The Great Flood

I mentioned in an earlier post about the heating situation in China, and since the heat was turned on in the building Novemeber 15th, I have, despite much effort been unable to get my heat to work. After my wonderful Chinese Thanksgiving, I came home and tried for the third time to get my heat fixed. The guy came to my apartment fiddled with things and declared everything fixed. For the next hour my apartment seemed to be getting warmer. Then I started to hear a trickling sound but didn't think anything of it until I had to use the bathroom and walked across my apartment and into a giant puddle of water in my apartment. As I found out later, when they built the building they didn't seal the water pipe to the apartment heater correctly and it leaked through the dry wall all over my floor.

It now appears that they will have to tear the drywall down and fix the piping this week. So my apartment will be come a work zone until Wednesday.

I went to McDonald's for lunch today with my friend because I was sick of Chinese food. As it turns out we arrived during "special time." Special time is what the girl at the counter called it and I can only assume it mean that it was just a happy hour of sorts were all the food is discounted. I ended up getting a Big Mac meal with a large fry, two chocolate milkshakes and a water for 24 RMB, which is a little less then $4. The other thing was that because it was "special time" many Chinese students were at 麦当劳 (McDonald's in Chinese, pronounced Mai Dang Lao) studying. I wish I had gotten a picture of it but it took us 15 minutes to get a seat. I am not sure how anyone could study in there for hours with that greasy smell, but it is China so....

In other news, my one classmate is looking to move off campus next semester, so we have to decided to look for apartments together next week. I hope that by getting a roommate, I can reduce the cost of rent by almost half. Any chance to save money is a good thing I think. Plus it will be nice to have a roommate. The other cool part is that he is from Kazakhstan. He also doesn't speak English that well, so we usually have to communicate in a mix of English and Chinese, which is great for both of our Chinese.

One last thing, my school just decided to post an emergency exit plan for the students and so I thought I'd share with the three emergency exits! Also, if you live on the top floors and their is a fire, there is no way in hell your going to survive because their is only one stairwell. Anyway, here is the picture:

Chinese Thanksgiving

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't terribly miss home on Thanksgiving. I did however miss the food. So my thought was if I can't be home for Thanksgiving, I might as well go eat my favorite Chinese food, hotpot! For those of you who don't know, hotpot is the greatest thing to come from China, better then gunpowder, fireworks and whatever else has come from China.

Hotpot is literally a pot of boiling soup placed at the center of your table. The pot is generally split between spicy and not spicy broth. You then order all of the ingredients that you want, vegetables, meats, noodles etc. You then put all of what you ordered into the pots and let it cook in front of you. In addition to the flavoring that comes from being cooked in the broths, you also prepare your own dipping sauce by taking things like peanut sauce, onions, garlic, MSG, spices and what-not.

The hotpot restaurant that my friends and I went to is considered the best in Beijing, and so when you go around dinner time, there is generally and hour to two hour wait (its worth it). So what the restuarant does is set up little tables for people to sit at, they provide popcorn and other snacks. Many people will bring cards or other games to play while they wait.

Also one thing that is common in restaurants in China particularly hotpot restaurants is for the restaurant to give you a plastic baggie to put your phone in because all Chinese people leave their phone out when they are at the table.

Here are some pictures from hotpot:

One thing that I will try and focus on in the next few posts is food in China, because I haven't discussed it much and I think it is a very fun and interesting topic.

I also hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Top Down Society

One of the things that makes Chinese culture very different from Western culture is how we view authoritative structures. In the US, we are very much anti-authority, always questioning those above us and around us, I think a bottom-up society. China, on the other hand, is very much a top-down society. Whether its from the national government or your boss, Chinese people view those above them with a sense of respect. This respect for authority sounds great, but in reality it makes things very to get done, leaves very little room for flexibility and reduces peoples choices.

Just a few examples of this:

In the US, when you have a home or an apartment, you pay for your electricity each month when you receive a bill. In China, when you rent an apartment you are given an electric card. To get electricity in your home you must go to a state-owned bank, wait in a long line to load with money. It can be really inconvenient because you may run out of money on your card in the middle of the night and the electricity gets shut of (like what happened to me) and because the only way to pay for electricity is to wait in the electricity line at the bank, which is usually 20 people long.

I went to see Harry Potter today, and unlike in the US where you can sit anywhere you'd like, in China you are given assigned seating. I think I like this way better, because you don't have to rush to get to your movie but it is another example of someone else making choices for Chinese people and not leaving it up to the individual.

On public buses in China, their are usually two or three doors. Each door is for either entering or exiting the bus. I am sure many cities in the US are like this but in China, there are no exceptions to this rule. If you are next to the entrance door and you need to get off you MUST move to the exit door because the bus drive will refuse to let you off through the entrance door. The only exceptions I have seen for this are the elderly.

