Racing against the clock

More and more high tech...and some problems

Today we were racing against the clock, that is, we had a lot to do in little time. We woke up a little later than we should have. After having gone to bed at 2:30 in the morning, I felt the need to sleep. Liu Jia's call broke my happy and restful state. Once up, to get rid of this unexpected awakening, I went to have a shower. It feels good. It’s a few extra moments of rest. Then I have to get my bag ready and I roll my clothes like mom taught me, to pack them in the backpack that has to be ready for the departure by train between Beijing and Xian. We think, with dad, about the division of our things among the luggage. A few minutes later I load myself like a mule to bring down the most bags in the least amount of time because we are still pressed by time. We go down to the lobby to drop off our things, which we will pick up in the evening to bring to the station to catch our 19:03 train. We meet Liu Jia in front of the hotel to go to a big Apple store. We look for a Beijing taxi, find one and go to the Mac store. We arrive in front of a group of office buildings and shops and find the store we were looking for. Dad explains the problem with our Mac laptop and the technician tells him that it’s a software problem and that the other Apple store which specializes in software would be able to help us. After dad gave me a protective pouch for my iPod Touch I jump in his arms and thank him. We hurry and dash to the software store. I do a bit of Internet there and after a while they say they can fix the problem in 45 minutes. We leave for the photo agency that received my first portable computer, an IBM. Going in I see four Chinese playing Ping-pong and I ask if I can play. One of them hands me his racket very kindly and I play. I begin to understand how to play doubles when, jumping to catch a ball, I fall on the table and break it; how embarrassing. After that I go to see dad who is waiting for me with a technician and a Hui called Abdel, but whose nickname is Doudou. The two of them show me how to work my new computer.