Two Weeks Left...

I seem to be dwelling on the fact that my time in Beijing is coming to a temporary close. I know that endings are an inevitable and assumed part of living temporarily somewhere, but I continue to be amazed with how quickly time seems to pass as I get older. It seems like just a matter of weeks ago that I was stepping onto the plane in Grand Rapids, unsure of just how this experience would treat me, what friends I would make, what would Beijing be like, how would I adjust to teaching...in just five short month I can no longer imagine my life without this set of experiences. I love it here and cannot wait to get back here after the fall. That said, I cannot wait to get back home and the comforts that this brings.

Reflecting on my time here, I keep coming back to the question of what would be a perfect day for me in Beijing...what would I do, what would I see, where would I eat if time and money were not of primary considerations...plus I would not get full since food plays so prominently into my idea of a perfect experience.

The day would begin with a trip to Steak and Eggs...one of the few places in Beijing to get a good American Breakfast. It is not nearly as good as Wolfgangs, but for here it is not too bad. After this I would make my way to the Old Summer Palace. I visited here for the first time just this past weekend, but it is one of my favorite places in Beijing. It was remarkably empty for a "tourist" attraction in Beijing. The palace that was on this site was destroyed by Anglo-Franco troops in the Second Opium War. The remains of the palace can still be seen. My feeling is that the site of the Old Summer Palace is nicer than the new Summer Palace. Both have their charms, but perhaps because of the relative lack of crowds, I preferred the old to the New.

For lunch I would eat at the Golden Peacock Dai Minority Cuisine restaurant. This is one of the best "bang for the buck" restaurants that I have encountered anywhere on earth. This is food that is so good I would easily spend 20 dollars or more for a meal with drinks...instead, I typically spend no more than 5 dollars, drinks included. It actually is only that much if I go there myself, with a group it is usually kept to 2 or 3 dollars per person. The highlights of this restaurant are really spicy beef, pineapple rice that is sweet and glutinous, potato balls with sesame oil and cilantro dipping sauce that are better than any french fry I have ever had anywhere, cheap beer, free appetizers that I would order as an entree if they were on the menu and a friendly and attentive staff (somewhat rare here in China). All told this is one of my favorite restaurants anywhere on earth, regardless of price. The fact it is so cheap makes it all that much better.

After time spent in the park, which is essentially what the Old Summer Palace is, and lunch, I would make my way to Nanluogu Xiang, a hutong filled with shops, restaurants, cafe's and similar small business' in a restored Hutong (old Beijing alley). This is a pretty calm street in the middle of the city, too narrow for much traffic to pass and a great place to spend a quite afternoon with a book, checking your email (most cafe's have wi-fi) and grabbing a good bite to eat. After relaxing for a while at a cafe the hutongs that surround nanluogu make for a great view of daily life in Beijing. The hutongs that surround tend to be less restored and commercialized, giving a glimpse into the daily life that is the reality of so many Beijing residents.

The late afternoon calls for a Massage which means Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreat, one of the most peaceful massage places I have encountered. This place specializes in relaxation, which is sometimes great and others not quite what is needed. The massages can be out fo this world but occasionally fail to hit the mark. That said, more times than not I walk away a very satisfied customer, plus the price cannot be matched (in the United States, for China it is on the expensive side of massages) at just 13.50 for an hour long massage. As an occasional hedonist, I usually indulge in a one hour foot massage followed by a one hour body massage that puts me in a deep state or relaxation...

Dinner would follow that relaxation and there are numerous choices for a great dinner in Beijing. Since it is a piece on Beijing, my choice will be Beijing Duck. The flavor of this famous dish lives up the the hype and makes for a great day. A thin pancake with plum sauce, a few pieces of crispy duck, sliced onion, sliced apple and a bit of garlic and sugar make for a succulent treat that I am prone to stuffing myself with. An entire duck (which feeds two or three with some side dishes) goes for about 11 dollars, a bargain again for the levels of flavor that exist in this Beijing treat.

Following dinner and the massage, any level of relaxation goes out the window as I amke my way to the Fengtai Stadium to watch Beijing Guoan, my club team play a level of pretty poor soccer. The games are entertaining though, a great way to spend the evening with the Chinese (few foreigners attend the games). The level of play for a professional team is not that much higher than mid-level college teams, but still a lot of fun to watch.

