Lydia finishes her 15 kuai ice cream and she wants more. She asks for one more, a pinky one this time, and being denied this asks for Aidan's but not mine because it is chocolate. She is such a strong willed little girl who knows what she wants and knows when she wants it. One may consider he spoiled or selfish. I call her Lydia. In lieu of ice cream I ask her if she would like a piggy back ride. She gently suggests that she would prefer ice cream. Gentle as in "No!". But she relents and it turns out she didn't know how much fun a piggy ride could be, at least for the rider.

We ran and ran, Lydia yelling "Jia" (if you don't know what Jia is, see a previous post) and happy with me being horse. Aidan then wanted to get into the game but he is heavier and I could only do a few laps with him. Adults sitting in the restaurants and especially the waitresses smile as we race past. When I have Aidan on my shoulders, Lydia pulls on the back of my shorts and my shorts are loose but somehow they don't fall down. Yang is nearby and ducks into a row of shops to do some shopping.

In the past few weeks restaurants all across Beijing have been posting there sanity rating, a letter grade from A-D.  Apparently you cannot flunk. Mostly one sees Bs and a few As. Starbucks has an A. The korean fast food restaurant with five types of dog on the menu received and B. There are no actual Cs or Ds posted, at least that I have seen. But there are plenty of restaurant with no posting which either means they got a C or D or they have not yet been rated. If I was a restaurant owner I would post a big sign "not yet rated". Who knows, maybe they have and I just can't read it. In any case, I am avoiding all restaurants without a rating. Here's the rating sign for that Korean fast food restaurant.

I'm thinking what would it be like to be rated with a letter grade. And I think it would stink. That would be too much like school. Too much like work. Why don't we all just play with the whole alphabet. Jia!