Photos

on flikr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59213751@N06/

黑车! Black taxi!

As a rule, the more different forms of transportation I can fit into my day, the rad-awesomer (牛B!) it is. I suppose the ultimate day transportation wise was a day in rural Shandong when Zhu and I took a cab which switched us out to another cab halfway through the journey for some reason (passengers of both cars got out and swapped on the side of the highway) then we went to the train station and wanted to take a train, but they were no tickets, so we walked to bus station and bought bus tickets the next day and took a bus to a hotel and then woke up the next morning, cabbed to the long distance bus station bussed it back to Beijing and subwayed to our respective homes. I'm only missing a plane and a boat for that 24 hour period.
Other transportation win: being stranded (well, again not being able to buy train tickets back to Beijing) in Shenyang with my roommate and her boyfriend. No plane tickets either, so with collaborated with someone on a Chinese craiglist to hitch a 8 hour ride in the back of a tiny sedan back to Beijing. This is called 拼车 (pin che) but I don't know why.

Typically, a winning day in Beijing means having a day that requires the subway, bus and a cab. (I should note, cabs in China a cheap and more of a necessity, not a luxury item or rarity like they are in the States). Having subway + cab days is pretty common, as I typically take the subway to get myself close to my destination, then cab the rest of the way. Beijing's subway system is extensive, but the city itself is much more expansive an often times the place I am trying to go is a good 10-15 cab ride away from the most convienent subway stop. (Again, expansive subway system-but going to the closest stop can mean awkward transfers and terribly roundabout routes).

Today was a winning day. Cabbed it to work (okay, this was a luxury cab ride--I was running late because I wanted to have my favorite food-炒肝chao ganr, a garlicly thick consistenced soup/gelatin with liver and intestine-with the fam for breakfast. But it was a Sunday and I was going to work-I deserved to sit). To get home I take a bus to the subway then the subway for two stops.

The whole point of this story is a video that I was on a flatscreen TV that subway cars in Beijing are equipped with. I was told that this occured around the Olympics, so that Chinese would never have a moment where they could possibly miss a minute of Olympic coverage.) Now they play ads, made for subway TV cooking shows and short educational bits featuring Leon the Frog.

I love Leon. He's an adorable little green guy that uses plenty of my favorite Chinese part of speech-modal particles.(wa:哇 la:啦 ma:嘛 o:哦,噢,喔 me:么 lo: 咯 ye:耶) and is always getting into all sorts of trouble and learning life lessons from it. Today's lesson was called: The Temptation of Beautiful Girls.

Leon needs to take a cab. He hails a legal cab, with an ugly driver and high price-13 RMB per km. Then he notices a black cab-the illegal cabs that plague Beijing-which is driven by an elephant with long blonde hair, blush, flutterly eyelashes and a pair shiny pink lips. The price is listed as 5 RMB per km. Naturally, he goes with the "beautiful girl." The screen now shows a map that displays the roundabout and circling route-nearly the final destination but never reaching it. Then we see Leon protesting, at which the beautiful cab driver removes a blonde wig, eyelashes, and make up, reavealing the hideous truth. Then we are told: "Don't get sucked in by beauty, don't talk black cabs!"

What it means to be an intern.

1. " We can't pay you much, but this is going to be a great experience. "
We can't pay you much, but are grateful for the cheap labor that you have to offer. Also, be prepared to work hard. That's what experience is all about!

2. "I don't really see this as being a 9 to 5 job, you'll be in control of when you work."
Ha! Of course this isn't going to be 9 to 5, because their is no way you can get everything we expect you do done the the few hours contained between 9 and 5.

In the same vein...

3. "I don't think this job can be defined in the terms of part time or full time."
You are going to be working full time, but paid like its part time.

