Certain things happen here...

that would not happen in NYC. For example:

--Saturday night we got kicked off the subway. At 11:20pm! Because the subways no longer run after that time of night! Unfortunately, we were on the equivalent of the circle line, so the departure was completely random and we were no where near our destination. Being the helpful city that it is, we then had to venture out into the street and find a cab to go the rest of the way home, because buses don't run after that time either. Wth! What happens to people who need to get somewhere at night and don't have enough money for a cab?? Definitely one of the sucky things about Beijing is this oversight in transportation needs, compounded with the fact that Beijing is a HUGE SPRAWLING METROPOLIS.

--The cab Cheng and I ended up taking was actually a funny thing in itself. We finally managed to hail it and there was already a guy sitting in the front seat next to the driver. The driver then explained that the guy was his old friend, and if we didn't mind, he could give us a ride while he and his old friend continued talking. I was like, aw cuties, and then I thought: can you imagine a taxi driver in NYC pulling up and being like, I'll take you if it's all right that my friend is sitting up here and we're having a random conversation. Oh but then it was funny because the friend dude was apparently listening to Cheng and I talk in the back and he told Cheng he liked the sound of Cheng's voice. Not that Cheng spoke well or anything, just that his voice sounded good. Hilarious.

--The coat check at the dance club/bar was free! What?? Insanity.

--Also the best part was right next to the club (called Propaganda with a big pink star on the front, which is pretty great by itself) is a 7/11 and if you want, you can simply waltz into the 7/11, buy a beer, drink it on the curb, and then head back into the club for some more dancing. China is sweet like that.

--Speaking of waltzing, when we went to Houhai earlier that day there was a random waltz dancing street show going on. It looked like people had just set up a boombox with some waltz music and were having at it. Impromptu street waltzing in NYC? Not very likely... except maybe somewhere in Brooklyn.

So maybe I should back up an explain how Saturday went: rode bus to Qinghua, rode bike to Cheng's dorm, had lunch with Cheng's friend, took taxi to meet Cathy at Nanluoguxiang, went back to Cathy's hotel near Houhai, had dinner with a bunch of people at a restaurant overlooking the lake, took a cab to Silk Market, took subway to Wangfujin but the night market was already closed so we took the subway back to Wudaokou and met up with people at Propaganda.

Needless to say that was an exhausting day in which we managed to take all forms of transportation around the city except rickshaw or electric bike (the boats at Houhai don't count cuz you just row them in circles). Sunday was rainy so I practiced some Daoist wuwei philosophy (aka sat on my butt all day) and now it's back to the school grind. But: Shanghai this coming weekend!

The Olympics were here, did you know?

This past weekend I went online and bought some tickets for the Olympics for Wednesday morning. Only... I thought we weren't supposed to have class on Wednesday, but it turns out we still have our morning class, so since the tickets were for the marathon from 7.30 am till 11.45 am, this was a problem. But no matter, class doesn't start till 9.30 so we thought we'd go check it out anyway.

Sure thing, except then we had to find out where to pick up the tickets, since you can't just get them at the venue the day of. That would be too easy. So Tuesday after class we set out to the nearest Bank of China to pick up the tickets, our Chinese teacher having told us that was where to go. NBD, we rode our bikes like 5 mins and were there. Except they told us no, we could not pick up tickets there, only certain Bank of Chinas had the tickets. They told us to walk 200 meters to the next closest bank, we could get it there. Right.

So we start walking and still aren't seeing it, so we ask a group of people sitting outside their apartment complex. Sure enough, they are happy to help us out, because when in China if you ask for directions, a committee must form to help you out. (Note: I couldn't remember the world for bank, so my description was (and I'll translate this for Amy) "the china change money place" and they figured out we needed a bank). Anyway, the consensus was "Nei biar" as it always is, so we kept walking.

Turns out the bank was on the second floor of some mall around the corner of the street (aka not at all easy to find) and when we get there the lady tells us "Oh, BEFORE you could get tickets here, but NOW you can't." Luckily she calls someone who tells us in English that we need to go to this other bank and that this bank for sure has tickets.

Ah! So we try three different cabs and the third one finally knows the bank address that we give him. We get there and praise Jesus there's an actual window that says "Beijing Olympic Tickets." But of course, my luck being what it is, I apparently typed my passport number in wrong when I registered online so I had to re-buy the tickets. No great monetary loss, but still annoying.

