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So it's update time: Since my last blog entry, I have been doing work stuff and generally chilling. We've had a lot of rain here in the last few weeks, which has put a bit of damper on my weekends. I spent one weekend shopping (well, looking), since I could be inside the whole time. Did laundry, boring stuff... One day I went to Jingshan Park, which is the park directly north of the Forbidden City (see pics). I wish it had been clearer - love that Beijing fog/smog - but it was still pleasant. I climbed up to the top of Coal Hill and looked down on what I could see of the Forbidden City. On a clear day, the view must be even more incredible, though even with the fog, it was still pretty cool. There were a lot of Chinese tourists there also taking lots of pictures. My biggest activity has taken place this past week, when a friend from school, Stefanie, arrived in town for a few days in Beijing. She is traveling throughout China for a month after her graduation, and I offered my futon (which she actually likes sleeping on)! It's been nice having someone here to hang out with after work, plus I've been able to help her with various issues, such as visa extensions. Ick...that's always fun. On Friday night, we met up with another Woo, Mark Lanning (who is studying on the Princeton in Beijing program), and he got us into an acrobatics show being paid for by Princeton. Mooching off PU all the way out in Beijing - that's what I call po! The acrobats were amazing - some cool modern style Cirque du Soleil style numbers involving spinning is what looked like giant hula hoops. Also, a lot of traditional styles, with crazy contortions, hoop jumping. Chinese yo-yo tossing, pole climbing, tumbling, etc. They were quite good - esp. the little girls who did yo-yo and the boys who jumped and tumbled everywhere! Afterwards, we went to a Chinese restaurant and hung out for a while and then went to a party at one of the other interns' apartment. It was fun! We had a good night and everyone meshed quite well. The next day was fun at the PSB helping her to get a visa extension. Despite some early missteps, all went smoothly (as far as we can tell)! It was DUMPING rain, and finally Stef offered to pay for a cab (I was being cheap and walking to subway stations). We went down to Xidan and did some shopping - buying DVDs and looking at all the crazy hoards of Chinese shoppers. That night, we went to dinner with some interns and other assorted guests and then I went off to my first ever professional sporting match in China - a friendly football (soccer) match between Beijing Hyundai (the local squad sponsored by the car maker) and Real Madrid, one of the top teams in the world and home to stars such as David Beckham, Michael Owen and Ronaldo. I never thought I would be into soccer, but I played enough FIFA 2004 on the Playstation to really get into it - I think it happened to me as I became more "globalized." It was still dumping rain when we got there - I used to always laugh at those people that go to football games in the snow, but here I was off to soccer in a monsoon. Hey, I'd already bought the tickets - and they weren't cheap! We bought ponchos and braved our way up to our seats. The rain started to taper off - though it dumped a lot during the half. The field was in terrible shape and there were points were the ball would literally stop in its tracks to the amount of water on the grass. It was like a giant Slip and Slide and the players were soaked. The Beijing team was actually quite good and led at several points, though Real prevailed in the end. We ended up sitting next to Princeton in Beijing students - random! I got a picture of Figo kicking the winning goal - a penalty kick. Pretty good photojournalism, eh? (Yeah right). It was fun - and I didn't get sick either, surprisingly. The only lowlight was that Beckham didn't play because he'd injured himself playing a game in LA. On Sunday, Stef and I went to Tianjin, which is a port city an hour from Beijing. We went to see the parents of one our classmates, who also recently graduated from the Woo. I actually didn't really know the student, but Stef did and had met the parents at graduation. I had been calling all day on Saturday trying to work out travel details and my Chinese was really starting to work overtime! They spoke no English! We took a nice train to Tianjin and the Yang's met us at the station. They were the sweetest people! We went and bought return tickets (on a much lower class train - more on that later) and then they started to show us around Tianjin. We saw some neat sights including the major downtown shopping area - similar to Wangfujing or Nanjing Road in Shanghai. Tianjin also has a lot of foreign architecture because it was run by the European "imperialists" in the 1800s. We did some shopping and then they took us to Goubuli, which is one of the most famous dumpling/bun restaurants in China. It was a favorite of the Empress Dowager and now I know why - YUM!!! They ordered so much food and we just kept eating! Then they paid for it! We kept trying to pay for things and they just refused...I know it's cultural but it was too nice of them. We felt bad because they are retired workers, but when we tried to slip money to the waitress at the noodle place where we had dinner, he made her return it to us! Oh well, we tried. We tried to check out an old antique market that is supposed to be the best in China, but I think it is past its prime. Mr. Yang said it used to be really popular but not anymore - too many fakes. Then they took us to "Ancient Culture Street," which isn't ancient at all. It's actually a reconstruction of an old Chinese street, but very nice and full of cool shops. I bought another name chop and and also some replica Beijing opera masks (small). Nothing special - I think the masks are made assembly line style, but they were neat. We help Stef bargain for some scarves and got a good deal on a carving of a rooster. Though the translation duty was taxing on the brain, I really think I bonded with Mr. Yang and we had a great time talking. He was so friendly and he kept complimenting my Chinese, which is also cultural but nice to hear. I need to send them a thank you card. They really became like our parents and even escorted us all the way to the train platform and kept reminding us to watch our belongings. He didn't even want me to feel uncomfortable when another person tried to discuss US-China politics with us. He told him that he'd said to much and that Americans and Chinese should just be friends! Anyhow, Mr. Yang had convinced me to buy an unreserved hard seat ticket, the lowest class possible. We were also booked on to a through train as opposed to an express train - literally the slow train to Beijing! This mean that we had to make the traditional Chinese mad dash to the platform and fight for seats! We did get seats, but they were the hardest "hard seats" I've ever seen, barely padded, in an train cabin with no air-conditioning. Thank God the windows were open! It was actually not bad for 90 minute trip, but amazingly, many people on the train were going to Datong - an 8 hour trip! No beds in hard seat, just a full bench if you luck out. Amazing when you consider that this is how most Chinese travel - no sleepers for them! Wow. The only really annoying thing was that there was a train employee who spent the first part of the trip hawking random goods (socks and pens) in a very loud voice - kind of an informercial on rails. I had never seen that before, but then this was the first real "working class" train I'd ever taken in the Middle Kingdom. We got back to Beijing safe and sound. The last few nights, Stef and I have gone out(yes, I left the apartment on a weeknight!!!). On Monday, we went to a new Belgian beer bar and got happy hour 2 for 1 Leffes and Hoegaardens. YAY!!!! We also meant an honest to goodness Belgian who was drinking coffee. Coffee? He was missing out. Nice guy though, there with his Chinese co-worker. He was an architect from Antwerp and I waxed on about how much I loved his country. It was fun. On Tuesday night, we went to Houhai (the back lakes) and ate Hong Kong food on a terrace overlooking the lake. Very pleasant and relaxing. Tonight, I had Chinese class so she is out exploring on her own. The only really bad part of the week was losing electricity. They switched all of our electric meters to IC card versions (where you have to pay for credit on a card in advance - you do this at the bank) and I couldn't get my card because the landlord was out of town. So when we got home from the Belgian beer place, we had no juice. The next day, the whole building was out for maintenance plus the water! I love living in a developing country! =) I got it worked out though I stiill not sure how many kWh to buy per shot. I bought very few to start because I didn't want to buy too many and waste my kuai. But, with the AC and the hot weather, the kWhs are flowing fast. Luckily, the cost seems fairly low, but now I have to go back to the bank (but it's right by work, so no biggie)... Anyhow, I think that's the highlights and the lowlights. Email me sometime or feel free to comment! Post a comment in response: |
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