My last day full day in Beijing was amazing. I had great times with great friends. I didn’t know going into this that I might connect with people the way I did. I started out the day beginning the daunting task of packing two suitcases full of souvenirs and clothing. Luckily for me, Celine told me that she was going on a business trip to northern China, and I asked her if I could donate some of my clothing and shoes to the flood victims. I had grown tired of wearing the same clothes day in and day out in China, and someone else might need them more than me. Also, it gave me more room for goodies from China.
I met up with Jessie at Xizhimen Station to get lunch and return the cell phone that she lent me. I requested that we have Beijing noodles one last time. I don’t think I can ever get the same thing in North Carolina. That goodbye was sad, but I really hope that she makes it to the States someday. She told me that before knowing me, she didn’t have a good impression of the States, but I had changed her mind. That made me feel really good.
Back at the office, I cleaned out my desk, said some goodbyes and went with Celine to exchange my money. For some reason, it feels strange having U.S. dollars in my wallet again.
I told Pang Li to call me when he got off of work so that we could go to the Beer Garden one last time together. We went pint-for-pint for a while, exchanged e-mails and gan bei’d to America. We even got my favorite, boiled dumplings, for the last time. Keith had invited me out to dinner so that I could have Peking duck one last time at a place nearby. He picked me up, and we rode his electric scooter to the restaurant. Itzhel and Pang Li met us there. We had many of my favorite things – roast duck, kung pao chicken, pork bread bowls and salad. The food was delicious and the company made me feel special on my last night in Beijing. Outside the restaurant, I said goodbye to Keith and Itzhel and parted ways, not exactly sure if and when we would see each other again. I think it’s safe to day that we all love traveling, so I hope we cross paths again someday.
Back at the apartment, I struggled to pack while tipsy, which is harder than you would think. Defeated, I set my alarm for 5 a.m., intending to wake up early and finish packing.
I woke up on time, managed to cram everything into two suitcases and two bags and waited for Pang Li and the driver to pick me up and take me to Beijing Capital Airport. My flights went smoothly, and now I’m back in the good ol’ U.S. of A.
Epilogue to come soon.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Time is limited; enjoy the life [69-70]
I spent the weekend checking more things off of my list of things to do in Beijing. First on my list was to visit 798 Art District, a large quarter in northwest Beijing with warehouses that were converted into art galleries. It was a really cool mix of rustic buildings and contemporart sculptures, art and paintings. My favorite art was by the Chinese artist Liu Bolin (Google it!). I must say, though, that I felt more like a tourist here and less like someone who had lived in Beijing for two months. I had never seen so many Westerners in one place in China than at 798.
I took a bus to Yashow Market after I had seen enough art. I couldn’t resist one last visit to the DVD store. Naturally, I got a Jackie Chan movie to take home to the States. I then took another bus to Keith’s apartment in Nanluogu Xiang. Lenore and Tobias arrived soon after I did, and Tobias wanted to show off the sidecar motorcycle that he was renting/about to purchase. Tobias, Keith and I took the bike out for a spin. It was super cool being on the back of a bike in Beijing traffic – something that most Americans don’t get a chance to do (for free, at least), so it made up for feeling like a tourist earlier in the day at 798. However, I was also kind of scared for my life when we topped out at 65 km/h. Not to mention that no one wears helmets and drivers in China are CRAZY. But I’m alive.
Once the twins, Brian and Kevin, and their Chinese friend, Con Lin, arrived, we all took a bus to Ghost Street for hot pot. This was only my second time eating hotpot – kind of like fondue, but with more beer and less chocolate. I got the “spicy” hotpot this time, so it was much better than my first hot pot experience with the “swim team.” We filled ourselves with delicious mutton, mushrooms, potatoes, dumplings, lettuce and pijiu. The conversation dynamics were interesting because everyone but me could speak Chinese, and everyone but Con Lin could speak English, so it kind of just flip-flopped from language to language naturally. The group took a picture with a small Chinese boy selling glittery roses outside of the restaurant before heading to WuDouKou.
In WuDaoKou, we had planned on going to Propaganda, a popular bar for foreigners, but when we got there, we noticed that everything was closing at midnight. Confused, we asked around. Some Germans we met told us that midnight marked the beginning of a national day of mourning for the victims of the flooding and mudslides in Gansu Province, China. Luckily for us, there was still one bar opened, called Laowai’s Lounge. Its name literally translates to “Foreigner’s Lounge” and is owned by the same people as Propaganda. We enjoyed some fries and 5 kuai pijiu.
Despite staying out late, I woke up at 6:30 the next morning to meet Jessie at FuChengMen Station to take a bus to Xiang Shan for some hiking. The mountain’s name translates to Fragrant Hill, named for its odorous pine trees. The bus took about an hour, and the hike to the top took about two hours. At the top, Jessie and I took pictures by a tree strung with red penants on which people had written their wishes. This was also the first time that I could see all of Beijing at one time. It was really cool being able to point out the Summer Palace, the CCTV Tower and the other landmarks of my summer home. We then hiked to a grassy spot where we had a picnic. Jessie had made sushi and brought peanuts, peaches, grapes and pijiu. We both felt so relaxed that we fell asleep laying in the sun. We left the mountain and took the 714 bus back to FuChengMen, where we caught the 800 bus to the market with the tailor who had made my suit. This time it fit very well, so I paid the man and left satisfied.
That night for dinner I decided I wanted street food one more time. I walked to the street across from Jian Mart where I had eaten before. I’m not entirely sure what everything was that I ate, but it was all delicious and cheap as hell. Once again, the barbecued corn on the cob was my favorite.
I took a bus to Yashow Market after I had seen enough art. I couldn’t resist one last visit to the DVD store. Naturally, I got a Jackie Chan movie to take home to the States. I then took another bus to Keith’s apartment in Nanluogu Xiang. Lenore and Tobias arrived soon after I did, and Tobias wanted to show off the sidecar motorcycle that he was renting/about to purchase. Tobias, Keith and I took the bike out for a spin. It was super cool being on the back of a bike in Beijing traffic – something that most Americans don’t get a chance to do (for free, at least), so it made up for feeling like a tourist earlier in the day at 798. However, I was also kind of scared for my life when we topped out at 65 km/h. Not to mention that no one wears helmets and drivers in China are CRAZY. But I’m alive.
Once the twins, Brian and Kevin, and their Chinese friend, Con Lin, arrived, we all took a bus to Ghost Street for hot pot. This was only my second time eating hotpot – kind of like fondue, but with more beer and less chocolate. I got the “spicy” hotpot this time, so it was much better than my first hot pot experience with the “swim team.” We filled ourselves with delicious mutton, mushrooms, potatoes, dumplings, lettuce and pijiu. The conversation dynamics were interesting because everyone but me could speak Chinese, and everyone but Con Lin could speak English, so it kind of just flip-flopped from language to language naturally. The group took a picture with a small Chinese boy selling glittery roses outside of the restaurant before heading to WuDouKou.
In WuDaoKou, we had planned on going to Propaganda, a popular bar for foreigners, but when we got there, we noticed that everything was closing at midnight. Confused, we asked around. Some Germans we met told us that midnight marked the beginning of a national day of mourning for the victims of the flooding and mudslides in Gansu Province, China. Luckily for us, there was still one bar opened, called Laowai’s Lounge. Its name literally translates to “Foreigner’s Lounge” and is owned by the same people as Propaganda. We enjoyed some fries and 5 kuai pijiu.
Despite staying out late, I woke up at 6:30 the next morning to meet Jessie at FuChengMen Station to take a bus to Xiang Shan for some hiking. The mountain’s name translates to Fragrant Hill, named for its odorous pine trees. The bus took about an hour, and the hike to the top took about two hours. At the top, Jessie and I took pictures by a tree strung with red penants on which people had written their wishes. This was also the first time that I could see all of Beijing at one time. It was really cool being able to point out the Summer Palace, the CCTV Tower and the other landmarks of my summer home. We then hiked to a grassy spot where we had a picnic. Jessie had made sushi and brought peanuts, peaches, grapes and pijiu. We both felt so relaxed that we fell asleep laying in the sun. We left the mountain and took the 714 bus back to FuChengMen, where we caught the 800 bus to the market with the tailor who had made my suit. This time it fit very well, so I paid the man and left satisfied.
That night for dinner I decided I wanted street food one more time. I walked to the street across from Jian Mart where I had eaten before. I’m not entirely sure what everything was that I ate, but it was all delicious and cheap as hell. Once again, the barbecued corn on the cob was my favorite.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Dan, like from Gossip Girl! [66-68]
My crack-of-dawn train ride back to Beijing went smoothly, though it was a bit lonely after being surrounded by friends the past few days. I must say, though, it felt pretty good being able to travel through China on my own without problems.
Once I arrived in Beijing, I took a subway and then a bus back to my apartment, where I pretty much crashed for the rest of the day. I used that night to make a list of the things I wanted to do for my last week in Beijing. I think I have done a pretty good job so far.
On Thursday, I finally had Peking duck, Beijing’s most popular dish. Katherine called me, and we took the 701 bus to Houhai Lake to find a place with roast duck. It isn’t hard to find and it’s not too expensive. We watched the chef carve and serve the roast duck, which we then put in “pancakes,” added cucumber, scallions and hoisin (Chinese dried plum sauce), wrapped up, and gobbled down. It was DELICIOUS. I can’t believe it took me THIS long to try it.
After lunch we walked over to Nanlougu Xiang, where I immediately spotted something else on my list of things to do – cupping. You may have seen this in movies or on TV, where a Chinese masseuse lights cotton on fire, puts it in an open glass globe, and places the globe on another person’s back, forming a suction and making huge bruises. It sounds painful, and it was at first, but the Chinese believe wholeheartedly that this will eradicate any diseases within your body. I kind of just did it for the badass bruises. Later in NLGX, I finally found a stuffed panda cute enough to become mine. I had been looking for the perfect one all summer, and it took me until now to find it! The best part about it is that its head pops off and the body folds out to form a pillow. Thirteen hour plane ride companion? I think so.
The next thing on my list was to go to the Silk Market. I’ve somehow avoided this tourist trap until now, but certain people (read: my mom) want scarves from China. I didn’t think it could happen, but I actually felt guilty about my stellar bargaining this time. I even got myself a nice trench coat for 200 yuan (US$30).
With a few hours to spare before the subway shut down, I paid one last visit to Friends Café in SOHO. This time there were different episodes on, and I tried a milkshake. I noticed a portrait of the Girl With the Pearl Earring – the same as the book I was currently reading!
On Friday, I woke up early to go do something I had really been looking forward to – go to a water park! And not just any water park – the biggest one in Asia… and it was in the Olympic Watercube – how cool! The 200 yuan ticket included a self-guided tour of the aquatics facilities. It was really cool to be able to sit in the stands and imagine watching Michael Phelps winning one of his eight gold metals. The water park itself was a little bit of a letdown, but only because of the crowds. Initially I wanted to ride the biggest water slides, but those lines took over 30 minutes. After suffering through one of those lines for a 30-second ride, I took to the Lazy River. I’m not sure if Chinese people understand that a LAZY River is supposed to be relaxing, because everyone – not just kids – turned it into more of a bumper-tube course. I also went on several smaller slides and rides that were fun. In one of the lines, I met a Chinese girl named Apple (yes, like Gwyneth Paltrow’s daughter) who was on vacation from her university in Hangzhou. It turns out she had seen me earlier in the day and had just now worked up the courage to talk to the mei guo ren. As the title of this blog suggests, she was a big fan of American television and recognized my name from one of her favorite shows. Her English was great, and it was fun to have a friend to spend the rest of the day with.
I had to leave the park to meet Jessie to go try on my suit that I had tailored. The pants fit perfectly, but the jacket was a little too loose, so I will be returning to pick up the finished product Sunday. Jessie also wanted to take me to a Korean place to eat, since Korean cuisine is her favorite. I thought it was good, but kind of wished we had done it barbecue style like those seated around us. Each table had a small grill in the middle where they were barbecuing meat, fish and vegetables. Instead, we had noodles, squid with rice, sushi, and ice cream.
When I got off the bus to head back to my apartment, I ran into Brian and Pang Li heading to the Beer Garden for some pijiu. I said, what the hell, and joined them. It was a fun night, mainly consisting of Brian and I trying to convince Pang Li to apply to spend a semester at UNC. He would have some guanxi with Dean Cole and I there, and I KNOW he would love it.
Once I arrived in Beijing, I took a subway and then a bus back to my apartment, where I pretty much crashed for the rest of the day. I used that night to make a list of the things I wanted to do for my last week in Beijing. I think I have done a pretty good job so far.
On Thursday, I finally had Peking duck, Beijing’s most popular dish. Katherine called me, and we took the 701 bus to Houhai Lake to find a place with roast duck. It isn’t hard to find and it’s not too expensive. We watched the chef carve and serve the roast duck, which we then put in “pancakes,” added cucumber, scallions and hoisin (Chinese dried plum sauce), wrapped up, and gobbled down. It was DELICIOUS. I can’t believe it took me THIS long to try it.
After lunch we walked over to Nanlougu Xiang, where I immediately spotted something else on my list of things to do – cupping. You may have seen this in movies or on TV, where a Chinese masseuse lights cotton on fire, puts it in an open glass globe, and places the globe on another person’s back, forming a suction and making huge bruises. It sounds painful, and it was at first, but the Chinese believe wholeheartedly that this will eradicate any diseases within your body. I kind of just did it for the badass bruises. Later in NLGX, I finally found a stuffed panda cute enough to become mine. I had been looking for the perfect one all summer, and it took me until now to find it! The best part about it is that its head pops off and the body folds out to form a pillow. Thirteen hour plane ride companion? I think so.
