing Olympics by hosting a chinese parishioner vs international parishioner basketball game.

After Church AF and I hailed a taxi and went to Wanfujing to attempt buying some clothes for AF. We went to Sun Dong An Plaza that I had scouted out yesterday. At last some success including some tops and even a pair of pants. I think AF was pleased and encouraged. We even found a cool jewelry store called Pirate Ship. Here is the website though it is Chinese: http://www.pirateship.com.cn/

We then ate a small lunch at the basement of the Plaza at a place called Bread Talk. They make homemade breads on the premises. AF had garlic pizza bread which was very spicy garlic. I had curry Nan and we shared a raisin braid. http://www.breadtalk.com.cn/

We then shopped in some other stores but no luck.

The taxi ride home was the adventure for the day. It has been hit or miss getting back to our apartment with the drivers. While I have a business card which is in Chinese and has a good map on the back, this does not guarantee success. I have had a couple of drivers get lost. It happened last night with RW.

This driver headed in the right direction but then really got lost. I kept pointing him toward the right direction but he could never seem to navigate the right roads to get there. He even got us going down the second ring road heading west which was going in the opposite direction.

AF was not happy with the noises and frustration I exhibited in trying to get the driver to turn around. I even motioned for him to reset the meter. He said so sorry and tried to tell me it would be free. We finally got headed onto Dongzhimenwai Daijie in the right direction which is the big road near the apartment. The driver kept wanting to stop and pull over to let us out. I kept prodding him to go down the road further by the Pizza Hut (this seems like the best stopping point for all of the taxi rides I have had back to the apartment). The driver wanted me to pay 25 RMB on a meter that read 40. I gave him 20RMB ($2.50) which is still 2-3 more RMB than it should have been.

The morning was much cooler and drier but still overcast. We got back just in time. It has been raining the last few hours. Can't wait to see the sun again some day. At least the visibility is much better today without the humidity.

Well tomorrow is AF's first day at school. The bus picks her up in front of the apartment at 7:05. I am going into the new office with RW at 8:30. Should be interesting day.