In hopes of eating something that is not Chinese food, we went to a very nice Indian restaurant in one of Beijing's hutongs (old streets that have mostly been changed due to modernization and the Olympics). The hutongs are quite pretty at night, with lights in the trees and fireworks in the street. (I found out that fireworks are permitted until the fifteenth day of the New Year, so until then they continue day and night.) It turned out the people who worked at the restaurant could not speak Chinese, despite their restaurant is in a very Chinese part of Beijing. Also, that night, all of the patrons were waiguoren (foreigners) so they too were speaking English. It was a very strange experience to be surrounded by English, but only be able to speak Chinese.