The next thing on my list was to go to the Silk Market. I’ve somehow avoided this tourist trap until now, but certain people (read: my mom) want scarves from China. I didn’t think it could happen, but I actually felt guilty about my stellar bargaining this time. I even got myself a nice trench coat for 200 yuan (US$30).
With a few hours to spare before the subway shut down, I paid one last visit to Friends Café in SOHO. This time there were different episodes on, and I tried a milkshake. I noticed a portrait of the Girl With the Pearl Earring – the same as the book I was currently reading!
On Friday, I woke up early to go do something I had really been looking forward to – go to a water park! And not just any water park – the biggest one in Asia… and it was in the Olympic Watercube – how cool! The 200 yuan ticket included a self-guided tour of the aquatics facilities. It was really cool to be able to sit in the stands and imagine watching Michael Phelps winning one of his eight gold metals. The water park itself was a little bit of a letdown, but only because of the crowds. Initially I wanted to ride the biggest water slides, but those lines took over 30 minutes. After suffering through one of those lines for a 30-second ride, I took to the Lazy River. I’m not sure if Chinese people understand that a LAZY River is supposed to be relaxing, because everyone – not just kids – turned it into more of a bumper-tube course. I also went on several smaller slides and rides that were fun. In one of the lines, I met a Chinese girl named Apple (yes, like Gwyneth Paltrow’s daughter) who was on vacation from her university in Hangzhou. It turns out she had seen me earlier in the day and had just now worked up the courage to talk to the mei guo ren. As the title of this blog suggests, she was a big fan of American television and recognized my name from one of her favorite shows. Her English was great, and it was fun to have a friend to spend the rest of the day with.
I had to leave the park to meet Jessie to go try on my suit that I had tailored. The pants fit perfectly, but the jacket was a little too loose, so I will be returning to pick up the finished product Sunday. Jessie also wanted to take me to a Korean place to eat, since Korean cuisine is her favorite. I thought it was good, but kind of wished we had done it barbecue style like those seated around us. Each table had a small grill in the middle where they were barbecuing meat, fish and vegetables. Instead, we had noodles, squid with rice, sushi, and ice cream.
When I got off the bus to head back to my apartment, I ran into Brian and Pang Li heading to the Beer Garden for some pijiu. I said, what the hell, and joined them. It was a fun night, mainly consisting of Brian and I trying to convince Pang Li to apply to spend a semester at UNC. He would have some guanxi with Dean Cole and I there, and I KNOW he would love it.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
The best things (in life) are free! [62.5-65]
The 10-hour train ride to Shanghai was not as bad as it sounded. We splurged for first class tickets, so we enjoyed lots of leg room, pillows and seats that reclined heavily. Aside from making instant noodles, I slept most of the time.
Sherry, Annie’s Chinese Holland Fellows partner, greeted us with a huge smile at the train station in Shanghai. P.A. and Jesse departed in a cab for their hostel, and Sherry helped me book a train ticket for the return for Beijing. I will be spending three nights at Sherry and her father’s apartment and three days in Shanghai, China’s most largest metropolis and the sight of the 2010 World Expo.
We took a cab to Sherry’s apartment, and the first thing I noticed about Shanghai was how much cleaner it looked than Beijing. This is mainly due to cleaning efforts because of the Expo, much like how Beijing was treated during the 2008 Summer Olympics. There were “Expo 2010” signs and Haibo (‘the official mascot of the 2010 Expo’) charicatures everywhere I looked. We got to Sherry’s apartment, which has a small entrance way and two bedrooms. Sherry set up two places to sleep on the ground, one of which was mine. It was actually more comfortable than my bed at the apartment in Beijing, so I had no trouble sleeping that night.
The one downside of staying at Sherry’s place was that her bathtub had formed a leak the day before we arrived, so to take a shower, we had to walk about five minutes to her grandmother’s apartment. In the hot Shanghai weather, I was sweating again by the time I finished my shower and walked back to Sherry’s the next morning. I also could not communicate directly to Sherry’s father, who only speaks Mandarin and Shanghainese, nor her grandmother, who only speaks Shanghainese.
Sherry’s father provided breakfast every morning – steamed buns filled with meat – which I grew to love and even bought for myself twice in Shanghai. He also is a great cook and made a lot of the food that we had for lunch that day, which Neo joined us for. The four of us had fun catching up and talking about the adventures in the States that we were all about to embark on. Annie will graduate in December and try to roadtrip to Canada in the winter before leaving for Ecuador. I will graduate in May and see where the journalism job market takes me. Neo will spend a semester away from China at Rice University in Texas. Sherry will have the biggest change when she leaves China on the same day as me for SUNY Buffalo to participate in a 5-year Ph.D. program.
After lunch, I set out on my own on a bus to the Oriental Pearl Tower. This is a huge tower that was erected in 1994 and resembles the Space Needle, but shines pink during the day and sparkles at night. I didn’t go up the tower even though it has a glass floor in the second “ball” because of a two-hour wait. Instead, I took pictures and did what I have grown to know best in China – shopping. Uniqlo, a Japanese store similar to H&M, was having a sale, so I bought some shirts and a pair of very Chinese pants.
From there, I hopped on the subway to the Expo. Originally I planned to meet up with Victoria, a fellow Tar Heel who did UNC B-school’s Globe Program with my friend Caitlyn and had been interning in Beijing the whole summer, but it turned out we were there at different times. I’m really glad I waited until the afternoon to visit the Expo, though. I avoided a lot of the lines, crowds and heat.
Because of these differences, the Expo was a lot better than people had told me. I had a lot of fun and actually would go back to see more pavilions. The first pavilion (besides China, which needed a reservation to even line up) to catch my eye was India. I waited for a mere 15 minutes, during which I got to use my portable chair that I bought in the train station a week ago for 10 yuan. Other pavilions that I visited included Sri Lanka, Vietnam, DPR Korea, Iran, Lebanon, Ireland, Ukraine, Canada, Australia, and the Czech Republic. I also got a Hogaarden beer at the Belgium Pavilion and a Dutch veal croquette and fries at the Netherlands Pavilion. I won’t go into detail about these pavilions, but some were definitely better than others. I’d have to say that my favorite was the Netherlands. I was disappointed that some of the Central and South America pavilions were closed by the time I reached them at 10:30 p.m., so I left the expo on a subway home.
The next morning, after another lunch cooked by Sherry’s father, I contacted Victoria and we made a plan to meet up at an art district with cafes and stores like Nanlougu Xiang in Beijing. We walked around there for a bit but didn’t buy anything. Our next stop was People’s Square, a park which is popular among locals and tourists. To escape the heat and learn a little more about Shanghai and China, we went to the Shanghai Museum. The museum was shaped like a ding, a Chinese food vessel, and was laid out in a way that made it very easy to see anything and everything you wanted to. I especially liked the mask, jade and painting, and ceramics exhibits. Best of all, it was free and air conditioned!
We made our way over to Nanjing Street, which is very similar to Wafujing in Beijing. It is a huge walking street full of clothing stores, outdoor entertainment and different food venues. We ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant that was tucked away and we would not have noticed had it not been for Vicctoria being able to read Chinese (her parents are Taiwanese) and my keen sense of smell for vinegar (read: dumplings!!!). The dumplings and spicy noodles that I got hit the spot. I said goodbye to Victoria and rounded out the day with a trip to Yu Gardens, another tourist attraction. There is a garden that you can pay to enter, a lake and several streets of souvenir shopping. I enjoyed just strolling down the streets as the sun went down and the bright lights and neon signs came up. Every place I went this day was packed with Chinese and foreign tourists visiting Shanghai’s other attractions after or before a day at the Expo. I felt a bit clostrophobic at times, but enjoyed myself nonetheless.
I woke up early the next day and met Victoria at the train station to purchase tickets to Suzhou. This is a relatively small city outside of Shanghai that is suggested as a day trip in all of the guide books as a way to see ‘scenic gardens.’ The train was only about an hour long, but Suzhou was HOT (35 degrees C) when we arrived. We felt a bit lost at first, not really planning much past the return train ride before arriving. Once we got a hold of a proper map, we took our own advice from the day before and started out with a free and air conditioned tour of the Suzhou Museum. Many of the things on display were similar to the items in the Shanghai Museum, so we spent the bulk of the time touring the outdoor courtyards and pavilions, which seemed like a clever maze, stumping us at times.
We checked out the details of two gardens before deciding on which one to spend our money on. We chose the smaller and cheaper one, which was both good and bad. First of all, the Chinese don’t think of “gardens” the same way we do – instead of flowers, bushes and bright colors, Chinese gardens are characterized by pagodas, courtyards, fake rock formations , manmade lakes and general landscaping. This came as a surprise, as did the immense number of Chinese tourists who made the same cheaper decision as we did. Feeling claustrophobic, we left the garden and headed toward the commercial district for a bite to eat. We both got smoothies, which we had been craving since we met in Shanghai. Not feeling like shopping, we walked farther south to Suzhou Park, which was free and open to the public. It was similar to all the parks I’ve been to in Beijing – old people synchronized dancing, men fishing in non-fishing areas and beautiful lotuses. After failing to get closet to the Twin Pagodas (it was closed early for some reason), we took a bus back to the train station, had a steamed meat bun, and took a train back to Shanghai. We could only get standing tickets, but luckily, I had my handy Expo seat with me, and the train was air conditioned and only lasted about 35 minutes.
We were back in no time, but the sun had gone down in the process, so I decided to go to the Bund. This is an area that overlooks a river and the Shanghai skyline. It was a great view, but filled with way too many sweaty tourists, so I didn’t stay too long before heading back to Sherry’s for an early night’s sleep before returning “home” to Beijing.
Sherry, Annie’s Chinese Holland Fellows partner, greeted us with a huge smile at the train station in Shanghai. P.A. and Jesse departed in a cab for their hostel, and Sherry helped me book a train ticket for the return for Beijing. I will be spending three nights at Sherry and her father’s apartment and three days in Shanghai, China’s most largest metropolis and the sight of the 2010 World Expo.
We took a cab to Sherry’s apartment, and the first thing I noticed about Shanghai was how much cleaner it looked than Beijing. This is mainly due to cleaning efforts because of the Expo, much like how Beijing was treated during the 2008 Summer Olympics. There were “Expo 2010” signs and Haibo (‘the official mascot of the 2010 Expo’) charicatures everywhere I looked. We got to Sherry’s apartment, which has a small entrance way and two bedrooms. Sherry set up two places to sleep on the ground, one of which was mine. It was actually more comfortable than my bed at the apartment in Beijing, so I had no trouble sleeping that night.
The one downside of staying at Sherry’s place was that her bathtub had formed a leak the day before we arrived, so to take a shower, we had to walk about five minutes to her grandmother’s apartment. In the hot Shanghai weather, I was sweating again by the time I finished my shower and walked back to Sherry’s the next morning. I also could not communicate directly to Sherry’s father, who only speaks Mandarin and Shanghainese, nor her grandmother, who only speaks Shanghainese.
Sherry’s father provided breakfast every morning – steamed buns filled with meat – which I grew to love and even bought for myself twice in Shanghai. He also is a great cook and made a lot of the food that we had for lunch that day, which Neo joined us for. The four of us had fun catching up and talking about the adventures in the States that we were all about to embark on. Annie will graduate in December and try to roadtrip to Canada in the winter before leaving for Ecuador. I will graduate in May and see where the journalism job market takes me. Neo will spend a semester away from China at Rice University in Texas. Sherry will have the biggest change when she leaves China on the same day as me for SUNY Buffalo to participate in a 5-year Ph.D. program.
After lunch, I set out on my own on a bus to the Oriental Pearl Tower. This is a huge tower that was erected in 1994 and resembles the Space Needle, but shines pink during the day and sparkles at night. I didn’t go up the tower even though it has a glass floor in the second “ball” because of a two-hour wait. Instead, I took pictures and did what I have grown to know best in China – shopping. Uniqlo, a Japanese store similar to H&M, was having a sale, so I bought some shirts and a pair of very Chinese pants.
From there, I hopped on the subway to the Expo. Originally I planned to meet up with Victoria, a fellow Tar Heel who did UNC B-school’s Globe Program with my friend Caitlyn and had been interning in Beijing the whole summer, but it turned out we were there at different times. I’m really glad I waited until the afternoon to visit the Expo, though. I avoided a lot of the lines, crowds and heat.
Because of these differences, the Expo was a lot better than people had told me. I had a lot of fun and actually would go back to see more pavilions. The first pavilion (besides China, which needed a reservation to even line up) to catch my eye was India. I waited for a mere 15 minutes, during which I got to use my portable chair that I bought in the train station a week ago for 10 yuan. Other pavilions that I visited included Sri Lanka, Vietnam, DPR Korea, Iran, Lebanon, Ireland, Ukraine, Canada, Australia, and the Czech Republic. I also got a Hogaarden beer at the Belgium Pavilion and a Dutch veal croquette and fries at the Netherlands Pavilion. I won’t go into detail about these pavilions, but some were definitely better than others. I’d have to say that my favorite was the Netherlands. I was disappointed that some of the Central and South America pavilions were closed by the time I reached them at 10:30 p.m., so I left the expo on a subway home.
The next morning, after another lunch cooked by Sherry’s father, I contacted Victoria and we made a plan to meet up at an art district with cafes and stores like Nanlougu Xiang in Beijing. We walked around there for a bit but didn’t buy anything. Our next stop was People’s Square, a park which is popular among locals and tourists. To escape the heat and learn a little more about Shanghai and China, we went to the Shanghai Museum. The museum was shaped like a ding, a Chinese food vessel, and was laid out in a way that made it very easy to see anything and everything you wanted to. I especially liked the mask, jade and painting, and ceramics exhibits. Best of all, it was free and air conditioned!
