I Need a New Top Entry....

As much as I love the Photo Contest...well...it's a bit tacky.

So before I go to class in 20 minutes and give a 10 minute presentation (kill me. Why did I drop German again?!) I thought I'd say Happy Halloween and also bitch about the 3 mosquito bites on my face.

Yes, it's 50 degrees here, and I have 3 mosquito bites. ON MY FACE. Damn you BeiJing and your insects that won't die.

Also, just because I've stopped passive aggressively complaining about my roommate doesn't mean I no longer have issues with her. Au contraire. .

Anyway, will update more tomorrow, assuming am in good enough shape after tonight's Halloween party.

:)

The Winner goes to....

Congrats,
Julie from Mount Holyoke College.

The Winning Caption:
"That's Ain't a Pussy...it's a Puppy?"

Contest Time!

It's time to play Caption This Photo!

...kohe ain't got nothin' on him...
(enlarge the photo)

Leave your comment (or send me an email)!

This is Where I Would Quote My 7th Grade Teacher - But She Doesn't Want To Be Quoted. Wimp.

I knew this trip would be a success when I saw the vocab words they handed out before we got on the overnight train from BeiJing to QingDao. We were all very excited to see that we would buy dark beer in QingDao - it's quite hard to find in BeiJing.

We got off of the train, and went to a Chinese/English pre-K. We had not started drinking yet - but it was 9 am, so the day was still young.
The kids were very excited to see us. I really liked the one with the weird animal on his head. I appreciate his fashion sense.
I haven't ridden in about 8 weeks. Times were getting desperate, until I saw my faithful steed, named "Plastic Kohe"...this is were I was preparing for my canter pirouette. Plastic Kohe was not too thrilled.
Group shot with the Kiddos. The drinking started about 1/2 hour after this photo was taken.
Posing with statues, as per family tradition. I had been drinking for a while.
Holler to BaBa!
It shows that I had been drinking for hours.


Maybe this kid had been drinking, too. He seemed very happy.The next day, we went to the beach. I'm on the far left.
We saw this dog. When we asked his owner what his name was (the dogs) he said "Animals don't get names." We tried stealing the dog. No luck.
Then we visited a wig factory. Why? Your guess is as good as mine.
We also saw a park. It's name is LaoShan. That means Old Mountain. Who said that names have to be original?
No park visit is complete without me posing where I shouldn't be.

Overall, Qingdao was a lot of fun. We got to eat a lot of seafood (with minimal GI distress!!) and the beer was pretty good. (No, IES did not pay for any of our drinks, thanks very much.) I was happy, as always, to get out of the city and into fresh(er) air. I would love to come back in 5 years - I'm sure the city will be totally different. Not sure if it will be positive change...but it will be a vacation destination for sure.

BaBa's Back!!!!

(That's a screen capture of my father and me talking)
My father has been in Burma for the last 2 weeks, cycling with friends, and he came back this morning.

So I wanted to say WELCOME HOME BABA!!!

Will update on Qingdao tomorrow....

Procrastinating+Weekend Travel Plans

So tomorrow we have our midterm. Which means that last night we watched Nip/Tuck and today I will be studying/sleeping/shopping. Those things not in the right order, by the way.

After tomorrow's midterm, we (18 of us) will be leaving to go to Qingdao, home of Qingdao beer. Olympic sailing also took place in Qingdao...but I'm going for the beer.

OK, Rewind:

At IES we have our 2 week long trip, then 2 long weekends as well. The first long weekend, they pay for our travel costs and plan our trips(that is this weekend). We had 5 places to choose from ranging from cool (Qingdao) to awful (everything else). So why didn't everyone sign up to go to Qingdao, you might ask?

Well - everyone wanted to go to Qingdao, and the intelligent way to go about choosing who would go would've been a lottery. But of course IES isn't that logical, so what they do instead is post 5 sign up sheets and have people literally run down the hall when classes let out, and sign their names. Think of it like running of the bulls, but in a more narrow hall and the bulls are your classmates.

Moral of the story: I run fast.

So I will be gone, from Thusrday evening to Monday morning, hopefully drinking lots and lots of beer.

It's that time again: There's a Hare in My Dish! and other food pictures...