Oh, it gets better. On our way back, it started raining. And then, pouring. And as we were truthfully warned, when it rains in Beijing it is impossible to get a taxi... but that was exactly what we needed. Well we ended up walking like 200 meters on the side of a busy highway (in the wrong direction, I might add) before we finally captured a cab that was letting some lady off. Only, the lady wouldn't get out of the car because it was raining! We were standing there, huddling in the rain and wind, glaring at her, but she took her sweet sweet time getting out. Ah! And then the taxi driver was like, "But, BeiWai campus is right behind us" and I was like "Well, we would walk there, but it's raining, so drive" or something to that effect. I mean, can you imagine a cabbie telling you to get out and walk in a storm because the place you need to go "isn't that far behind us"??? Crazy. And for the record, the walk would not have been a quick one.

We finally got back like 3 hours after we set out, victorious but soaking. Then we had cooking club, which was of course fun because our Chinese teachers were there and they are adorable. Plus we ate lots of jiaozi. Then the next morning we arose a 6 and set out for the Bird's Nest. It was really awesome being there and I'm sad we had to cut the festivities short in order to make it back to class (although we were half hour late anyway, because traffic apparently sucks again, especially around 9am). But as of last night with the closing ceremony for the Paralympics, the games are officially over! I guess all the old Beijingers are breathing a sigh of relief that life can return to its normal chaos and the cheap DVDs will reappear on the streets. But for my part, I wish the traffic and pollution restrictions weren't being lifted.

Side note: This week I started working with the 400 level Chinese teacher on extra lessons and it's going really well. Of course I have my completely dumb moments where she gives me this look of incredulity like "I have no idea what you're trying to say/you really don't know what I'm saying?" but I think it'll really be good for me. Also I have a new friend who randomly came up to me on campus and wants to help me with my Chinese. She's a recent grad looking to teach English, so her English skills are good, and we're meeting tomorrow to figure out how this language partner thing is going to work. Also, Cheng and I spoke mostly in Chinese over dinner. It was fun! Well, he did most of the talking and I did a lot of listening and nodding, but still, I think my listening skills are getting better. Bring on the Chinese (but please don't kill me with memorizing hanzi...)!

Weekend Update

The thing about me and blogs is that once I get behind on updates, I find it really annoying to have to go back and recap everything that I've done. Alas, I don't want to leave you loyal readers in the dark (esp since I'm too lazy to add more pics to FB at this time) so here's a brief recap for you. (Actually, what this really means is that I have hw I should be doing and therefore find now to be a perfect time for some blogging).

So Cheng got back to Beijing last Thursday, hurray! I still haven't been to his campus though, because he came here for the weekend. On Friday after class we met up at a shopping center... and when I say "met up" think lots of phone calls like "Um our bus just got hit by a car, we'll be there soon" and "You're standing on a bridge that says Beijing Welcomes You? Wow, that's helpful" and "Zhongguancun gouwu zhongxin! It says that in big red characters at the top!" and "I don't see a big screen TV... keep walking" etc etc. Needless to say, it is not easy to meet up in Beijing (especially when a certain someone can't really read Chinese signs... coughcough).

Anyway later that night some friends had met this music guy and we all went out to Wudaokou to catch a live music show. At first we were told the music was going to be heavy metal, but then no, it was supposed to be indie rock, and when we got there it was somewhere in between the two. Luckily the band (don't remember the name, but they were from Norway... think long blonde hair and everything) was basically done by the time we arrived. Afterwards we chilled at the bar, Cheng and I played some foosball and a Chinese drinking game with a German guy and a Chinese saxophone player. Good times, good conversation.

The next day I definitely didn't get motivated till two, and then the plan was to meet up with Cheng at the Summer Palace. Again, the whole "meet up" definitely backfired when our bus took us to the North Gate and he was stuck down at the East Gate (with no money because he forgot his wallet. Nice.). So Pre (from my program) and I rushed through the beautiful palace on the hill and went to the gate to rescue Cheng, and then the three of us chilled by the lake and decided we had to come back on a day that wasn't so smoggy and when we had enough time to rent a boat.The next morning we got up early and went on a "hutong tour" provided by our school. See, the flier told us we'd be guided by an expert into the hutong neighborhoods to chat with the people who lived there. Only, we got on the bus and were first dropped off at the Lu Xun museum. Well, this is cool, I thought, I mean I wanted to come here anyway. We had an impromptu lesson from our tour guide about Beijing's development and cities in China in general. What did this have to do with the writer Lu Xun? I'm still not sure. Then we wandered around the museum and saw Lu Xun's old home (which was a hutong, so I guess we were sort of on the right track).