We made our way over to Nanjing Street, which is very similar to Wafujing in Beijing. It is a huge walking street full of clothing stores, outdoor entertainment and different food venues. We ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant that was tucked away and we would not have noticed had it not been for Vicctoria being able to read Chinese (her parents are Taiwanese) and my keen sense of smell for vinegar (read: dumplings!!!). The dumplings and spicy noodles that I got hit the spot. I said goodbye to Victoria and rounded out the day with a trip to Yu Gardens, another tourist attraction. There is a garden that you can pay to enter, a lake and several streets of souvenir shopping. I enjoyed just strolling down the streets as the sun went down and the bright lights and neon signs came up. Every place I went this day was packed with Chinese and foreign tourists visiting Shanghai’s other attractions after or before a day at the Expo. I felt a bit clostrophobic at times, but enjoyed myself nonetheless.
I woke up early the next day and met Victoria at the train station to purchase tickets to Suzhou. This is a relatively small city outside of Shanghai that is suggested as a day trip in all of the guide books as a way to see ‘scenic gardens.’ The train was only about an hour long, but Suzhou was HOT (35 degrees C) when we arrived. We felt a bit lost at first, not really planning much past the return train ride before arriving. Once we got a hold of a proper map, we took our own advice from the day before and started out with a free and air conditioned tour of the Suzhou Museum. Many of the things on display were similar to the items in the Shanghai Museum, so we spent the bulk of the time touring the outdoor courtyards and pavilions, which seemed like a clever maze, stumping us at times.
We checked out the details of two gardens before deciding on which one to spend our money on. We chose the smaller and cheaper one, which was both good and bad. First of all, the Chinese don’t think of “gardens” the same way we do – instead of flowers, bushes and bright colors, Chinese gardens are characterized by pagodas, courtyards, fake rock formations , manmade lakes and general landscaping. This came as a surprise, as did the immense number of Chinese tourists who made the same cheaper decision as we did. Feeling claustrophobic, we left the garden and headed toward the commercial district for a bite to eat. We both got smoothies, which we had been craving since we met in Shanghai. Not feeling like shopping, we walked farther south to Suzhou Park, which was free and open to the public. It was similar to all the parks I’ve been to in Beijing – old people synchronized dancing, men fishing in non-fishing areas and beautiful lotuses. After failing to get closet to the Twin Pagodas (it was closed early for some reason), we took a bus back to the train station, had a steamed meat bun, and took a train back to Shanghai. We could only get standing tickets, but luckily, I had my handy Expo seat with me, and the train was air conditioned and only lasted about 35 minutes.
We were back in no time, but the sun had gone down in the process, so I decided to go to the Bund. This is an area that overlooks a river and the Shanghai skyline. It was a great view, but filled with way too many sweaty tourists, so I didn’t stay too long before heading back to Sherry’s for an early night’s sleep before returning “home” to Beijing.
Tsing Tao beer will give you passion and happiness [60-62.5]
This past week, I started my vacation with a trip to Qingdao with Pang Li, Annie, Jesse and P.A. Initially we were planning on going to DaLian, another beach city, but there was an oil spill just weeks ago that has ruined the waters and beaches (sound familiar?).
There are really only two words I need to describe Qingdao: beach and beer. If you want to get more cultural about it, I can add that there is a heavy German influence in the architecture and history.
The train from Beijing to Qingdao went by fast, and once we arrived, we took a van to check in at Kai Yue Youth Hostel/Old Church Lounge. This was my first time staying in a hostel, and it was a great experience. The hostel was recommended by Hostelworld.com and Lonely Planet. They had a bilingual staff, a bar/hang out area and one free beer per day per customer! We stayed in two eight-person rooms with other Americans, an Irishman, and a Taiwanese family. My only complaints: no hot water and the front doors are locked at 2 a.m.
Once we were settled in and got our free beers, we called the van driver from earlier. We (read: Pang Li) struck a deal with him that we would pay 300 yuan to hire him as a guide for the three days we would be in Qingdao, and he would take us wherever we wanted to go. He recommended (as did Lonely Planet) that we go to Beer Street, which houses the Tsing Tao brewery that makes Tsing Tao beer. Both Qingdao and Tsing Tao are pronounced "ching-dow," but they are written differently because of the evolution of Chinese pinyin. Beer Street also had numerous places to eat, drink and listen to live performers. We ate outside at a barbecue restaurant that the driver recommended. Since Qingdao is a port city, we had lots of delicious seafood. The pitchers of fresh Tsing Tao were also great and “the real deal.” We even tried black beer, which I think was only appreciated by myself and Pang Li. Our driver was fast asleep by this time, so we bribed a taxi driver an extra 5 yuan (US$0.75) to let us cram all five people in his cab and got home safely.
The next morning, we enjoyed an American breakfast (that’s even how it was advertised on the menu) at the hostel with eggs, bacon, sasuage, coffee, etc. It hit the spot, especially the coffee. Pang Li was not impressed and insisted that we give Chinese breakfast a chance the next day.
We set out for the day to an island called Little Qingdao that could be accessed by one road with waves crashing upon it. On the island, we walked along the rocks, let the waves crash upon our legs, took some pictures, and marveled at the number of Chinese people disobeying the “do not cross” signs to get nearer to the sea.
Next we went to one of my favorite places in the world: the beach. It was pretty crowded, but we found a spot to put our stuff down and lather up. The sun was out in full force, and the Chinese people all had their personal umbrellas to help. They also had an eye-catcihng range of clothing, bathing suits, and floating devices. I’m talking inner tubes, rafts, and even wing floaties (yes, grown men were wearing floaties – many Chinese people don’t ever learn how to swim). The sea water felt great, and we even got Pang Li to go in to his waist (he also can’t swim).
Once we were good and pruny and had seen enough small children running around the beach in the buff, we set off in search of lunch. Jesse and P.A. recognized a Chinese restaurant they dined in the last time the ASU group was in Qingdao, so the driver joined us for lunch there. It was amazing, but we all ate so much that we were in need of a nap back at the hostel.
We woke up and set off for a restaurant/bar that John recommended. John is an Englishman that works in our office and taught in Qingdao for a few years two years ago. The French restaurant, Le Bang, was a pretty big letdown as we were among the only people there, the service was slow, and the menu was pricy. We tried another of John’s recommendations, Corner Jazz Bar, later and this was equally disappointing. We decided to leave the empty establishment after one Qingdao. This proved to be a great idea since we found a place called Beer Bar (although it was basically just a few kegs and small chairs outside on the street across from our hostel) selling pints of beer for 2 yuan (US$0.30). Annie busted out the cards and we taught Pang Li B.S. and Spoons (which we improvised for and re-named “Chopsticks”). It turned out to be a great night full of lots of laughter.
The next morning, we held up our end of the bargain and ate a Chinese breakfast of dumpling soup and vegetable buns. Surprisingly, I liked it a lot, though nothing will replace bacon and buttered toast. Next, we set out for Mount Laoshan, which was about an hour outside of Qingdao. It was pretty touristy, but great to get away from cities and have a good sweat and hike. We hiked past pagodas, waterfalls, and a monastery that was supposedly 500 years old (although it looked pretty new to me). We even saw some goats, which reminded me of the last time I had hiked abroad on Mount Pilatus in Greece.
We returned to Qingdao and ate on Snack Street, another strip of restaurants specializing in barbecue seafood. I had a crab, a large shrimp (Qingdao’s specialty), some kind of large clam, and a fish that we picked out and watched get killed (sad, but, as Pang Li says, “TIC: This is China.”). We decided to give up on the bars and embrace our hostel’s amenities, so we headed back home to out free beer and hookah. This was another first for Pang Li and something I had been wanting to do in China ever since I heard that Hookah Bliss in Chapel Hill had closed (moment of silence, please). We worked our way across the street and down a bit to a place where the beer was, believe it or not, even cheaper. We eventually even got a bag of beer, another #onlyinchina moment. While we were out drinking and socializing, P.A. didn’t feel well so he was in the hostel meeting an American roommate named Chris who, no lie, graduated from UNC and was originally from Charlotte. P.A. told Chris about me and sent him out to find us. We flagged him down as the only other Westerner sitting amongst Chinese people and had a great conversation. It turns out that he did a summer in China when he was my age through UNC’s B-school and decided to learn Chinese and return before starting work for Habitat for Humanity. We “bar hopped” and toasted to yuan fen (read: fate) for introducing two Charlotteans and Tar Heels in Qingdao!
The next morning, while Chris set off for the airport to go back to the States, we had another Chinese breakfast, said our goodbyes to Pang Li and set off for the train station.
Next stop: Shanghai!
There are really only two words I need to describe Qingdao: beach and beer. If you want to get more cultural about it, I can add that there is a heavy German influence in the architecture and history.
The train from Beijing to Qingdao went by fast, and once we arrived, we took a van to check in at Kai Yue Youth Hostel/Old Church Lounge. This was my first time staying in a hostel, and it was a great experience. The hostel was recommended by Hostelworld.com and Lonely Planet. They had a bilingual staff, a bar/hang out area and one free beer per day per customer! We stayed in two eight-person rooms with other Americans, an Irishman, and a Taiwanese family. My only complaints: no hot water and the front doors are locked at 2 a.m.
Once we were settled in and got our free beers, we called the van driver from earlier. We (read: Pang Li) struck a deal with him that we would pay 300 yuan to hire him as a guide for the three days we would be in Qingdao, and he would take us wherever we wanted to go. He recommended (as did Lonely Planet) that we go to Beer Street, which houses the Tsing Tao brewery that makes Tsing Tao beer. Both Qingdao and Tsing Tao are pronounced "ching-dow," but they are written differently because of the evolution of Chinese pinyin. Beer Street also had numerous places to eat, drink and listen to live performers. We ate outside at a barbecue restaurant that the driver recommended. Since Qingdao is a port city, we had lots of delicious seafood. The pitchers of fresh Tsing Tao were also great and “the real deal.” We even tried black beer, which I think was only appreciated by myself and Pang Li. Our driver was fast asleep by this time, so we bribed a taxi driver an extra 5 yuan (US$0.75) to let us cram all five people in his cab and got home safely.
The next morning, we enjoyed an American breakfast (that’s even how it was advertised on the menu) at the hostel with eggs, bacon, sasuage, coffee, etc. It hit the spot, especially the coffee. Pang Li was not impressed and insisted that we give Chinese breakfast a chance the next day.
We set out for the day to an island called Little Qingdao that could be accessed by one road with waves crashing upon it. On the island, we walked along the rocks, let the waves crash upon our legs, took some pictures, and marveled at the number of Chinese people disobeying the “do not cross” signs to get nearer to the sea.
Next we went to one of my favorite places in the world: the beach. It was pretty crowded, but we found a spot to put our stuff down and lather up. The sun was out in full force, and the Chinese people all had their personal umbrellas to help. They also had an eye-catcihng range of clothing, bathing suits, and floating devices. I’m talking inner tubes, rafts, and even wing floaties (yes, grown men were wearing floaties – many Chinese people don’t ever learn how to swim). The sea water felt great, and we even got Pang Li to go in to his waist (he also can’t swim).
Once we were good and pruny and had seen enough small children running around the beach in the buff, we set off in search of lunch. Jesse and P.A. recognized a Chinese restaurant they dined in the last time the ASU group was in Qingdao, so the driver joined us for lunch there. It was amazing, but we all ate so much that we were in need of a nap back at the hostel.
We woke up and set off for a restaurant/bar that John recommended. John is an Englishman that works in our office and taught in Qingdao for a few years two years ago. The French restaurant, Le Bang, was a pretty big letdown as we were among the only people there, the service was slow, and the menu was pricy. We tried another of John’s recommendations, Corner Jazz Bar, later and this was equally disappointing. We decided to leave the empty establishment after one Qingdao. This proved to be a great idea since we found a place called Beer Bar (although it was basically just a few kegs and small chairs outside on the street across from our hostel) selling pints of beer for 2 yuan (US$0.30). Annie busted out the cards and we taught Pang Li B.S. and Spoons (which we improvised for and re-named “Chopsticks”). It turned out to be a great night full of lots of laughter.
The next morning, we held up our end of the bargain and ate a Chinese breakfast of dumpling soup and vegetable buns. Surprisingly, I liked it a lot, though nothing will replace bacon and buttered toast. Next, we set out for Mount Laoshan, which was about an hour outside of Qingdao. It was pretty touristy, but great to get away from cities and have a good sweat and hike. We hiked past pagodas, waterfalls, and a monastery that was supposedly 500 years old (although it looked pretty new to me). We even saw some goats, which reminded me of the last time I had hiked abroad on Mount Pilatus in Greece.
We returned to Qingdao and ate on Snack Street, another strip of restaurants specializing in barbecue seafood. I had a crab, a large shrimp (Qingdao’s specialty), some kind of large clam, and a fish that we picked out and watched get killed (sad, but, as Pang Li says, “TIC: This is China.”). We decided to give up on the bars and embrace our hostel’s amenities, so we headed back home to out free beer and hookah. This was another first for Pang Li and something I had been wanting to do in China ever since I heard that Hookah Bliss in Chapel Hill had closed (moment of silence, please). We worked our way across the street and down a bit to a place where the beer was, believe it or not, even cheaper. We eventually even got a bag of beer, another #onlyinchina moment. While we were out drinking and socializing, P.A. didn’t feel well so he was in the hostel meeting an American roommate named Chris who, no lie, graduated from UNC and was originally from Charlotte. P.A. told Chris about me and sent him out to find us. We flagged him down as the only other Westerner sitting amongst Chinese people and had a great conversation. It turns out that he did a summer in China when he was my age through UNC’s B-school and decided to learn Chinese and return before starting work for Habitat for Humanity. We “bar hopped” and toasted to yuan fen (read: fate) for introducing two Charlotteans and Tar Heels in Qingdao!
The next morning, while Chris set off for the airport to go back to the States, we had another Chinese breakfast, said our goodbyes to Pang Li and set off for the train station.
Next stop: Shanghai!
Thursday, August 5, 2010
I love you, my dear. Will you marry me? [55-59]
My last day working at CIIC was also the first day that I wore a tie in China. The interns gave a presentation in front of our department directors, Celine and the scholars that would be visiting UNC and ASU next year. Here are some pictures from during and after the presentation:
So here’s the deal about this internship: it’s the reason I am in China, so I am very grateful for the opportunity. I am so thankful to have met Celine, Pang Li, Catherine, Ada and everyone else who welcomed me at CIIC and helped me accomplish more than I thought I would. However, I feel like I have gotten more out of just being in China and experiencing life outside of the office. That leads me to a tough decision I had to make this weekend.
Pang Li invited me to his best friend’s wedding in Hebei Province, and I accepted without question. It came to my attention Thursday night that the party that Celine had been planning for the interns was also Saturday. I felt really bad missing her party because I love Celine, but I knew that going to a Chinese wedding was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I think I made the right choice: the weekend was amazing.
Pang Li, Annie, and I left after work on Friday. We took a train (my first in China!) to Pang Li’s hometown – Gaobeidian, Hebei Province. My first impressions of this place were all good – cheap cab rides, 100% more trees than in Beijing, and the warmest welcome I’ve ever experienced from Pang Li’s family. His family (mother, grandmother, aunts, cousins, etc.) lives on a ranch, for lack of a better word. We got a short tour and then ate dinner which Pang Li’s mom made with the vegetables from the family garden. It was delicious, and the noodles were the best I’ve ever had. I was fully prepared to stay the night in one of Pang Li’s family’s rooms, but he surprised us by telling us that his “rich cousin” had booked us a hotel room at the best hotel (and the tallest building) in the town. When we got to the hotel, we found out that his cousin had actually booked us each a hotel room – so I had a huge bed and a shower (with a curtain!!!) all to myself.
On Saturday morning, we had breakfast at the hotel (sadly, all Chinese food – not the Western-style breakfast I was hoping for) and walked to the restaurant (yes, restaurant) where the wedding was being held. There was a huge, tacky blow-up archway, fireworks and confetti when the bride and groom pulled up. The whole wedding was a spectacle, complete with pink and red fake flowers, a red carpet, and other (pink and red) decorations. We sat at a table with Pang Li’s friends and watched the show unfold. Chinese weddings are very different for many reasons, but the most being the fact that the couple is already legally married by the time of the ceremony. In fact, there are sometimes two or more ceremonies – one in the groom’s hometown and one in the bride’s hometown. Also, most couples hire a wedding company to perform the ceremony. The host of this wedding stole the show, in my opinion. He had everyone laughing, clapping and even shouting (still not sure what this was about). There were some rituals that I have never seen before – pouring wine in a cascading tower of glasses, bowing to the parents, almost kissing the bride… more than I can post in a blog.
The ceremony was followed by lunch – which was convenient since we were already seated at tables with lazy susans in a restaurant and all… The men at the table wanted the meg [uas] to drink some baijiu, but I could barely let it touch my lips. I seriously don’t know how they drink that stuff. Pang Li probably had a little too much because, as he explained it, guests at the party prove their friendship to the bride and groom by staying longer and drinking more.
The bride was beautiful and she had two wardrobe changes. The groom spoke some English and even incorporated it into the wedding (see blog title). He had his Ph.D. and even published a book in English.
I took the best nap ever at the hotel then met up with Pang Li and his friends for [chaun’r] (barbecue) and pijiu. It’s amazing how much you can enjoy someone’s company without speaking the same language. We had a lot of fun, ate everyerything imaginable barbequed (the fish tasted like candy!) and supposedly finished 100 beers before leaving for KTV (!!!). It’s the Chinese version of karaoke, but so much better. The best part is you get a personal room instead of embarrassing yourself in front of everyone in a bar. Pang Li’s friends rocked out to some Chinese music and picked out Lady Gaga (surprise, surprise) for Annie and me to perform. Unforgettable.
[ktv pics to come]
We slept late on Sunday, and we ate at a dumpling restaurant before Pang Li took us back to his family’s ranch. This time we took a proper tour of the place (with sunlight). Besides the garden, his ranch had a fishing pond, chickens, rabbits and Tibetan dogs (AKA monsters). His grandmother was the sweetest person I have ever met. She kept inviting us (through Pang Li’s translation) to “stay for a few days.” His little five-year-old cousin was the cutest kid ever. He was making forts out of his aunt’s traditional Chinese wooden furniture and silk pillows. The whole family was adorable and made me hope that sometime in the future I will take Pang Li’s grandmother up on her offer.
Pang Li’s friend who also works in Beijing gave us a ride home. The rest of Sunday was spent resting and planning our first official day off of work.
After being treated to an amazing weekend by Pang Li, I didn’t feel guilty going shopping the next day. I felt guilty afterwards. Annie and I went to Panjaiyuan Antique Market, where I bought a bunch of really cool but pretty useless souvenirs. However, I’m pretty happy with a red Buddha bracelet and a framed dragon shadow puppet that I bought. I also picked up a pair of prescription sunglasses from Glasses City.
Since Annie and I missed the dinner party with Celine, we took her out to eat Monday night. Well actually, SHE took us out. She took us to a fancy Chinese restaurant, where the food was amazing. It was great to catch up with Celine – I will surely miss her.
On Tuesday, I spent most of the day with my Chinese friend, Jesse, or Jessie, I should say. She was an economics major in college and idolized a stock trader named Jesse Livermore, so she decided her English name would be Jesse! I told her that J-E-S-S-E is how a man spells the name, but a woman can also have the name if she spells it with an "ie" or a "y." She was happy to change her name to be more feminine. Anyway, she took me to a really good Chinese place for lunch. It had lots of pastries, but we got noodles, peanuts, Korean vegetables, pumpkin porridge and sweet pea pudding. It was all delicious. Next, she took me to a tailor to get sized for a suit. This is one thing that I have been told I should buy in China. I hate dressing up, and a large part of me hopes that I don't have a job that entails wearing a suit often, but at least now I will have one if I need it. And it will only cost me 420 yuan (US$62).
The American Jesse came into Beijing Tuesday, so Pang Li took us out to a place that served Sijuan (sp? Also, not to be confused with Sichuan) food, a cuisine indigenous to a region of northwest China. It was one of the best meals I've had in China, and the black beer was great. What would I do without Pang Li??
Next up – vacation!
So here’s the deal about this internship: it’s the reason I am in China, so I am very grateful for the opportunity. I am so thankful to have met Celine, Pang Li, Catherine, Ada and everyone else who welcomed me at CIIC and helped me accomplish more than I thought I would. However, I feel like I have gotten more out of just being in China and experiencing life outside of the office. That leads me to a tough decision I had to make this weekend.
Pang Li invited me to his best friend’s wedding in Hebei Province, and I accepted without question. It came to my attention Thursday night that the party that Celine had been planning for the interns was also Saturday. I felt really bad missing her party because I love Celine, but I knew that going to a Chinese wedding was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I think I made the right choice: the weekend was amazing.
Pang Li, Annie, and I left after work on Friday. We took a train (my first in China!) to Pang Li’s hometown – Gaobeidian, Hebei Province. My first impressions of this place were all good – cheap cab rides, 100% more trees than in Beijing, and the warmest welcome I’ve ever experienced from Pang Li’s family. His family (mother, grandmother, aunts, cousins, etc.) lives on a ranch, for lack of a better word. We got a short tour and then ate dinner which Pang Li’s mom made with the vegetables from the family garden. It was delicious, and the noodles were the best I’ve ever had. I was fully prepared to stay the night in one of Pang Li’s family’s rooms, but he surprised us by telling us that his “rich cousin” had booked us a hotel room at the best hotel (and the tallest building) in the town. When we got to the hotel, we found out that his cousin had actually booked us each a hotel room – so I had a huge bed and a shower (with a curtain!!!) all to myself.
On Saturday morning, we had breakfast at the hotel (sadly, all Chinese food – not the Western-style breakfast I was hoping for) and walked to the restaurant (yes, restaurant) where the wedding was being held. There was a huge, tacky blow-up archway, fireworks and confetti when the bride and groom pulled up. The whole wedding was a spectacle, complete with pink and red fake flowers, a red carpet, and other (pink and red) decorations. We sat at a table with Pang Li’s friends and watched the show unfold. Chinese weddings are very different for many reasons, but the most being the fact that the couple is already legally married by the time of the ceremony. In fact, there are sometimes two or more ceremonies – one in the groom’s hometown and one in the bride’s hometown. Also, most couples hire a wedding company to perform the ceremony. The host of this wedding stole the show, in my opinion. He had everyone laughing, clapping and even shouting (still not sure what this was about). There were some rituals that I have never seen before – pouring wine in a cascading tower of glasses, bowing to the parents, almost kissing the bride… more than I can post in a blog.
The ceremony was followed by lunch – which was convenient since we were already seated at tables with lazy susans in a restaurant and all… The men at the table wanted the meg [uas] to drink some baijiu, but I could barely let it touch my lips. I seriously don’t know how they drink that stuff. Pang Li probably had a little too much because, as he explained it, guests at the party prove their friendship to the bride and groom by staying longer and drinking more.
The bride was beautiful and she had two wardrobe changes. The groom spoke some English and even incorporated it into the wedding (see blog title). He had his Ph.D. and even published a book in English.
I took the best nap ever at the hotel then met up with Pang Li and his friends for [chaun’r] (barbecue) and pijiu. It’s amazing how much you can enjoy someone’s company without speaking the same language. We had a lot of fun, ate everyerything imaginable barbequed (the fish tasted like candy!) and supposedly finished 100 beers before leaving for KTV (!!!). It’s the Chinese version of karaoke, but so much better. The best part is you get a personal room instead of embarrassing yourself in front of everyone in a bar. Pang Li’s friends rocked out to some Chinese music and picked out Lady Gaga (surprise, surprise) for Annie and me to perform. Unforgettable.
[ktv pics to come]
We slept late on Sunday, and we ate at a dumpling restaurant before Pang Li took us back to his family’s ranch. This time we took a proper tour of the place (with sunlight). Besides the garden, his ranch had a fishing pond, chickens, rabbits and Tibetan dogs (AKA monsters). His grandmother was the sweetest person I have ever met. She kept inviting us (through Pang Li’s translation) to “stay for a few days.” His little five-year-old cousin was the cutest kid ever. He was making forts out of his aunt’s traditional Chinese wooden furniture and silk pillows. The whole family was adorable and made me hope that sometime in the future I will take Pang Li’s grandmother up on her offer.
Pang Li’s friend who also works in Beijing gave us a ride home. The rest of Sunday was spent resting and planning our first official day off of work.
After being treated to an amazing weekend by Pang Li, I didn’t feel guilty going shopping the next day. I felt guilty afterwards. Annie and I went to Panjaiyuan Antique Market, where I bought a bunch of really cool but pretty useless souvenirs. However, I’m pretty happy with a red Buddha bracelet and a framed dragon shadow puppet that I bought. I also picked up a pair of prescription sunglasses from Glasses City.
Since Annie and I missed the dinner party with Celine, we took her out to eat Monday night. Well actually, SHE took us out. She took us to a fancy Chinese restaurant, where the food was amazing. It was great to catch up with Celine – I will surely miss her.
On Tuesday, I spent most of the day with my Chinese friend, Jesse, or Jessie, I should say. She was an economics major in college and idolized a stock trader named Jesse Livermore, so she decided her English name would be Jesse! I told her that J-E-S-S-E is how a man spells the name, but a woman can also have the name if she spells it with an "ie" or a "y." She was happy to change her name to be more feminine. Anyway, she took me to a really good Chinese place for lunch. It had lots of pastries, but we got noodles, peanuts, Korean vegetables, pumpkin porridge and sweet pea pudding. It was all delicious. Next, she took me to a tailor to get sized for a suit. This is one thing that I have been told I should buy in China. I hate dressing up, and a large part of me hopes that I don't have a job that entails wearing a suit often, but at least now I will have one if I need it. And it will only cost me 420 yuan (US$62).
The American Jesse came into Beijing Tuesday, so Pang Li took us out to a place that served Sijuan (sp? Also, not to be confused with Sichuan) food, a cuisine indigenous to a region of northwest China. It was one of the best meals I've had in China, and the black beer was great. What would I do without Pang Li??
Next up – vacation!
Friday, July 30, 2010
I am Rachel. I hate serving people. [51-54]
This was my last (full/official) week at work! It’s bittersweet. I don’t know if I will see most of these people that have been so kind and welcoming to me at China.org.cn again. But this also means that I will have about 2.5 weeks to travel around China and do things I want in Beijing one more time! The summer flew by, especially this past week.
On Monday, Annie and I took the subway to Yashow Clothing Market to do one last (maybe the last) souvenir shopping trip. We loaded up on DVDs, Chinese lanterns and wedding envelopes (I’ll get to that later!). I bargained my butt off and was proud of how little I had to spend. We saw one of Keith’s roommates in the market, which further supports my claim that the huge city of Beijing is a small place, and the world, even smaller (if that’s possible).
We had been craving the meal that we ate with Keith and Ithzel at Nanlougu Xiang about a week ago, so we took a bus there and tried to re-create the meal. The restaurant was out of the sweet and sour pork, but everything else was delicious. Chinese food in the States will never be the same.
