Ch-Ch-Chattering in Ch-Ch-China

Wow.. you should see the view from my apartment. Through one window, you can see lots of lights from heavy traffic and buildings, while another shows about 10 different apartment buildings. Also where I’m living is not far from Olympic Park. I went to see both the Birds Nest and Aquatic Cube. The Birds Nest is massive. I was walking around by myself so I had lots of people trying to sell me different things. I’ve been told the key is not to look or speak to them, but they just kept following me for long distances speaking in bits of English and Chinese. I also had this one guy come up to me and I thought he asked if I could take a photo of him and was like “sure”, but next thing I know he was standing next to me and someone else was taking a photo of us. Then at the subway, some guy was walking beside me taking a photo of me with his phone. Ahh.. the paparazzi are after me!

It has been icy freezing cold on a few recent mornings. It even snowed lightly in my first week. I try to wear extra clothing (sometimes 4 or 5 layers), as Wuxian lent me these really warm thermal long johns and skivvy and Steve’s mum lent me a big Eskimo jacket but the cold still goes straight through! After the light snowfall, I noticed all the cars were dirty. Apparently it is because the snow isn’t very clean. Yesterday (21/12) was the coldest day of the year. It got to minus 9 degrees in Beijing. I went to Forbidden City, which I was really excited about, but it got so damn cold, that I got sick and nearly passed out. I was wearing two pairs of gloves and the cold still managed to burn my fingers. It was such a beautiful place, but I was so freezing that I couldn’t lift my head to look around. Luckily enough, I had two lovely girls with me who looked after me. I had to come home early, so I definitely will have to go another day. The coldest day of the year is a special day in the Chinese calendar, and it is ritual to eat dumplings so that your ears don't freeze and fall off - the dumplings look like ears.

I’m enjoying the primary school visits. Some classes are well-behaved, while others are a bit mischievous and don’t pay much attention. I took a comic book off one of the boys. One of the younger boys asked if I see the world in blue because I have blue eyes.. haha.

I often found myself staring at the ground as I walk to avoid the spots of slag on the ground. I see many Chinese people spit, even women, and even when they’re in the middle of having a conversation with someone. You can hear when someone around you does it too. The other day I saw a man sweeping sand on the road. I thought it might have been so the snow doesn’t make the ground slippery, but I found out out he was covering where people had slagged. These are just my observations; I’m not complaining, but it certainly isn’t easy getting used to the public excretion of bodily fluids.

Some of the interesting things I have eaten lately include corn juice, rice porridge, dumplings, roasted chestnuts, delicious Korean BBQ, sautéed silkworms (very high in protein I’m told), manlatan (soup with your choice of ingredients), pig trotters and hotpot. I’ve also seen swallow’s nest being sold in department stores for a very high price. The swallows make their nests with their saliva. Apparently the nests are edible and very nutritious! During the winter months, the Chinese frequently consume plain hot water, which makes sense considering how cold it is.

I bought a face mask, which I sometimes wear when walking outside. Not that many Chinese people wear them, but I mainly wear it to keep my face warm, and it also helps when I’m passing by a smelly or dirty area. Lol... I look like Dr. Jones.

I am proud to say that I have discovered the funkiest little vehicle, which is like a cheaper version of a taxi. I’m not sure what you call it, and I can only describe it by saying that it is like a little motorcycle encased in a metallic box in which you sit. It’s really fun to ride in. Because it is smaller than a bus or car, it weaves in and out of traffic and the driver honks everyone around him.

I went out last weekend and met up with a few foreigners - a mix of Americans, Canadians, Malaysian, German and Mexican. They were all playing beer pong and Xbox at someone’s very flash apartment. The beer in China comes in these big-ass bottles, but the alcohol percentage is lower. We then headed out to Sanlitun, which is apparently the place to go to for all the bars. We first went to a bar called Nanjie, whose motto was “Shut up. Just Drink”. It was there that I think I had my biggest culture shock, that being the huge number of foreigners. For some reason, it just freaked me out a little. Drinks of the alcoholic kind seem to be much cheaper than back home. You could get a shot for 10kuai (=$2.20), and 10 shots for 120kuai (=$26.70). A few guys were buying racks of ten, so I didn’t even end up having to buy any :)

I was glad when we finally left that bar, because the cigarette smoke was drying my eyes and throat out. I was pretty much ready to call it a night then but others wanted to keep going, so I followed them to another bar. When we were outside, there was a beggar hounding us for money as well as 2 very young children selling flowers. I couldn’t believe it. I tried to tell them to go home, but apparently they weren’t allowed to until they sold all the flowers. I thought that was really sad. After an hour or so at the next bar, I was getting real tired and just about fell asleep on the couch there.

We caught a taxi back home which was a fairly long drive, but the taxis here are relatively cheap. It cost 34kuai (=$7.55). So when we need to, we sometimes take advantage of that, especially considering how cold it is to walk outside. The subway system is very convenient, but it gets insanely crowded at times. I've also seen old people walking through the subway singing songs through a microphone as a type of busking.

The traffic here in Beijing is truly amazing. There just always seem to be a traffic jam involving cars, taxis, buses, bicycles, pedestrians and more! And the honking just never stops!! But the honking isn’t usually out of anger, it’s more like “watch out, I’m coming through!” It’s hard enough getting used to the fact that everyone drives on the right hand side here. Crossing the road is a task and a half, because even if you have a green man, you still have to watch out for the traffic that turns right even if they have a red light. It is crazy.

I went out to Houhai, which is a really pretty place. It is a big lake (that was frozen!) surrounded by lots of bars, traditional buildings and bars. I went at night, so it was lit up and pretty.

So apologies for the slight random layout of this post.. It was a bit of a brain dump! I am doing well here, besides struggling to learn Mandarin - it's not an easy language! Already half a month has past, and I'm gonna be back in Sunny Perth before I know it, so I'm doing my best to live it up :)