Following the game there are numerous bars to relax with a cheap (less than 75 cents) beer or two.

While I would love to have a day like this, the time and travel constraints probably will keep this from ever happening, but this is my Beijing. This is a great place with a lot to offer. If you want to spend the day as a tourist this is very easy, if you want to spend it as a local (as much as a really tall white boy can) this is even easier. There are so many great things that I have yet to discover here. My ideal day may very well look a whole lot different in another year. I am just excited that I am lucky enough to have the chance to experience these events.

All the best,

Zai Jian

Life and times of a tall Beijinger

I apologize for not writing more as of late, I have been without internet and my computer for a little while now...Technical problems happen over here as well. I am guessing that everyone that is reading this has also received an email from me recently, but if not, welcome to my life in China. I cannot believe that I have less than a month left here. The time has flown by. The pending departure has caused me to frantically finish as much as I can in my time here, each weekend crossing off items from a list of things still to do in Beijing. I must say, that the crush of time to go has meant that my weekends have been far more productive than when I felt that I still had unlimited amounts of time to spend here in China. Each weekend I visit three or four restaurants that I have heard about, do two or more cultural or tourist events and have pretty much made sure to make the most out of my time here.

This task of getting things done has been made much easier by the presence of a new place to live. I have added a second apartment in my life. For the last few weeks I have been spending the weekends at my new apartment in downtown (kind of) Beijing. My apartment is in the Students district and is really cheap. I will say that the quality of my living is a bit lower than any place that I would ever consider to live in the U.S., but for some reason I have no problem with the place in China. I love the added convenience that living in the city gives. Knowing that I do not need to go all the way back to Huijia has allowed me to see Soccer games, go the Symphony, go Salsa Dancing, spend a lot more money at Restaurants, do more shopping, sleep in later on the days of my Chinese lessons and pretty much just get more out of life.

Speaking of Chinese lessons, it finally feels like Chinese is kind of starting to click. While there is still so much more that I do not get than I do, I am beginning to understand random bits of overheard conversations. This, along with a pretty firm grasp of ordering and directional language has more or less allowed me to actually listen to what is coming out of people’s mouths rather than just assuming that I do not understand what is being said. I can string a few sentences together now and can give some basics when meeting people for the first time. This is the first time that I have felt this way with a foreign language and the sense of accomplishment, at least when not drowned out by the feeling of utter stupidity because of lack of Mandarin knowledge, is pretty awesome. I still have a very long way to go, but I am starting to feel that progress is being made.

In addition to the Mandarin breakthrough’s I have also begun tutoring a student in conversational English. My Chinese tutor had a friend that was looking to improve her spoken English and thought of me. I think that her English is pretty fluent, but she wants more help. I hope that I can help her out, but if nothing else it is teaching me a lot about the culture and life of a normal Chinese person.

These experiences have combined to reassuring me that I need to be back here. I am in the process of figuring out what to do when I look to return in the winter. I am planning on being back in December, hopefully at my same school. Time will tell, but what I do know is that I am still having the time of my life over here. I hope everyone is well. I cannot wait to see you soon.

Stream of Consciousness

This will be at times a somewhat random post but there are a ton of things that I want to share that are pretty much totally unrelated.

1.) People in China wear long underwear during the winter. This in itself is not an odd statement, however, they sometimes wear two pairs here in Beijing because it gets so cold here during the winter plus building are not usually well insulated nor even heated in some instances. This too makes perfect sense...what I cannot figure out though is why some people follow rules about the long underwear so closely. Once they put it on, they do not take it off until May 1st, regardless of what the weather is doing. Take a closer look at that. Outside of bathing, they do not take their long underwear off for the duration of the winter. This means that in most cases, the long underwear does not get washed from October 1st to May 1st. Plus, it has been over 80 on more than one occasion here already. The long underwear has stayed on throughout these higher temperatures. I just cannot understand the need to do this. Once it gets warm, you should make yourself more comfortable.

2.) The Summer Palace here in Beijing is gorgeous. I spent the day wandering the grounds of the Summer Palace enjoying the Spring Flowers, sunshine and warm day. I had not been to the Summer Palace the first time I was here which added to the enjoyment yesterday. Pictures will soon follow.