This is the best crab I have ever had. It was so good, infact, I called my mother to gloat about it. While I was eating it. It was retaliation for her in-depth email about her birthday meal, which included some insane number of courses, and mentions of foie gras. No lie though, this crab was probably on par with whatever she ate that night. However, they didn't have any crab crackers to open the legs with...try cracking crab with chopsticks. Just try.
This is chau'r - pieces of goat and fat on a skewer. I really, really dislike chau'r - much to the surprise of others. (Chua'r is one of the most popular foods for IES kids.) Why don't I like chau'r? Interesting fact about me: I dislike the taste of goat and sheep. And please, as much as I love fat, I try not to eat cooked gobs of it off a metal rod.
Who goes to China to eat donuts? Me. Actually - I didn't set out to find them - the donuts found me. And sadly, were mediocre.
Sausage! My favorite snack ever. The sausages are cooked, then schmeared with hot sauce. A better, more deadly snack will be hard to find.
Eel! (For Amberle - it's her favorite)
And then the namesake of the post: this is a picture of the bunny dish that I ordered. No, I did not order it on purpose. Moral of the story: While I like bunny meat, I don't like bunny feet.
(hehehe)

The "Real" Beijing

So a couple of weeks ago, I took this picture:
Why yes, that is a baby sleeping in the trunk of a bicycle. Can I say trunk? Whatever; the cart like thing being pulled by the bike. Anyway, it was weird and kinda cute, so I took a photo of it. Now, this baby was being closely watched by his mother, who was selling fruit next to him, so it wasn't like child abuse or anything of the sort.

Flash forward to today:
Emily, Melissa, their Chinese roommates and I went to one of the shopping markets today. Before going to the market, Emily had to stop at the bank. En route, she turns around (I was talking to Emily's roommate) and says "Take that photo! It's like the one you took a couple of weeks ago!" I saw what she was talking about: it was a father sitting on the side of the road, cradling his child. Immediately, I recognized that he was begging for money, in an indirect way. Emily was skepitcal. We came close to them, and saw the sign in front of them, asking for money. We walked on to the bank.

Emily got her money out of the ATM, and we started to walk back, past the beggar and his son, to go to the bus stop. When we passed them, I gave the man 20 kuai. This immediately lead to a discussion between Emily, Melissa and I.

I never give money to homeless people in America. I donate my time to charities, and that's it. Why? Because I feel like in America we have the social systems in place for people to get help. In China, these systems (such as Welfare or homeless shelters) don't really exist. So, my feeling is, if the case seems legit (obvious handicap, parents+kids) I'll give them some money. I don't know why I do it - other than I feel bad.

By luck I was born to my parents; I could've been born to this man, sitting on the side of the street.

I guess I'm bringing this up because it just bugged me and made me sad. China has such a juxtaposition between the haves and haves-not. And by being a Westerner in China, I am even more attuned to how really wealthy I (being a member of my family) am. The BeiWai area doesn't have poor people in it, really. This was the first time I've seen a beggar here in about 2 months. But nonetheless, it was sad to see a man craddling his child, sitting on a sidewalk.

And no, for those who are curious, I didn't take that photo.

W-A-T-E-R!

I had a Hellen Keller moment yesterday: someone spoke to me in Chinese, and I understood. Like, I really really understood. (This was like when Hellen Keller got that signing water meant actual water. Anyone get the reference? Anyone?)

Anyway, I finally have internet in my room, but in order to get the internet, I had to go to another building and talk to the tech people. And I did it! I totally understood what was going on! It was AMAZING.

Can I bust out my Chinese all the time now? No. But I am understanding more and more what is going around me.

Yesterday, my roommate was in the room (surprise!). While she was in the room, I was skyping with my friend, Sarah (if any of you have Skype, drop me a comment and I'll give you my username and we can chat!) and talking in Chinese.

Sarah: Whoa! You actually speak Chinese!!
Me: I hate you, do you know that?!

Public Transportation

Using a bus in China is a pain. A massive, massive pain. So why do I do it? It costs about 5 cents a way - and that's when I'm on an expensive bus. (Buses range from really cheap (think, no seats) to cheap (air conditioned double decker bus).

On Sunday, Emily and I were on a non-airconditioned double decker bus that was packed full. This is what it was like on the inside of the bus:




It was CRAZY. No - the bus didn't go sideways, FYI, that was just my camera being dumb. And Yes, I was basically sitting on the dashboard. (I can hear you start hyperventilating now, Mom.) What was not caught in the video was when we almost killed a bicyclist, and when we were tailgaiting a Smart Car-esque car.

This was not the same bus we took to the Summer Palace, by the way. That bus was nice, and EMPTY. This bus was enroute to Carrefour, among other destinations.

Carrefour was fine (Emily got to see live prawns swimming in a kiddie pool, which amused her to no end). This was my favorite part:
I don't know if you can tell, but each piece of sushi is individually wrapped. You can pick the pieces that you want, then pay for it that way. AND I didn't even get food poisoning. Score!