We walked around a bit in Nanlougu Xiang, also, sadly for our (probable) last time. I picked up a “Save the Pandas” sticker because, duh, I love pandas and want to save them all (for myself).
Tuesday was my dinner with Jesse, my new Chinese friend from the rock show. I asked her to pick out a Sichuan restaurant since I have been told it is spicy food and I hadn’t tried it yet. It was great to see Jesse again and the food was good. Since being in China, I had always wanted to eat out of one of those huge bowls with chopsticks, and this was my chance. It was a popular Sichuan dish with blood (really.), vegetables, fish and other unidentifiable things. It was better than it sounds. It sure was spicy, but it had “ma la” in it—a numbing agent. It was strange to feel my mouth tingling while I ate. We talked about our favorite foods, sports we liked, American television (she loves CSI: Miami) and places for me to get a suit tailored. The language barrier tested my patience, but all in all, we made it into a pleasant evening (even if we both had our dictionaries out at the table).
Wednesday was another special dinner—Pang Li took Annie and me out to his favorite Beijing noodle place. John came too, and we had a great time. The noodles were out of this world (even better than Mr. Chen’s from Great Wall Fresh!). The restaurant was “old-style” with Chinese opera playing in the background and panoramic scenes of Old Beijing on the walls. It’s not hard to guess where the four of us went after dinner—the Beer Garden. As always, we had a great time there.
On Thursday, Annie and I planned to do a lot since our days are dwindling down. We walked out of the office after work to immediately feel this heavy, uncomfortable humidity that had set in during the day. It made the parts of the evening spent outdoors almost unbearable. Anyway, we decided to have a quick bite to eat outside of WuMart and happened upon a man making steamed dumplings. We ordered one helping each, but they were so delicious that we stayed and each had another. We then experimented with the bus system and took the 87 to the subway station (we usually take the 27), where we took line 4 to Xidan.
Annie wanted to find a Chinese-style straw hat at 77th Street, an underground mall for Chinese locals. We both ended up finding things there, so the pit stop was well worth it. We transferred to line 1 which we took to The Place, a hangout that I have mentioned before (and you might recognize). The huge screen/roof had English and Chinese messages displayed for all to see that people had texted (like at a Major League Baseball stadium).
We then got to our final (and favorite) destination – Friend’s Café in SOHO! The staff was so nice – and they even had nametags that were characters from the show! Our waitress, “Rachel,” was the sweetest. Annie and I will miss this place so much! I got an espresso with whipped cream and a cream-filled “doughnut.” Believe it or not, the same episodes of “Friends” that we watched last time were on again… but they were still funny the second time. We even participated in our own “name the 50 U.S. states in 10 minutes” challenge that Ross and the gang cringe over in one episode. The best news: I got pictures this time!
I will share my last day of work when I get back from Hebei Province next week. Pang Li invited Annie and I to go to his best friend’s wedding on Saturday! It’s such a cool opportunity and should be interesting from the stories I’ve heard about other Chinese weddings.
On Monday, Annie and I took the subway to Yashow Clothing Market to do one last (maybe the last) souvenir shopping trip. We loaded up on DVDs, Chinese lanterns and wedding envelopes (I’ll get to that later!). I bargained my butt off and was proud of how little I had to spend. We saw one of Keith’s roommates in the market, which further supports my claim that the huge city of Beijing is a small place, and the world, even smaller (if that’s possible).
We had been craving the meal that we ate with Keith and Ithzel at Nanlougu Xiang about a week ago, so we took a bus there and tried to re-create the meal. The restaurant was out of the sweet and sour pork, but everything else was delicious. Chinese food in the States will never be the same.
We walked around a bit in Nanlougu Xiang, also, sadly for our (probable) last time. I picked up a “Save the Pandas” sticker because, duh, I love pandas and want to save them all (for myself).
Tuesday was my dinner with Jesse, my new Chinese friend from the rock show. I asked her to pick out a Sichuan restaurant since I have been told it is spicy food and I hadn’t tried it yet. It was great to see Jesse again and the food was good. Since being in China, I had always wanted to eat out of one of those huge bowls with chopsticks, and this was my chance. It was a popular Sichuan dish with blood (really.), vegetables, fish and other unidentifiable things. It was better than it sounds. It sure was spicy, but it had “ma la” in it—a numbing agent. It was strange to feel my mouth tingling while I ate. We talked about our favorite foods, sports we liked, American television (she loves CSI: Miami) and places for me to get a suit tailored. The language barrier tested my patience, but all in all, we made it into a pleasant evening (even if we both had our dictionaries out at the table).
Wednesday was another special dinner—Pang Li took Annie and me out to his favorite Beijing noodle place. John came too, and we had a great time. The noodles were out of this world (even better than Mr. Chen’s from Great Wall Fresh!). The restaurant was “old-style” with Chinese opera playing in the background and panoramic scenes of Old Beijing on the walls. It’s not hard to guess where the four of us went after dinner—the Beer Garden. As always, we had a great time there.
On Thursday, Annie and I planned to do a lot since our days are dwindling down. We walked out of the office after work to immediately feel this heavy, uncomfortable humidity that had set in during the day. It made the parts of the evening spent outdoors almost unbearable. Anyway, we decided to have a quick bite to eat outside of WuMart and happened upon a man making steamed dumplings. We ordered one helping each, but they were so delicious that we stayed and each had another. We then experimented with the bus system and took the 87 to the subway station (we usually take the 27), where we took line 4 to Xidan.
Annie wanted to find a Chinese-style straw hat at 77th Street, an underground mall for Chinese locals. We both ended up finding things there, so the pit stop was well worth it. We transferred to line 1 which we took to The Place, a hangout that I have mentioned before (and you might recognize). The huge screen/roof had English and Chinese messages displayed for all to see that people had texted (like at a Major League Baseball stadium).
We then got to our final (and favorite) destination – Friend’s Café in SOHO! The staff was so nice – and they even had nametags that were characters from the show! Our waitress, “Rachel,” was the sweetest. Annie and I will miss this place so much! I got an espresso with whipped cream and a cream-filled “doughnut.” Believe it or not, the same episodes of “Friends” that we watched last time were on again… but they were still funny the second time. We even participated in our own “name the 50 U.S. states in 10 minutes” challenge that Ross and the gang cringe over in one episode. The best news: I got pictures this time!
I will share my last day of work when I get back from Hebei Province next week. Pang Li invited Annie and I to go to his best friend’s wedding on Saturday! It’s such a cool opportunity and should be interesting from the stories I’ve heard about other Chinese weddings.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Take me down to the paradise city [47-50+Article]
FIFTY DAYS is a long time to be in a place!
Anyway, the rest of last week was all about friends and fun.
Thursday after work I met up with a fellow Tar Heel and friend, Katherine, who is also interning in Beijing. We met up in Wudoukou, which is near where she works, and she took me to The Bridge Café. The café was cool – three stories, including a coffee shop/hangout area, a fine dining floor, and a rooftop bar and eating area. The food was spectacular – I had fettuccini alfredo with chicken. It was the first time I’ve had pasta in China. We shared apple pie with ice cream for dessert – another first in China.
It was great to catch up with a friend from home, though it felt a little strange to be meeting up in the bustling and foreign city of Beijing. We shared our experiences of working for a Chinese company, living in strange places, and meeting locals and expats. We also shopped around a bit at the night market, where I bought some TV series of DVD and we saw a man giving real tattoos IN THE BACK OF A VAN - gross. We took the bus home, and it turns out she is staying RIGHT across from where I work – small world!
On Friday, Annie’s ASU/Holland Fellows friend, Jesse, came to visit. He is interning in a northern province of China and came for the weekend to do Great Wall Fresh with Annie. We went to the beer garden, where Pang Li joined us for skewers and pijiu. As always at the beer garden, rounds started stacking up, and just as we were about to leave, a few Chinese people (that seemed around our age) came up to us and gave us half of a watermelon! We graciously started eating it, which they took as a sign to bring more watermelon and beer to gambei (read: toast). Knowing they wouldn’t leave us alone until we did, we went over to their table, where it looked like they were celebrating something. Pang Li told us that they all worked together at a restaurant up the street, and it was one of their birthdays. That’s when the photo shoot started. Everyone wanted a picture with the Mei guos (read: Americans) on their camera phones. We chatted the best we could (which mainly stuck to “nice to meet you”s) and even renamed Strawberry and Javi to Stella and Seth, respectively.
As Annie and Jesse fought hangovers the next day hiking the Great Wall, I took it easy and went shopping. My first stop was Panjaiyuan Market, which was described to me as “the mother of all flea markets.” This was a good description. It was so huge, with so many different stalls full of sculptures, antiques, paintings, scrolls, books, and more that I got overwhelmed and left empty-handed.
I decided instead to try my luck at Glasses City, a huge mall solely full of eye glasses stores. It was a success – I bought a pair of prescription eye glasses for $20. They were ready in ten minutes! And now I want more.
Then it was work time. I love that “work time” for me meant going to a six-hour Chinese rock show. I was asked to report on this show late in the afternoon on Friday, so I didn’t have a chance to get a really good camera, but I made due with mine. I walked to the venue from Glasses City, which reminded me of a larger version of Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro or Tremont in Charlotte. It was such a cool experience - seeing Chinese punk kids moshing, running on stage, etc. The bands ranged from folk to screamo, from heavy metal to pop-rock. A couple of them even sang songs in English! However, I was the ONLY white person there, and seemed to be the only English-speaker, so conducting interviews was tricky. In the end, I decided to make my article into more of a slideshow of the event. Please check out the published slideshow here. Below are a few that didn't make the cut.
[Random, but the venue had a cool way to label the bathrooms: ]
During the last performance of the night, a Chinese girl, about my age, came up to me and asked me, in English, if I liked the music. It turned out that her name was Jesse (pattern?) and that she worked with one of the guitarists at a bank near Xizhimen, which is one bus stop away from my office. We exchanged e-mails since her English was rough, and decided to meet up at another point. She even invited me hiking with her!
I was exhausted from the show the following day. I took it easy again and shopped at the Hongqiao Pearl Market. China is known for pearls, silk, and of course, knockoffs, so I was obligated to bring some back home. I felt pressured, accomplished, and ripped off all in the course of this a couple of hours so I devoted the rest of the day to reading and relaxing.
As my Facebook status says right now, there is still so much to do and so little time!
Anyway, the rest of last week was all about friends and fun.
Thursday after work I met up with a fellow Tar Heel and friend, Katherine, who is also interning in Beijing. We met up in Wudoukou, which is near where she works, and she took me to The Bridge Café. The café was cool – three stories, including a coffee shop/hangout area, a fine dining floor, and a rooftop bar and eating area. The food was spectacular – I had fettuccini alfredo with chicken. It was the first time I’ve had pasta in China. We shared apple pie with ice cream for dessert – another first in China.
It was great to catch up with a friend from home, though it felt a little strange to be meeting up in the bustling and foreign city of Beijing. We shared our experiences of working for a Chinese company, living in strange places, and meeting locals and expats. We also shopped around a bit at the night market, where I bought some TV series of DVD and we saw a man giving real tattoos IN THE BACK OF A VAN - gross. We took the bus home, and it turns out she is staying RIGHT across from where I work – small world!
On Friday, Annie’s ASU/Holland Fellows friend, Jesse, came to visit. He is interning in a northern province of China and came for the weekend to do Great Wall Fresh with Annie. We went to the beer garden, where Pang Li joined us for skewers and pijiu. As always at the beer garden, rounds started stacking up, and just as we were about to leave, a few Chinese people (that seemed around our age) came up to us and gave us half of a watermelon! We graciously started eating it, which they took as a sign to bring more watermelon and beer to gambei (read: toast). Knowing they wouldn’t leave us alone until we did, we went over to their table, where it looked like they were celebrating something. Pang Li told us that they all worked together at a restaurant up the street, and it was one of their birthdays. That’s when the photo shoot started. Everyone wanted a picture with the Mei guos (read: Americans) on their camera phones. We chatted the best we could (which mainly stuck to “nice to meet you”s) and even renamed Strawberry and Javi to Stella and Seth, respectively.
As Annie and Jesse fought hangovers the next day hiking the Great Wall, I took it easy and went shopping. My first stop was Panjaiyuan Market, which was described to me as “the mother of all flea markets.” This was a good description. It was so huge, with so many different stalls full of sculptures, antiques, paintings, scrolls, books, and more that I got overwhelmed and left empty-handed.
I decided instead to try my luck at Glasses City, a huge mall solely full of eye glasses stores. It was a success – I bought a pair of prescription eye glasses for $20. They were ready in ten minutes! And now I want more.
Then it was work time. I love that “work time” for me meant going to a six-hour Chinese rock show. I was asked to report on this show late in the afternoon on Friday, so I didn’t have a chance to get a really good camera, but I made due with mine. I walked to the venue from Glasses City, which reminded me of a larger version of Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro or Tremont in Charlotte. It was such a cool experience - seeing Chinese punk kids moshing, running on stage, etc. The bands ranged from folk to screamo, from heavy metal to pop-rock. A couple of them even sang songs in English! However, I was the ONLY white person there, and seemed to be the only English-speaker, so conducting interviews was tricky. In the end, I decided to make my article into more of a slideshow of the event. Please check out the published slideshow here. Below are a few that didn't make the cut.
[Random, but the venue had a cool way to label the bathrooms: ]
During the last performance of the night, a Chinese girl, about my age, came up to me and asked me, in English, if I liked the music. It turned out that her name was Jesse (pattern?) and that she worked with one of the guitarists at a bank near Xizhimen, which is one bus stop away from my office. We exchanged e-mails since her English was rough, and decided to meet up at another point. She even invited me hiking with her!
