Beijing’s summer comes much quicker than summer in Minnesota. In Minnesota, we (usually) have a long winter, followed by a pleasant spring that sometimes decides to turn back into winter, and then stays spring for at least a few months before it gets really hot in the middle of June. Beijing? Beijing doesn’t mess around with the concept of “spring”. Winter turns pretty quickly into summer. Last week I was wearing a coat and long sleeves to work everyday, and this week I’m wearing t-shirts and sandals (and feeling the stickness of the summer heat).
One indicator that summer is here to stay is that many Chinese men have started to wander around with their t-shirts rolled up, exposing their apparently-all-too-warm stomachs. When I first saw this amazing phenomenon, I thought it was a one-time thing, like some farmer who must have wandered into the city and started getting really hot, forgetting his city-manners and acting as you would expect someone from the country to act. But as the weather gets warmer and warmer, the more male midriffs I’ve been seeing. The men roll up their shirts past their protruding stomachs, and even puff out their stomach a little bit (further proving their masculinity), and usually there is some sort of stomach rubbing or patting going on. I still need to take a photo, but I will post one when I have it. One more of the many, many things I love about this city.
In other news, this weekend the national May holiday. Everyone gets Thursday, Friday and Saturday off of work (or they’re supposed to), but is supposed to make up their day of lost work on Sunday (???). I’ve spent the early part of this week debating how I should spend these sacred few days off: should I travel? Sightsee? Sleep? In the end, relaxation won out (as it always does). I decided to spend Thursday satisfying my introverted need for some quality alone time by hitting up Starbucks (where I’m currently sitting and enjoying a beautiful caffeinated beverage), followed by an afternoon of sight-seeing (destination still unknown). Tomorrow I will head out to visit Alli (out by the Great Wall), where we will explore the unknown sights of outer-Beijing. I’m pretty excited for the adventure. Overall, a few days of relaxation and exploration sounds like the perfect recipe for fun in Beijing.
I think that’s enough adventure for now. Until next time.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Nuts and Bolts, Nuts and Bolts...
It’s official. Lindsay & I got screwed over.
However, first things first. I have been an infrequent blogger this time because of visits from dear friends (it seems I always have an excuse). My great friend Lindsay took the leap over the big pond and visited me here in the great city of Beijing. What a blessing! It was fun to have her here and show her around and let her experience life in China.
But, we did have a few interesting experiences. Most recently was the time we got screwed over by the little Chinese man. It all started on Wednesday. We had a full day planned at the Mausoleum, Tiananmen, Hutongs, Forbidden City, and then on to some shopping, so we were full-speed ahead at every stop, rushing around so we could get it all in. We arrived in the Square with just enough time to get a quick glance of the Chairman in his “Mao-soleum”, so we were rushing to get in. This little official-looking Chinese man pulled us aside and motioned to us that we weren’t able to bring our bags into the Mausoleum (which turned out to be true), so he grabbed my arm and started running with us across Tiananmen. We were pushing people aside and running into people as we bolted to get to the place where you can keep your stuff. When we got there, he told me “20, 20”, which I assumed was 20 yuan to hold our stuff (which was also true). So we paid the money, put our stuff away, and then literally ran again back across Tiananmen, all the while still running into women and small children everywhere. We arrived back to the line that leads us into the Mausoleum with 10 minutes to spare. He then shoves us into the fast-paced crowd of people heading to see Mao, but still keeps tugging at my arm saying “20, 20 to get in”. With all the flurry and commotion, Lindsay and I both got really confused (was it 20 to get into the Mausoleum? what was he saying?). Lindsay pulled out her 50, and said “all we have is a 50”, and the little man took it and shoved us back into the crowd of people and disappeared. That was just about the time we realized entrance into the Mausoleum was free…
I guess you just need to get used to those things happening to you in China, huh? When you can’t speak the language, you are bound to get taken advantage of.
BUT, all in all, the Fulmer visit was successful. We saw all the sights in a short amount of time (Olympic Synchronized Swimming, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, Pearl Market, Silk Market, Great Wall, Forbidden City, Tiananmen, etc.), and even threw in a quick trip to Inner Mongolia. Well, I made her go… I had a work commitment, but when it’s your first trip to China, everything is an experience.
