Goodbye for now Beijing

As finals arrive fast, I begin to say goodbye to this semester and to my life as an Alliance student. No longer will I walk past the women dancing on the tennis courts or the parking lot guards standing in one spot for hours. Nor will I drink endless cups of coffee in the cafe trying not to let the beautiful Italians and their muto buonas distract me from practicing my hanzi*. No longer will I fall asleep to the sound of my meimei's English recordings telling her a story about Eric and Jenny, or have my nainai telling me to eat, eat, eat.

I have learned so many things this semester.  I now know that I am capable of living in a country so different than my own; the more I experience the unknown, the less scared I am of new things. My Chinese has improved so much. Not only can  I chat about the weather, but thanks to last week's vocab, I can now talk about the economy. I have had many ups and downs— there were times when the pollution made me sad and the amount of people on the subway made me want to scream— but all in all I have really enjoyed my life here. What seemed different and a little strange when I arrived here has become normal. 

When I eventually leave Beijing, I will miss its energy. There is always something going on: art gallery openings, fashion shows, live music shows, beer and pizza festivals, Christmas markets and much more. I haven't scraped the surface of all Beijing has to offer. The one constant is that there is no constant, it is changing all the time. If  I do not want to deal with the crowds and the hustle and bustle energy of the city, I can sit and relax for hours at one of the many parks and watch retirees dance, practice Kungfu and play checkers. There is something for everyone here and I am so lucky I have had the opportunity to experience China first hand.

If you would like to see pictures and follow the rest of my trip around China and other countries follow me on Instagram: @lapidoo

*hanzi means chinese characters

How to combat culture shock

When I arrived in Beijing, I was prepared for the worst. Not only had everyone and their mother told me what to expect, but I had also done a lot of research. In a way, it made coming to China a more stressful experience, but once I was here I realized life was not as bad as the Internet or others around me had told me it would be. That said, it is good to be aware of local customs so you can mentally prepare yourself and lessen the effects of culture shock. The following is a list of things to expect when you live in China. 

1. Spitting

I cringe every time I hear someone begin to hawk a loogie, and it happens at least 50 times a day, no matter if I am walking down the street, or  riding the ditie*. One time I had to jump out of the way to avoid a loogie. That was an extreme case and of course does not happen to everyone!

2. Squatty Potty

There is probably a better term for this but I like referring to it as a squatty potty. These squat toilets are found in every establishment, from schools and museums to restaurants, and stores. It is highly unlikely you will see a western toilet. It only took me a couple weeks to get used to these squatty potties. Remember ALWAYS BRING HAND SANITIZER AND TOILET PAPER. Only in the 5 star bathrooms you will be provided with toilet paper (usually not soap)  but those are rare and glorious occasions. 

3. Private Space

What is private space? I have forgotten. Everywhere you go, there will be tons of people in your personal bubble. Once you accept this fact of Beijing life, you can move on and not let it bother you. Just like the cars (remember this post?) people will not let you pass or let you on the subway. Often the subway is so crowded people are squished up against the doors. Living here  you learn fast---- if you want to accomplish anything  push, push, push. 

4. Beds

In China it is thought that hard beds are better for the posture. In my dorm, host family and in many of the hotels (not all of them) the beds tend to consist of a wooden box and a thin mattress.  It took me just a couple weeks to get used to these box beds, but for those who cannot handle hard beds, there is a Walmart that is stocked with tons of mattress pads. 

5. Food

When I first arrived here I thought the food was delicious. Everywhere I went the food tasted like heaven. The food still tastes great, but I am getting tired of the grease. Be ready for heavily cooked food and tons of oil. Even in my host family they use a lot of oil when cooking. 

6. Warm water

In restaurants and cafes when you ask for water they will give you warm or boiling hot water in a glass. This is because warm water is considered to be better for the digestive system. At first I intensely disliked this custom, but I have gotten used to it and now I would never go back to ice cold water. 

 China is a great place to study abroad and to live, so do not let this list discourage you. I know that it helped me to know these things beforehand so I hope this list will help you too. 

A

*ditie means subway and is pronounced di-tee-eh 

An open letter/Ode to rice

Dear Rice, 

Let me begin by saying how much I owe thee. For breakfast, lunch and dinner you provide nourishment for my body and give me the energy to study Chinese. Whether I eat you in the form of soup, pancakes, or simply in a bowl, you are delicious and healthy. I love how you take at the most 20 minutes to cook in a rice cooker and you pair well with every kind of food. 