We got on the bus again and this time it dropped us off at a Buddhist temple. Ummm ok this is definitely not relating to hutongs, but still interesting, I thought. Maybe there are hutongs located near this temple and we will be seeing them soon. But no, we were led into the temple for another impromptu lesson, this time with a monk. He seemed to be deeply respected and wanted us to ask him a lot of questions, but didn't seem so inclined to directly answer them. For example, as he was talking to us about his recent visit to Taiwan, he was fiddling with a very nice looking cell phone. And at one point our guide was translating and the monk actually took a phone call while he was sitting there. Um, what?

So I ask, trying not to pointedly stare at his phone, How do you balance the strict rule and regulations [of religion and monastary life] with modern technology and advances? Seems like a fair question, right? Worthy of an in-depth response... but no. He said, Well I make sure I find myself a good teacher. When I have a good teacher to guide me, I'm ok. Or something to that effect. Very vague.

The monastary people were nice enough to guide us around the temple and show us some things that the normal people don't get to see. For example, around the back of one of the altars was the huge huuuuuuge painting done entirely with the artist's right hand pinky finger. That's right, a wall-sized finger painting. It was actually very beautiful, and during the Cultural Revolution someone built a wall in front of it so it wouldn't be destroyed. No pictures allowed though.

It was slightly odd walking through the temples, yesterday being the Mid-Autumn Festival. This is one of those days where EVERYONE goes to the temple and offers food and incense to the ancestors. So we were like walking in front of the lines of people as they bowed and made their devotions. And after that, guess where we went. Home, of course! The end of the Hutong tour, in which nary a hutong was seen. False advertising, I tell ya. I would have been more satisfied with the tour if they had told us what were we actually going to see. As it is, I still want to see the hutongs! When is that tour leaving??

Gorgeous

One of the best things about living in a big city is finding a place where you can go to get away from it all. It seems hard to imagine such a thing in Beijing, but thanks to a helpful tip from our teacher, we found an amazing street tucked away in the central area of Beijing that is absolutely ideal. It's called Nanluo Guxiang and it's close to the Bell Tower but removed from all the touristy things. The small street is lined with boutiques, coffee shops, cute bars, and a range of restaurants. It's a little pricey on the Chinese side, but for us Americans it was paradise. We did a little shopping, sipped some tea and did some reading, then grabbed hot pot for dinner. Since it was raining and we didn't want to head back to campus just yet, we stopped in to get pedicures and chatted with two French guys who were there getting massages. The street is also really cool because it's a good mix of trendy Beijing locals and foreigners... overall the most chill scene I have found here yet. I will definitely be returning (especially since I didn't take many pictures).

This morning we had a field trip for class. We met up with our professor at Jingshan Park, which we had previously whizzed through on the infamous Mystery Beijing exersize. Since the day was amazingly clear, we decided we had to take the opportunity and climb to the top of the hill to appreciate the view.

Trees! And a lake! And haphazardly placed buildings in the background! You probably can't tell bc the pic is so small, but there are even the faint outlines of mountains in the distance.

Anyway, then we went to the Forbidden City through the back door, which confused the people who worked there, but I explained, "We're going from hou to xian." Obviously. Um, let's see if I can find a good picture...
I wasn't in the mood to take the standard posing-by-the-gates/throne room/palace photos so I let everyone else take those and I will steal them once they are up on FB. After we concluded our tour we headed over to Grandma's Kitchen for some good old western diner type food. At the last second I decided on a cheeseburger instead of pancakes, but now I know where to go when the pancake craving really hits. Good food, not quite American but close enough, and too pricey but hey, it hit the spot.

Gotta run to the supermarket now for some orange drAnk, water bottles, random snacks, and pears. The pears here are so good! I am addicted.

Dalian, China's "green" city

Don't worry, I made it back alive and almost in one piece! Traveling via train in China on my own was definitely an experience, and I'd feel pretty confident having to do it again, but I definitely learned some things along the way. Like, don't ever ever travel overnight by hard seat (which was all they had left by Friday for my return trip on Sunday). And hard sleeper is not the epitome of luxury, but it's definitely doable and preferable to the other options.