I was exhausted from the show the following day. I took it easy again and shopped at the Hongqiao Pearl Market. China is known for pearls, silk, and of course, knockoffs, so I was obligated to bring some back home. I felt pressured, accomplished, and ripped off all in the course of this a couple of hours so I devoted the rest of the day to reading and relaxing.
As my Facebook status says right now, there is still so much to do and so little time!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
What the hell? [44-46]
Work this week has been a little more enjoyable thanks to a care package that my mom sent from the States. In addition to things that I needed like contact solution, socks, and real deodorant, she also sent a whole ton of snacks (I’m talking sour gummy worms, nuts, REAL JIF PEANUT BUTTER…) and some books. It has been a great comfort having my favorite things and notes from her and my grandmother. Thanks, Mom!
I decided to take my first of six allowed days off of work on Wednesday. It ended up being one of my favorite days in China.
Back home in the States, I have a great internship with Schmap, a web-based start-up. They have two offices: one in Carrboro, and the other, interestingly enough, in Beijing. The CEO, Paul Hallett, whom I have met a few times in Carrboro, has lived in Beijing for over 15 years and runs the company from that office. I e-mailed Paul, and that became my first stop on my day off!
I took the subway to the Schmap office, which was easy enough to find. Paul greeted me and showed me around the office. I met people that I had only worked with remotely for over two years – it was great to put faces to names. Next, Paul took me to get dumplings for lunch. They were delicious. We caught up on each other’s lives, what the company was planning for the future, and our thoughts on China.
The next meeting I had planned was with a woman named Annette Fuller who graduated from UNC and now works in Beijing with China Daily. This publication has a print and online edition and is distributed all over China. I wanted to check out the differences between China Daily and China.org and connect with a fellow Tar Heel. She was very welcoming and helpful in showing me around the large office building, introducing me to a colleague, and chatting about everything—UNC Greek life, working for the Daily Tar Heel, the cost of living in China, working for the Chinese media and blogging.
Both were great opportunities that I’m glad I took the time for.
I had some free time before I planned on meeting up with Annie and Sherry for dinner, so I decided to do some shopping. I had heard of a place by Yashow Market that sold DVDs for less than 10 kuai, so I had to check it out. I ended up buying more than I should have, but how can you beat owning a DVD for $1.50, some that haven’t even been released on DVD in the States? Let’s hope customs doesn’t mind… I also bought a knock-off designer wallet, because… who comes to China and doesn’t buy knock-off merch??
I walked from the market to Nanluogu Xiang to meet up with Annie and Sherry. We ate dinner at Taste, where I had egg-fried water chestnuts and walnuts and rice. ‘Twas yummy.
The main reason for being at Nanluogu Xiang was to surprise Keith for his 24th birthday at 12SQM. Ithzel had planned the whole thing, and it went really well! Everyone was there that we had met through Keith in the past few weeks. I wish that we could have stayed longer, but it was Sherry’s first time in a bar and she was tired by 11 p.m.
We took the bus home, where a man started talking to me in Chinese when he saw that I was looking in my Lonely Planet book. He took the book from me and pointed somewhere on one of the maps. I pretended to understand, but Sherry explained to me that he was showing me where we were, in case I didn’t know. Apparently he worked for a Chinese travel agency and wanted to give me a warm welcome. He was so friendly, and I liked him even though most of our words were "Lost in Translation."
I decided to take my first of six allowed days off of work on Wednesday. It ended up being one of my favorite days in China.
Back home in the States, I have a great internship with Schmap, a web-based start-up. They have two offices: one in Carrboro, and the other, interestingly enough, in Beijing. The CEO, Paul Hallett, whom I have met a few times in Carrboro, has lived in Beijing for over 15 years and runs the company from that office. I e-mailed Paul, and that became my first stop on my day off!
I took the subway to the Schmap office, which was easy enough to find. Paul greeted me and showed me around the office. I met people that I had only worked with remotely for over two years – it was great to put faces to names. Next, Paul took me to get dumplings for lunch. They were delicious. We caught up on each other’s lives, what the company was planning for the future, and our thoughts on China.
The next meeting I had planned was with a woman named Annette Fuller who graduated from UNC and now works in Beijing with China Daily. This publication has a print and online edition and is distributed all over China. I wanted to check out the differences between China Daily and China.org and connect with a fellow Tar Heel. She was very welcoming and helpful in showing me around the large office building, introducing me to a colleague, and chatting about everything—UNC Greek life, working for the Daily Tar Heel, the cost of living in China, working for the Chinese media and blogging.
Both were great opportunities that I’m glad I took the time for.
I had some free time before I planned on meeting up with Annie and Sherry for dinner, so I decided to do some shopping. I had heard of a place by Yashow Market that sold DVDs for less than 10 kuai, so I had to check it out. I ended up buying more than I should have, but how can you beat owning a DVD for $1.50, some that haven’t even been released on DVD in the States? Let’s hope customs doesn’t mind… I also bought a knock-off designer wallet, because… who comes to China and doesn’t buy knock-off merch??
I walked from the market to Nanluogu Xiang to meet up with Annie and Sherry. We ate dinner at Taste, where I had egg-fried water chestnuts and walnuts and rice. ‘Twas yummy.
The main reason for being at Nanluogu Xiang was to surprise Keith for his 24th birthday at 12SQM. Ithzel had planned the whole thing, and it went really well! Everyone was there that we had met through Keith in the past few weeks. I wish that we could have stayed longer, but it was Sherry’s first time in a bar and she was tired by 11 p.m.
We took the bus home, where a man started talking to me in Chinese when he saw that I was looking in my Lonely Planet book. He took the book from me and pointed somewhere on one of the maps. I pretended to understand, but Sherry explained to me that he was showing me where we were, in case I didn’t know. Apparently he worked for a Chinese travel agency and wanted to give me a warm welcome. He was so friendly, and I liked him even though most of our words were "Lost in Translation."
Monday, July 19, 2010
Un-f’ing-believable [40-43]
Another exciting weekend in Beijing has come and gone. There are so few left, but I’m not ready for it to end! Warning: this is a long post – sorry!
The cafeteria at work has been going downhill recently, in my opinion. So after work on Thursday, Annie and I went to the beer garden near the cafeteria to get some better Chinese “barbecue” and pijiu. It was really fun picking out the different skewers of meat and veggies and hoping for the best. Most everything was great, aside from the green pepper that made my mouth an inferno.
As we were leaving, we saw Pang Li and Brian sharing some pijius at a table nearby. Pang Li is my new favorite person in China, so of course we joined them! We ended up having a blast talking about everything from President Obama to Michael Jackson. We also planned to all pregame (American college style) and go out together over the weekend.
On Friday, the UNC interns were given a large file (about 6,000 words) to copy-edit after work hours so that we could earn some overtime. I wasn’t too happy to be doing work over the weekend, but I could use the money!
Keith had invited us to a party that his European friend had heard about, so after work, Annie and I went to Nanluogu Xiang, the hutong where they live. Keith and Ithzel took us to a Chinese place for dinner which was amazing! We then took a taxi to the party, which was in a hotel-turned-apartment complex. Most everybody at the party was German because it was hosted by a few interns and employees of Siemens, a German company. Everyone was really nice, and I had a great time meeting them. The party moved on to Club LA which was packed with Chinese people and foreigners. We had to bribe the taxi driver to let us cram five people in the cab. The music was blaring and there really wasn’t a dance floor, just people dancing everywhere. But I had a lot of fun! We got skewers of lamb, which I didn’t think sounded too appealing at 2 a.m., but I was pleasantly surprised and really liked it!
Saturday, Brian, Courtney and I finally got around to seeing the Forbidden City. I was pretty much drained of all energy from lack of sleep, and it was hot and crowded, so my impression of the site is not all that good. It’s basically a whole lot of temples all lined up one after the other with thrones and other furniture that you can’t go inside to see. There was a pretty cool “Hall of Paintings” that made me want to get some calligraphy done for my walls at home. Chinese art is beautiful!
Once we got home, I helped Annie prepare the house for guests, and Pang Li came over. Once PA and Brian showed up, we taught our Chinese friend who has never been to the States some drinking games. He was especially entertained by Electricity. We took a taxi to Nanluogu Xiang, because Pang Li’s favorite bar, 12SQM is there. The owner is Australian, and Australian beer is my new favorite thing! I also tried a Chinese cigarette (sorry, Mom, and everyone) to see why everyone here is so obsessed. Those babies are strong! I think I can do without. Keith and his roommates joined us for a little bit, as did Joanna (a UNC intern turned full-time CIIC employee) and her boyfriend, Colin. We went to Salud, another bar, and met some British guys. We ended up stumbling home around 5 a.m. and enjoyed dumplings (another surprisingly good drunk food).
Sunday was mostly devoted to sleep, but also a chance to go see the Olympic stadiums! The Bird’s Nest/National Stadium was beautiful, and the Water Cube looked cool and modern too. The thing that stood out to me the most, though, was the huge open area around the stadiums. It was packed with tourists – mostly from other provinces of China. I could only imagine how it looked when the Olympics were going on. The tourists all wanted their pictures taken with us. One person would come ask, “can I make photo with you?” and then a million others would follow after with huge smiles and “thank you’s.” It was precious. We were also told that the stadiums looks great at night, so another visit will be arranged!
Sherry, Annie’s partner from Fudan University in Shanghai, got in Sunday night and will be visiting for a while. It will be great to have someone to ask all of our burning questions – like, just what IS in an “egg thing?”
The cafeteria at work has been going downhill recently, in my opinion. So after work on Thursday, Annie and I went to the beer garden near the cafeteria to get some better Chinese “barbecue” and pijiu. It was really fun picking out the different skewers of meat and veggies and hoping for the best. Most everything was great, aside from the green pepper that made my mouth an inferno.
As we were leaving, we saw Pang Li and Brian sharing some pijius at a table nearby. Pang Li is my new favorite person in China, so of course we joined them! We ended up having a blast talking about everything from President Obama to Michael Jackson. We also planned to all pregame (American college style) and go out together over the weekend.
On Friday, the UNC interns were given a large file (about 6,000 words) to copy-edit after work hours so that we could earn some overtime. I wasn’t too happy to be doing work over the weekend, but I could use the money!
Keith had invited us to a party that his European friend had heard about, so after work, Annie and I went to Nanluogu Xiang, the hutong where they live. Keith and Ithzel took us to a Chinese place for dinner which was amazing! We then took a taxi to the party, which was in a hotel-turned-apartment complex. Most everybody at the party was German because it was hosted by a few interns and employees of Siemens, a German company. Everyone was really nice, and I had a great time meeting them. The party moved on to Club LA which was packed with Chinese people and foreigners. We had to bribe the taxi driver to let us cram five people in the cab. The music was blaring and there really wasn’t a dance floor, just people dancing everywhere. But I had a lot of fun! We got skewers of lamb, which I didn’t think sounded too appealing at 2 a.m., but I was pleasantly surprised and really liked it!
Saturday, Brian, Courtney and I finally got around to seeing the Forbidden City. I was pretty much drained of all energy from lack of sleep, and it was hot and crowded, so my impression of the site is not all that good. It’s basically a whole lot of temples all lined up one after the other with thrones and other furniture that you can’t go inside to see. There was a pretty cool “Hall of Paintings” that made me want to get some calligraphy done for my walls at home. Chinese art is beautiful!
Once we got home, I helped Annie prepare the house for guests, and Pang Li came over. Once PA and Brian showed up, we taught our Chinese friend who has never been to the States some drinking games. He was especially entertained by Electricity. We took a taxi to Nanluogu Xiang, because Pang Li’s favorite bar, 12SQM is there. The owner is Australian, and Australian beer is my new favorite thing! I also tried a Chinese cigarette (sorry, Mom, and everyone) to see why everyone here is so obsessed. Those babies are strong! I think I can do without. Keith and his roommates joined us for a little bit, as did Joanna (a UNC intern turned full-time CIIC employee) and her boyfriend, Colin. We went to Salud, another bar, and met some British guys. We ended up stumbling home around 5 a.m. and enjoyed dumplings (another surprisingly good drunk food).
Sunday was mostly devoted to sleep, but also a chance to go see the Olympic stadiums! The Bird’s Nest/National Stadium was beautiful, and the Water Cube looked cool and modern too. The thing that stood out to me the most, though, was the huge open area around the stadiums. It was packed with tourists – mostly from other provinces of China. I could only imagine how it looked when the Olympics were going on. The tourists all wanted their pictures taken with us. One person would come ask, “can I make photo with you?” and then a million others would follow after with huge smiles and “thank you’s.” It was precious. We were also told that the stadiums looks great at night, so another visit will be arranged!
Sherry, Annie’s partner from Fudan University in Shanghai, got in Sunday night and will be visiting for a while. It will be great to have someone to ask all of our burning questions – like, just what IS in an “egg thing?”
Thursday, July 15, 2010
The next stop is SiDaoKouBei [37-39+Article]
The title: Annie has picked her Chinese name, SiDaoKouBei, based on our favorite bus stop. Also, China has decided that we are not only a couple, but we are married. And I should buy everything for her. Oh, China…
I felt like a real reporter for the first time in China on Monday. I went with Zhou Jing, a reporter for the world news section of China.org.cn, to the opening ceremony of a Czech astronomy exhibit at the Beijing Ancient Observatory. Apparently she has an “in” with the Czech embassy, so she always gets invited to these things and scored me an “exclusive interview” with the Czech ambassador. The story went well and was online by Tuesday. You can read it here.
After the great adventures of the weekend, I decided to take my explorer hat off for a day and go to spinning class at the gym after work instead. It kicked my butt, but it felt good to work that into my week again.
