another suitcase in another hall

After a long back and forth, I am going to Shanghai this weekend. This week is one of the Golden Weeks for the PRC, so 1.3 billion Chinese people and a handful of us foreigners all have holiday at the same time. Figure that one out. If you've ever seen busyness in an urban setting, you could take that and multiply it by let's see... NYC is approximately 8 million people. Now double that (Beijing is over 17 million), and make them all switch places with out-of-towners. You can only imagine the beauty of the traffic on Second Ring Road outside my window. There was a wreck this morning, but I was not here to watch it go down. I walked by later, though, and the back window of a hatchback was smashed in by the front bumper of a Jeep. The little dog inside the Jeep (there's always a dog in BJ) barked at me as I walked past.

So anyway, I'm meeting up with the Professor, Cowboy, and another friend in Shanghai tomorrow morning. I'm taking an overnight train there. I'm really looking forward to it, because a change of locale even for a couple days could no doubt be useful. I think even in the Shanghai madness it will be refreshing.

In other news, I learned how to say, "Just kidding!" in Chinese yesterday from Jill. She's so useful! I mean, we discuss more important things than that, but how cool is it that she taught me that? Actually, I'd heard it, but I didn't know what it meant, so I asked, and lo and behold, it's a good one.

So, I need to get a few things packed for the weekend. And I should pay the maid before she heads out. Here's hoping things are decent in other places. I arrive back in 47 days.

T

My midterms are now officially over. I had my oral exam in conversation class, and it actually went really well. I had to read a few paragraphs aloud from my textbook. Then I had to tell my teacher a story about one time I went traveling. I told her all about going to Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. She told me that it was interesting, and she asked what the differences are between China and those countries. I told her that they are a lot less concentrated on time, and a lot more relaxed. I also told her that I was worried about thieves, and so I held my backpack tightly while I was out. I explained that that presented a problem when I wanted to go into the water at the beach. I also informed her that we had to fly back to Beijing from Hanoi because of too much snowfall causing there to be no train tickets. My favorite place was Cambodia, she now knows, because I got to teach English to a bunch of cute kids.

My teacher told me that I speak well, and that I ought to speak in class. She said that it's just reading that I have problems in, and I agreed. I just get embarrassed to speak in class because in contrast to all the Indonesians and Koreans, my Chinese is pathetic. (I promise, being Asian is a total unfair advantage.)

Tomorrow I'm supposed to
1. Go to class from 8-11:35
2. Meet w/Jill for tutoring
3. Let the maid clean the house
4. Meet the younger American teacher-woman (I really should assign Butterbean's mom a nickname) so she can take me to a place to buy a bunny cage
5. Pretend not to be tired

I took video of this old man playing the erhu and keeping time with his foot/shin clacker. I gave him 10 kuai and took a bunch of pictures. he was in the steps to the subway at Tian'anmen. Sorry that it's sideways!


T

Saturday night I went with the Professor and Cowboy up to Wudaokou to have dinner at Pyro's Pizza. All was well, and on the way back to the subway terminal, we decided to check to see if the fish-waffle man was out. Fish-waffles are mana from heaven. They are waffles filled with melted chocolate pieces. They also just so happen to be made in the shape of cartoon fish. It's China, don't ask.

Anyway, among all the normal ethnic minority street sellers were the usual: jewelry, books, potted plants, girls' clothes, small toys, maps, cologne, dvds, granola, coffee cups. But there was also my favorite street sales cart ever. Pets! The cart had a big bowl of goldfish, some red-eared turtles, and bunnies.

Might I take a moment to say that everything cool to be bought in Beijing is bought on bridges and sidewalks. Everything.

So a while back the Professor had promised to buy me a bunny so that I'd leave him alone more. Anyway, he ended up buying two bunnies; we each picked out one. The one I chose is black, the one he chose is white with black ears. They are adorable and still babies.

Here's where you come in-- they need names! We don't know the gender for sure because they are still babies and they haven't exactly "shown" yet, but we think the black one is a boy and the white one is a girl. So we're welcome to suggestions. Hit us with your best bunny names.



T

I have been taking some more pictures here in Beijing.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=18928&l=0305e&id=573182167

Today at the Temple of Heaven was fun. But now I'm tired.

T

I did pretty not-terribly on the test this morning. Subsequently I ate lunch, went to Starbucks, and then went and hung out with a crew of Chinese kids all evening. These guys are so much fun. Their English names are hilarious, and it's part of why I like them so much. It would be much less fun hanging out with guys named Ted and Jack and Steve.

Tomorrow, I'm planning on going to the Temple of Heaven, which in Chinese is Tian Tan. I'll be like my roommate for a moment and give you the Chinese for it: 天坛. Don't you feel smarter?

I played with this photo not too long ago (well, this one and a few others, actually), and I really like the way it came out. So here's a picture from Phuket, Thailand.



Happy weekend!

T

The Professor came down last night with the same affliction I had not too long ago. It was a fantastic night. I got to listen to him moan and explode periodically be sick. All night. And so this morning I got up early to get to school on time for my 8 a.m. midterm. And the Professor asked me to get him some drinks for the day, and of course I agreed. But little did I realize that the tiny shop beneath our building isn't open early. Nor is the grocery store on the corner. So I had to make a mad dash to a cigarette and booze shop at 7:35 this morning (don't you love the priorities of China?), then back up to the apartment, and finally departed the homestead at about 7:47 (you've never seen my legs pedal so fast...). I arrived in my testing room with about 3 minutes to spare. It was a bit like Speed Racer: Beijing. Except not Japanese, because I'm hated slightly less than the Japanese. I'm just American.

Anyway, my Reading/Writing class test was at 8 this morning, and it went. Not well, but it is over. My teacher (this wonderfully short, late-twentysomething Chinese man) occasionally came by and patted me on the back while I looked desperately concentrated upon not going down in flames. Then, when I went to hand in my paper, he smiled and gave me a half-taco, man-appropriate hug. It was a form of super-linguistic condolence, and it made me laugh in retrospect.

Then I went to brunch with my American sojourning friends. I took another test at 1, and it went really smoothly. It was much, much easier. Just a listening test. I hate that class with all the passion I can muster against a 54-year-old Chinese woman. She's grandmotherly, but not in a good way. And her class is frustratingly boring and unuseful.

When I got home from all this midterm induced fun, I started on the pile of disgusting sick-covered laundry. It took several hours and a few different methods of cleaning to get it all out. I am expecting some sort of eternal reward for this.

Really.

Tomorrow I have another test at 8, but by 9:40 I am free as a bird. Woo!

T

Today the Aiyi (that's what a maid is called in Chinese) came. She did amazing things. I have a desk now. And it turns out the floors here in my bedroom are not supposed to be grey carpet. Rather, they are reddish hardwood. Who knew?

I think it's time for a picture upload.


These little creatures are the guards of buildings against evil spirits. Without going into it too deeply, the more tiny beasties on the roof, the better. They scare away the bad guys. And the slant of the eaves, of course, makes the bad guys slip right off. Evil spirits aren't very smart in China, you see. Also, each creature is a specific thing, and he protects the building in a specific way. I don't know enough about them to give examples, but you see smaller sets of these things on almost every old building here. There are so many of the little statues on this building because it is part of the Forbidden City complex. The Emperor needs more protection and harmonious...ness than anyone else. And he was supposedly afforded it by more guardians.

Court eunuchs only got one beast. Some guys just can't get a break.

T