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I am officially a delinquent blogger. And I apologize. But really, I've been busy, yadda yadda...
Actually, I have been really busy because I've been visited by FAMILY! Anna came and visited for 10 days, and my mom came a little later (and is still here, sharing a room with me and snoring as we speak...). Despite all of my anxiousness surrounding their visit (trying to book a decent hotel room with people who only speak Chinese, figuring out how to get from point A to point B), it has been wonderful to see them. It has just been fun being able to experience China with them, laugh about our cultural... differences, and being able to just be comfortable. Words can not express how wonderful it was to shower at my mom's hotel room... a consistent stream with hot water and good water pressure. Goodness beyond description.
Since it was their first time in China, and I hadn't yet seen the "Beijing sites", I've been taking some time off of work, and we have visited almost everything there is to see in Beijing: Lama Temple, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, Great Wall, Forbidden City, Tiananmen, Hutongs, as well as eaten more food than we would have thought possible. It has been a fantastic two weeks of sight-seeing, family-enjoying, great-food-eating fun. Here is the mandatory picture of us at the Great Wall.
I feel like I'm starting to get a little more into the groove of life in Beijing. I'm starting to notice the patterns in my daily routine, who usually stands where on the street and what they sell, how people interact with each other (they virtually don't do this with strangers), how often public transportation arrives and how physically aggressive people are to get an ideal place on the subway. I was waiting in line for the subway today, and as the car pulled near, people started crowding me and getting super close to the door. I just stood there and thought how funny this is, adult people pushing and shoving people out of their way on the off-chance they'll get a seat on the subway. Ahhh, life in Beijing.
Another apparent aspect of life in Beijing is how rapidly change takes place. I was walking to work today down my normal sidewalk, only to find that in the last 4 days, they had completely ripped up the old sidewalk, and re-routed walking traffic to a new sidewalk. And things like this happen all the time... one day you'll walk by a familiar place, and all of a sudden a new structure is there. It is crazy. It is really a fascinating time to be living in Beijing. Stating this may be completely obvious, but the Olympics are such a big deal for China. The more I'm here, the more I fully understand what hosting this event means for China. It is their international recognition, they are inviting the whole world to come and see their progress, to enjoy their city and to prove that they are worthy of being equal. This means big-time work for China in every aspect; adding to and re-vamping current public transportation, cleaning up (trust me, this is no small issue), making sure food and hotels and public places are up to international standards (this too is no small issue). It is fascinating to see the amount of change that has occurred even in the short time I've been here. I can't only wait to see what else this city has up it's sleeve...
A very rare occurrence happened in Beijing today---baseball. America's favorite past-time made it's debut in China with the San Diego Padres playing the LA Dodgers. Even though I'm not really a baseball fan (and quite honestly didn't even pay attention very well), the game was super fun. It was interesting attending such an "American" event in China; it felt like life as usual until I looked outside of the stadium to see very the Chinese-looking, halfway constructed buildings and watched the Chinese dancers/cheerleaders on the field in between each inning (maybe the Twins should be consider cheerleaders?).Anyway, here are some photos.
Other than that, life is moving along really quickly. I'm still in the midst of learning to live life in a culture that is so different (and really, "different" is an understatement) from what I'm used to. It is good... a lot of experiences, and everyday I'm learning how much I still have to learn. It is a little exhausting, and at times overwhelming, but on the whole, it is good, and I am glad I'm here. However, there are times when I would give just about anything to drive my car somewhere (and not be stuck in traffic), or to be able to order off of a menu in my own language, or even ask a stranger a question. But, that's the price you pay for living on the other side of the world.It is definitely past my bedtime.
As an attempt to start fulfilling our "Beijing Bucket List", my friend Alli and I decided to visit some Beijing hutongs this weekend. For those who are unaware (like I was until 3 days ago), hutongs are a traditional-type Chinese home which looks like a long, winding corridor. I can't really explain it, so you might just have to google it. Anyway, we met up on Saturday afternoon and headed to the center(ish) of Beijing to check out a section of hutongs that were still intact and being lived it. It was great, because so often in Beijing, you feel like you are just in another big city, but the hutongs felt like a more authentic "China" experience. I think that the hutongs are a really neat source of community for the people who live in them since everyone lives in such close quarters. Unfortunately, most hutongs are being destroyed in the country's efforts to "modernize". Anyway, I'll try to post pictures, but it was really interesting.
Next, we met two friends in a highly commercialized area called Wangfujing and ate a glorious double cheeseburger value meal from McDonalds. We then made a trip to the foreign language bookstore (also glorious), and then visited the market behind all of the commercial stuff. This was another fun "uniquely China" experience, seeing all the little street vendors and the food. Trace and Jason, the two guys we were with, decided to try fried scorpion...delish. That's on Alli & I's agenda for the next Wangfujing visit.
In other news, I moved into a new apartment today. That's exciting! I'm not living with my boss anymore, which was actually a little sad when I left them because they were beginning to be like family to me! But I moved in with two girls (one girl is out of town until the 22nd, so I haven't met her yet). It will be interesting, living with two random girls in a new part of town. BUT, I know that He will work in the ways He needs to, so it will turn out well.
I think I'm going to get ready to hit the hay... it's been a long weekend, and I'd like to rest up. Hopefully the next post will be a little more entertaining.
Today marks my ONE WEEK anniversary as a Beijing citizen. I'm already feeling very proud of that fact. More and more, I'm starting to understand life here (I think I will probably write that in every entry, so just bear with me).
The weather in Beijing has been BEAUTIFUL--sorry all of my Minnesota friends. Currently (and forecasted for the next 10 days), it is supposed to be in the 50's-60's and sunny. Really, smoggy Beijing has proved to be quite lovely! I think that definitely makes adjustment a little easier.
This week I have started to settle into a routine (which will no doubt be unsettled the minute I get used to it). I have a 1.5 hour Chinese language class every morning, and then I hop back on the subway and head into work until around 5. Then, I go home and... read or watch movies. That's because I only have one friend in Beijing, so I spend most evenings with my boss and his wife :) The language class that I just started is really kicking my butt. The first day, we just had speaking practice, so that means repeating tones, and learning the generic "Ni hao, ni hao ma", but it got progressively harder from there. Also, the first day I was the ONLY English speaker in my class! My teacher didn't even speak English, and the rest of the students were Korean. It took me half the class to give myself the pep-talk I needed to finish the second half and stay focused! But actually, I have come to think it is better that there is so little English because I am really forced to focus and figure out what's going on. Plus, there are now some more students in our class (most of whom speak English), which makes that a little easier. Today in class, our teacher decided that we really need to learn our characters (the Chinese writing), so she stopped using pinyin (English letters for Chinese words), and just started writing characters all over the board and expected us to know what it said. AND, most students actually understood! I was sitting in my desk, trying desperately to match the characters in my book to the ones on the board, and then I heard her say "Kay-tee", and she pointed to some characters. All I could say was "I have no idea what you are asking me". She laughed at me and moved on... so I think she understood how lost I was.
Other than that, life in China is never boring. I walk down the street from my office to the subway, or sit on the bus, or pretty much do anything and all I can think is "wow, I am seriously living in China". Life is so different here. There are people in every inch of space, rushing to get to where they need to. There is no concept of personal space (trying riding bus during rush hours--there are not even words to describe this), no concept of "pedestrian rights" on the street (I am so thankful every time I cross the street and am still intact), and such a fascinating blend of "new" and "old". I walk down the street from my bus to work and I look at these new, beautiful and huge office buildings while I'm being knocked off the sidewalk by a man in a rickshaw and street vendors. There is really no other place like it.
Some news on the apartment front: I have a few options, but nothing is definite yet. One option is to live in a lower-cost place, but it would take over an hour to commute to work (including a 30 minute walk to get to the subway). The other option, which just presented itself today, is to live close to work (and right next to my language class), and right in the middle of a district where many young foreigners and students live, but for almost 3 times the cost. SO, I'm waiting to weigh out my options... but I am thankful that I have them.
OK, I should get to work. Blessings to all, I love hearing from you!
I have officially survived 4 days living in Beijing. I'm not going to lie, I feel pretty proud of myself! The last few days have consisted of my "rites of passage" to becoming an official Beijing citizen. It all started on Friday when I made a trip to the local police station to register as a foreigner who is not staying at a hotel. After the stop at the station, I received my Beijing cell phone! I can officially call someone (in Beijing) when I get lost. I'm also still in the process of finding a more permanent place to live; I think we're making some definite progress on that, which is encouraging.
On Friday, I had lunch with the two American people around my age who work in the office directly next to mine. They are here working with an organization that provides micro-loans to people in China, as well as all around this side of the world. It was fun to sit and have lunch with them. The girl invited me to a party that she was hosting at her apartment, celebrating leap day (naturally). So, I met the boy and some of his other friends for dinner, and then we walked over to her apartment. It was so fun because there were about 25 other Western people about my age there, so it was a good chance to feel like I was in a familiar place and meet people my own age that I could communicate with!
However, on the way home, disaster struck. This is inevitable living in a city of 15 billion where you can't speak the language. I left the party thinking that I was giving myself plenty of time to catch the bus home, but, of course, the bus had stopped running an hour before. So here I was, stranded at this bus stop in the middle of Beijing, and I had no idea how to get home (or even where I was). I couldn't just grab a taxi because I can't communicate with the taxi drivers, I couldn't walk because it would take me an hour and 20 minutes, and it was a Friday night, and I wasn't too excited about that. Luckily, this Chinese man with pretty good English approached me and asked me if I needed any help. I told him that my bus stopped running, and I needed to get home... so we stood on the street for a half an hour, trying to find a taxi! All the taxis were full because it was Friday night and the buses had stopped running. So anyway, we finally caught a taxi (after fighting with another woman to get it who let us have it because I was a foreigner), and he rode home in the taxi with me to make sure I got where I needed to go. When I was riding in the taxi with the strange Chinese man, all I could think was "he could be telling this guy to take me anywhere, and I would have no idea". Luckily, I was blessed to have everything turn out, and I made it home.
Yesterday, I met a new friend of a friend Alli, and we spent the day yesterday and today together. It was such a blessing having someone in Beijing! She showed me around to some "Beijing hot spots", and helped me to navigate my way through the city a little more. This morning we attended the big fellowship in Beijing, and afterwards went out to lunch and did some shopping with some of her friends from the fellowship. It was just a great afternoon of hanging out and connecting with some more people.
I really have been blessed in being able to meet like-minded people thus far, and have been able to go out and explore the city. I look forward to trying to check of my "Beijing Bucket List" (hopefully with Anna and Lindsay when they visit!)
Ok, I need some sleep.