My journey started at the train station, where I waited in this line:

Yup, this is a line in China. It didn't make sense to me because we all had assigned beds/seats, but there was a wild crush to get on first. (Of course on the way back I learned not everyone had a seat and storage space was limited. Oh how blissfully naive I was with my hard sleeper ticket). We left at 10pm and arrived the next morning at 8, when Cheng and his aunt met me at the station.

Then Cheng and I went off to the seaside for some grand Dalian canguan. Which, coincidentally, does not mean there is a giant shopping mall, it means we did some touristy things.
Suffice it to say, but 2pm we had had lunch and we a little bored of walking around and taking pictures. So we went and sang karaoke for a couple hours, then headed back to Cheng's aunt's apartment for some home cooked foods. My favorite. But first! There was a Walmart across the street from the apartment, and I had to go.

Look, Cheng's head is bigger than a watermelon! Haha :) Wo ai ni!

But back to the story. We had a wonderful meal with his aunt and her 15 year old daughter Yanhua. Yanhua was cool to talk to because for the most part, I could understand her Chinese. And at dinner they asked me what I thought of China, so I got to break out my newly learned sentence patterns: Wo di yige yingxiang shi... etc etc. And they wanted to know what the West was commonly saying about China, and all that. I've noticed that I can have good conversations in Chinese as long as there is someone else around to help translate/do most of the talking. I like to listen to people talk in Chinese and try and figure out what they are saying. But more and more I'm trying to figure out how to express my own ideas, though this usually takes too much time and by the time I have a thought formed in Chinese in my mind, the conversation has already shifted. Oh well, I try.

We watched the opening ceremony for the Para-Olympics on TV and then I passed out. I still have that annoying song stuck in my head though: Women yiqi qi fei!!!!!! Well, at least Andy Lau was there, that was pretty cool. Couldn't compare to the regular Olympics though, but it was pretty cool to watch. I wished so badly to be back in Beijing then, watching the fireworks from Tiananmen or something. Hmmm maybe the closing ceremony...

The next day Cheng's aunt took us shopping. OMG it was madness. It seemed like every single person in Dalian descended upon the mall that day. We braved the crowds for a little while, and I got an impulse manicure, but then I had had enough. Since there's nothing I really need to buy right now, meandering through the stalls and crowds wasn't very appealing. So we stopped by a friend's tea shop and drank some green tea. The way they brew the tea is really interesting, and we sat there for awhile, sipping from our tiny cups, eating pumpkin seeds, and shooting the breeze. The tea shop owners' 6 year old daughter was running around the mall and I absolutely loved her. I wanted to take pics of her but she wouldn't let me. However, she did point and every person and tell me to take pics of them, and then she would laugh and be like, "wo zhao le ni!" Adorable. Here's one that she made me take:
Cheng and his aunt. Now, don't even get me started on the train ride back. It was just awful. There was not much space for those of us sitting, and some people didn't even have seats and were just standing the whole time. For like 10 hours! Our train was also apparently a local (not express) because ever hour or so we'd stop somewhere and more people would get on. Crazy. Also, the air conditioning was blasting and I was wearing shorts and a tank top, so that just made it even less easy to fall asleep. Fortunately the man next to me took pity on my and offered to switch seats so I could sleep by the window (instead of the the middle of two people (and the other guy was really fat so he took up a lot of space)). He said this in Chines and when I got up and was like, Hao xie xie, some other guy was like, Oh it's like she understood! Yes, actually, I can understand some Chinese... but I didn't say that. I was too exhausted and had mentally given up on the situation to try and make any conversation, so I left everyone else assume I was a stupid foreigner with no Chinese skills. Oh well. I couldn't stop thinking about my hard sleeper bed on the way there and how much I missed it... even imagining scenarios where I stole into the hard sleeper cabin and paid someone 150 kuai to trade tickets with me. But alas, I stuck it out, and by 6.30 am the next day (today) was safely tucked into my own bed back in the dorm... only to wake up for class 2.5 hours later. Needless to say, I think I'll stay in Beijing and enjoy the sights around here next weekend (and Cheng will be back by then, anyway). But I'm glad I went, because of the cool people that I met in Dalian, even though Dalian itself seemed a little bland.