This is a picture of how happy we were after we ran into our little Chinese-man friend:
But then, the little Chinese baby-butts always make us happy again.
Until further notice...
However, first things first. I have been an infrequent blogger this time because of visits from dear friends (it seems I always have an excuse). My great friend Lindsay took the leap over the big pond and visited me here in the great city of Beijing. What a blessing! It was fun to have her here and show her around and let her experience life in China.
But, we did have a few interesting experiences. Most recently was the time we got screwed over by the little Chinese man. It all started on Wednesday. We had a full day planned at the Mausoleum, Tiananmen, Hutongs, Forbidden City, and then on to some shopping, so we were full-speed ahead at every stop, rushing around so we could get it all in. We arrived in the Square with just enough time to get a quick glance of the Chairman in his “Mao-soleum”, so we were rushing to get in. This little official-looking Chinese man pulled us aside and motioned to us that we weren’t able to bring our bags into the Mausoleum (which turned out to be true), so he grabbed my arm and started running with us across Tiananmen. We were pushing people aside and running into people as we bolted to get to the place where you can keep your stuff. When we got there, he told me “20, 20”, which I assumed was 20 yuan to hold our stuff (which was also true). So we paid the money, put our stuff away, and then literally ran again back across Tiananmen, all the while still running into women and small children everywhere. We arrived back to the line that leads us into the Mausoleum with 10 minutes to spare. He then shoves us into the fast-paced crowd of people heading to see Mao, but still keeps tugging at my arm saying “20, 20 to get in”. With all the flurry and commotion, Lindsay and I both got really confused (was it 20 to get into the Mausoleum? what was he saying?). Lindsay pulled out her 50, and said “all we have is a 50”, and the little man took it and shoved us back into the crowd of people and disappeared. That was just about the time we realized entrance into the Mausoleum was free…
I guess you just need to get used to those things happening to you in China, huh? When you can’t speak the language, you are bound to get taken advantage of.
BUT, all in all, the Fulmer visit was successful. We saw all the sights in a short amount of time (Olympic Synchronized Swimming, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, Pearl Market, Silk Market, Great Wall, Forbidden City, Tiananmen, etc.), and even threw in a quick trip to Inner Mongolia. Well, I made her go… I had a work commitment, but when it’s your first trip to China, everything is an experience.
This is a picture of how happy we were after we ran into our little Chinese-man friend:
But then, the little Chinese baby-butts always make us happy again.
Until further notice...
Monday, April 14, 2008
conquering the "china badittude"
Ok, I admit it… every now and then I have a bad attitude. I get a little cranky, and don’t work that hard to get rid of it. It happens to all of us at some point. However, living in China makes it especially easy to get such a badittude. For the most part, I really do love living here, and I love the people here and the culture and the food, but sometimes… all you can do is raise a fist at the frustrations of daily life.
I think my bad attitude first reared it’s ugly head on Sunday afternoon. This weekend started out so promising! My good friend Alli came in on Saturday, and we had a wonderful chat over Starbucks iced coffees, and then went for a peaceful two-hour stroll around Tsinghua University next door. It was fabulous, being outside on a beautiful day, walking around one of the very few areas in Beijing that has green grass, tree-lined streets, and open spaces. After the walking adventure, we then decided to perpetuate our day of goodness by making a trek across town (and really, getting across town is quite a feat--it took us over an hour via public transportation) to grab some dinner with friends at Pete’s Tex Mex. On our way home, we bought some obviously illegally-copied books from a guy selling them out of the back of his bike on the street for 15 kwai. If there’s one thing that makes me happy, it’s cheap books. All in all, these events made for a great day.
However, Sunday rolls around, and the attitude slowly changes. It started out with a cold shower (very little good comes after a cold shower). Alli and I grabbed a quick breakfast at an old fav down the street, “The Bridge”, and sat on the roof, eating our yogurt and granola in the beautiful sunshine, watching…the subway across the street (so, it’s not so scenic). We then caught a taxi (going the wrong direction, and consequently making us late) to fellowship. After considering a few lunch options, we decided to grab a quickie lunch and head across town to grab tickets for this week’s much anticipated “Good Luck” games. The Good Luck games are a sort of pre-event events for the Olympics (my baseball game a few weeks ago was a “Good Luck” game), and I’m not exactly sure of the purpose of these events, but they’re fun. We were really looking forward to getting some tickets for the Synchronized Swimming event this week; Lindsay is coming to visit (yay!), and I thought it would be fun to take her to an event in the infamous blue Aquatic Cube built for the Olympics. We thought we would just head down to the Cube and get tickets… but obviously, things are never that easy in China. It is quite a hassle to get anywhere, but especially to the Olympic Stadium, because the subway lines that take us there aren’t open yet, and it is a little spendy just to go by taxi… so we trekked over to the subway and crammed into this hot, smelly subway car, rubbing sweaty arms with the people next to us (it was close to 78 degrees F on Sunday). We rode this way for awhile, then had to switch trains, and ride this way for another while. THEN, we had to catch a taxi to the stadium. We arrive around 4:30, hot, sweaty and exasperated by the torturous travel request to get to the actual stadium… only to find that they sold out of tickets by noon. Argh. Apparently, they are selling 300 tickets a day, for five days, to be bought only at this inconvenient location. Everything is harder in China. So, we left the stadium, hot, sweaty and defeated…our bad attitudes oozing out of our pores. I was ready to give up on the “Good Luck” games, but… I would not be defeated by China.
So yesterday, we re-made the stupid long trek and got our tickets. Victory.
It is just another example of how life in China is consistently inconsistent. Ahhhh.
I think my bad attitude first reared it’s ugly head on Sunday afternoon. This weekend started out so promising! My good friend Alli came in on Saturday, and we had a wonderful chat over Starbucks iced coffees, and then went for a peaceful two-hour stroll around Tsinghua University next door. It was fabulous, being outside on a beautiful day, walking around one of the very few areas in Beijing that has green grass, tree-lined streets, and open spaces. After the walking adventure, we then decided to perpetuate our day of goodness by making a trek across town (and really, getting across town is quite a feat--it took us over an hour via public transportation) to grab some dinner with friends at Pete’s Tex Mex. On our way home, we bought some obviously illegally-copied books from a guy selling them out of the back of his bike on the street for 15 kwai. If there’s one thing that makes me happy, it’s cheap books. All in all, these events made for a great day.
However, Sunday rolls around, and the attitude slowly changes. It started out with a cold shower (very little good comes after a cold shower). Alli and I grabbed a quick breakfast at an old fav down the street, “The Bridge”, and sat on the roof, eating our yogurt and granola in the beautiful sunshine, watching…the subway across the street (so, it’s not so scenic). We then caught a taxi (going the wrong direction, and consequently making us late) to fellowship. After considering a few lunch options, we decided to grab a quickie lunch and head across town to grab tickets for this week’s much anticipated “Good Luck” games. The Good Luck games are a sort of pre-event events for the Olympics (my baseball game a few weeks ago was a “Good Luck” game), and I’m not exactly sure of the purpose of these events, but they’re fun. We were really looking forward to getting some tickets for the Synchronized Swimming event this week; Lindsay is coming to visit (yay!), and I thought it would be fun to take her to an event in the infamous blue Aquatic Cube built for the Olympics. We thought we would just head down to the Cube and get tickets… but obviously, things are never that easy in China. It is quite a hassle to get anywhere, but especially to the Olympic Stadium, because the subway lines that take us there aren’t open yet, and it is a little spendy just to go by taxi… so we trekked over to the subway and crammed into this hot, smelly subway car, rubbing sweaty arms with the people next to us (it was close to 78 degrees F on Sunday). We rode this way for awhile, then had to switch trains, and ride this way for another while. THEN, we had to catch a taxi to the stadium. We arrive around 4:30, hot, sweaty and exasperated by the torturous travel request to get to the actual stadium… only to find that they sold out of tickets by noon. Argh. Apparently, they are selling 300 tickets a day, for five days, to be bought only at this inconvenient location. Everything is harder in China. So, we left the stadium, hot, sweaty and defeated…our bad attitudes oozing out of our pores. I was ready to give up on the “Good Luck” games, but… I would not be defeated by China.
So yesterday, we re-made the stupid long trek and got our tickets. Victory.
It is just another example of how life in China is consistently inconsistent. Ahhhh.
Friday, April 11, 2008
life as usual
As the title implies, I'm officially back to living "life as usual"... at least for now. After a slew of family related visits over the span of about two and a half weeks, I have gotten settled back into a more normal routine. I guess to say "normal" isn't quite fair, because China is infamous for never having anything be "normal". Case in point: last Saturday morning, my co-worker Carmen and I headed for our bus stop to catch the bus to the kindergarten where we teach. Low and behold, the bus stop was longer there. Seriously, the bus stop was moved overnight. I walk by that bus stop every day, and overnight it was moved... seats and signs and railings and all. Luckily, they just moved it down the block.
Another interesting "only in China" moment happened last week. I was walking down a well-traveled street in my highly-populated neighborhood to go visit my parents (while they were still here). I was just watching life happen, and noticed an elderly couple strolling on the grass near me. Suddenly, the lady just pops a squat and starts going to the bathroom. On the side of the street, on a busy street. I just looked at her, and laughed, and kept on walking. Seriously, I love living here.
All other aspects of life are going well. It feels good to be back and work and to jump into a new project. In the midst of doing work for my company in Minnesota, I'm working on a few projects for my company in Beijing. We have decided to re-design our website, and I get to play a big role in that, so it's nice to be busy at work. Language courses are also going pretty well... I decided to re-take the first few lessons of Mandarin, so I joined a class that was just starting, and I feel pretty proud of myself because I'm catching on to everything pretty quickly. I suppose it helps that it's the second time I'm taking it in a few weeks :) I think next week will start to get harder. At times it feels near impossible to learn the language--the characters, the pinyin, the sentence structure; I wish I was here full time to study because then I might actually see some progress! People are here for years studying language alone... my 7.5 hours a week might not get me far. But it's a start.
Life is good. I have met some really wonderful people who I have been so blessed by. I work with such a wonderful staff and have had really generous people take me under their wing to get accustomed to life here. It was great having family around, and Lindsay F. comes next week which will be SO great! We will have a great time buzzing around Beijing (and even making a visit to Hohhot in Inner Mongolia).
Thanks to everyone who has been sending e-mails... they are the highlight of my day! I hope everyone is doing well, and I would LOVE to hear from you if you have time.
Another interesting "only in China" moment happened last week. I was walking down a well-traveled street in my highly-populated neighborhood to go visit my parents (while they were still here). I was just watching life happen, and noticed an elderly couple strolling on the grass near me. Suddenly, the lady just pops a squat and starts going to the bathroom. On the side of the street, on a busy street. I just looked at her, and laughed, and kept on walking. Seriously, I love living here.
All other aspects of life are going well. It feels good to be back and work and to jump into a new project. In the midst of doing work for my company in Minnesota, I'm working on a few projects for my company in Beijing. We have decided to re-design our website, and I get to play a big role in that, so it's nice to be busy at work. Language courses are also going pretty well... I decided to re-take the first few lessons of Mandarin, so I joined a class that was just starting, and I feel pretty proud of myself because I'm catching on to everything pretty quickly. I suppose it helps that it's the second time I'm taking it in a few weeks :) I think next week will start to get harder. At times it feels near impossible to learn the language--the characters, the pinyin, the sentence structure; I wish I was here full time to study because then I might actually see some progress! People are here for years studying language alone... my 7.5 hours a week might not get me far. But it's a start.
Life is good. I have met some really wonderful people who I have been so blessed by. I work with such a wonderful staff and have had really generous people take me under their wing to get accustomed to life here. It was great having family around, and Lindsay F. comes next week which will be SO great! We will have a great time buzzing around Beijing (and even making a visit to Hohhot in Inner Mongolia).
Thanks to everyone who has been sending e-mails... they are the highlight of my day! I hope everyone is doing well, and I would LOVE to hear from you if you have time.
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