It's been a while.
The other day walking down Dingxi Lu I saw a proud young couple taking pictures of their child posing, in GI Joe mode, with a flashing, popping, plastic, toy rifle. He was probably two or three.
I didn't realize how bad the air quality was until I went for a run today. It was warm outside and I thought to myself, "hey there's some blue up there, what a perfect day to test out this track that's sitting here two feet from my dorm." Nothing quite drives home the message that the air may be less than ideal than when after only a few laps you're wheezing like an emphysemic. I seriously felt like an 80 year old man and the lyrics of that awesome Massachusetts PSA about strokes began to play in my head. Or... maybe this is all because I haven't really done much exercise for the last two months aside from walking to/from class and the occasional city excursion. Yeah. But can you explain all the sneezing??
I bought Seasons 1-3 of "How I Met Your Mother" at one of the DVD places at Back Gate for 20 RMB (about 3USD). But all the episodes have Chinese subtitles. At least I can learn more 汉字 that way. Ish.
On a side note, got a lovely tailor made dress which actually fits me (kind of a rare occurrence for a stubby, busty, Asian chick). Of course as soon as I got it the temperature's dropped and I haven't had a chance to show it off yet but all in due time! Plus there is a great Hong Kong Cantonese restaurant a block away from the Fabric Market. Shara, Jackie and I have gone there twice.
Ok, more later, for now, Steph out!
再见
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Beijing-aling
Aaaand of course last weekend we went to Beijing. Two days was no where near a reasonable amount of time to see anything but I'm looking at it as more of a sample for when I actually travel there sometime. Whenever that may be. We of course hit the major landmarks, Chang Cheng (the Great Wall), Tiananmen Square (our hotel was about 2 blocks away), the Forbidden City, the Winter Palace/Beihai Park, a hutong alleyway neighborhood, a billion temples, and of course the Olympic Stadium!! Our little group, aptly named "Team Lonely Planet" thanks to Eugene's guidebook, tried to cram in everything, which of course made me feel my age even more (I am so physically unfit, it's hilarious) but well worth it.
Some words on Beijing itself: You can definitely tell it's the capitol city. There are guards in long green coats and giant furry hats pigeon stepping everywhere. There are also security checks at every subway station. There are busloads of Chinese tour groups from all over the country swarming all over every landmark. Each with matching baseball caps (usually red) and led by a flag waving guide with a clip on mic. Beijing is very clean and downright immaculate compared to Shanghai. Probably because it doesn't rain. And they cracked down during the Olympics and the People's Congress meeting last weekend. But still it was really nice to actually see blue sky and birds.
Also the Beijing dialect is so much harder to understand. Full of "r"s. I don't think my nasal passage and mouth can even produce these sounds.
Oh and now I've officially lost my squatter virginity. While I'm not by any means an expert at peeing in a porcelain hole in the ground, I am well equipped with the ability to use the preferred style public toilet over here. Especially since the ONLY places in Beijing I found w/ a Western style toilet were our hotel and maybe 2 out of 40 portapotties at the Olympic Stadium. (On a side note, the Chinese don't really seem to be into diapers much either. All the little kids are running around with split pants for easy, uh, access. We even saw a little girl taking a dump on the steps of the Forbidden City Imperial Palace. Her parents frantically cleaned it up of course, but yeah, only here can you crap on the historic home of past emperors and yet get executed for smoking pot. Shweet.)
And the landmarks? Amazing!
Great Wall: The saying goes, 不到长成非好汉, "bu dao chang cheng fei hao han" or something like, "you're not a hero until you climb the Great Wall." So now we are heroes. Giant wall, tons of steps, epic view of the mountains bordering Inner Mongolia.
Tiananmen Square: 6:30am flag ceremony every day with guards and national anthem. Flat, enormous, and full of Chinese tourists. The Tiananmen gate sits at the north side with a huge full color photo of Mao Zedong. This guy is everywhere.
Lama Temple: Tibeten Buddhist temple. Not quite the type of Buddhism my family practices but it was still a nice spiritual experience. Though the idea of paying an entrance fee (even though reduced w/ the student ID) is kind of an odd concept for visiting a place of worship in my opinion.
Hou Hai: Night life area. Basically a bunch of tiny, flashy, Chinese pop song/Reggae/?? filled bars along the side of a lake. There are guys standing outside of every venue that harass you to come into their club. And each place blasts its music w/ outdoor speakers, usually a couple of skinny Chinese 20-somethings doing karaoke on stage. We ended up at a place with dim purple lighting and soft couches. A skinny guy with gelled hair and a chick who resembled those online "cartoon dollz" that were so popular back in the day sang a bunch of pop songs. And then it switched over to recordings including some Shania Twain and pretty much Shakira's entire 2nd album.
Forbidden City: Scary and PACKED. It's just pretty remarkable trying to imagine this whole imperial community living within these walls. Everything is imposing and extravagant. I wonder what it'd be like without the hordes of tourists.
Hutong: Another type of walled living area. Similar to the lilong houses I talked about before though more closed off and possibly a bit poorer. I felt a bit strange walking through and taking pictures though, there's always that ethical dilemma. I mean I'm not sure I'd be so keen on strangers traipsing through my backyard taking pictures of me and my laundry. But who knows? The one woman we met was very friendly, though she asked us why we wanted to see "such an awful place." How do you respond to something like that?
Olympic Stadium: Holy crap. I love the olympics, I don't know why, I just always have. I think it's something about the cooperation of it all, so many people from all parts of the world convening in one spot. I'd love to be in a city when one happens, you know London 2012 or something. Not even necessarily to see the games (though I wouldn't turn that down having the chance), but to experience the madness and this sense of equality/level playing field that comes with any major international event. We also got to see the WaterCube and Bird's Nest at night all lit up. Again, enormous, imposing, made to intimidate. And the walkway was this huge flat expanse which makes you feel even tinier. Unreal.
So in all, Beijing was pretty outstanding. Part Disney, part DC and all Chinese. I'll check it again one day.
Some words on Beijing itself: You can definitely tell it's the capitol city. There are guards in long green coats and giant furry hats pigeon stepping everywhere. There are also security checks at every subway station. There are busloads of Chinese tour groups from all over the country swarming all over every landmark. Each with matching baseball caps (usually red) and led by a flag waving guide with a clip on mic. Beijing is very clean and downright immaculate compared to Shanghai. Probably because it doesn't rain. And they cracked down during the Olympics and the People's Congress meeting last weekend. But still it was really nice to actually see blue sky and birds.
Also the Beijing dialect is so much harder to understand. Full of "r"s. I don't think my nasal passage and mouth can even produce these sounds.
Oh and now I've officially lost my squatter virginity. While I'm not by any means an expert at peeing in a porcelain hole in the ground, I am well equipped with the ability to use the preferred style public toilet over here. Especially since the ONLY places in Beijing I found w/ a Western style toilet were our hotel and maybe 2 out of 40 portapotties at the Olympic Stadium. (On a side note, the Chinese don't really seem to be into diapers much either. All the little kids are running around with split pants for easy, uh, access. We even saw a little girl taking a dump on the steps of the Forbidden City Imperial Palace. Her parents frantically cleaned it up of course, but yeah, only here can you crap on the historic home of past emperors and yet get executed for smoking pot. Shweet.)
And the landmarks? Amazing!
Great Wall: The saying goes, 不到长成非好汉, "bu dao chang cheng fei hao han" or something like, "you're not a hero until you climb the Great Wall." So now we are heroes. Giant wall, tons of steps, epic view of the mountains bordering Inner Mongolia.
Tiananmen Square: 6:30am flag ceremony every day with guards and national anthem. Flat, enormous, and full of Chinese tourists. The Tiananmen gate sits at the north side with a huge full color photo of Mao Zedong. This guy is everywhere.
Lama Temple: Tibeten Buddhist temple. Not quite the type of Buddhism my family practices but it was still a nice spiritual experience. Though the idea of paying an entrance fee (even though reduced w/ the student ID) is kind of an odd concept for visiting a place of worship in my opinion.
Hou Hai: Night life area. Basically a bunch of tiny, flashy, Chinese pop song/Reggae/?? filled bars along the side of a lake. There are guys standing outside of every venue that harass you to come into their club. And each place blasts its music w/ outdoor speakers, usually a couple of skinny Chinese 20-somethings doing karaoke on stage. We ended up at a place with dim purple lighting and soft couches. A skinny guy with gelled hair and a chick who resembled those online "cartoon dollz" that were so popular back in the day sang a bunch of pop songs. And then it switched over to recordings including some Shania Twain and pretty much Shakira's entire 2nd album.
Forbidden City: Scary and PACKED. It's just pretty remarkable trying to imagine this whole imperial community living within these walls. Everything is imposing and extravagant. I wonder what it'd be like without the hordes of tourists.
Hutong: Another type of walled living area. Similar to the lilong houses I talked about before though more closed off and possibly a bit poorer. I felt a bit strange walking through and taking pictures though, there's always that ethical dilemma. I mean I'm not sure I'd be so keen on strangers traipsing through my backyard taking pictures of me and my laundry. But who knows? The one woman we met was very friendly, though she asked us why we wanted to see "such an awful place." How do you respond to something like that?
Olympic Stadium: Holy crap. I love the olympics, I don't know why, I just always have. I think it's something about the cooperation of it all, so many people from all parts of the world convening in one spot. I'd love to be in a city when one happens, you know London 2012 or something. Not even necessarily to see the games (though I wouldn't turn that down having the chance), but to experience the madness and this sense of equality/level playing field that comes with any major international event. We also got to see the WaterCube and Bird's Nest at night all lit up. Again, enormous, imposing, made to intimidate. And the walkway was this huge flat expanse which makes you feel even tinier. Unreal.
So in all, Beijing was pretty outstanding. Part Disney, part DC and all Chinese. I'll check it again one day.
Psht who needs organized thoughts?
First of all, I'm definitely past the honeymoon phase, as I'm sure you can tell by the last post. Buut things are getting better and I'm starting to learn how to function like a real person. Today I even went to the post office and sent a letter! Maybe it'll get there, maybe it won't. It took 3 full weeks for a package my parents sent to get here but heyy at least it made it! Apparently if you send it FedEx or something like that it takes even LONGER b/c it sits in customs for a while. One day they'll come up with some magical electronic mail device. Oh wait...
In other news, I am officially old. Though turning 21 in a country where the legal drinking age is 18 is slightly anticlimactic, but hey, I'm actually steering clear of the alcohol (or at least minimizing my intake) for a while. Not gonna lie, Chinese alcohol sucks. But still, the looming prospect of those big terrors (caps of course): the FUTURE, my CAREER, and the REAL WORLD is starting to become less of a distant myth and more of a frightening actuality. But hey, I guess that's back in the states, 12,000 km away (yeah I looked it up) so let's not worry just yet.
The birthday celebration was nice and lowkey, as much of a party as you can have on a Tuesday night. It was also Rosie's bday too so about 8 of us from the dorm went to this Sichuan style hotpot place. It was really nice to just sit around in a big group again and eat and talk. Back at the dorm, Steph and Kate gave us each a piece of cake and chocolate ice cream - so sweet of them. I've actually really been craving Pinkberry etc since being here. And dairy in general. The milk here is not my favorite.
In other news, I am officially old. Though turning 21 in a country where the legal drinking age is 18 is slightly anticlimactic, but hey, I'm actually steering clear of the alcohol (or at least minimizing my intake) for a while. Not gonna lie, Chinese alcohol sucks. But still, the looming prospect of those big terrors (caps of course): the FUTURE, my CAREER, and the REAL WORLD is starting to become less of a distant myth and more of a frightening actuality. But hey, I guess that's back in the states, 12,000 km away (yeah I looked it up) so let's not worry just yet.
The birthday celebration was nice and lowkey, as much of a party as you can have on a Tuesday night. It was also Rosie's bday too so about 8 of us from the dorm went to this Sichuan style hotpot place. It was really nice to just sit around in a big group again and eat and talk. Back at the dorm, Steph and Kate gave us each a piece of cake and chocolate ice cream - so sweet of them. I've actually really been craving Pinkberry etc since being here. And dairy in general. The milk here is not my favorite.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Happy March
Feeling a bit homesick on account of two different reasons.
One - I came down with a violent case of food poisoning Friday and there's nothing more uncomfortable than being sick in a foreign place with strange foods. I mean I was ill, body rejecting every substance I put into it using every evacuation method possible ill. Definitely could rival the time in South Africa that started at that really nice restaurant. That's another thing, all I'd eaten that day was Starbucks and Yoshinoya two CHAINS from OVERSEAS! Weeks of streetfood? Touched by bare hands and soiled terricloths? Totally fine. Have a tall vanilla latte and bam, viral attacks galore. I was completely out of commission for the entire weekend and am still on the mend. In fact, pair this with the time in SA, I've puked more in the past two months than in the last 5 or 6 years. I love to travel but sometimes travel just does not love me. But given China's notable standards for food hygiene, it's bound to happen at some point. Let's just hope this is it for this trip. People've been pretty nice here though, my RA Henry brought me soup and Rosie gave me some herbal tea stuff that my Grandma always gives me when I'm sick. But I wanted nothing more than to be able to crawl into my own bed at home, one where I can't feel the individual steel springs pressing against my scapulae and junkless trunk, and have my mommy take care of me. Ah well. Recovering xian zai.
Two - There is a blizzard happening at home. Actually in both homes. In NYC and in Boston. I never thought this'd be the thing to trigger my yearning for home but after weeks of trudging to class through beige/grey puddles in cold rain, I'd welcome some of the white stuff.
This is not to say that I hate being here. Not at all, I actually really like Shanghai. Just going through moments of the expected. A bit overwhelmed with the industrial grunge coating all surfaces and the supposedly "clean" renovated spaces (which I'm convinced are about as sanitary as the showers visited by "Bathfitters"). Ok, I'm sure they're not that bad but when, on a good day, the air holds an "inhalable particulate matter" count higher than that of LA on a bad one, you kind of question.
Sorry, today's just an off day, as have been the last couple. I'm sure once I'm physically better my mental outlook will improve as well. Plus we're going to Beijing this weekend so that should be exciting! I promise, some stories of idyllic adventure and wide-eyed wonderment to follow. Until then, cynicism makes its ugly appearance as I fumble in recovery mode.
One - I came down with a violent case of food poisoning Friday and there's nothing more uncomfortable than being sick in a foreign place with strange foods. I mean I was ill, body rejecting every substance I put into it using every evacuation method possible ill. Definitely could rival the time in South Africa that started at that really nice restaurant. That's another thing, all I'd eaten that day was Starbucks and Yoshinoya two CHAINS from OVERSEAS! Weeks of streetfood? Touched by bare hands and soiled terricloths? Totally fine. Have a tall vanilla latte and bam, viral attacks galore. I was completely out of commission for the entire weekend and am still on the mend. In fact, pair this with the time in SA, I've puked more in the past two months than in the last 5 or 6 years. I love to travel but sometimes travel just does not love me. But given China's notable standards for food hygiene, it's bound to happen at some point. Let's just hope this is it for this trip. People've been pretty nice here though, my RA Henry brought me soup and Rosie gave me some herbal tea stuff that my Grandma always gives me when I'm sick. But I wanted nothing more than to be able to crawl into my own bed at home, one where I can't feel the individual steel springs pressing against my scapulae and junkless trunk, and have my mommy take care of me. Ah well. Recovering xian zai.
Two - There is a blizzard happening at home. Actually in both homes. In NYC and in Boston. I never thought this'd be the thing to trigger my yearning for home but after weeks of trudging to class through beige/grey puddles in cold rain, I'd welcome some of the white stuff.
This is not to say that I hate being here. Not at all, I actually really like Shanghai. Just going through moments of the expected. A bit overwhelmed with the industrial grunge coating all surfaces and the supposedly "clean" renovated spaces (which I'm convinced are about as sanitary as the showers visited by "Bathfitters"). Ok, I'm sure they're not that bad but when, on a good day, the air holds an "inhalable particulate matter" count higher than that of LA on a bad one, you kind of question.
Sorry, today's just an off day, as have been the last couple. I'm sure once I'm physically better my mental outlook will improve as well. Plus we're going to Beijing this weekend so that should be exciting! I promise, some stories of idyllic adventure and wide-eyed wonderment to follow. Until then, cynicism makes its ugly appearance as I fumble in recovery mode.
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