Happy Birthday 美国！

One: I finally have internet in my room again, which is a serious cause for celebration. I spent the weekend at different cafés buying things like 5 kuai bread rolls then spending three hours eating them.

Two: After returning to Beijing from 内蒙古 Nei Menggu (Inner Mongolia) and updating my blog about all the craziness there, I realized I had completely neglected only one of my best days in Beijing!

The Sunday before midterm week and my subsequent trip to 内蒙古, some HBA friends and I endured an hour-long subway ride to find the miraculous Tim's Texas BBQ. Why, you may ask? While there never really needs to be a reason to eat Texas BBQ, we were actually celebrating the Fourth of July. It was a shot in the dark, as none of us had been to this restaurant, but it was better than nothing.

And as far as shots in the dark go, this one was amazingly on target.  When we got there and saw the wonderful things they had on their menu, some of us (myself included) actually teared up a little. I'm not even kidding. After our difficult weeks of trying to assimilate to Chinese culture, it was literally an incredible blessing to be able to order food that reminded us of home. Now, if someone had told me before I went to China that a menu would bring me to tears, I seriously wouldn't have believed them. But I really underestimated the hardship of spending weeks in a completely unfamiliar environment. I mean, just seeing the words "Tex-Mex" and "pulled pork sandwich" on a menu actually made me tear up!

And here's where I knew it was going to be a good meal:

Not the margaritas, I don't have enough experience to know what a good margarita is supposed to taste like. The Dr. Pepper. So refreshing... so delicious. What an amazing thing. It almost makes me want to write another ode, but I think I'll spare my readers this time around.

The meal just kept getting better. We all split some tortilla chips and some of the best onion rings I've ever eaten. And then our meals came. Everyone was so happy to have familiar food in front of them, and the fact that it was the Fourth of July added to the festive atmosphere. After all, we were all on the opposite side of the world from our families, friends and country; we had to make the most of what we had. And we had a lot:

The luxury of such amazing food cost us, though. Between the drinks, appetizers, meals and desserts ordered by the ten of us, the bill reached a pretty impressive size:

Best 128 kuai that I've ever spent. And considering it was still only a little over $14 in America, I was pretty happy. So was everyone else:

And finally, I couldn't enter such a Texan establishment without paying my respects:

So somehow, while in Beijing, China, of all places, I managed to have one of my favorite Independence Day celebrations. Shout-out to Natalee Pei for discovering it. 

Happy Birthday America :)