Beijing: Day Eighteen
~
2007.07.30 15:38 CST (EST + 12 hrs): Beijing, People's Republic of China
The Good, The Bad, The Foreign: In No Particular Order
Perhaps unexpectedly -- at least to me, I was sick with the big D (ends in "rhea"...no not the ostrich's cousin) for the first two weeks and lost very little weight considering the paltry sum retained. Shit-attack central. Then, early last week, we went to a tex-mex joint to relax over nachos, a veggie burrito and pitcher of frozen margaritas. Later that night, I russled awake around 2:30 suspecting the tequila murdered the bug in my stomach then rushed to the toilet to empty myself via the orifice standardly dedicated to intake. Coincidently, this marked the end of my, *ahem*, bumquakes, and I've been swell since.
My first class is morning until noon, then a lame, near-four-hour split and another class until six. Although, the past few mornings, I've been up at six and on the badminton court for an hour, having it out with the locals. It's awesome: I haven't played since grade nine...and they school me, but it's all good. All that to say that I've only recently getting a bit of exercise and sweating off some of my spare tire.
It is absolutely and persistently muggy. One cannot stay clean for a minute: the air sticks to you (and the subway is even more of a sauna). In Beijing, filthy air plus sweat plus dirt plus crazy constant humidity equals good, sticky times... Contrastingly, evenings are wonderful moments of atmospheric respite, cooling to a comfortable warmth with clearer skies and quiet breezes often materializing. And as our neighbourhood tucks in before midnight, post meridiem strolls are ambles through a private paradise.
Most would like it here: there's something interesting around every corner, and locals are widely friendly. I return stares all the time then crack a smile, calling on their rich sense of humour, usually offering a grin or laugh.
There are good, cheap fruit shops on every second intersection and coolers of beer and beverages on every other. Everything is low-cost and affordable (read: nicely cheap): taxis, drinks, groceries, restaurants, pharmacies.... Roughly converting renminbi yuan to Canadian dollar, we've been quickly calculating fifteen percent of the former to find the latter. Previously, we'd been dividing by six or seven but multiplying by 0.15 saves many a mental tangle. 0.14 is more accurate but we round up and the cost of living still comes out to, well, not much.
Shopping for clothes is fun and bartering is mandatory. They'll try to squeeze you immediately by, for example, starting at RMB 1200, then letting it finally go for 200. Criminal, but I don't blame them (give them the hard eye and say " bou-sheh why go-rin!" ("I'm not a foreigner!"). The one tiresome aspect of clothing markets is the incessant hassle. You are yelled at, pulled on, grabbed and held, and hollered at until you finally show interest in the wares on offer. Though showing too much (by initiating the haggle, for example) and leaving without a purchase apparently confuses them, seemingly troubled with the concept of refusing an item on qualitative grounds (versus price) -- as proved by their constant and continual debate over "how much do you want to pay?". Sifting through the stalls, they'll smile and swear that they "remember you from last time" and that they're giving you the best possible, "friend" price. Reactions encountered when shopping and bartering in Beijing range from: pouting and silence to laughing and back-patting. All told, with minimal effort (the learning curve is quick), you leave most stores with arm-loads as pockets remain heavy.
Students are awesome: ambitious, determined and quite socially aware. I talk to my oldest (sixteen through eighteen) about world geography, history, politics, philosophy...and they have little difficulty following. They offer substantial feedback on most topics and can often be found debating issue after issue on myriad subjects. This is where their sense of humour comes in handy: they are serious about their knowledge while laughing at their inaccuracies. Of course, they like video games and their comics, as most (Asian) kids seem to, but when asked to pay attention, they are thankfully rather obedient and respectful.
Locals are quite nice and you're never in want of an English speaker. Lessons dictating the latter are integrated into each of their high schools' five year curricula, causing near-perfect vocabulary and pronunciation when you least expect it: at the grocery store, on the metro or outside a changing room.
I don't know about cities like Shanghai or Nanjing -- which are closer to the coast and further from the Gobi, but Beijing-borne smog is so thick that real sunshine is a fleeting, bi-weekly affair normally induced by rainfall and strong winds clearing the skies. At a less lofty altitude, the scent of a full sewer never escapes the wandering nose, thus catching a pungent whiff is not uncommon, even in decent neighbourhoods. What's more, contrary to my relative unfamiliarity with Korean squatting (three times), hunkering down has been locally inevitable.
Krista and I are happy and positive. We are, nonetheless, uncertain as to the fate of our second three-week stint as our current school is experiencing a lack of enrolment for August. As such, our agency is working to organize our upcoming schedule(s) and location(s). Our fingers are crossed for something fun which, any way you look at it, will be new, interesting and a good challenge.
From here to there. Until the next update, be well.