Just Kidding

I got a call from my program director at 10 this morning being like, Where do you want to pick up your ticket for Dalian from the travel agent man? And I was like, Uhhh what? Dude never called me back yesterday so I assumed he couldn't find any tickets.

Anyway, thus ensued a crazy game of talking to the courier about where to pick up my ticket. The director told me to go to the campus's back gate, but he was not there, so I called and asked, "Ni zai hou menkou haishi xian menkou?" Of course he was at the front gate. So I walk all the way over there and go up to the wrong guy who tells me he's waiting for a Ribenren. Oops. The courier calls me again, and after much confusion I walk out the gate and he goes, "Wang you wang you wang you." Fortunately that was one of the vocab words from this week. So I turn right and see a guy on his phone just sitting on his motorbike (which he had explained, but I didn't realize until then. Motouche!) Why couldn't he have gotten up and found me, the only flumoxed white girl wandering around with 300 kuai in her hand for a train ticket? Well whatever. Got the ticket and in a couple hours I'm off to brave the Beijing train station and the overnight sleeper. Tomorrow I'll be kicking up sand by the haibian, if that makes sense.

No posts till next week then, sorry! Have a good weekend :)

Things I've had to adjust to since being here

1. You cannot put toilet paper in the toilets. It must go in a trashcan beside the toilet, otherwise the toilet gets clogged. (Also some toilets you can't even do No. 2 (er hao) in.)

2. Pedestrians have no right of way. In fact, it pretty much sucks being a pedestrian. Hopefully I am getting a bike this weekend.

3. Bug spray is essential.

4. A good day means being able to see the mountains out the window.

5. All fruit must be peeled and sliced. Don't bite into it or you risk eating something you probably don't want to.

6. You can't drink the water. You don't want to anyway, because it smells funny. So I've been buying lots and lots of bottles of water, tea, juice, dengdeng. Contributing to the over abundance of plastic refuse problem, I am.

7. On the other hand, none of the shops will give you a plastic bag unless you ask for it and pay like 2 mao. Which is... less than 5 US cents, probably, but still I always forget to bring a bag to the grocery store and end up shoving everything in my purse. Awkward.

I'm sure there are other things. I'm already missing cereal and milk for breakfast, for example, but I'm not about to break down and buy me some corn flakes and soy milk yet. Yet. Oh and lastly, my plans for this weekend were disrupted when I went to the train station to buy a ticket to see Cheng in Dalian but they had none left :( Mai wan le! And it's too late to hitch a ride with some of the other kids to Mongolia, so I'll just be kicking it around Beijing this weekend. Things could be worse.

Golden arches in the Middle Kingdom

SUOYI I've eaten the McDonald's here. I'm half ashamed to admit it, but really, it had to be done. Anyway today was a pengyou's birthday, and he chose to have us eat there, so we did. Actually I was quite pleased with myself, since I did all the ordering in Chinese. Ready: "Wo yao er hao." He asked me, "big or small?" I said, "Xiao. Hai you, bingqiling" and I pointed to the fruit sundae thing. So that's what I got! A cheeseburger with a small drink and fries, and a vanilla sundae with some strange peach gelatin topping. Only, the cheeseburger had cucumbers and a strange spicy sauce on it. A little strange, but edible. The fries tasted the same.
(Also, on the cab ride there, I asked the cab driver, "Ni chiguo Maidanlao de fan ma?" And he had, so I asked, "Ni juede zenmeyang?" And he answered with some adjective I didn't know and can't remember. He probably said it tasted like shit. Anyway that was the end of our convo because I didn't know where to go from there. Sigh.)

Now, my Maidanlao meal cost almost 30 kuai. That's pretty expensive, especially considering last night a group of 9 of us went out to eat, ordered several dishes, ate our full, and the total bill was 98 kuai. So we paid less than 2 US dollars each for all that good food. Just strange, is all I'm saying. Oh but then I had a screwdriver at an Americanized bar (read: expensive-er, and classy-ish) and it was 10 kuai. Nice. Try getting a screwdriver for a dollar fifty in NYC. Not happening.

Not much else to say. Cheng is in Dalian being sick since I passed on my germs to him. I'm hopefully getting a bike this weekend so I don't have to be lame and walk to class everyday. Oh, and so I can go on bike rides to the park and stuff. Also I'm debating whether or not to join some other students and visit Mongolia this weekend. Hm we'll see. Sounds cool, but I want to do some research on it first, so here I go.