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.)