3.) Chinese teachers are treated very unfairly here. As a foreign teacher I am well paid and enjoy almost total freedom. The Chinese teachers on the other hand, are poorly paid and enjoy no freedom. Things that we foreign teachers get for free, accommodation, meals, access to laundry, the ability to use the dorm kitchen are either charged to the Chinese teachers or barred altogether (laundry, kitchen among others). This week I had the assistance of a Chinese teacher who served as my translator while I was in town getting some things done. We left at 4:30 to run these errands. To leave the campus she had to have a not from the dean saying that it was ok for her to leave campus before 5:30. I, on the other hand, frequently leave more than once during the day to run errands etc. I find this very unfair though typical of the Chinese mindset in terms of administration here. They seem to see nothing wrong with this double standard.

4.) Diapers are not really used by most babies here. Pants have a slit through the crotch which allows the babies to be held over the grass when infants and to just squat when toddlers. This would seem to be very un-hygenic and make for potentially dangerous walking through the streets, but these problems do not seem to exist. Now that it is warmer out I see more and more babies with their butts hanging out of their pants.

5.) Street food is really, really good. I have written about it before and will write a top-10 foods from China list soon, but I already can tell that I will miss street food when I get back to America.

6.) Mandarin Chinese seems to be a very difficult language to get started in, but it builds on itself so as I go along it should get easier...or at least that is what I am telling myself. If anyone in the Grand Rapids area that reads this knows of a potential Mandarin tutor can you see if they would be interested in meeting a few days a week this fall when I am back in town. I really want to keep working at the language and will need some help when I am back in the States.

7.) Vacation is fast approaching. In less than a week I will be off to Xi'an to see the Terra Cotta Warriors as well as other sights. I am getting excited. Mid-term exams are this week so we will see how those go.

8.) I love China... which leads me to #'s 9 and 10

9.) I miss home also but...

10.) I really love China :)

Zai Jian, all the best.

Gao Tian

Easter in China

I have finally posted more of my photos to my Flickr page. You can access these from the side links. More will come in the next few days. You may notice that this update does not have a photo for everyday I was here. The project that I started this year, to take a photo everyday for the entire year has sadly failed. With the isolation that I have here on campus I started to miss days when I did not leave the campus. What I do have, however, is photos from Beihei Park, some everyday Chinese scenes and the construction at the Olympic Venues. I hope you enjoy. Now on to the Easter stories.

I had the unique experience of spending Easter in a non-Christian country. It was very odd to know that it was a holiday, yet there was nothing to make this day seem any different than any other. There was just as much construction, traffic and general busyness as there is on any other day in Beijing. It was, however, a beautiful day; sunny and 70. This factor alone made it a good day. I attended church for the first time in Beijing. The service that I attended was open only to foreign passport holders, they had people at the door to ensure that everyone coming through the doors presented a passport. They have services that are open to everyone here in China, but my guess is these services have a much more regulated message. While my Mandarin is improving, it will be quite a while until my level of fluency reaches the point where I can get anything other than a cultural experience out of the services open to all.

The service that I attended was housed in a theater. I would estimate that there was between 800-1200 people in attendance. The service was an interdenominational service with pretty good music. It was a somewhat more lively crowd during singing than I am used to, but I really cannot get too picky. There are far fewer church options here than there are in West Michigan. The service was good though not exceptional.

Following Church my friend and I went to the Goose and Duck pub to sit outside in the warm sun enjoying Western Food, a well cooked burger and fries. Not quite as traditional as Easter Brunch, but delicious nonetheless. Following lunch we decided that since everything was open we may as well get some shopping done. Where else to spend Easter Sunday in China than at IKEA.