Nonetheless, we need to have a talk. I think we need a break. Although you are tasty, sometimes I just want meat and potatoes. No hard feelings. It is not you, it is me. I am not used to eating you 24/7. Rice in porridge-form,  pastries-and-candy-form, in soup, for lunch and dinner, I am kind of going crazy. 

So although  I would be happy if we could take a short break from each other, I would also like to thank you and remember, it is not you it's me. Besides there are over a billion other people that cannot imagine having a meal without you. 

Sorry not sorry, 

Sarah

My Little Apple

Happy Monday everyone! Here's a song to start of your week. It went viral here and everyone is obsessed with this song. It is called: Xiao Pinguo which means my little apple.

Enjoy!

Living with a meimei, a nainai and a Chinese mama

As I write this, my nainai is cleaning up after our typical meal of sauteed cabbage with rice. I will be sad to see her leave soon. After her surgery she will return to Gansu. She told me that she cannot wait to go back home. She says the pollution in Beijing is awful and there are too many people. She told me more, but that is about as much as I could understand. 

Dou jiang

Her accent is so strong that she may as well be speaking another language. Fortunately we have worked out a system, so it feels as though we are conversing. I ask her how her day is, she responds hen hao (meaning very good and pronounced hun how). I proceed to ask her if she needs any help and she says bu*. I then sit down to eat with her and she prods me to chi…chi…chi (pronounced chr) until I finally take a bite. Along with my nainai (Chinese for grandmother) I live with a 7-year old girl who I call meimei or little sister, and my meimei's mother.

The apartment is sparsely decorated with a couple of Chinese paintings, my meimei's art masterpieces scribbled on the walls, and red lucky charms hanging under the doorways. The couch,  across from the nicest big-screen TV I have ever seen, is also bright red, a color that is extremely important in Chinese culture----  it signifies good luck and happiness.

Split pants!

Everyday I eat breakfast, dinner, and sometimes lunch with the family. My favorite meal is definitely breakfast. Almost every morning my host mom makes me doujiang, a soybean milk drink and a sweet mibing, which is a kind of rice pancake.

An interesting pattern that I have noticed living with this family is that my 7 -year old meimei, her mother and her nainai all tend to fall asleep at around the same time. In general, children do not seem to always have bedtimes. Sometimes l come home late from studying around 9 or 10 and see children walking around outside with their parents. Speaking of children, I have seen a lot of bare bottoms here, because most babies do not wear diapers. Instead, they wear split pants and either just go to the bathroom when they feel like it or when their caretakers tell them to go to. Everyday I notice new things, it makes life here all the more interesting. Last night while walking around town I found this gem below. If only we had a Spice Girls restaurant in San Francisco! 



*bu means no

Chicken feet, a blind date, and porridge

I am making strides in becoming a little more zhongguohua, or chineseafied. Let’s take this past week as an example. In one week (and in this order) I accomplished the following: ate chicken feet without flinching, went on a blind date in a language I barely understood, and ate porridge with chopsticks… WITH CHOPSTICKS. I think the latter makes me the most proud. To tell you the truth though, it took me a good half an hour to finish my small bowl of porridge, called zhou in Chinese (pronounced like the name Joe).

Although these are a little more edible-looking than the chicken feet I ate, you get the idea

I still dread eating chicken feet not only because they look like bird talons minus the talons, but after spending countless minutes sucking the meat off the bones, I am rewarded with very little meat. Solely because this is a delicacy I will partake, but it is too much of an ordeal to actually enjoy eating them.

You see how there is a SPOON and no chopsticks?
 This is how zhou is usually eaten.

Last weekend, I told my host mom that I was having trouble finding a boyfriend good face wash due to everything being in Chinese. She then called her friend to come take me to the store and help me find one. Little did I know, she had previously told him that I was looking for a Chinese boyfriend. So, what I thought was going to be a short trip to the CVS-like store turned out to be a whole day excursion/date, ending in dinner. Like most good dates/boyfriends here in China he held my things for me, opened doors and treated me like a precious, porcelain doll. We spoke mostly Chinese with some English thrown in now and again. I did not realize until the end that it was sort of a date. The clue was when he asked if I was looking for a boyfriend, because that is what he was told. I was so surprised I had to cough to stop myself from laughing. I told him that this was news to me. He was very nice about it and now I have a new friend. He taught me  many new things like the fact that men stand on the left side of the girl in order to protect her from on coming cars, foot traffic, etc. I also learned about how fatigue affects language acquisition, because by the end of the night, my brain was so fried he may as well have been speaking martian to me. 