During my exam week, I had my grammar exam in the morning of one of the days. Both of the classes that day were grammar, so I had the same teacher. I figured we would have the 2nd class free since we had just had an hour and half exam. Turned out I was wrong, my teacher said her boss told her we are supposed to have class all day, no exceptions. So despite her being tired, the students being tired, and only 4 out of 17 students staying for the second half, the teacher decided to push on with the lesson.

I know there are many more examples of the cultural differences but these are just the four that came to my mind now, since they happened recently.

On another fun note, here is a picture I secretly took of a 50 year old man and his man bag. No lie, I didn't fake this picture.

Learning Chinese

Sometimes I have to ask myself, why am I studying Chinese? Why did I have to pick maybe the hardest language in the world to learn? I feel like I have made a lot of progress in 2 1/2 months, so much so, that I have gotten to the point where it is getting really difficult. I've never had to study much to do well in school but recently the two hours of studying a night that I have been doing is quickly becoming not enough to keep up with everything (that doesn't include my two hours every Mon, Wed Fri that I have my tutor). So, next week, I am going to have to kick everything up a notch and really buckle down.

A few things of note about Chinese:

Chinese grammar is considerably easier then English grammar, however, I have found that since I don't know anything about English grammar it is hindering me in learning Chinese grammar and Chinese. In fact, my Chinese tutor knows English grammar better then me, granted she was an English major in college but still. So, I have begun a quick crash course on English grammar to help me understand it.

Also, when you speak your native language you don't realize how many words there really are. That changes quickly when you study a foreign language. For Chinese particularly, and why it is one of the hardest languages to learn, is that you don't just learn the a word, its meaning and pronunciation but you have to learn the character, how to write the character (which is different from recognizing it), its meaning and its pronunciation. The pronunciation is also different from most languages because Chinese is a tonal language. What that means is that one word like (ma) can have many different meanings depending on how it's pronounced and the context it is used. Chinese has four tones and a neutral sound. So for example Ma depending on the tone can mean: mom, horse, hemp, to scold or be used as a question particle. Of course, each of them have different characters which makes them easily distinguishable but in spoken Chinese its all based on the tone. 

For those who don't know much about the Chinese language there is just a small taste of what I have to deal with...lucky me!

Stalker Story

I told the story of my stalker to my parents the other night and so I totally forgot to post it on here. Alas, here it is.

My Chinese friend and I were on the subway, and were talking about Sino-American relations because this was right before the G20 Summit in Seoul and the Chinese media was busy blasting Americans Quantitative Easing policy and he had asked me what I thought and as many of you know, this is a subject that I have a lot to say about.

Anyway, I was right in the middle of talking about the next step of the Chinese economy, in terms of moving away from cheap manufacturing, and towards an ideas-based or knowledge-based economy, when my friend told me a story about how is journalism teacher doesn't let students talk about certain subjects and how he will openly and in-front of the class criticize students who don't "believe" a certain way.

It was at this point, that a Chinese woman interrupted us and started to belligerently yell at my friend in Chinese, in front of a packed train of Chinese people! She accused him of being un-Chinese and not loving his country for criticizing China and some its policies in front of a foreigner (there is a belief among Chinese people (I wonder why...cough cough Propaganda Dept), that foreigners only hear negative stories about China and that Chinese people shouldn't add to this by telling more negative things to foreigners). Essentially, this woman was making the exact point my friend and I were saying, and that is, if China wants to move to a knowledge-based, service economy you need the freedom to express creativity and your own views...that doesn't happen when you get yelled at on the subway.

The exciting part though only began. While the woman was yelling at us, my friend and I missed our stop on the subway, so we had to get off and double around, then switch off and transfer to another line. While we were doing this I got this weird feeling like we were being followed, and no not by PSB. As we were walking to through the transfer tunnel, I noticed a guy following a little behind us, listening to our conversation and then he continued to follow us on the subway platform to were we stood waiting for the train. After we got onto the train, he spoke to my friend in Chinese and then turned to me and said, "so what do you think of China?" We then got into a discussion about how I viewed China and many of the issues regarding the freedom to criticize the government etc. Basically we talked about all the is wrong with China. He then asked me what I think will happen with China, and I responded that I don't know but that whatever happens it will be because the Chinese people either stood up and said enough is enough or they don't. He agreed with that, but then went on to say, that it is his great hope that people like me come to China and aren't afraid to tell the truth and that because he met my friend and I he has even more hope for China.

On a side note, to give everyone an understanding of how sensitive of a topic Liu Xiaobo is in China, it was the one thing he refused to talk about and when I asked about Liu he looked around before he even refused to discuss him.

Studying, Exams and Overreaction

One of the things about studying Chinese that I am really starting to appreciate, is how important momentum is. The last two weeks I had been on a real role and making a lot of progress and for the first time giving me the confidence to actually believe that I could speak to Chinese people in their language, knowing that I wouldn't be perfect and would make mistakes.

However, this past weekend, without classes on Friday and a bunch of activities to do with friends I got a little lazy and didn't really study much. On top of that, I wasn't able to meet with my tutor because of a time confusion. Then on Sunday, the day I had reserved for studying, I got a real stomach virus and spent much of the evening around the toilet and in my bed. On Monday, I was still not feeling well with a dehydration migraine and wasn't able to meet with my tutor again. So, essentially, I missed four days of studying and while it doesn't seem like much it really has thrown off all my momentum. When I met my tutor today, I had forgotten a bunch of grammar points and vocab words, and in my one exam I forgot one of the easiest grammar points I had learned (luckily I was able to make up for it in other parts). To get back on track, I spent six hours studying today, two with my tutor and four by myself, between Starbucks and my apartment. So, here's to momentum and getting back on the Chinese language wagon!

I've only had one exam so far this week, and it was pretty easy. My next two will be much the same because the one is mostly in pinyin (few characters) and the other is just listening, so I am not worried about them.

Another thing of note that has happened recently is the closure of the outdoor night market in Wudaokou. Wudaokou is the college area of of Beijing, with at least 15 universities within a 15 minute walking radius.

The outdoor night market in Wu was huge, with dozens of mom and pop sellers; selling clothes, books, food, and just about anything else you could think of. As recently as a month ago it had been getting very crowded and hard to navigate for people just passing through. Something obviously had to be done to resolve the situation but in typical Chinese fashion, the police overreacted and instead of perhaps organizing, or making people pay for permits to sell things they just shut down the whole market and erected these hideous blue walls! Anyway, here is a picture of the newly erected fences.

Also, here is a picture of a girl I took a few weeks ago, who seemed to either be mocking the worldwide economic recession or just couldn't read English and thought the outfit looked cool (I am hoping for the latter)!!!

As for the stalker story, I am going to leave that for tomorrow...only so I can give the story the proper writing it deserves.

Chinese Bathhouse

One of the most famous historical aspects of Beijing are its hutong neighborhoods. Hutongs are basically a series of narrow alleys and backstreets. Within these alleys are courtyard homes, where as many as eight or even ten families lived and shared quarters.

For hundreds of years, every Beijinger lived in one of these types of homes. However, beginning in the 1950's and especially when China began its reform and opening in the 1980's, hutongs began to disappear as they gave way to modern roads and apartment complexes. One of the reasons that hutongs have disappeared so quickly since the reform and opening is because they lacked many of the the modern amenities that an emerging Chinese middle-class demanded. The hutongs had no running water, so no private showers or bathrooms, no heat and sometimes in poorer areas not even electricity.

And, because of the lack of running water, the bathhouse tradition took hold in China.

Often times when foreigners hear the term bathhouse they have a negative connotation about it but in China and much of Asia (particularly in South Korea and Japan) it is apart of their cultural tradition. In China, and in Beijing, people would frequent bathhouse once or twice a week to relax, clean and socialize because they lacked the running water at home. Now however, these bathhouses have become more like western spas in many ways, offering all types of massages (both good and naughty) that you would find in the west. However, Chinese spas still maintain a sense of tradition in that they are an important place to socialize because they offer more then just spa. They have swimming pools, arcade rooms, TV lounge rooms, fitness centers etc. Many also offer all-you-can-eat buffets.

It is for these reasons that many families will go together on the weekends, businessmen will take their clients to close business deals and regular people will just go to relax and spend time with friends.

Now that you have a little background here is my story.

My Chinese friend and I decided to try a Beijing bathhouse, since he had never been and obviously neither had I. We didn't have much clue on where to go, so we found this place online that had good reviews. It also wasn't very expensive. The downside, as we found out, is that it is in the middle of nowhere! Out close to the edge of Beijing-city proper. The place however, was just as nice as the pictures indicated. It was in this huge building, next nothing but the highway.

Inside, was like any spa in the US. It had a sort-of underground cave design to it, which was cool. One of the biggest differences between Chinese bathhouses and Western spas, is that in China everything is communal and there is no privacy. So, once you enter the proper dressing room you have to get naked and you stay like this until you leave the bathing areas.

(Unlike the West, China and much of Asia, I think, are not prudish when it comes to being naked. It is considered very normal. Also, the interactions between same-sexes is also very different in China. On the street, its not uncommon for men to have their arms around their friends and women to hold hands while they walk. In the bathhouse it is no different. For example, two Chinese men, about 30 came in and before you can use the hot springs you have to shower. Both of the men used the same shower head and soaped and washed each others backs. In the West, we would look at that as being gay, but in China its completely normal.)

Anyway, back to my story, after getting undressed and showered, there was the choice of a hot spring, different massages (not the seedy kind), a sauna and a large Olympic-size swimming pool to choose from. After relaxing for an hour or so and trying out all the place had to offer, my friend and I were starving and decided to hit up the buffet. We gorged on all kinds of Chinese foods and by the time we were done, we were kind of tired, so we went to the lounge and watched some TV. Later, I wanted to play my friend in ping-pong in hope of being able to tell people back home that I beat a Chinese person in ping-pong but alas, my friend was pretty good and I am not. By the time we were finished playing ping-pong it was already 10 PM and we had been there for close to four hours and if we were going to catch the subway home we had to leave. Oh yeah, all of this cost 108 RMB or about $16! Not bad.

To sum up my experience, I would definitely say it was something I would not have done back in the States and I really enjoyed it. I think a place like that would be perfect for a cold, winter Friday when all you want to do is relax from your week and be warm and still have some fun. So I will try and find a closer place to my apartment and hopefully one a little cheaper.

This blog post was a lot longer then I thought it was going to be and it is getting late and I have an exam tomorrow (this week is also mid-terms), so I will leave out probably the most interesting part (at least for me) of this whole experience.

A little teaser, it involves some stalking, Chinese politics, a nationalistic Chinese woman, a pro-democracy Chinese man and me!

Shopping in Xidan

I am hearing complaints about the lack of posts. Some have called me lazy, others have been kinder but no less disappointed! Unfortunately for everyone out there and me, the last week or 10 days have been utterly boring and uneventful. I have fallen into a routine of morning class, lunch, tutoring session, nap, dinner, homework, relax time and bed. Same thing everyday. It think though, it has become a good thing because I now have a routine and feel like I live here in Beijing and am not just a tourist or passerby. However, the result has been thatI don't really have as much to talk about...if you think of your daily lives, how often do you have something really noteworthy to write on a blog?

Nonetheless, I this past weekend I went clothes shopping with a few of my Chinese friends because I really needed some more winter clothes. China is a shoppers paradise, whether its clothes, food whatever. The big choice in China that you have to make especially when buying clothes is where to go. Generally you have two choices, you can go to the clothing stores like Gap, H&M etc. or you can go to Chinese shops and markets. The biggest difference between the two is price but quality is also not as good at the Chinese shops. However, when you consider the price of the two, its easier to pick the lower quality one. Many of the Chinese shops have really great choices and have almost identical clothes to what you would find in Gap or H&M.

In Xidan, there are both malls filled with dingy, somewhat rundown Chinese shops and 21st Century mega-malls where you can buy Gap, H&M or even Versace, Prada and LV. Obviously, I chose the Chinese shops because if you know how to bargain...you can get great deals. Oh yeah, that is the other big thing about Chinese shops, you have to bargain, or you will get ripped off! I hate to bargain because Chinese people are very nasty when it comes to business and because there are two prices at these shops, the Chinese price and the Foreigner price. Lucky for me, my friend Annie is the GREATEST bargainer, perhaps in the world! Unfortunately for me, because they were Chinese shops they didn't have a lot of things in my size so I didn't buy much. However, I was able to buy a belt, two of those new, trendy circular scarves and a sporty winter jacket for 295 RMB! For those of you who want the the conversion that is about $44. Exactly! Pretty cheap. On top of it all, the coat I bought must be the warmest coat I have ever bought in my life!

One of the cool things that I especially like about Xidan is the architecture. Since it is right next to Tian'anmen Square it seems to have molded a little bit of Imperial, Sino-Sov and Modern architecture designs (Sorry I didnt get any of the Imperial-style architecture).

Also, Chang'An Avenue runs right by Xidan shopping plaza. Chang'An is probably the most famous road in Beijing, maybe even China. It is also the widest road in Beijing, with 10 lanes and two bike lanes!

Here are some pictures of Xidan.

And the last picture is of Chang'An Avenue during morning rush hour, courtesy of Wikipedia!

One last thing, since today is the Mid-term elections in America, I thought I would teach everyone how to say election in Chinese, since I learned it as well today, when I told my teacher I was going to leave class early to watch the returns! 选举 (pronounced xuǎnjǔ) means election. You can also say 大选 (dàxuǎn) or literally the "big election" since today is a General Election. A primary would be called 初选 (chū xuǎn) or literally meaning "early election." Not sure what you would call the mid-term elections maybe 半中腰选举 (bàn zhōngyāo xuǎnjǔ) or 中途选举 (zhōngtú xuǎnjǔ) which I think both mean halfway election but I don't know if that is how it would be said in Chinese. I will attempt to get a clarification on that.

Good luck Democrats!!!!