The reality of a less expensive IKEA is somewhat difficult to imagine, but this is what IKEA in China is like. Things here really need to be less expensive since if items cost the same as they do in the States, IKEA would be far more expensive than they the local store. As it is, many things are more expensive than the local store, but not by that much. I stocked up on some odds and ends that always tend to fill your cart at IKEA but is questionable if these items are really necessary. I walked away with a lot of odds and ends and spent less than $30. I found it somewhat difficult to talk myself out of larger purchases that are really not necessary given I only have about 3.5 months left here this time and nowhere to store any furniture items while I am back in the States. It was difficult to pass up the good deals since it is amazing just how inexpensive things are here in China. Even living a somewhat luxurious lifestyle 150 U.S. dollars can get me through the better part of two weeks here, if not longer. This includes some shopping every week, 3-5 meals out a week, 1 or 2 of which are Western, Chinese Lessons, Transportation...even cabs, and at least one tourist activity in a 2 week period.

Easter had an odd feeling to it. It was certainly a holiday in my mind, but around me there was nothing that set it apart from most other days, at least in the minds of those that surrounded me. Adding to this feeling was the realization that this was the first major holiday (Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas) that I have spent apart from my family. There are bound to be more in the future, but it made for a somewhat unusual mood for an already unusual Easter experience. The weather has remained nice here this week, making it somewhat difficult to focus on work. Most people at home just returned from Spring Break but I still have a few weeks to go until our break, for International Workers Day, May 1st.

Zai Jian

One Month Update

I cannot believe that it has already been a month since I left the United States. It has been a great month, filled with new experiences, challenges and at times even frustrations. The most common question that I am getting from people back home is have you found a home, a place to feel comfortable in Beijing and the answer is a resounding yes. I love it here. I wish I was a lot closer into the city than I am. It makes it very difficult to go into Beijing knowing it takes two hours each way, but I suppose it does help me save money.

I have come to appreciate Beijing for what it is. It is not the cosmopolitan city that Shanghai, New York and London are, instead it is the head of government, the place where decisions are made which I feel lends itself to helping preserve the foreign aspects of a city (for outsiders). Said another way, because this city is the face of China to the world, it goes out of its way to minimize the impact that foreigners have had on it, preserving the local flavor and culture. That is not to say that there are not numerous examples of Western influence, it is just not as in your face as it is in Shanghai. Every time I make my way into Beijing I experience another slice of authentic Chinese culture while at the same time finding out where to go for the Western, back home experience. I have come to love the balance between these two very different faces of the city.

In the process of falling in love with Beijing an interesting gastronomic development has occurred. I now find myself craving certain Chinese dishes far more than I crave anything in particular from back home. That is not to say that I do not miss the food from home, it is just that I have a generic Western food craving, anything could satiate the Western food desire but I tend to crave specific Chinese dishes. The major things in China that I have come to love are Jiaozi (Chinese steamed dumpling), grilled mutton skewers from Xinjiang (the Muslim province in China), Bolou Fan (fried pineapple rice) and Dai food in general (Chinese Minority group from Yunnan province, similar to Thai food). I could eat pretty much unlimited quantities of all of these items and often do. In addition to being tasty, they are also very cheap, especially compared to Western food. I have to admit that I did not see this coming. I still do not enjoy the food in the cafeteria, but when I get to go out to Chinese restaurants, especially holes-in-the-wall and street vendors, I have found myself in culinary heaven.

Another development over the last month is that I have come to think of Beijing as home, or rather a home where I pretty much know no-one, do not speak the language and technically do not even have residence in, but my home nonetheless. I am at the point where I am getting a little cocky. I suppose I will have to be brought down a notch or two, but until that happens I will continue to walk around with a swagger whenever I see other Western people. I especially get out of hand near tourist sites (yes, even when I am visiting said tourist sites). I look down on other tourists and think to myself, GET OUT OF MY CITY! I then remind myself that I have absolutely no right to do this, that in many cases the people that I am thinking this about may even have been in China longer than I have and in many cases have just as much command of Mandarin as I do, if not more. This is something that I need to work on, but in the meantime, it feels good to be at home here. As a side note to this, I feel that my Mandarin is coming along nicely. I have started to pick up basic phrases and with practice can tell a cab where to go, order in a restaurant, bargain (I know all of my numbers now) and generally do tourist things. These are all accomplished with very bad pronunciation, but my point seems to get across. I have found that the Chinese people are very accommodating and forgiving when it comes to their language. They are quick to complement any attempts at Mandarin and will assist with pronunciation and do their best to understand my meaning. It is refreshing compared to my other experience with using my minimal knowledge of French in Paris where they will not even pretend to understand even when the speak English.