I donned the explorer hat again on Tuesday as Annie and I made our way to Joy City, a mall in Biejing. On the way there, we also came across 77th Street, an underground mall mostly for locals. The stuff was cool and relatively cheap, and I got a pair of just-for-show glasses, trendy by Chinese and American standards. At Joy City, I bought a new pair of flip flops from H&M for RMB 30 and a Blizzard from Dairy Queen - yummm.
Wednesday was a great day at work since my piece about Great Wall Fresh went online and was on the main page, along with my picture with Mr. Chen!
After work, Annie and I went to WuDouKou to meet up with a friend we made at the Great Wall Beach Party. He pointed us in the direction of Pyro Pizza, a popular hangout for foreigners in the university area. We had a great margarita pizza and mozzarella sticks. We will definitely be back there.
With no other plans in WuDouKou, we decided to explore the area. We came across an outdoor market that stretched on for a few blocks and had anything you could think of – clothes, food, pets, knock-offs, etc. I got a few things there – the best among them being The Karate Kid on DVD for RMB 5! It’s in English with Chinese subtitles and shows Jaden Smith in Beijing, so I thought it would be a great memory!
So much to look forward to this weekend – stay tuned! And if anyone back home wants anything from China, let me know. It’s all so cheap. Love.
I felt like a real reporter for the first time in China on Monday. I went with Zhou Jing, a reporter for the world news section of China.org.cn, to the opening ceremony of a Czech astronomy exhibit at the Beijing Ancient Observatory. Apparently she has an “in” with the Czech embassy, so she always gets invited to these things and scored me an “exclusive interview” with the Czech ambassador. The story went well and was online by Tuesday. You can read it here.
After the great adventures of the weekend, I decided to take my explorer hat off for a day and go to spinning class at the gym after work instead. It kicked my butt, but it felt good to work that into my week again.
I donned the explorer hat again on Tuesday as Annie and I made our way to Joy City, a mall in Biejing. On the way there, we also came across 77th Street, an underground mall mostly for locals. The stuff was cool and relatively cheap, and I got a pair of just-for-show glasses, trendy by Chinese and American standards. At Joy City, I bought a new pair of flip flops from H&M for RMB 30 and a Blizzard from Dairy Queen - yummm.
Wednesday was a great day at work since my piece about Great Wall Fresh went online and was on the main page, along with my picture with Mr. Chen!
After work, Annie and I went to WuDouKou to meet up with a friend we made at the Great Wall Beach Party. He pointed us in the direction of Pyro Pizza, a popular hangout for foreigners in the university area. We had a great margarita pizza and mozzarella sticks. We will definitely be back there.
With no other plans in WuDouKou, we decided to explore the area. We came across an outdoor market that stretched on for a few blocks and had anything you could think of – clothes, food, pets, knock-offs, etc. I got a few things there – the best among them being The Karate Kid on DVD for RMB 5! It’s in English with Chinese subtitles and shows Jaden Smith in Beijing, so I thought it would be a great memory!
So much to look forward to this weekend – stay tuned! And if anyone back home wants anything from China, let me know. It’s all so cheap. Love.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
We’re in the bird-fart of China [34-36+Article]
Such an incredible weekend. Here goes.
Friday after work, Annie and I decided to take a bus to Gulou Dajie, a street full of vintage clothing and milk tea shops. The bus trip was a success, but once we got there, it was basically pouring. We rifled through clothes at Mega Mega Vintage and a couple of other stores before giving up and sloshing through the flooded streets to get back to our apartment. I went to bed soon thereafter to rest up for GREAT WALL FRESH!!
Great Wall Fresh was something that I had read about very early in my trip to China and knew I wanted to try out. It’s the opposite of a tourist’s visit to the Great Wall of China. This means no crowds, no annoying hawkers, and consequently, no spoken English. I proposed writing a story about the event to Catherine before I left. She approved and said they would pay for the visit, which included transportation, three meals, one night’s stay, and a hike along the authentic Great Wall. Catherine sent me with Pang Li, the guy in my office that sits behind me, to interpret the interviews. You can read the article here. It was on the China.org.cn homepage Wednesday!
The experience was spectacular and completely unforgettable. Pang Li helped immensely, especially getting to and from the Chen family farm (this is where Great Wall Fresh is. It’s run by the most lovely couple ever, the Chens). We had a great time getting to know each other and talking about American cinema and music. He’s so passionate about American culture; it breaks my heart that he’s never been to the States!
We were the only ones there for the weekend, making it very peaceful. There were several times that I just sat there (channeling Buddha?) taking it all in. Once we got to the farm, we had the most delicious lunch I’ve ever eaten. Even better, it was all grown organically and picked by hand from their gardens. This is something that can’t be expressed in a blog or a picture, but please take my word for it, the food was fantastic.
We then chose a trail to hike for the afternoon. It had rained all morning, so Mr. Chen advised us to take the “Easy Over” trail, which is “relatively easy.” Heck no, I said. I wanted a challenge! So we chose “Hunchback curve” instead, which was named for a part in the Wall where it literally bends like a switchback… or a hunchback, I suppose.
Pang Li was hilarious throughout the hike, letting out a constant stream of English and Chinese profanity as he struggled up and down the Wall. We hiked straight into the clouds, which provided for some “mysterious” shots, as Pang Li said.
Dinner that night was equally amazing, with our glasses constantly being filled with pijiu. Tea followed, while I interviewed Mr. and Mrs. Chen with Pang Li interpreting. There was a lot of laughter, and even though I only got the tail end of what the Chens were saying, I could tell the Chens had good hearts. At one point, Mr. Chen said that I had a bright future. It’s hard to pick a favorite part from my favorite day in China, but that might have been it.
The next morning, we had the best noodles I’ve ever tasted for breakfast, signed the guest book, and set off for Beijing, saying “zai jian” to the Chens. Having this trip alone paid for made it worth putting up with some of the frustrating parts of my internship.
When I got back, the UNC interns and professors went to Karen, a China.org employee’s house for a dumpling party. Celine, Catherine, and some other employees were there, along with Karen’s family. We learned how to make fried and boiled dumplings. It was a nice evening, once again filled with food and constantly filled glasses, this time with wine that Dean Cole provided as a gift to Karen’s family.
:D
Friday after work, Annie and I decided to take a bus to Gulou Dajie, a street full of vintage clothing and milk tea shops. The bus trip was a success, but once we got there, it was basically pouring. We rifled through clothes at Mega Mega Vintage and a couple of other stores before giving up and sloshing through the flooded streets to get back to our apartment. I went to bed soon thereafter to rest up for GREAT WALL FRESH!!
Great Wall Fresh was something that I had read about very early in my trip to China and knew I wanted to try out. It’s the opposite of a tourist’s visit to the Great Wall of China. This means no crowds, no annoying hawkers, and consequently, no spoken English. I proposed writing a story about the event to Catherine before I left. She approved and said they would pay for the visit, which included transportation, three meals, one night’s stay, and a hike along the authentic Great Wall. Catherine sent me with Pang Li, the guy in my office that sits behind me, to interpret the interviews. You can read the article here. It was on the China.org.cn homepage Wednesday!
The experience was spectacular and completely unforgettable. Pang Li helped immensely, especially getting to and from the Chen family farm (this is where Great Wall Fresh is. It’s run by the most lovely couple ever, the Chens). We had a great time getting to know each other and talking about American cinema and music. He’s so passionate about American culture; it breaks my heart that he’s never been to the States!
We were the only ones there for the weekend, making it very peaceful. There were several times that I just sat there (channeling Buddha?) taking it all in. Once we got to the farm, we had the most delicious lunch I’ve ever eaten. Even better, it was all grown organically and picked by hand from their gardens. This is something that can’t be expressed in a blog or a picture, but please take my word for it, the food was fantastic.
We then chose a trail to hike for the afternoon. It had rained all morning, so Mr. Chen advised us to take the “Easy Over” trail, which is “relatively easy.” Heck no, I said. I wanted a challenge! So we chose “Hunchback curve” instead, which was named for a part in the Wall where it literally bends like a switchback… or a hunchback, I suppose.
Pang Li was hilarious throughout the hike, letting out a constant stream of English and Chinese profanity as he struggled up and down the Wall. We hiked straight into the clouds, which provided for some “mysterious” shots, as Pang Li said.
Dinner that night was equally amazing, with our glasses constantly being filled with pijiu. Tea followed, while I interviewed Mr. and Mrs. Chen with Pang Li interpreting. There was a lot of laughter, and even though I only got the tail end of what the Chens were saying, I could tell the Chens had good hearts. At one point, Mr. Chen said that I had a bright future. It’s hard to pick a favorite part from my favorite day in China, but that might have been it.
The next morning, we had the best noodles I’ve ever tasted for breakfast, signed the guest book, and set off for Beijing, saying “zai jian” to the Chens. Having this trip alone paid for made it worth putting up with some of the frustrating parts of my internship.
When I got back, the UNC interns and professors went to Karen, a China.org employee’s house for a dumpling party. Celine, Catherine, and some other employees were there, along with Karen’s family. We learned how to make fried and boiled dumplings. It was a nice evening, once again filled with food and constantly filled glasses, this time with wine that Dean Cole provided as a gift to Karen’s family.
:D
Friday, July 9, 2010
A picture is worth 10,000 yuan [33+Article]
Thursday was excellent because the interns were out of the office all day! We participated in a photo contest that focused on capturing Beijing through the eyes of foreigners.
I’ll let you read my story here about the event.
A few highlights from the day that are not in my article:
-I got interviewed as a participant, which was strange for me. As a journalist, I'm so comfortable interviewing people, but when I'm on the other side, I get nervous! And it was taped! Err.
-We went to an antique market, and Celine said that it was haunted. I bought a lot of souvenirs for friends and myself there, so let's hope that Chinese superstitions aren't legit!
-We ate lunch at Turpan Restaurant - some really delicious Muslim food served the Chinese way!
I’m far from a professional photographer, but I submitted some photos I took on the tour anyway. I could use a few extra yuan. Here are a few of my favorites that I took:
I’ll let you read my story here about the event.
A few highlights from the day that are not in my article:
-I got interviewed as a participant, which was strange for me. As a journalist, I'm so comfortable interviewing people, but when I'm on the other side, I get nervous! And it was taped! Err.
-We went to an antique market, and Celine said that it was haunted. I bought a lot of souvenirs for friends and myself there, so let's hope that Chinese superstitions aren't legit!
-We ate lunch at Turpan Restaurant - some really delicious Muslim food served the Chinese way!
I’m far from a professional photographer, but I submitted some photos I took on the tour anyway. I could use a few extra yuan. Here are a few of my favorites that I took:
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Trial and error [30-32]
I’m learning a lot about myself by being more or less on my own in a foreign country. One thing I’ve noticed (and those around me have noticed), is that I hate giving up. Especially when it comes to finding a place. I’ve never had a spectacular sense of direction, but I can read a map and judge distance thanks to many years of backpacking and cross country.
That being said, this week has tested my tenacity. On Monday, Annie and I finally went to Friends Café, a nearly identical replica of Central Perk from one of the best, if not THE best sitcom of all time, Friends.
We took two hot and crowded buses to get there but wandered for a while before finding it tucked into the sixth floor of a sleek SOHO building. It was extremely cute, and surprisingly filled with Chinese locals instead of foreigners. It also was the best cup of coffee I’ve had since I’ve been in China (most of the coffee here is instant coffee instead of drip coffee). It was also refreshing to watch TV (Friends, of course) in English and to sit in comfortable chairs (sadly, the famous orange couch was taken by some locals).
We also discovered The Place, a popular mall and hang-out spot. The Place is hard to describe, but I will definitely come back and take more pictures.
The highlight of Tuesday was getting my first article published! See the last post for the link! I took a break from running around Beijing for a day and ran on the treadmill instead.
On Wednesday, the plan for after work was to eat at a Western deli called Bocata and then check out Boat, a bar/club on a boat (!!!) on a river since I won’t be in town this weekend. We took the subway to the Sanlitun area and walked towards Bocata. On the way there, we found a place called “Here” with a really good menu, and since it was late and we were starving, we ate there… at Here. It was amazing. I had a roast beef sandwich with fries (best fries in China… best fries ever?) and a Coke. When we got to Boat, the place was dead. Mental note: Wednesday night is not particularly hopping in Beijing. We ended up walking to Sanlitun and watching a Michael Jackson impersonator and a Chinese girl band over a pijiu.
That being said, this week has tested my tenacity. On Monday, Annie and I finally went to Friends Café, a nearly identical replica of Central Perk from one of the best, if not THE best sitcom of all time, Friends.
We took two hot and crowded buses to get there but wandered for a while before finding it tucked into the sixth floor of a sleek SOHO building. It was extremely cute, and surprisingly filled with Chinese locals instead of foreigners. It also was the best cup of coffee I’ve had since I’ve been in China (most of the coffee here is instant coffee instead of drip coffee). It was also refreshing to watch TV (Friends, of course) in English and to sit in comfortable chairs (sadly, the famous orange couch was taken by some locals).
We also discovered The Place, a popular mall and hang-out spot. The Place is hard to describe, but I will definitely come back and take more pictures.
The highlight of Tuesday was getting my first article published! See the last post for the link! I took a break from running around Beijing for a day and ran on the treadmill instead.
On Wednesday, the plan for after work was to eat at a Western deli called Bocata and then check out Boat, a bar/club on a boat (!!!) on a river since I won’t be in town this weekend. We took the subway to the Sanlitun area and walked towards Bocata. On the way there, we found a place called “Here” with a really good menu, and since it was late and we were starving, we ate there… at Here. It was amazing. I had a roast beef sandwich with fries (best fries in China… best fries ever?) and a Coke. When we got to Boat, the place was dead. Mental note: Wednesday night is not particularly hopping in Beijing. We ended up walking to Sanlitun and watching a Michael Jackson impersonator and a Chinese girl band over a pijiu.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Blame it on the Baijiu [28-29]
Wow, how to start this post?
This weekend was an adventure. It started out with an intern trip with Celine and Dr. Tuggle to the Beijing Zoo and Aquarium. The aquarium was impressive, and the dolphin show made me feel like a kid. The rest of the zoo... not so impressive.
I have wanted all my life to see Giant Pandas in China. It wasn't anything like The Amazing Panda Adventure, one of my all-time-favorite movies from my childhood. The pandas at the zoo were behind fingerprint-blurred glass and seemed hot, dirty, and generally miserable. This was the case with most of the animals at the zoo. It was a depressing sight.
Saturday afternoon was the Great Wall Beach Party, an event that Annie and I heard about from Keith and jumped on immediately. Our tickets in hand, we arrived at WuDauKou to board the bus at 5p.m. on Saturday.
We knew we were in the right place when we saw hordes of 20-something foreigners with bags of pijiu, liquor, and mixers. We overheard someone saying that we could bring anything on the beach once we got there, so we stocked up from the 7-Eleven.
As soon as we got on the bus, a party organizer told us that we could NOT bring any food or drinks on the beach, but encouraged us to drink everything we had on the bus. Questionable advice.
The next four hours included personalities emerging from our bus mates as they became filled with liquid courage. They came from all over – the States, Belgium, France, Germany, Hong Kong, etc.
Once we finally got to the Great Wall, the air was filled with loud house music and the scent of the Yellow Sea. I took a dip in the sea, danced, failed at taking pictures, and had a genuinely good time. Annie managed to stay until the sun came up, but I couldn’t last that long.
I slept the whole way home on the bus and was directed back home by a couple of really nice Americans studying at a Beijing university.
The experience was great, and an article is to come.
The rest of Sunday was devoted to catching up on sleep and relaxing with online television. Happy Fourth of July everybody back home!
This weekend was an adventure. It started out with an intern trip with Celine and Dr. Tuggle to the Beijing Zoo and Aquarium. The aquarium was impressive, and the dolphin show made me feel like a kid. The rest of the zoo... not so impressive.
I have wanted all my life to see Giant Pandas in China. It wasn't anything like The Amazing Panda Adventure, one of my all-time-favorite movies from my childhood. The pandas at the zoo were behind fingerprint-blurred glass and seemed hot, dirty, and generally miserable. This was the case with most of the animals at the zoo. It was a depressing sight.
Saturday afternoon was the Great Wall Beach Party, an event that Annie and I heard about from Keith and jumped on immediately. Our tickets in hand, we arrived at WuDauKou to board the bus at 5p.m. on Saturday.
We knew we were in the right place when we saw hordes of 20-something foreigners with bags of pijiu, liquor, and mixers. We overheard someone saying that we could bring anything on the beach once we got there, so we stocked up from the 7-Eleven.
As soon as we got on the bus, a party organizer told us that we could NOT bring any food or drinks on the beach, but encouraged us to drink everything we had on the bus. Questionable advice.
The next four hours included personalities emerging from our bus mates as they became filled with liquid courage. They came from all over – the States, Belgium, France, Germany, Hong Kong, etc.
Once we finally got to the Great Wall, the air was filled with loud house music and the scent of the Yellow Sea. I took a dip in the sea, danced, failed at taking pictures, and had a genuinely good time. Annie managed to stay until the sun came up, but I couldn’t last that long.
I slept the whole way home on the bus and was directed back home by a couple of really nice Americans studying at a Beijing university.
The experience was great, and an article is to come.
The rest of Sunday was devoted to catching up on sleep and relaxing with online television. Happy Fourth of July everybody back home!
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Duerme poco, haz muchas cosas [26-27]
This week has continued to get better and better.
Thursday night, Annie and I were invited to Keith's apartment to hang out and go to Xiu, a bar in Beijing. We tried to take a bus, but that failed epically. We were just about to give up on the night when Keith persuaded us to take a taxi.
When we got to Keith's, Tobias, Lenoir, and Keith's classmate, Conrad were already there. Tobias also brought his puppy. I wish I could remember the puppy's name, but it was the Chinese version of the quote "C'est la vie" and he was only a few months old.
We ended up just drinking pijiu and not going to Xiu. My favorite part of the night was meeting Conrad, a guy from Spain who is studying Chinese. His English was good, but I really enjoyed speaking Spanish with him. He spoke slow and clear, so it was great practice for me. Also, he had such a great outlook on living in China. He told me that while I was here, I should "duerme poco, haz muchas cosas," or "sleep little, do many things." It really made me excited to be living in China all over again.
I didn't waste any time not wasting my time in Beijing. Friday after work, Annie and I took the subway to a mall because Ithzel texted Annie about a sale at H&M. This mall was very impressive - we didn't have enough time to see everything, so we will definitely be back. I picked out a shirt I liked in a store called Me & City. When I went to ring it up, someone explained to me that the shirts were buy one, get one free. Don't see that often in nice malls in the States, eh?
Annie and I ended up getting separated, and I was on my own getting back home. It was a little freaky at first, but I was glad to know that if it happens again, I'll live.
Thursday night, Annie and I were invited to Keith's apartment to hang out and go to Xiu, a bar in Beijing. We tried to take a bus, but that failed epically. We were just about to give up on the night when Keith persuaded us to take a taxi.
When we got to Keith's, Tobias, Lenoir, and Keith's classmate, Conrad were already there. Tobias also brought his puppy. I wish I could remember the puppy's name, but it was the Chinese version of the quote "C'est la vie" and he was only a few months old.
We ended up just drinking pijiu and not going to Xiu. My favorite part of the night was meeting Conrad, a guy from Spain who is studying Chinese. His English was good, but I really enjoyed speaking Spanish with him. He spoke slow and clear, so it was great practice for me. Also, he had such a great outlook on living in China. He told me that while I was here, I should "duerme poco, haz muchas cosas," or "sleep little, do many things." It really made me excited to be living in China all over again.
I didn't waste any time not wasting my time in Beijing. Friday after work, Annie and I took the subway to a mall because Ithzel texted Annie about a sale at H&M. This mall was very impressive - we didn't have enough time to see everything, so we will definitely be back. I picked out a shirt I liked in a store called Me & City. When I went to ring it up, someone explained to me that the shirts were buy one, get one free. Don't see that often in nice malls in the States, eh?
Annie and I ended up getting separated, and I was on my own getting back home. It was a little freaky at first, but I was glad to know that if it happens again, I'll live.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Safety is heavier than Mount Taishan [23-25]
My frustration phase has come and gone… for now. Mainly because I’m super excited for this weekend – I won’t give too much away, but it involves excellent landmarks, fireworks, and PANDAS!
Dr. Charlie Tuggle is visiting from UNC for a few weeks. He is a broadcast journalism professor and seems like a cool guy. He is giving a few lectures, one of which I went to on Monday, on video journalism. China.org.cn is a good news website but could use some improvement. Video is one thing that is becoming more prevalent in online journalism, so it will be good for them (and me!) to learn about how to effectively capture a story through film.
On Monday, the UNC interns had our last swim practice. I think this is where my frustration set in. After a week of training, I still wasn’t feeling confident at all.
I took it easy on Tuesday and finished a book that my mom gave me, Little Bee by Chris Cleave. It was an emotional read, and I definitely recommend it.
Wednesday was the big day, and I have to say, it went much better than I expected. We arrived at the indoor pool at about 8:15a.m., but our first event, the individual 100-m race, wasn’t until 10a.m. We were the ONLY white people there, and I felt extra white, standing there in my skimpy bathing suit with everyone staring.
The men’s 100-m was split into two heats. Brian was in the first one, and he got third place! I was in the second heat, racing against ONE other person. I had a great start, but got extremely tired about 60 meters in, and slowed down, but still beat the guy in the lane next to me. When times were posted, it turned out that I beat Brian by a HAIR, and got third place overall!
There were barely 15 minutes between the individual race and the relay race. My Chinese teammates offered me Red Bull and Dove bars between the races, which I declined for obvious reasons. Brian was the first leg of the relay, I was second, and our Chinese co-workers and teammates were third and fourth. We only had to swim 50 meters this time, which was much more my style. We were already in the lead with Brian’s start, but according to Courtney, I helped separate us from the others even more with my 50-meter swim, and we eventually won our heat! We ended up in second place, and the girl’s relay got first. Go CIIC! I was so happy to have that over with.
We celebrated with hot pot for lunch, and it was delicious. We all had our individual pot of boiling water with things like lemon, mushroom, and cilantro flavoring the water. The Lazy Susan was full of meats and veggies, some to be cooked in the pots and some to be eaten raw. My favorite was actually a salad with pig ears. Another highlight was rice-covered sausage dipped in garlic sauce (Chinese pork-rinds, if you will). After a few toasts and way too much food, we headed back to the office for work.
In the afternoon, I attended Dr. Tuggle’s second lecture. I enjoy being able to learn things that I cannot fit into my schedule at UNC. Just trying to make the most of my experience here in more ways than one!
After work, Annie’s Chinese colleague, Swatch, took us to the bus stop by work where we rode the bus to the subway station so that I could buy a transportation pass that works for the subway and the busses. It felt great to finally conquer the bus route, even if it was only once. It only costs 0.4 kuai to ride, which will save us LOTS of money in the long run!
We took the subway to Beihai Park, where we met Chris, my conversation exchange partner. He showed us around the lake, which had pretty scenery and was bustling with activity. We had some great conversations about national identity, learning languages, and personal tales. Chris took us to a Chinese restaurant that he really liked, and once again, we had great food. Sweet and sour pork, beef stir-fry, rice and Cokes. He finally let me pay for something, so I felt better about things. Such a nice guy!
Chris accompanied us to Salud, a bar near Keith’s apartment, where he left us and we met up with Keith and Ithzel. The bar was cool, with two floors, a live band (French, maybe?), and strong margaritas. We will definitely be returning with our bus passes for tapas.
We successfully took the last bus home and got in just in time before the gate closed. I needed a good day like this one to put me in a better mood. I have a month and a half left here, and I don’t want it to go any faster than it is!
Dr. Charlie Tuggle is visiting from UNC for a few weeks. He is a broadcast journalism professor and seems like a cool guy. He is giving a few lectures, one of which I went to on Monday, on video journalism. China.org.cn is a good news website but could use some improvement. Video is one thing that is becoming more prevalent in online journalism, so it will be good for them (and me!) to learn about how to effectively capture a story through film.
On Monday, the UNC interns had our last swim practice. I think this is where my frustration set in. After a week of training, I still wasn’t feeling confident at all.
I took it easy on Tuesday and finished a book that my mom gave me, Little Bee by Chris Cleave. It was an emotional read, and I definitely recommend it.
Wednesday was the big day, and I have to say, it went much better than I expected. We arrived at the indoor pool at about 8:15a.m., but our first event, the individual 100-m race, wasn’t until 10a.m. We were the ONLY white people there, and I felt extra white, standing there in my skimpy bathing suit with everyone staring.
The men’s 100-m was split into two heats. Brian was in the first one, and he got third place! I was in the second heat, racing against ONE other person. I had a great start, but got extremely tired about 60 meters in, and slowed down, but still beat the guy in the lane next to me. When times were posted, it turned out that I beat Brian by a HAIR, and got third place overall!
There were barely 15 minutes between the individual race and the relay race. My Chinese teammates offered me Red Bull and Dove bars between the races, which I declined for obvious reasons. Brian was the first leg of the relay, I was second, and our Chinese co-workers and teammates were third and fourth. We only had to swim 50 meters this time, which was much more my style. We were already in the lead with Brian’s start, but according to Courtney, I helped separate us from the others even more with my 50-meter swim, and we eventually won our heat! We ended up in second place, and the girl’s relay got first. Go CIIC! I was so happy to have that over with.
We celebrated with hot pot for lunch, and it was delicious. We all had our individual pot of boiling water with things like lemon, mushroom, and cilantro flavoring the water. The Lazy Susan was full of meats and veggies, some to be cooked in the pots and some to be eaten raw. My favorite was actually a salad with pig ears. Another highlight was rice-covered sausage dipped in garlic sauce (Chinese pork-rinds, if you will). After a few toasts and way too much food, we headed back to the office for work.
In the afternoon, I attended Dr. Tuggle’s second lecture. I enjoy being able to learn things that I cannot fit into my schedule at UNC. Just trying to make the most of my experience here in more ways than one!
After work, Annie’s Chinese colleague, Swatch, took us to the bus stop by work where we rode the bus to the subway station so that I could buy a transportation pass that works for the subway and the busses. It felt great to finally conquer the bus route, even if it was only once. It only costs 0.4 kuai to ride, which will save us LOTS of money in the long run!
We took the subway to Beihai Park, where we met Chris, my conversation exchange partner. He showed us around the lake, which had pretty scenery and was bustling with activity. We had some great conversations about national identity, learning languages, and personal tales. Chris took us to a Chinese restaurant that he really liked, and once again, we had great food. Sweet and sour pork, beef stir-fry, rice and Cokes. He finally let me pay for something, so I felt better about things. Such a nice guy!
Chris accompanied us to Salud, a bar near Keith’s apartment, where he left us and we met up with Keith and Ithzel. The bar was cool, with two floors, a live band (French, maybe?), and strong margaritas. We will definitely be returning with our bus passes for tapas.
We successfully took the last bus home and got in just in time before the gate closed. I needed a good day like this one to put me in a better mood. I have a month and a half left here, and I don’t want it to go any faster than it is!
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