My last accomplishment as an adoptive Beijinger was eating zhou with chopsticks. I sat down at the table last Sunday morning,  my host sister practicing her English on my right and my nainai sitting on my left telling me to chi, chi, chi (eat, eat, eat). In front of me lay a gigantic bowl of zhou... and chopsticks. At first I thought it was a joke----eating liquid with chopsticks? But a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. My growling stomach would not have it any other way. Although it took me a good half an hour, I somehow succeeded in scarfing down every last bite of that porridge. See, everyday in China is an adventure, even breakfast.

3 Important lessons that every Beijinger learns sooner or later

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. Not only did my computer break, but since I live off campus it is difficult to borrow anyone’s computer. While going through the process of trying to buy a new computer with my limited funds I did learn some valuable lessons :

A vending machine library randomly situated in the heart of Sanlitun, a chic party and shopping district

1    1. Buy anything you need off of JD.com.

I ordered my new computer---- unfortunately not my beloved Apple because they are insanely expensive here---from JD.com. Guess when it came, just take a wild guess… IT CAME THE NEXT DAY. Let me say it again so it really sinks in: the sun went down, then it came up again and my computer arrived!!!! In less than 24 hours I was able to hold my precious new computer in my hands.

2.  Buy clothes and items  by your favorite brands in your home country.

It is true that life is cheap here: food, bus tickets, and items that you bargain for are definitely inexpensive, but famous stores like H&M, Forever 21, Apple, are more expensive than in the US. The main  places to buy cheap clothes are at bargaining markets like the Golden Towers and the website Tabao.com, a site EVERYONE uses for anything and everything. The only problem with this site is that sometimes the clothing sizes are off. So if you need to learn anything from me, it is that you are better off bringing everything you own from home to China, unless of course you are a bargaining master, then have at it!

3. Pray that your Apple products do not  break.

I LOVE Apple products. Since high school I have had various Macs and since graduating college I have fallen in love with the iPhone. Unfortunately, although Apple is expensive in the US, it is even more expensive in China. Hence, I went from having an iPhone and a Mac in the States to an Android and a PC here in Beijing. C’est la vie, right?

As these lessons show, while living in a different country, it takes time to get the hang of things. Although it was annoying to not have my convenient go-to, computer repair guy, and to have to make do with a cheaper PC, living in Beijing is worth it. The food, the people, and the Beijing life is such an adventure that everything else seems trivial. Here are some pictures of Beijing life:

This delicious feast made walking around a park during class for a couple hours in the freezing cold almost pleasurable.

So...this fox boot apparently is a thing

Home sweet home, gotta love rush hour!

I really did try to eat my Thanksgiving feast with chopsticks... I ate about 5 bites before giving up.

That one time my mother came to China

On my break from school, my mother finally came to visit me! We had a blast exploring the flower-lined streets of Guilin, riding on a boat to Yangshuo and spending a heavenly time tasting the delicacies of the Guanxi province . Traveling around Guiling and Yangshuo made me feel as if I were in a Chinese painting: the rice fields blurring past me as the mountains magically appeared out of  the thick fog, bamboo boats floating down the river, and green plants of all kinds everywhere I looked. It rained almost the entire time we were there, but what I would normally consider dreary weather, only added to the allure of these places. Thanks to the rain, the tourists stayed away and the fog would float in, making the views look almost mystical. 

Look at that fog!

One day we trekked through  rice paddies arriving at a sleepy village. Passing by chickens and roosters we walked over ancient bridges, up stone steps, and past wax gourds growing out of stone walls, finally arriving at a  restaurant where I stuffed my face with the best meal of my entire, 23-year old life. This simple meal was made up of sweet, cinnamon-tasting lohanguo tea; beef with greens; fresh eggs and, garden-grown tofu and bamboo shoots. This meal was literally a farm to table meal and boy was I a happy camper.

Although we had a tour guide, we often depended on my knowledge of Chinese. I could easily bargain with vendors, order food, and ask for directions. With only some mishaps (like not understanding that the wine was not included in our meal and thus we would have to pay an extra outrageous sum of money) I actually conversed with people in Chinese, using whole sentences! Progress!!! I had so much fun spending time with my mother and introducing her to the Chinese language and culture. 

Since then, I have moved into a host family and have been practicing my Chinese as much as possible. It is harder than you think to only speak Chinese when most of your friends speak English. I can happily say that my Chinese has improved immensely! Don't get me wrong, I probably at most, understand fifty percent of what is being said at all times, but all of that seems rather trivial when I can finally communicate and have basic conversations with people. 

                                                                    Guanxi Province is known for chiles and delicious hot sauces

A traditional tea ceremony

To bargain or not to bargain, that is the question

Only a few steps from my dorm lay the Golden Towers, one of the best places to buy cute and cheap clothes. From the first to the fourth floor, tiny stalls are stuffed to the brim with clothes, shoes, accessories, and everything in between. Beijing has countless markets like these; some are mostly for tourists and thus more expensive, while others are for locals and tend to be cheaper. These markets are where the bargaining magic happens. In some, you only need to lightly bargain, while in others you may need to bargain for your life; every market has its own personality. The art of bargaining begins with the phrase: duoshao qian? (pronounced dwo-shao-chyen) meaning "how much?". From there, it becomes a game to try and pay the lowest price possible for an item. At times it can seem like a duel, but in the end it is all friendly. There are many ways to successfully bargain. Here are some tips I learned by bargaining and by watching others bargain: 

Never let the vendor know how much you love the item.

If  he or she does know, lowering the price will be much harder. I went to the Golden Towers once to buy a jacket. Thanks to my Chinese friend, who came with me to translate, I did not have to do the leg work. I am secretly glad I did not understand most of the Chinese I heard because I would have felt so guilty and just given in to the exorbitant price. 

Start with a low price---- lower than the most you are willing to pay.

This way, you have a price to work up from and maybe if you are lucky you can get away with a lower price than you expected. Once the vendor agrees to your price, it cannot be changed. 

Don’t fall for the act, they know exactly how to read people and how to get a higher price.

After naming a low price the vendor started berating my friend for how low and unfair the amount was for the high quality of the item and how it was lower than the amount she paid for the jacket. I thought the vendor was going to burst into tears. My friend assured me that this was just an act. After the vendor lowered the price 10 kuai* (still more than I wanted to pay)  I told her no, gave her back the jacket, and began to walk away.

The best move: feign a walk-away. This is when you pretend to walk away in the hopes that the vendor will run after you and give in to your price.

At the right time, the walk-away can make or break a bargain. In this instance, she called to me and motioned for me to come back. She said she would not accept the price I had wanted, but she would lower the price a little more. I refused because it was still more than I was willing to pay and I gave her my final price---- the most I would pay for the jacket. The expression on her face seemed to say “puh-lease” and she continued to yell at me about how the jacket was worth more. In the end after refusing to go lower and trying to walk away again, she reluctantly accepted my price.

To win at the game you need to think of it as a puzzle, if one bargaining method does not work, try another.

In the western city of Xining, no one would bargain with me. I ended up getting a lower price by saying “I only have 90 kuai” (instead of the full 110 kuai). Because it was only 20 kuai less than what they asked for, they accepted it. For this to work though, you need exact change. Another tactic is to offer to buy more of an item for a discounted price.

Although I understand the logistics of bargaining and I have successfully bargained, I am no professional. Sometimes I fail and it can be frustrating. Failing is normal and the more you practice the easier it will get. As long as you think about bargaining as a game, it will be fun.  

*Kuai is slang for RMB, the Chinese dollar. 

Old and new find a balance in the 798 art district

Before coming to China I had learned a little bit about traditional Chinese art, but I never knew that China had such a world-renowned contemporary art scene. The most famous exhibitions are located in the art district 798. Fun fact: 798 in Chinese is qi jiu ba, which sounds a lot like qu jiu ba or "let's go to the bar". This area is owned by the military and was named after the main factory in the area: Factory 798. When these weapon-producing factories shut down due to lack of use, art collectors began renting them out and converting them into galleries. Since then 798 has become THE place for well-known artists, both Chinese and international artists, to showcase their work.

I went to 798 on Saturday---- the air was so polluted I had to wear a face mask. Although the air quality was a bummer, I had a blast exploring 798. The streets were so empty that I had no problem getting into any of the galleries. I saw everything from eerily and beautifully painted trees to a painting with Angelina Jolie's lips.

An example of a hutong, although not in 798. 

In addition to art galleries there are many high-end designer shops, though you would not know by looking down the cobble-stone hutongs. These small alleyways take you back to another era. Although the narrow, curving hutongs made some of the galleries hard to find, they made for interesting discoveries and they gave me an insight to what ancient China must have been like. Outside of 798 walking down the large boulevards surrounded on either side by malls, high-rises, and tall office buildings, it can be easy to forget Beijing's history. Then there are areas like this that are reminders China's rich history and culture. What I love about this city is the old and new trying to find a balance in the Beijing's ever growing economy and population. Here are some pictures of 798 art district:

Factoyr-turned-art-gallery

Angelina Jolie's lips

One day I will be able to read all of these Chinese books...one day

The simple village life

View outside my homestay

Buddhist offering furnace

Yesterday morning, I awoke to the thick smell of incense burning, a child whining, and a woman speaking in Tibetan. Forgetting where I was, I looked around for a moment at the log cabin-esque room containing just one large bed, empty shelves, and a simple bed sheet covering the window. Then I remembered. I was in Wendu, a small farming village in the mountains of Qinghai. Running out to the front of the house, I stumbled into a sea of white. All around me everything was covered in recently fallen snow: the mountains in the distance, partially hidden by thick fog; the small, dirt-and-brick houses that make up the village; and the winding, worn-out streets. For the first time in China, I could not hear a sound. The silence was so profound that I could hear my heart beating.  

 I arrived in Wendu yesterday evening with my study abroad group. First we went to the village school and played with the local children and then we went to meet our different host families. Two other girls and I arrived at a large, blue metal door and were welcomed by a middle-aged woman with her young grandson wrapped in a blanket, on her back. Although she was a young grandmother, her wrinkles showed the age that comes early due to daily backbreaking work.  Her hair was long and black, parted in the middle and tied in two braids, and she was wearing the traditional Tibetan dress consisting of a long sleeve shirt under a thick long black overcoat that reached the ground. Like most other outfits I had seen, the right sleeve of her coat was slipped under the shoulder and tucked into a belt. The sleeves are so long, that when people are working, they only wear one sleeve. This forms a convenient pocket at their chest. Like this and this.

Because my roommates and I only knew a few Tibetan words and our host mother did not speak a word of English or Chinese, our interactions felt awkward; we did not know how to communicate to her. She motioned us to sit down at a low table where we drank tea and ate homemade bread. She kept checking in on us and refilling our tea, without saying a word. When we had finished eating the bread she brought us heaping bowls of handmade noodles followed by plates of pickled vegetables. Although it was the simplest meal I had eaten on the trip, it was definitely my favorite; I am addicted to bread and this bread unlike the notoriously bland Chinese bread was delicious.

After dinner, at around 7 p.m. she motioned us to do our business in front of the house---- they have no toilet or shower just a hole---- and then to go to sleep. We slept on a large carpet-covered bed, or rather a large block of packed dirt in a wooden frame that took up a whole side of the room. It was not the most comfortable, but I was grateful for the heating pad she gave us. With no central heating the room can get dangerously cold. 

Aoman in traditional Tibetan clothing

A herd of sheep heading to the mountains

 Life in this village can be very hard because there is no industry. Our guide, who was born in Wendu, was the first of his village to get a job in the capital, a 3-hour drive from his home. Those who live in Wendu farm the land and raise farm animals. These days the young adults leave the village to work in construction, meaning that the older family members have to farm the land and take care of the grandchildren. He says in the olden days, people were poorer but happier because they spent more time together. Nowadays the villagers have more money but are unhappier. Nonetheless, village life is simpler than city life. In Xining, weekend breaks are almost non-existent---- people wanting to make money non-stop. In the village, although the work is hard, on weekends people take a break. They drink tea with their friends play cards by the fire, and spent time with their family. 

I have just returned to Beijing, and I cannot stop thinking about Qinghai, a world so different than mine. I will never forget the colorful temples smelling of incense and yak butter, the monks chanting, and the homemade bread and fresh doughy noodles. What I especially loved about Qinghai was the friendliness and empathy of people that I met around the cities and villages; it was very refreshing. 

Escape to Qinghai

Yaks on the Tibetan Plateau

Only minutes after landing in Xining, the capital and only big city of Qinghai province, I could already tell that I was in a different world. Unlike Beijing, the sun is bright and the sky is refreshingly clear from pollution.  A developing city, it is made up of  tall and uninspiring high-rises. Although lacking the polished feel of cities like San Francisco and Hong Kong, the surrounding mountains reflect the beautiful nature that makes up most of the province. With lakes, forests and national parks, Qinghai province is almost like a large nature reserve.

Roof of a mosque 

Located in the northeastern part of China, Qinghai has a large Tibetan population. Tibetan buddhist monasteries dot the countryside and the big city, and Tibetan tea houses and restaurants are normal sights. There is also a large Chinese Muslim population. So large in fact that there is a Muslim quarter with magnificent mosques.  For dinner the first night,  my group and I ate at a fancy family-style Muslim restaurant, where we gorged on pancakes, a soy sauce steamed egg dish that looked like flan, a sticky rice dessert, fried pumpkin, and many delicious shu cai (vegetable) dishes. 

The next day our guide took us to Kumbum Monastery. Only a 45-minute drive from our hotel, we spent most of the day wandering around and stopping in temple after temple. Inside this working monastery, monks in burgundy robes scurried down tiny corridors and the smell of incense lingered around each corner. 

Prayer wheels 

Arriving at the first temple, I stepped over* the threshold beam, a tall step directly under the doorway, and entered what seemed like another world. A monk sat in a corner quietly chanting in Tibetan while steadily beating a drum. The aroma of incense lightly drifted around the courtyard and a giant golden Buddha clad in colorful scarves  looked down at me. What really stood out though, was the vividly painted scene on the wall behind the monk depicting angry-looking nature spirits and crazy-looking horses. Albeit this frightening depiction, the painting represents the respectful relationship between Tibetans and nature. Afraid of angering the many spirits, they traditionally treat animals and the natural world with love and respect---- similar to the Native Americans. I had so much fun learning about Buddhism and experiencing something completely out of the ordinary. This made for a great first experience in Qinghai and I cannot wait for the next excursion!

*The height of the step represents the social status of the family (or in this case the monks) living in the building. You are never supposed to step directly on the  step because it signifies a lowering of your status. For a reason that I am not aware of, girls usually step over the step with their right leg.

How to cross the street in China

I have news everyone. Chinese finally almost makes sense! This may not seem like big news, but being confused 24/7 gets old fast. Although I cannot understand everyone, many things make more sense than before. For example, when getting food at the canting I can have small conversations with the servers about what I want to eat instead of just pointing and hoping it is food that I can eat.

Because of this, I was feeling on top of the world one day, so I went to the local bakery to pick up some pastries. Unfortunately this means that I had to cross a huge intersection, which in China is the scariest and most dangerous thing one can do.

So, with the green light motioning me to go, I looked both ways (my mother taught me well) and  took one step into the intersection. All of a sudden a honk blared in my eardrum making me jump back. A vespa zoomed past where I had just been standing. My heart beating race car fast, I took two more steps and then stopped right in the middle of the street as a turning bus cut me off. It passed by me so closely  that my nose could almost touch it. With nose intact,  I sprinted across the rest of street, making it safely to the other side. After that experience I decided to make a list of five easy rules to follow so that when visiting China, so you do not get hit while crossing the street:

1. When you hear a honk move out of the way because the driver WILL run you over (or yell at you for being an idiot). The street is a vicious hierarchy, bigger vehicles have the right of way.

2. Cling to groups. If you see at least one other person crossing, cling to them for your life and they will lead you to safety.


3. Even on small streets, do not look in awe at the wondrous sights around you. Nine times out of ten a moped or one of the buggy cars will hit you.
                               
4. Lose your sense of self preservation. If you are afraid of getting run over, make it a rule to never cross a street.

5. The most important rule is that there are no rules. On the streets of Beijing, it is every person for themselves.

Here are a couple pictures where there were no cars and barely any people: The Great Wall of China!!!

Look how blue the sky is!!!! This means no pollution:)

Hipster-chic Beijing

This weekend I went on a mini adventure to find a hidden cafe that claimed to  grow their own herbs in their garden POWERED BY CATFISH. They also claimed to have "furniture made from up-cycled materials." Totally perfect for my compost-maniac-natural-food-eating-obsessed self. Needless to say after getting lost here:

My friend and I finally found this:

We had a blast sharing an amazing duck sandwich, gluten-free sugar cookies and great coffee. The price was a bit expensive for China, but totally worth it. It was so interesting to see the old and new China ---- hipster-chic cafes and all  ---- collide with the older, more traditional China. This hidden cafe was in an old electrical factory, right across from small, traditional dumpling, huo guo (hot pot) and roast duck restaurants similar to this one: 

One interesting thing I noted (as I have been noticing since I arrived here) are not only the amount of couples on the street, but the amount of young couples. I am not exaggerating when I say that 90% of the people I pass on the street are with a partner. At first I thought that maybe love was in the air, but that is obviously not the case. The pressure to get married by 26 or 27 years of age is extreme. People are supposed to get married young. The idea is that once you are too old, no one will want to be with you.

We also have this notion in America. The idea that women have a "biological clock" and if  we don't hurry we will be too old. Ideas in America are changing in this regard and maybe they will change here too. It is clear that Beijing is adapting with it's hipster-chic cafes, CSA's and farmers markets, artsy stores and restaurants, but also still keeping intact the vibrant Chinese culture that makes this city so interesting to live in. 

Here are some photos from around Beijing: 

                        Lama Temple- the scent of incense is everywhere. It's such a spiritual atmosphere:

 With their graceful movements and beautiful traditional Chinese music, these women make my daily walks to the can ting (pronounced sawn teen) or dining hall, a pleasant experience. 

I love nice food and nice prices. just saying.

 My new favorite pizza place on Wudaojie the hipster-chic street

Dancing with Stone Lions (which I keep mistaking for dragons)

I had my first exam on Friday and boy was it rough. So, needless to say I was in need of a break. As though the universe had heard my prayers, my break came in the form of an outing to the Summer Palace, and it was absolutely magical. I went with Alliance, so all of us in the group spent the day taking pictures in every corridor and under every tree.  
 
The Summer Palace sits alongside Kunming Lake and consists of a plethora of gardens, temples, halls, bridges, and  roofed corridors. For a Chinese tourist attraction, it was rather empty that day and  it felt as though we had the gardens to ourselves.  
Being obsessed with Chinese lion sculptures, I took pictures with every stone lion I saw. I ran up and down corridors taking pictures with every stone sculpture I could find. I also spent the day in dreamland, wondering what it would have been like to be there when the powerful Empress Dowager Cixi ruled the kingdom. ( I want to read this book). 

We took a boat ride across the lake to the Seventeen-Arch Bridge passing the main temple on Longevity hill. After arriving at the other side, we were welcomed by a tiny elderly woman belting out Chinese songs and playing an accordion. 

Longevity Hill

Walking past a row of willow trees, I gravitated towards the most beautiful pagoda I had ever seen (shown down below). At first sight it looked like any other  Chinese pagoda. At a closer look the normally bright red, green, blue, and gold colors were peeling and faded. Granted, I would also have looked that way too if I had been through the Opium War, the Boxer Rebellion and countless other wars and revolts; it's age made it seem all the more wise and alluring. 

 It's as if this pagoda was awaiting my arrival. Although fleeting, as I stood under it's traditional Chinese roof, I felt at peace and as though everything was going to be alright. It helped me appreciate the moment and realize that I have been moving non-stop since I arrived here without taking a breath. This moment made me pause for a fleeting second and appreciate where I was and how lucky I was to be there. 

For most of this trip I have been so intent on doing well that I have been buried in my books and worrying about everything from learning Chinese to where I am going in life. I have not had time to  stop and just appreciate being alive and being able to live my shenghuo in a new place and in a new culture. So thank you Summer Palace for demanding that to take a chill pill and  reminding me to just enjoy the adventure.

Ps: say hi to my new best friend. He was just chilling by one of the pagodas: