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.

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!

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."

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 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.

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

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: