So I'd heard about how bad commuting to work in Beijing is, but I always just shrugged it off thinking: how could it be much worse than commuting in NY, which I did for the past three summers? Boy was I off...
The quickest route to work for us (Nathan, Avril, and I) on public transit involves taking a bus 8 stops to a subway one stop, and then another bus for four stops. The entire thing takes about an hour. Getting on the bus during rush hour involves being literally pushed by the crowd until the bus is packed, and then the doors are closed literally on people. Depending on the size of the bus, there are different doors you enter and exit from. If it's got three doors, you get on in the middle and off in either the front or back; if it's got two, you get on in the front and off in the back. Also, if the route number is over 400, you have to swipe your card when you get on AND off because those buses are air conditioned. The subway is just about as ridiculous, except that you are contained within a space to walk in. The thing that I don't get and that bothers me to no end after commuting in NY is that in between said buses and subways, noone seems to be in any kind of rush. They take their time walking up the stairs from the subway, to the bus stops, and from the bus stops to work. This doesn't bother me so much in the morning, but when we get out of work at 6pm, it'd be really nice to get home, change, and eat dinner sooner rather than later.
Along this route, I've noticed some of the numerous jobs Beijing has come up with to employ its citizens:
-People stand at the bus stops waving flags to get pedestrians and bicyclists out of the way of the bus
-People stand on the subway platforms and line you up next to where the door's going to open and scream at you if you step over the yellow line
-People hand out newspapers to people entering the subway
-People collect newspapers from people exiting the subway
-People direct traffic at almost every major intersection, telling pedestrians and bicyclists when to go
I have since discovered that the best means of transportation in Beijing is by bicycle. I rented a bicycle for the equivalent of $10/month (with a $65 deposit). Riding a bike around Beijing is awesome and additionally is saving me a ton of money. I now ride my bike to work, which takes only 30 minutes, and I ride my bike to Ultimate twice a week, each of which takes about 10-15 minutes. Rental bikes come with a basket on the front too, so I can ride it to the grocery store and such. The roads in Beijing are constructed for bikes as well. Every intersection with a traffic light has a light for cars, a light for pedestrians, and a light for bicyclists. As I discover all of these secrets, I'm starting to feel more and more like I actually live here, though the language barrier is still really tough...
Monday, June 30, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Working in Beijing
As many of you know, I started work last Tuesday (a week ago), but I wanted to wait until I experienced it a bit before posting. The company I'm working for, which is called in English "CN-KnowHow Intellectual Property Agent Ltd." (http://www.cnkip.net/) is in a building called the Fortune International Center, which incidentally is right next to a building looking exactly the same called the Fortune Building. I have yet to go into the wrong one in the morning, but I'm sure it will happen at some point. The company is on the third floor, and there's a pretty cool view out the window of my office. I'm in a side office with one other person as are the two other interns from my program working here. Avril has already been here a month, and Nathan just started today. The first day, I was invited into the conference room with the company president Mr. Xie who told us to call him Victor, another head guy here (Avril's boss) Mr. Wang, and the woman I work for, Crystal. Victor asked me to introduce myself, which I did in Chinese, and then asked what I wanted to get out of the internship. I hate questions like that! Apparently my answer of wanting to explore patent law as a possible career was good enough. After that, I spent the rest of the day and all of Wednesday doing absolutely nothing. When I asked for something to do, all they told me was that if I "want to learn something" I could read this book, which is just a straight copy in English of Chinese patent law. I managed to get through about 20 pages before dozing off. Interns are a new thing to China, so unlike in the US where interns are given all the bitch work to do, they don't really know what to do with us here. On Wednesday, I called my program coordinator to say I wasn't doing anything, and I have since been given a project. I'm researching a US patent case from 2004 and working on a presentation to give them on it. I've since learned that law is relatively confusing and difficult to interpret, so this has lead to a bunch of debates between myself and the other interns because mostly the rest of the office doesn't speak English well enough to join in.
One of the best things about my job so far though is that everyone here is really eager to learn English and learn about English grammar and also really eager to help us with our Chinese. I was prompted to write this at this moment because Mr. Wang just came into my office solely to have a conversation with me in Chinese about what I did this weekend. It was a great exchange because he corrected my grammar and I taught him words in English like "team" and "frisbee", though they may not be the most useful words in his English vocabulary.
Some interesting things about the office here: Everyone has a cup or multiple cups on his/her desk to drink water or tea during the day. There are water coolers throughout the office since you can't drink tap water. Even though this building is relatively modern and air conditioned, the bathrooms have squat toilets, which I'm solely becoming more comfortable with using. There is also a strainer over a pot in the bathroom for people to dump tea into (it catches the tea leaves). At exactly 12:30pm, everyone no matter what he/she is doing jumps up and leaves for lunch. By 1:30pm, everyone is back, but it's widely accepted to take a nap on your desk for 10 minutes after lunch. Work ends at 6pm, which really sucks because it takes an hour to get back, and then it's already 7.
That's all on work in China (工作在中国) for now!
One of the best things about my job so far though is that everyone here is really eager to learn English and learn about English grammar and also really eager to help us with our Chinese. I was prompted to write this at this moment because Mr. Wang just came into my office solely to have a conversation with me in Chinese about what I did this weekend. It was a great exchange because he corrected my grammar and I taught him words in English like "team" and "frisbee", though they may not be the most useful words in his English vocabulary.
Some interesting things about the office here: Everyone has a cup or multiple cups on his/her desk to drink water or tea during the day. There are water coolers throughout the office since you can't drink tap water. Even though this building is relatively modern and air conditioned, the bathrooms have squat toilets, which I'm solely becoming more comfortable with using. There is also a strainer over a pot in the bathroom for people to dump tea into (it catches the tea leaves). At exactly 12:30pm, everyone no matter what he/she is doing jumps up and leaves for lunch. By 1:30pm, everyone is back, but it's widely accepted to take a nap on your desk for 10 minutes after lunch. Work ends at 6pm, which really sucks because it takes an hour to get back, and then it's already 7.
That's all on work in China (工作在中国) for now!
Shanghai Tournament
Nervous to get to the airport, I was about 15 minutes away from the hotel when I realized I'd forgotten my orthodics. That would've made the weekend much more difficult...I made it to Dongzhimen and managed to ask a woman where to get my ticket for the airport shuttle. I actually understood her response of "The newspaper stand over there" and successfully made it to the airport an hour before my flight. However, Chinese security check is really intense, and I ended up having to check my Ultimate bag after they smelled (yes...smelled) every single one of my toiletries. (Apparently conditioner and lotion are fine, but not shampoo, hairspray, or sunblock...)
When I arrived in Shanghai, I turned on my phone to receive a text in Chinese saying "Welcome to Shanghai" among other things I couldn't understand. I called Candice, one of the other Ultimate players, to meet up with her, and seeing as I didn't know the area (and assumed she did) ended up taking an unfortunately long and expensive (1.5 hours and 160 kuai/$25) cab ride to meet them. We made a delicious pasta dinner in Candice's dad's apartment before heading over to the hotel and registration party.
I have never been to an Ultimate tournament with so many parties before. The scheduled events for the weekend included in our 500 kuai/$73 tournament fee consisted of:
Friday: Registration party
Saturday: Games, lunch, games, dinner/20 kegs, tournament party (included two free drinks)
Sunday: Games, lunch/15 kegs
There was also a Sunday dinner/party and a Monday party, but we all left before those. Also included in the tournament fee was a disc, bottle opener, towel, key chain light, and all the information for everything. Mind you, this tournament fee was extremely expensive as far as the Asian Ultimate world goes.
A note on the differences between Shanghai and Beijing: Everyone in Shanghai speaks English because it is full of ex-pats, and so many Americans live there. There are all sorts of American extablishments everywhere including Starbucks, Papa Johns, and even a Specialized bike store. It's a very interesting contrast to Beijing where almost noone speaks English, and if you go into a restaurant without any Chinese knowledge, you won't be able to order.
Back to the tournament: There were teams at the tournament from Shanghai, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Korea, Singapore and a bunch of other Chinese cities. It was amazing to have the only real common language between everyone be the sport of Ultimate. I played on Beijing's B team (BeiBling for this tournament), and we did really well, winning 4 of 6 games. We were definitely the best B team there. The weather on Saturday morning was a miserable 95% humidity and about 95 degrees, but we somehow survived. A bunch of teams brought with them some form of alcohol native to their country or some snacks, which were shared between teams at the end of games.
The theme for the tournament party was "conspiracy". Our team dressed as Monopoly, each of us being a different space on the board, and one person was Mr. Moneybags. He handed out money to buy properties. The property cards had been adjusted to read things like "with one house: sip of beer, with two houses: chug beer, etc..." The goal of the game was to get everyone else drunk (i.e. making it harder for them to play the next day). Other teams were dressed as black and white spies, Julius Caesar, etc... It was a lot of fun, and once again just kinda awesome to walk around (and have about 7 drinks for free!)
On Sunday, we got to watch the championship game between the Philippines and Shanghai (our A team got knocked out in the semi-finals). This was probably the best game of Ultimate I've ever watched, and the women on the Philippines team are AMAZING. I could never ever dream of being as good as they are. Unfortunately, Shanghair won though the Philippines team was clearly better. The final score was 15-12, but prior to it being 13-12, Philippines had been winning the entire game.
After enjoying some delicious Papa Johns, we all hopped in some (less expensive) cabs to the airport and flew back to Beijing. Just to top off the weekend, I poetically finished reading Ender's Game just as my bag arrived on the baggage claim. I got back to my room exhausted, sun burnt, sore, bug-bitten, and somewhat hungover at 1:30am Monday morning and couldn't bring myself to shower before going to sleep...
When I arrived in Shanghai, I turned on my phone to receive a text in Chinese saying "Welcome to Shanghai" among other things I couldn't understand. I called Candice, one of the other Ultimate players, to meet up with her, and seeing as I didn't know the area (and assumed she did) ended up taking an unfortunately long and expensive (1.5 hours and 160 kuai/$25) cab ride to meet them. We made a delicious pasta dinner in Candice's dad's apartment before heading over to the hotel and registration party.
I have never been to an Ultimate tournament with so many parties before. The scheduled events for the weekend included in our 500 kuai/$73 tournament fee consisted of:
Friday: Registration party
Saturday: Games, lunch, games, dinner/20 kegs, tournament party (included two free drinks)
Sunday: Games, lunch/15 kegs
There was also a Sunday dinner/party and a Monday party, but we all left before those. Also included in the tournament fee was a disc, bottle opener, towel, key chain light, and all the information for everything. Mind you, this tournament fee was extremely expensive as far as the Asian Ultimate world goes.
A note on the differences between Shanghai and Beijing: Everyone in Shanghai speaks English because it is full of ex-pats, and so many Americans live there. There are all sorts of American extablishments everywhere including Starbucks, Papa Johns, and even a Specialized bike store. It's a very interesting contrast to Beijing where almost noone speaks English, and if you go into a restaurant without any Chinese knowledge, you won't be able to order.
Back to the tournament: There were teams at the tournament from Shanghai, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Korea, Singapore and a bunch of other Chinese cities. It was amazing to have the only real common language between everyone be the sport of Ultimate. I played on Beijing's B team (BeiBling for this tournament), and we did really well, winning 4 of 6 games. We were definitely the best B team there. The weather on Saturday morning was a miserable 95% humidity and about 95 degrees, but we somehow survived. A bunch of teams brought with them some form of alcohol native to their country or some snacks, which were shared between teams at the end of games.
The theme for the tournament party was "conspiracy". Our team dressed as Monopoly, each of us being a different space on the board, and one person was Mr. Moneybags. He handed out money to buy properties. The property cards had been adjusted to read things like "with one house: sip of beer, with two houses: chug beer, etc..." The goal of the game was to get everyone else drunk (i.e. making it harder for them to play the next day). Other teams were dressed as black and white spies, Julius Caesar, etc... It was a lot of fun, and once again just kinda awesome to walk around (and have about 7 drinks for free!)
On Sunday, we got to watch the championship game between the Philippines and Shanghai (our A team got knocked out in the semi-finals). This was probably the best game of Ultimate I've ever watched, and the women on the Philippines team are AMAZING. I could never ever dream of being as good as they are. Unfortunately, Shanghair won though the Philippines team was clearly better. The final score was 15-12, but prior to it being 13-12, Philippines had been winning the entire game.
After enjoying some delicious Papa Johns, we all hopped in some (less expensive) cabs to the airport and flew back to Beijing. Just to top off the weekend, I poetically finished reading Ender's Game just as my bag arrived on the baggage claim. I got back to my room exhausted, sun burnt, sore, bug-bitten, and somewhat hungover at 1:30am Monday morning and couldn't bring myself to shower before going to sleep...
Monday, June 16, 2008
Booking A Flight to Shanghai
Another insight into Chinese culture: I was given the e-mail of a travel agent at about 9:30 in the morning yesterday and e-mailed her almost immediately with the information for the flights I wanted, the same ones everyone else is taking. She responded within an hour asking for my passport info, and then almost immediately sent me flight information. Once I selected my flights, she called my cell and asked to speak to someone who could explain how to find my hotel. I gave her to one of the cleaning people with a brief attempt to tell them that she needed directions. Within an hour after that, a man showed up at my door with my plane ticket, and I handed him 1200 kuai (about $170) in cash to pay for it. He thanked me, and then left. That would be a total of about 2 hours between first making contact with the travel agent and recieving a physical ticket for my flights and a demonstration of how China is still a cashed-based society.
Summer Palace
Yesterday, I walked out of my hotel and to the top of the street and, for the first time, went a different direction. On my way to the Gulou subway stop, I passed by both the drum tower and the bell tower. They are both huge and are separated by a small courtyard. In the area, there are also a bunch of rickshaws and drivers awaiting passengers. Where all the drivers wait, there are all these things that on first glance appear to be playground equipment as they are all colored bright blues, oranges, and reds. However, on further inspection, I realized they are actually various exercise machines, and this is what the drivers do while they wait. I saw them all over yesterday, and I will take a picture and post it soon. In the same general area, there were also two tables of elder Chinese women playing mahjjong. (For those of you who don't know, this is a game played commonly by Jewish and Chinese women, including my mom and her friends, that uses ivory tiles engraved with Chinese characters.) I almost took out my phone to call you mom, but that would not have been cost-effective. I wanted to take a picture, but I thought that would be rude.
Andi and I were meeting at a subway station, and we had some issues finding each other. (Since everything is in Chinese almost exclusively on all the public transit, we generally just count how many stops ahead of time, and Andi counted wrong.) We found each other and opted to take a taxi rather than risk getting lost on the bus.
We arrived at Summer Palace, which is a gorgeous 1.2 square kilometer (I think that's what it said) property covered in small buildings, a large lake, bridges, gates, and gardens; everything has names like "Longevity Hill" and "Harmonious Gardens". Our first priority was to find the restaurant as neither of us had eaten and it was about 2:30pm. On our way there (it was relatively far away), we walked slowly and just took in everything we saw. It is all gorgeous, and I will post pictures shortly. By the time we got to the restaurant, it was closed, so we grabbed some snacks and continued wandering. The palace closes at 5pm, so we didn't have very much time. One of the most fascinating things to me was all of the different plants and birds over here that don't exist in the states, as well as all of the architecture and decoration. Our last stop before departing the palace was to climb up to the Tower of Buddhist Incense. This offered an amazing panoramic view of the palace as well as parts of Beijing. This consisted of climbing a lot of steps, which our feet were not so happy about after walking around all afternoon (we were both wearing flip-flops). The top of the tower contains the Buddha with One Thousand Hands and Eyes (some of you can picture this from art history class). It is a huge bronze statue and was just amazing to see in person, though this is the one thing they didn't allow us to photograph.
After departing the palace, we managed to figure out how to take a bus, and I took Andi to see the Drum and Bell towers. We stopped at a small market to buy some postcards, and the woman in the store was really friendly. We discussed which postcards to buy, where we were from, what we're doing here, and when we're going home all in Chinese. I was very proud of myself! Right before we left, she handed me some tissues to wipe my face as I was sweating profusely; it had been about 80 degrees and humid all day.
After stopping by my room briefly to rest our feet and enjoy the AC, we went to find a specific noodle restaurant nearby that one of my guidebooks (thanks for that Sue!) recommends. We got a little lost, but in doing so got to see the Qianhai lake (five minutes from my hotel) that is very scenic, and I hope to return to many times. The restaurant called 'Jingweimian Dawang' or 'Beijing Noodle King' has a gorgeous facade, and when we walked in, they banged a gong to signal our arrival. We ordered way too much food even though we were starving, and we couldn't even each finish a 20oz beer cause we were so tired. A note about Chinese meals: they are taken either with beer or nothing to drink, generally speaking. Andi went home after dinner, and I eventually managed to find my way home, though I was exhausted and covered in pollution, i.e. most exposed parts of my skin had somewhat of a black tint, and ready to shower. Unfortunately, the water heater for my shower got unplugged and now the outlet is broken, so not only did I have no curtain and no pressure, I had no heat. An unfortunate end to a great day, but I'm going to try to somehow explain that to the front desk workers and hopefully switch rooms because my TV also doesn't work, and my window doesn't close (this wasn't a problem until we had a huge thunderstorm last night).
Andi and I were meeting at a subway station, and we had some issues finding each other. (Since everything is in Chinese almost exclusively on all the public transit, we generally just count how many stops ahead of time, and Andi counted wrong.) We found each other and opted to take a taxi rather than risk getting lost on the bus.
We arrived at Summer Palace, which is a gorgeous 1.2 square kilometer (I think that's what it said) property covered in small buildings, a large lake, bridges, gates, and gardens; everything has names like "Longevity Hill" and "Harmonious Gardens". Our first priority was to find the restaurant as neither of us had eaten and it was about 2:30pm. On our way there (it was relatively far away), we walked slowly and just took in everything we saw. It is all gorgeous, and I will post pictures shortly. By the time we got to the restaurant, it was closed, so we grabbed some snacks and continued wandering. The palace closes at 5pm, so we didn't have very much time. One of the most fascinating things to me was all of the different plants and birds over here that don't exist in the states, as well as all of the architecture and decoration. Our last stop before departing the palace was to climb up to the Tower of Buddhist Incense. This offered an amazing panoramic view of the palace as well as parts of Beijing. This consisted of climbing a lot of steps, which our feet were not so happy about after walking around all afternoon (we were both wearing flip-flops). The top of the tower contains the Buddha with One Thousand Hands and Eyes (some of you can picture this from art history class). It is a huge bronze statue and was just amazing to see in person, though this is the one thing they didn't allow us to photograph.
After departing the palace, we managed to figure out how to take a bus, and I took Andi to see the Drum and Bell towers. We stopped at a small market to buy some postcards, and the woman in the store was really friendly. We discussed which postcards to buy, where we were from, what we're doing here, and when we're going home all in Chinese. I was very proud of myself! Right before we left, she handed me some tissues to wipe my face as I was sweating profusely; it had been about 80 degrees and humid all day.
After stopping by my room briefly to rest our feet and enjoy the AC, we went to find a specific noodle restaurant nearby that one of my guidebooks (thanks for that Sue!) recommends. We got a little lost, but in doing so got to see the Qianhai lake (five minutes from my hotel) that is very scenic, and I hope to return to many times. The restaurant called 'Jingweimian Dawang' or 'Beijing Noodle King' has a gorgeous facade, and when we walked in, they banged a gong to signal our arrival. We ordered way too much food even though we were starving, and we couldn't even each finish a 20oz beer cause we were so tired. A note about Chinese meals: they are taken either with beer or nothing to drink, generally speaking. Andi went home after dinner, and I eventually managed to find my way home, though I was exhausted and covered in pollution, i.e. most exposed parts of my skin had somewhat of a black tint, and ready to shower. Unfortunately, the water heater for my shower got unplugged and now the outlet is broken, so not only did I have no curtain and no pressure, I had no heat. An unfortunate end to a great day, but I'm going to try to somehow explain that to the front desk workers and hopefully switch rooms because my TV also doesn't work, and my window doesn't close (this wasn't a problem until we had a huge thunderstorm last night).
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Ultimate in Beijing
First, an interesting note about the communist aspect of China: All blogging websites are blocked, but I guess this found a loophole. I was trying to figure out why it is that I can post on the blog, but not actually see it, and that is apparently the reason. China as a nation blocks almost any website address with the word "blog" in it as well as livejournal, myspace, and similar sites, though luckily facebook isn't blocked! So I apologize if anything doesn't look great on the blog cause I actually can't see it myself until I return to the states.
Ultimate here is AMAZING. I found my way to the McDonalds we were meeting at, and immediately struck up conversation with some guys from Oberlin who know Keith (our coach last year) and some other people, all of whom were extremely impressed that I'd arrived less than 24 hours prior and was already out to play. One of the guys I met, Gabe, graduated Brown in '03, so we had a lot to talk about, though he only played ultimate there his first two years, so he barely knew anyone I know. Another one of the guys, Kevin, kinda explained everything about Beijing Ultimate to me and introduced me to everyone. He also immediately asked me to come play with their team in Shanghai next weekend. This was really exciting, as I've been reading all their posts about Shanghai for the last couple of weeks.
(Warning...about to use some Ultimate terms many of you may not understand) We were playing a mini-hat tournament where teams are attempted to be made fairly based on skill levels 1-3. There were about 30-40 people there, which is awesome, and we had four teams. All 4 teams finished 1-1 after the first two games, so it was pretty fair. My team had four women, myself and another who are pretty good and well-versed in the game, and then two girls who'd never played before. One was Chinese, didn't really speak English, and showed up in khaki capris and a t-shirt, and the other was American, relatively athletic, and wearing exercise clothes. The other good girl on my team hurt herself after the 2nd point, and the Chinese girl had a hard time keeping up cause she wasn't in great shape, so we ended up vaguely playing savage most of the time, and I soon after started handling almost every point with two of the guys. The biggest issue I had was that noone was running any real offense, so I didn't really know where to go half the time. Later on, we started running horizontal stacks, and I was handling, so it wasn't too bad. My other issue was that about halfway through the first game, which correlated to about 4pm (4am there), jet lag suddenly hit me, and unfortunately that doesn't go well with playing savage ultimate. I got a second wind by the third game though and was fine.
After the tournament, 20 of us went out to dinner, and food kinda just kept coming, but in the end, it was only 25 kuai (about $4). That's including the 20 500ml beers we went through. I guess I chose the wrong seat cause I ended up being the one collecting everyone's money to pay, though most of you will probably read that and be like "of course you were!" They joked that it was part of my initiation. One relieving thing about all of this is that a lot of these people speak way less Chinese than I do, and they survive living here. After dinner, I got to go shower in Susannah's apartment that Andi's staying in, which felt amazing compared to my shower here.
Tomorrow, Andi and I are going to the Summer Palace, which is supposed to be gorgeous, and then I start work on Tuesday (contrary to what i was told before I left). Friday afternoon, I'm flying down to Shanghai to play in the tournament.
It's almost 2am, so I guess I should get used to going to sleep. Happy Father's day to Grandpa and Dad, and sorry I didn't get a chance to call you.
Ultimate here is AMAZING. I found my way to the McDonalds we were meeting at, and immediately struck up conversation with some guys from Oberlin who know Keith (our coach last year) and some other people, all of whom were extremely impressed that I'd arrived less than 24 hours prior and was already out to play. One of the guys I met, Gabe, graduated Brown in '03, so we had a lot to talk about, though he only played ultimate there his first two years, so he barely knew anyone I know. Another one of the guys, Kevin, kinda explained everything about Beijing Ultimate to me and introduced me to everyone. He also immediately asked me to come play with their team in Shanghai next weekend. This was really exciting, as I've been reading all their posts about Shanghai for the last couple of weeks.
(Warning...about to use some Ultimate terms many of you may not understand) We were playing a mini-hat tournament where teams are attempted to be made fairly based on skill levels 1-3. There were about 30-40 people there, which is awesome, and we had four teams. All 4 teams finished 1-1 after the first two games, so it was pretty fair. My team had four women, myself and another who are pretty good and well-versed in the game, and then two girls who'd never played before. One was Chinese, didn't really speak English, and showed up in khaki capris and a t-shirt, and the other was American, relatively athletic, and wearing exercise clothes. The other good girl on my team hurt herself after the 2nd point, and the Chinese girl had a hard time keeping up cause she wasn't in great shape, so we ended up vaguely playing savage most of the time, and I soon after started handling almost every point with two of the guys. The biggest issue I had was that noone was running any real offense, so I didn't really know where to go half the time. Later on, we started running horizontal stacks, and I was handling, so it wasn't too bad. My other issue was that about halfway through the first game, which correlated to about 4pm (4am there), jet lag suddenly hit me, and unfortunately that doesn't go well with playing savage ultimate. I got a second wind by the third game though and was fine.
After the tournament, 20 of us went out to dinner, and food kinda just kept coming, but in the end, it was only 25 kuai (about $4). That's including the 20 500ml beers we went through. I guess I chose the wrong seat cause I ended up being the one collecting everyone's money to pay, though most of you will probably read that and be like "of course you were!" They joked that it was part of my initiation. One relieving thing about all of this is that a lot of these people speak way less Chinese than I do, and they survive living here. After dinner, I got to go shower in Susannah's apartment that Andi's staying in, which felt amazing compared to my shower here.
Tomorrow, Andi and I are going to the Summer Palace, which is supposed to be gorgeous, and then I start work on Tuesday (contrary to what i was told before I left). Friday afternoon, I'm flying down to Shanghai to play in the tournament.
It's almost 2am, so I guess I should get used to going to sleep. Happy Father's day to Grandpa and Dad, and sorry I didn't get a chance to call you.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
View Out My Window
This is the view out of my window...sorry for the reflections. The window neither opens nor closes...
Plane Ride and First Impressions
It's about 9am Beijing time, and I unfortunately am awake and hoping I don't crash later. My plane ride was entertaining and unproductive. Thanks to all of you who wrote me plane letters. They entertained me for about the first hour after we took off (I read some of them twice), and I might have to give Sam and Paige the awards for most ridiculous content...Sam's was about how life is a game, and Paige's included a piece on how to ride an Ostrich.
I sat next to a 13-year-old native Chinese on the plane who moved to Montgomery County when she was 8. She goes by like 4 names including Maria, April, and Maebo (I think). She is exactly the opposite of everything I was when I was 13, and I definitely upon initial interaction guessed her to be about my age, or at least 16-ish. This isn't really what you all want to hear about, so here's a brief summary: She is OBSESSED with makeup and lip gloss (I saw all of it) and really really wants a boyfriend but doesn't know how to talk to boys (maybe cause 13-year-old boys are immature, which was what I told her), and she's positive that she never ever wants to see a gynecologist, have sex, or get married (don't ask how this all came up...) She also was incredibly impressed I go to Brown and asked about my SAT scores, how I got in, etc... I know I said brief, but two more things: She's confident that if a relationship with someone lasts two months, you may as well get married (cause that's a really long time!) and she's also really really nervous about going to high school next year and asked for advice about it (she's going to some magnet school in DC). So I spent the plane ride mostly talking to this girl; she made it almost impossible for me to get any reading done cause she was so curious about everything, not that I'm one to talk. We spent about two hours playing cards and some of the time speaking in Chinese (she said my pronunciation is really good!) And then she asked for my e-mail and phone number in China and said she's going to "e-mail me EVERY day." So far, I haven't heard from her...
At the end of the plane ride, I started getting really nervous about my trip and my stomach was quite unhappy, but once we landed, I was much better. The airport was really cool to step into (not temperature wise...it was actually like 85 degrees) and I actually recognized some characters on signs. Customs wasn't an issue, and I got my bags right away, though the wheel on one of my suitcases is broken now. I came out of the second customs with my bags by myself to a crowd of at least a hundred people all holding different signs in various languages, and all staring at me. Not thinking, I walked quickly to the exit, and then realized I'd forgotten to look for the "Abroad China" sign of the people who were picking me up. I stood there nervously at the end of this crowd for about 5 minutes wondering what to do and then spent awhile looking around for the sign with no success. I ended up trying to talk to the woman at the information desk who didn't really speak English, but basically told me to go buy a phone card and call the people to pick me up, but I didn't really understand her directions. I went over to the phones and attempted to use my debit card to call, but it wouldn't work. Some really nice Chinese man, who also didn't really speak English, came over and lent me his phone card and dialed the number for me. Claudia, the woman in charge, seemed surprised I was there already, but said they were on their way and to wait by the information booth. A good 45 minutes after exiting customs, my guides arrived and took my suitcases for me, and we were off...
I was given a backpack full of snacks, information, a shirt, and my cell phone in the car. I immediately called Andi to let her know I was here and tell her I'd meet her for dinner. When we got to the hotel, I was taken to my room, which consists of two rock-solid beds (like I think you would even think these are a bit stiff dad), some furniture, a tv, a water cooler, and a bathroom with a tub/shower without a curtain. The toilet had one of those push flush things on top, but it was permanently pushed in. AJ, one of the other students on the trip who has been here a week already came downstairs to explain to me how to operate the lights, shower, and the deal with laundry (basically do it yourself or pay 1 kuai for shirts and 2 kuai for pants, which they'll pick up on Wednesdays...they don't wash socks or underwear). We told the hotel managers my toilet was broken, and their response was to show me a bunch of different rooms and let me pick which I wanted. So I am now next door to that room, but the view out my window is of old Chinese buildings, and it's really cool to look at every two seconds. Probably the best thing yet about my room is that it has really good AC with a remote control, but I can't seem to get the window to close. The TV also doesn't work as far as I'm aware, but maybe I can get it fixed.
I was given about two seconds to send out the "I'm alive" e-mail to most of you before I was taken for a tour of the area. The entire area I'm living in is basically covered in bars and restaurants. The roads are paved with stones and about the width of one car and two people. These cars just kinda drive and expect you to not be in the way, which is a rather difficult task. My guides walked me to the subway station I'll be going to in a couple of hours to get to an ultimate tournament (it's about a twenty minute walk), and then Andi was going to meet me there. For those of you who don't know, Andi (short for Andria) is a close friend of mine from Brown who's doing PIB (Princeton in Beijing), which is well-known as the most intense immersion program. She doesn't start until Friday, after which I probably won't see her ever and after which she can't speak English (or even type something like this) or she gets sent home. I assured my guides I knew how to get back (though I wasn't actually so sure), and they left me there. I sat down to read my book on the steps outside the subway, and I couldn't even tell you how many awkward stares I got over the next half hour waiting. I guess I shouldn't be surprised...American red-head sitting on steps outside a subway reading a book called "Chinese Business Etiquette". Seeing Andi was really exciting because I know her AND she speaks English! We decided to go to a hot-pot restaurant where they basically put this pot of oil and such in this hole with a flame in your table and you order things to cook in it. Andi did all the talking because I was nervous and didn't really know what to say, but most of it was "Wo yao zhe ge..." (I want this...) and pointing at things. We got some beef, mushrooms, and bamboo shoots and then water, which you have to ask for as "cold boiled water" since you can't drink tap here, and Tsing Tao beer, which comes in 20oz bottles. These, by the way, cost about 3 kuai (43 cents) at the stores nearby. The hot-pot was ridiculously spicy, and that's an understatement. Andi and I took breaks and had to stop talking a bunch of times to let our mouths cool down. We got some ice cream on the street afterwards and then went back to my hotel (which I found!) and discussed bars to go to with AJ and some other kids on the program. They had apparently gotten wasted the night before when some random Chinese guy gave AJ a full bottle of whiskey for free (and his phone number). Mind you, AJ speaks almost zero Chinese, and this guy apparently didn't speak English at all. They talked about a bunch of places, and eventually Andi and I decided to go to "Reef Bar" where we had 5 or 6 drinks, most of which we had no idea what were made of because only the titles were in English, though both the "Around the World" and the "Kiss" tasted pretty good. After this, we went to a public bathroom, i.e. holes in the ground without toilet paper, and then Andi took a taxi back to our friend Susannah's house she's staying in. I found the hotel once again and passed out until now...
My next adventure: finding something to eat for breakfast and going to by toothpaste (I guess I forgot that mom...), hangers, and a shower curtain. Wish me luck!
I sat next to a 13-year-old native Chinese on the plane who moved to Montgomery County when she was 8. She goes by like 4 names including Maria, April, and Maebo (I think). She is exactly the opposite of everything I was when I was 13, and I definitely upon initial interaction guessed her to be about my age, or at least 16-ish. This isn't really what you all want to hear about, so here's a brief summary: She is OBSESSED with makeup and lip gloss (I saw all of it) and really really wants a boyfriend but doesn't know how to talk to boys (maybe cause 13-year-old boys are immature, which was what I told her), and she's positive that she never ever wants to see a gynecologist, have sex, or get married (don't ask how this all came up...) She also was incredibly impressed I go to Brown and asked about my SAT scores, how I got in, etc... I know I said brief, but two more things: She's confident that if a relationship with someone lasts two months, you may as well get married (cause that's a really long time!) and she's also really really nervous about going to high school next year and asked for advice about it (she's going to some magnet school in DC). So I spent the plane ride mostly talking to this girl; she made it almost impossible for me to get any reading done cause she was so curious about everything, not that I'm one to talk. We spent about two hours playing cards and some of the time speaking in Chinese (she said my pronunciation is really good!) And then she asked for my e-mail and phone number in China and said she's going to "e-mail me EVERY day." So far, I haven't heard from her...
At the end of the plane ride, I started getting really nervous about my trip and my stomach was quite unhappy, but once we landed, I was much better. The airport was really cool to step into (not temperature wise...it was actually like 85 degrees) and I actually recognized some characters on signs. Customs wasn't an issue, and I got my bags right away, though the wheel on one of my suitcases is broken now. I came out of the second customs with my bags by myself to a crowd of at least a hundred people all holding different signs in various languages, and all staring at me. Not thinking, I walked quickly to the exit, and then realized I'd forgotten to look for the "Abroad China" sign of the people who were picking me up. I stood there nervously at the end of this crowd for about 5 minutes wondering what to do and then spent awhile looking around for the sign with no success. I ended up trying to talk to the woman at the information desk who didn't really speak English, but basically told me to go buy a phone card and call the people to pick me up, but I didn't really understand her directions. I went over to the phones and attempted to use my debit card to call, but it wouldn't work. Some really nice Chinese man, who also didn't really speak English, came over and lent me his phone card and dialed the number for me. Claudia, the woman in charge, seemed surprised I was there already, but said they were on their way and to wait by the information booth. A good 45 minutes after exiting customs, my guides arrived and took my suitcases for me, and we were off...
I was given a backpack full of snacks, information, a shirt, and my cell phone in the car. I immediately called Andi to let her know I was here and tell her I'd meet her for dinner. When we got to the hotel, I was taken to my room, which consists of two rock-solid beds (like I think you would even think these are a bit stiff dad), some furniture, a tv, a water cooler, and a bathroom with a tub/shower without a curtain. The toilet had one of those push flush things on top, but it was permanently pushed in. AJ, one of the other students on the trip who has been here a week already came downstairs to explain to me how to operate the lights, shower, and the deal with laundry (basically do it yourself or pay 1 kuai for shirts and 2 kuai for pants, which they'll pick up on Wednesdays...they don't wash socks or underwear). We told the hotel managers my toilet was broken, and their response was to show me a bunch of different rooms and let me pick which I wanted. So I am now next door to that room, but the view out my window is of old Chinese buildings, and it's really cool to look at every two seconds. Probably the best thing yet about my room is that it has really good AC with a remote control, but I can't seem to get the window to close. The TV also doesn't work as far as I'm aware, but maybe I can get it fixed.
I was given about two seconds to send out the "I'm alive" e-mail to most of you before I was taken for a tour of the area. The entire area I'm living in is basically covered in bars and restaurants. The roads are paved with stones and about the width of one car and two people. These cars just kinda drive and expect you to not be in the way, which is a rather difficult task. My guides walked me to the subway station I'll be going to in a couple of hours to get to an ultimate tournament (it's about a twenty minute walk), and then Andi was going to meet me there. For those of you who don't know, Andi (short for Andria) is a close friend of mine from Brown who's doing PIB (Princeton in Beijing), which is well-known as the most intense immersion program. She doesn't start until Friday, after which I probably won't see her ever and after which she can't speak English (or even type something like this) or she gets sent home. I assured my guides I knew how to get back (though I wasn't actually so sure), and they left me there. I sat down to read my book on the steps outside the subway, and I couldn't even tell you how many awkward stares I got over the next half hour waiting. I guess I shouldn't be surprised...American red-head sitting on steps outside a subway reading a book called "Chinese Business Etiquette". Seeing Andi was really exciting because I know her AND she speaks English! We decided to go to a hot-pot restaurant where they basically put this pot of oil and such in this hole with a flame in your table and you order things to cook in it. Andi did all the talking because I was nervous and didn't really know what to say, but most of it was "Wo yao zhe ge..." (I want this...) and pointing at things. We got some beef, mushrooms, and bamboo shoots and then water, which you have to ask for as "cold boiled water" since you can't drink tap here, and Tsing Tao beer, which comes in 20oz bottles. These, by the way, cost about 3 kuai (43 cents) at the stores nearby. The hot-pot was ridiculously spicy, and that's an understatement. Andi and I took breaks and had to stop talking a bunch of times to let our mouths cool down. We got some ice cream on the street afterwards and then went back to my hotel (which I found!) and discussed bars to go to with AJ and some other kids on the program. They had apparently gotten wasted the night before when some random Chinese guy gave AJ a full bottle of whiskey for free (and his phone number). Mind you, AJ speaks almost zero Chinese, and this guy apparently didn't speak English at all. They talked about a bunch of places, and eventually Andi and I decided to go to "Reef Bar" where we had 5 or 6 drinks, most of which we had no idea what were made of because only the titles were in English, though both the "Around the World" and the "Kiss" tasted pretty good. After this, we went to a public bathroom, i.e. holes in the ground without toilet paper, and then Andi took a taxi back to our friend Susannah's house she's staying in. I found the hotel once again and passed out until now...
My next adventure: finding something to eat for breakfast and going to by toothpaste (I guess I forgot that mom...), hangers, and a shower curtain. Wish me luck!
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