Czech it,
S*
2007.07.30 15:38 CST (EST + 12 hrs): Beijing, People's Republic of China
The Good, The Bad, The Foreign: In No Particular Order
Perhaps unexpectedly -- at least to me, I was sick with the big D (ends in "rhea"...no not the ostrich's cousin) for the first two weeks and lost very little weight considering the paltry sum retained. Shit-attack central. Then, early last week, we went to a tex-mex joint to relax over nachos, a veggie burrito and pitcher of frozen margaritas. Later that night, I russled awake around 2:30 suspecting the tequila murdered the bug in my stomach then rushed to the toilet to empty myself via the orifice standardly dedicated to intake. Coincidently, this marked the end of my, *ahem*, bumquakes, and I've been swell since.
My first class is morning until noon, then a lame, near-four-hour split and another class until six. Although, the past few mornings, I've been up at six and on the badminton court for an hour, having it out with the locals. It's awesome: I haven't played since grade nine...and they school me, but it's all good. All that to say that I've only recently getting a bit of exercise and sweating off some of my spare tire.
It is absolutely and persistently muggy. One cannot stay clean for a minute: the air sticks to you (and the subway is even more of a sauna). In Beijing, filthy air plus sweat plus dirt plus crazy constant humidity equals good, sticky times... Contrastingly, evenings are wonderful moments of atmospheric respite, cooling to a comfortable warmth with clearer skies and quiet breezes often materializing. And as our neighbourhood tucks in before midnight, post meridiem strolls are ambles through a private paradise.
Most would like it here: there's something interesting around every corner, and locals are widely friendly. I return stares all the time then crack a smile, calling on their rich sense of humour, usually offering a grin or laugh.
There are good, cheap fruit shops on every second intersection and coolers of beer and beverages on every other. Everything is low-cost and affordable (read: nicely cheap): taxis, drinks, groceries, restaurants, pharmacies.... Roughly converting renminbi yuan to Canadian dollar, we've been quickly calculating fifteen percent of the former to find the latter. Previously, we'd been dividing by six or seven but multiplying by 0.15 saves many a mental tangle. 0.14 is more accurate but we round up and the cost of living still comes out to, well, not much.
Shopping for clothes is fun and bartering is mandatory. They'll try to squeeze you immediately by, for example, starting at RMB 1200, then letting it finally go for 200. Criminal, but I don't blame them (give them the hard eye and say " bou-sheh why go-rin!" ("I'm not a foreigner!"). The one tiresome aspect of clothing markets is the incessant hassle. You are yelled at, pulled on, grabbed and held, and hollered at until you finally show interest in the wares on offer. Though showing too much (by initiating the haggle, for example) and leaving without a purchase apparently confuses them, seemingly troubled with the concept of refusing an item on qualitative grounds (versus price) -- as proved by their constant and continual debate over "how much do you want to pay?". Sifting through the stalls, they'll smile and swear that they "remember you from last time" and that they're giving you the best possible, "friend" price. Reactions encountered when shopping and bartering in Beijing range from: pouting and silence to laughing and back-patting. All told, with minimal effort (the learning curve is quick), you leave most stores with arm-loads as pockets remain heavy.
Students are awesome: ambitious, determined and quite socially aware. I talk to my oldest (sixteen through eighteen) about world geography, history, politics, philosophy...and they have little difficulty following. They offer substantial feedback on most topics and can often be found debating issue after issue on myriad subjects. This is where their sense of humour comes in handy: they are serious about their knowledge while laughing at their inaccuracies. Of course, they like video games and their comics, as most (Asian) kids seem to, but when asked to pay attention, they are thankfully rather obedient and respectful.
Locals are quite nice and you're never in want of an English speaker. Lessons dictating the latter are integrated into each of their high schools' five year curricula, causing near-perfect vocabulary and pronunciation when you least expect it: at the grocery store, on the metro or outside a changing room.
I don't know about cities like Shanghai or Nanjing -- which are closer to the coast and further from the Gobi, but Beijing-borne smog is so thick that real sunshine is a fleeting, bi-weekly affair normally induced by rainfall and strong winds clearing the skies. At a less lofty altitude, the scent of a full sewer never escapes the wandering nose, thus catching a pungent whiff is not uncommon, even in decent neighbourhoods. What's more, contrary to my relative unfamiliarity with Korean squatting (three times), hunkering down has been locally inevitable.
Krista and I are happy and positive. We are, nonetheless, uncertain as to the fate of our second three-week stint as our current school is experiencing a lack of enrolment for August. As such, our agency is working to organize our upcoming schedule(s) and location(s). Our fingers are crossed for something fun which, any way you look at it, will be new, interesting and a good challenge.
From here to there. Until the next update, be well.
Czech it,
S*
Beijing: Day One
~
2007.07.13 11:37 CST (EST + 12 hrs): Beijing, People's Republic of China
Krista and I landed in Beijing yesterday, slightly ahead of schedule, were effortlessly processed through customs and were met by the recruiting agency staff only moments later, outside the gates, with our names misspelled. After a twenty-five minute drive from the airport, we were taken to our new apartment which, to be honest, is actually really nice: two bathrooms, dining room, living room, two big bedrooms with air conditiong, two television sets, a computer room and connecting the entire back of the space is a windowed balcony that overlooks the massive shared park that is also the centre of a complex of high-rises (about ten of them in a round formation).
We met the director of the agency and three of her staff before being let to shower and relax in the early evening. Around seven, we were taken to a local "famous" restaurant to meet five other foreign teachers (two middle-aged ladies from Montreal and three Aussies). Next, we were treated to a dozen appetizer dishes spanning fresh salads to baked tofu, baby spinach with peanuts, beef and tomato stew, whole baked fish, spicy chicken...with beer, tea and juice for everyone. The main dish, as I'd seen before in China, was roasted（Peking）duck which is served sliced with side dishes of slivered cucumbers, thinned shallots and jiang jiang (thick, black sauce). After dipping each of the items in the sauce, they're placed in a thin rice paper "tortilla", wrapped and eaten in two or three bites. Awesome delicious.
We got home from the restaurant around nine o'clock and were ridiculously exhausted from having only slept a few hours since Monday (we only had two hours to crash on Tuesday night and slept only sporadically and uncomfortably on the flight). At any rate, we passed out around nine-fifteen and slept until six and didn't get out of bed until eight-ish. This morning, we investigated a bit of our surrounding neighbourhood on foot and went all the way to what is being constructed as the Olympics' indoor track stadium (refered to as the "Bird's Nest" because of it's exterior design ... super cool by the way). We found the local department store which, in Asia, normally refers to a grocery store, butchery, bakery, beer store, pharmacy, clothing and general goods store all wrapped into one. We bought groceries for the week and a few amenities like toilet paper and house slippers.
We're now sitting in a French cafe where we finished sumptious coffees and used the computers for free. All is going well and we are scheduled to meet the director of our school this afternoon (two o'clock) for an "interview" and review of the materials we are hired to teach. Later this afternoon, we will be taken on a neighbourhood tour by one of the agency staff (Kevin) who we met last night and lives near us. His English is excellent and he has been nothing but extra helpful to us.
We're really excited to be here together and even more so to have a free weekend before we start working on Monday: sightseeing time!
I hope this finds each and all of you well and happy.
With love and smiles,
S*
Current read(s) in progress: The Walrus, "The Catcher in the Rye" - JD Steinbeck
2007.07.13 11:37 CST (EST + 12 hrs): Beijing, People's Republic of China
Krista and I landed in Beijing yesterday, slightly ahead of schedule, were effortlessly processed through customs and were met by the recruiting agency staff only moments later, outside the gates, with our names misspelled. After a twenty-five minute drive from the airport, we were taken to our new apartment which, to be honest, is actually really nice: two bathrooms, dining room, living room, two big bedrooms with air conditiong, two television sets, a computer room and connecting the entire back of the space is a windowed balcony that overlooks the massive shared park that is also the centre of a complex of high-rises (about ten of them in a round formation).
We met the director of the agency and three of her staff before being let to shower and relax in the early evening. Around seven, we were taken to a local "famous" restaurant to meet five other foreign teachers (two middle-aged ladies from Montreal and three Aussies). Next, we were treated to a dozen appetizer dishes spanning fresh salads to baked tofu, baby spinach with peanuts, beef and tomato stew, whole baked fish, spicy chicken...with beer, tea and juice for everyone. The main dish, as I'd seen before in China, was roasted（Peking）duck which is served sliced with side dishes of slivered cucumbers, thinned shallots and jiang jiang (thick, black sauce). After dipping each of the items in the sauce, they're placed in a thin rice paper "tortilla", wrapped and eaten in two or three bites. Awesome delicious.
We got home from the restaurant around nine o'clock and were ridiculously exhausted from having only slept a few hours since Monday (we only had two hours to crash on Tuesday night and slept only sporadically and uncomfortably on the flight). At any rate, we passed out around nine-fifteen and slept until six and didn't get out of bed until eight-ish. This morning, we investigated a bit of our surrounding neighbourhood on foot and went all the way to what is being constructed as the Olympics' indoor track stadium (refered to as the "Bird's Nest" because of it's exterior design ... super cool by the way). We found the local department store which, in Asia, normally refers to a grocery store, butchery, bakery, beer store, pharmacy, clothing and general goods store all wrapped into one. We bought groceries for the week and a few amenities like toilet paper and house slippers.
We're now sitting in a French cafe where we finished sumptious coffees and used the computers for free. All is going well and we are scheduled to meet the director of our school this afternoon (two o'clock) for an "interview" and review of the materials we are hired to teach. Later this afternoon, we will be taken on a neighbourhood tour by one of the agency staff (Kevin) who we met last night and lives near us. His English is excellent and he has been nothing but extra helpful to us.
We're really excited to be here together and even more so to have a free weekend before we start working on Monday: sightseeing time!
I hope this finds each and all of you well and happy.
With love and smiles,
S*
Current read(s) in progress: The Walrus, "The Catcher in the Rye" - JD Steinbeck
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