I Miss All of You...but Right Now, I Miss Caty the Most

(Caty - move to China. NOW. love, your former roommate)
(to everyone else - Caty is my former roommate from MHC.)

So life with my new roommate is going not as expected...let's leave it at that.

Other news:
The DVD player that I bought 2 weeks ago crapped out. D'oh. And, because I never got a receipt, I couldn't return it. Shit. So yesterday, we went back to the Electronics Market, and I bought a newer, better one, that I can infact return.

Funny (in retrospect) story:
I went to both Walmart and Carrefour to look for new portable DVD players. Walmart had a portable DVD player for 300 RMB, substantially cheaper than others that I have seen - in a market or elsewhere. I wanted to purchase that portable DVD players.
This conversation was in Chinese, obviously.
"I want that one, the 300 RMB one"
"Oh, I am sorry miss, that is all sold out"
"OK...I want the 600 RMB one."
"Oh...that one is all sold out too."

WHAT THE HELL????
Why put DVD players in your display case that are either all sold out, or are all broken???
WHAT THE HEEEELLLL???

The same thing took place at Carrefour, too.

Ugh.

Other, Other News:
We now have internet in our rooms. Scratch that - OTHER people have internet in their rooms. Mine still doesn't work. Le sigh.

Other, Other, Other News:
I am offically going to be in Paris next semester. I know, no big surprise...but still nice to get confirmation.

The Summer Palace: In Pictures and Film

Pictures from this weekend's trip to the Summer Palace. As in, Emily and I hopped on the bus (it cost about 4 cents to get there. Really.) and spent the morning there. I can't say anything witty about the Summer Palace that hasn't been said before...so enjoy the photos!





...Oh, how somethings never change....

313

So my Chinese roommate moved in yesterday. Interesting. Not only did she NOT bring any clothing...or other personal belongings...she came in at 10.30 pm, and went to bed at 11 pm. Umm...okay....

Anyway, this is where I live. The photo on the left is a shot from the door. My bed is on the left. The beds here SUCK. Rock hard, relatively narrow...makes me miss my bed at home mucho. However, my spine fells better aligned that when I left the USA.

The right-hand photo is just a photo of my bed, and the photos above it. See, Mumsy and BaBa, I did put up the photo of you two!

313 is my room number. I'm on the 3rd floor, which means that I actually have relatively decent views...of the dorm across from mine. People need to pull the drapes closed when they are changing. Just saying.

My room, besides for looking into another person's room, overlooks a garden. It's nothing special. Garden actually means trees surrounded by concrete.

Oy.

Crop Circles!

So yesterday I did something that I always wanted to do: cupping.

Basically, ever since I saw an article saying that Gweneth Paltrow did it, I wanted to do it to. No, not because I like Paltrow, but because I have a sick fascination about seeing what's in my body. Apparently, the darker the circles, the more toxins are being drawn out.

My circles are not done justice in this photo. The one on my upper left shoulder (in the photo) as well as the lowest one on the right side of my body are basically black.

Apparently I'm toxic.

Did it hurt? Nah. (And I am the BIGGEST wimp when it comes to pain. For real.) I kinda even liked the suction-y feeling.

What sucks though is now my back is rather tender, and it hurts to sit back fully.

As a side note, Emily's back is pretty much normal looking, which makes us a bit skeptical, because we've eaten basically the same exact thing for the last 6 weeks.

Just wanted to share the photo!

Also:
THE WATCH THAT I BOUGHT AT XIDAN DIED YESTERDAY! #@$^$%&. Bu Hao.

Poppin' A Squat & Other Bathroom Talk

Doesn't that look good to you? It's called Dan Dan Mien. I don't know what Dan Dan means. (Hey Zach..wanna Wiki it for me?) Basically, it's a really really really spicy noodle dish. Yes it looks good, and tastes even better. But it also has a little side effect:

La Duzi.

How can I describe La Duzi? It's literal translation is "pull apart stomach". Don't get it yet? La Duzi means the runs. AKA: Diarrhea.

La Duzi is on top of everyone's fear list. La Duzi can be as simple as 5 minutes. It can also mean needing to call maintence to un-clog the toilet.

Need I go on?

While I am not one for bathroom humor (normally), in China, a lot of conversations revolve around the bathroom. When was the last time you went, how big...etc.

On the first day of Orientation, we all split into groups and had lunch. In my room the conversation eventually lead to squatting, which is the biggest pain in the ass. (Block that metaphor.) Now my group was about 10 Americans, and 2 Chinese women, staffers of IES who don't understand English. When the conversation turned to squatting, I admitted that the past summer I was incapable of squatting without...you know...peeing in my pants...so I would always take off my pants when I need to squat. Like, take them off and hang them on the door. Yea. Anyway....the Chinese ladies did not understand my story, but saw that everyone else was just about rolling on the floor. So they wanted a translation.

Moral of the story: they pointed at me and said, at the top of their lungs, "MEIYOU KUZI!" (Translation: She doesn't wear pants!"

OK...a bit lost in translation...but they got the gist, and I was made fun of for a long, long time.

Don't worry. I can squat now, in case you were wondering.

Squatters can range from 5 star (I kid you not - they had them at the TerraCotta Warriors) to 0 stars (everywhere else in China). IES dorms have 1/2 and 1/2. Surprisingly (sarcasm) there is never a line for the squatters. This is a picture of a clean squatter. I would rate it 4 stars. Yes, 4 stars.

It is clean, indoors, looks like it can flush relatively well (remember not to flush the toilet paper!) and there are no errant dumps around the bowl (I kid you not).

Why do I say remember not to flush the TP? Well, it's because the sewage systems in China process it. Why? I don't know.

But if you flush the TP, it will inevitably make the toilet overflow. Ask me how I know.


I will not show you a picture of a bad squatter. But trust me. A picture itself would not do it justice.

Fitting In, and Other Assorted Ramblings

So in case any of you have forgotten - I am very, very white. I mean that physically - I am very very white. While I still have remnants of a tan from the trip I just went on, it's fading fast.

Being white in China is desirable - they sell whitening face washes, everyone walks around with umbrellas so they don't get tan...it shows that you don't have to work in the fields and that you have enough money to sit indoors the whole day.

While being an pale-skinned Chinese person is very desirable, being a blonde Caucasian, living in China is not. I mean, people love my hair, love my skin (although with all the pollution my skin is the worst that it's ever been...), love that I am VERY VERY VERY white. On the train back to Beijing, the conductor commented on how white my legs were. In a positive manner. But I digress.

In recent memory, I don't remember wanting to change my physical appearance. I am proud of being a white girl. But sometimes, particularly when I am shopping and bargaining, I wish I wasn't so damn white. Why? I stick out worse than a sore thumb.

As a foreigner in Beijing, I am used to the LaoWai tax. LaoWai is a not so nice name for "foreigner". (I don't really know what the equivalant English word would be.) Because I am a LaoWai, my starting price on things I want to buy are always, without fail, going to be higher than that of a Chinese person. For example, I went to XiDan yesterday to buy a new wallet and a new watch (hey Mom..? Is my old watch fixed...?). I overheard a vendor telling a Chinese lady that wallet X was 80 kuai. (80 kuai is the starting price, then you bargin from there.) I didn't like the wallet, but I was curious as to what would happen if I asked how much the same wallet would cost. So I asked, Duo shao qian? (How much?) Oh wait for it...wait for it...200 kuai!

Schmuck.

People at XiDan assume that if you are there, you can speak basic Chinese, but not really understand. Guess what. I understand better than I can speak. Much, much better. And when I'm shopping, don't mess around with me. So even though I didn't like the wallet that much, I wanted to make a point.

"Wo jidao wo shi laowai - bu guo ni bu keyi gei wo hen guai de dai jia."

Translation: I know I am a LaoWai - but that doesn't mean you can give me a higher price.

Oh.

He kinda looked surprised, and then promptly dropped his price.
I walked away.

Basically, this is a relatively happy ending. But many times, as soon as I say that, vendors go off on me in really fast Chinese. My Chinese is not THAT good. And at a place like XiDan, it's rare to find people that can actually speak English, like they do at places like Silk Street or Hongqiao(Pearl Market).

XiDan is one of my most favorite places to shop, in all of Beijing. They have everything I would ever need (including jerky on the bottom floor). I took video of XiDan, which I'm too lazy to upload right now 'cause the internet is being pokey, but let me say that I have never seen another white person there - and when I have, it's been because Amberle and I went together.

Will I go back to XiDan? Of course! But it's a pain in the ass, and I wanted to blog about it.

Oh, yes, I bought a new wallet and a watch. The wallet is actually really nice - and it's not a knock off! While XiDan has some of the best knockoffs in all of Beijing, I really didn't want an imitation LV or Gucci...so I found a really cute wallet for 35 kuai (starting price: 300 kuai. LaoWai tax, obvi). And while I could've gotten a knock off of my old Movado, I just went for a plastic watch. Price: 25 kuai. I didn't even bother bargaining - I just went up to the lady and was like, I'll give you 25 kuai for this. (25 is the going rate for the watch...I've been looking at it for weeks.)