3. "Since you don't really have a lot of experience doing on particular thing,"
we'll sort of just have you doing, well, everything. Look at you, young and energetic, you can learn pretty much anything on the spot, right! (This really applies to me: My original job description was marketing and promotion, now here is a comprehensive list of things I do that are not really covered by the umbrella of marketing and promotion: shopping for snacks at Walmart, acting as some sort of expert about education in the States, translating between English and Chinese and vice versa, market research, filming advertisements to put on Youtube, consulting on art, developing website content, writing articles, writing code, and recording the voices for iOS applications.)

4. "We'd like you do be pretty independent."
We have no clue what exactly you are going to be doing.

5. "This should be really fun and you'll learn a lot."
Well, this is actually very true. As much as I loathe heading to Kitty Pad (woe is me, what I name, if only naming the company were my responsibility too...) every morning, its decent, and I am learning a lot, things that I never thought I would come across, and my collegues are mostly fun to be around (especially when we share Youku videos in the "Kitty Pad Underground Chat Room" on QQ, China's version of AIM). However, I'm glad this intern business only lasts for a summer.

Also, its true what they say about internships, that they can help you decide what you want in a career. Thanks to my life at Kitty Pad, I think I've found my calling... (Though it is almost totally unrelated to what I do between the hours of 9 to 5 or so)

On the cost of medicine.

Recently, I think due to the crazy heat and sweating all the time or something, I've been breaking out. This sort of bothers me, I mean, who isn't slightly perturbed by red things crawling all over your face, but I get by. Though, I'd like it to stop. Zhu's mom, on the other hand is very upset by this. Everytime I leave the house with Zhu, she exclaims, "Oh, Hu Juanr is breaking out!" and threatens to take me to the doctor if Zhu doesn't. She also is constantly saying, to anyone who will listen (including strangers in the elevator and cab drivers) how I used to be very pretty, very white. Yeah. Three weeks ago, I gave in, and the three of us went to the 老家 (hometown, which=Wenzhou) doctor. It was a private doctor, so he was housed in an apartment complex. There were people all over the place, sprawled out on couches and cots with IVs. Evidently, the laojia/Wenzhuo doctor is a big fan of using IVs as a method of treatment. I'm so glad he refused to see me, the forienger.

Last weekend Zhu and I tried at another place, Bei Da Yi Yuan (北大医院 or Beijing University Hospital). Interesting fact, there are two 北大s (Beida): the university and the hospital and everyone calls them the same thing, but they are on opposite sides of town. When we got in the cab, Zhu told the driver we wanted to go to 北大 (Beida) and if he didn't have a good grasp of the layout of Beijing we would have gone to the university, because that is the direction the driver initially went.

That hospital, for some reason or another, also couldn't treat me because they were out of medicine.

So today, Zhu's mom took me to a traditional Chinese medicine clinic, and I was finally treated.

But first, how much does this cost.

At Beida Yi Yuan, which practices science-based Western medicine the cost to see a doctor is 6 rmb, or about $.90. Conditions not so great, but, if they have medicine, I'm sure it would get the job done (no patient rooms, you walk up to the doctor while they sit at their desk).

At the traditional Chinese clinic, which is beautiful, relaxing (important parts of Chinese medicine), has a garden-like feel and big comfy patient rooms it was 60 rmb, or about $9 to see the doctor.

And at a western clinic staffed with English speaking doctors, the cost to see a doctor is 600 rmb, or about $90.

And just a bit on my experience at the Chinese doctor. Zhu had told me a bit about the experience, that the doctor simply listens to your pulse and can tell what is wrong with you. I won't say what was wrong with Zhu, because its sort of embarrassing for him, but he once went the the Chinese medicine doctor and he knew exactly what was going on, just by hearing his pulse for awhile. He didn't mention the sillk pillow that you rest your wrist on while the doctor listens to it.

When you enter the hospital, there is a big sign board with pictures of all the different doctors (all ancient) and their specialities. You choose your doctor based on what is listed he can treat.

So what is wrong with me?

Not much. I'm breaking out because of the pollution in the air, and because I eat seafood and hot sauce and too much protein. I am also too exhausted and have a little bit of insomnia. He knew I usually woke up at around 4 in the morning without reason, so there's that. Also, it was pretty adorable, when we went in, Zhu's mom told the doctor that I was foreign. I mean, as if he couldn't tell....

So do I believe in Chinese medicine? I don't know. I need to finish my medicine first. You may ask, what is the medicine? Well, the doctor writes a personalized presciption for each patient, and prescribed a bunch of different dried herbs and what look like old mushrooms and roots and rocks and seeds. Then the "nurses"? perhaps pharmacists measure out your prescription. Its very exciting. There is a huge wall of drawers with the different names of all the medicines etched onto the wooden cabinet walls. There were about 15 pharmacists holding scales (not sure what they are called, I'll say traditional? ) and running back and forth, pouring exact amounts onto the table. Even though they used scales, they were so good that everytime the measured out medicine, they didn't have to correct their initial eyeballed guess-amazing. The mixture are wrapped up in brown paper, bundled together and taken home. Then, you do something (not sure) with the dry ingredients into a most disgusting soup. Then, you drink the most disgusitng, most bitter soup. Blech.

How I've come to hate "hello"

I've heard it said that the most recognized word in the world is "ma" (mom). I don't doubt it for a second, after all is the same in the the three most widely spoken languages, Mandarin, Spanish, and English. But I think the most widely recognized English word has to be "hello." Who doesn't know what "hello" means? The trouble is, in China, or at least, according to my experience in China, "hello" takes on a new meaning that I don't exactly love. That's not to say "hello" can't be used as a warm greeting in China, in fact I hear it all the time. Young people often answer cell phone calls with a freakishly American sounding "hello" that used to leave me stunned to hear the conversation switch into Chinese, and not perfect English. (Side not on answering cell phones, the Japanese greeting, "mushimushi" is also seems to be quite popular).

The trouble arises, ironically, when "hello" is used with a native English speaker. "Hello" becomes aggressive, loud, and harsh, and can take on any number of meanings, subsituting whole paragraphs, most of which would begin with, "HEY! FOREIGN PERSON!"

For example: "HEY FOREIGN PERSON! You must speak English because you don't look like me! And because you are foreign and in China you must have lots of money and not spend it wisely! Come look at my overly priced goods so I can make a lot of money! HELLLO! If I speak louder are you more interested!?"

Or: "HEY FOREGN PERSON sitting in my cab! I know you just spoke to me in fluent Chinese, but I still won't use the same language to ask you which way to turn.

Or: "HEY FOREIGN GIRL! You are blonde, that's unusual around these parts! I've seen blonde girls on TV and they are promiscuous! Don't you think its fun to be the butt of my joke right now? You see, here I am in front of my friends, we are all mid twenties or so with seemingly nothing better to do but stand around all day! They think its really hilarious when I say "hello" at foriegn girls! Why aren't you responding? Gosh you are rude. I'll say "hello" again, that should do the trick, "HELLO!"

And finally the one that really yanks my last straw out from under me: "HEY FOREIGN PERSON! You are doing something stupid right now and this is how I am going to get your attention! Gosh you are stupid! I don't know how to communicate with you in English so I am going to repeat what I just said a few more times, "hello," "hello!" I won't make any attempt to use my native tongue to communicate what I need to say to you, because being in China and understanding Chinese, well that would just be plain silliness! You don't understand what information I am trying to get across by saying "hello" and making awkward gestures? Why not! Stupid foreigner!"

Which brings to me an interesting point about a difference between the US and China. In the States we don't only expect foreigners to speak the language, we demand it. Whereas in China, if a foreigner can respond to yes/no questions with the appropriate monosyllabic grunts and modal particles, it is usually met with genuine awe. Why?

I think there might be a few reasons. First of all, Chinese is a genuinely extremely difficult language. English is said to be difficult as well, but I think Chinese might be harder. I have a lot of reasons for this belief, which I may or may not expand upon later, but for now just take my word for it. I also think Chinese people hear a lot of foreigners attempting Chinese and butchering it, while American hear a lot of foreigners speaking English extremely well.

Also, the US is very much composed of foreigners, where in China they really stick out. I would like to here a foreigners' experiences in the States, but under a lot of circumstances one might pass under the foreign radar. Most (if not all) Asian Americans that I have known in China have stories of being spoken to in Chinese, and difficulty explaining their Americanness and lack of Chinese language skills.

Or is it because the US is so self centered that it thinks that everyone should just speak English already? We don't tend to worry about foreign language so much. I've been asked, "so what foreign language are you required to study in school？" Foreign language requirement, HA! (开玩笑）In China, their seems to be a greater respect for the difficulty of learning another language.

Maybe. I'm still not sure which take I prefer. Really, I just don't like being "hello"ed at.

Advice taken from Chinese facebook.

Getting more and more into social networking in China.

This is a caption from and album called "Advice for Young People." I might translate the whole thing later.

你为什么来北京？有一千万个北漂就有一千万个理由，为了上学为了赚钱为了理想为了姑娘为了事业为了看一眼天安门……

Why did you come to Beijing? There are a thousand Beipiao (term for people who come to BJ and are just floating about) with a thousand reasons, for school, to make money, for a girl, for employment, to lay eyes on Tiananmen...

Ha.

Friday Night Lights

Last night my have been one of my favorite Friday nights "out" in Beijing yet.
I went with Zhu to the neighborhood hair salon in an attempt to work out something decent looking for the progressively wider (in humidity, my hair grow out not down) mess of blonde things on top of my head. My second haircut in Beijing, worse than the first, though bearable because I sort of new what was coming. The haircut was okay, though I miss the days in the States when I could say something really obscure like, "I don't really know what I want, maybe something a little funky, thin out the back, and and sprinkle some slightly conservative pzazzazz because, you know, the way my hair is textured." Who even knows what that means, but it usually works. This time, upon entering the shop every haircutting "teacher" (its whats there called just stared. Zhu had buzzed his hair there last week, and as there was nothing left to cut on his head, they were thoroughly puzzled. "She wants to cut her hair? Is she sure?" Probably should have left after that.

Afterwards I was feeling a little tired and a little homesick. Zhu has brought his new book, a cartoon explanation of "金刚经“ (the Buddhism book）with him to read and was dying to explain some new things that he had just learned about Buddhism. So, we parked under a street lamp near the subway station and talked about Buddhism for a few hours. Here is a time where I need to make a shout-out to my Lewis & Clark education. My freshman year I took a class called “Intro to East Asian Religion.” I was brand new on campus and very intimidated by the class as well as the professor, who was also, coincidently my advisor. I think I maybe spoke once in class full of pretentious and wiser than me seniors. At the end of the semester, I was sort of left thinking, “did I even learn anything about East Asian Religion?” Well, if we are talking about religion in practice or what people do, I didn’t learn much at all. My original intention in taking the class was to learn why Tomb Sweeping Day was celebrated or what all the statues that I saw in Buddhist temples meant. But I’m now realizing a class like that would be a total waste. I’m going to a Liberal Arts school after all. So what that class did prepare me more that adequately to do was to have intellectual conversations about Chinese religion and beliefs. It made me a good, inquisitive Liberal Arts student, giving me a basis of understanding and a knowledge of how to ask questions on the subject. Incidentally, it also taught me the crucial things that most Chinese know, and that art good for me to know, like who Huineng is, without me even knowing it. What’s even better, is the fact that now my Chinese is at the level to have these conversations, too.

A few weeks after I arrived in Beijing I went with Zhu and Johnny (if I’m not with my roommate, I’m with these two) to one of Zhu’s friend’s houses for a small gathering. Eventually a Buddhist poet/musician showed up and did some performing and reciting and chatting and some deep conversating with Zhu about Buddhism. I sort understood. In China, people always ask me what percent I understand. I estimate that that conversation, I understood 60 parts out of one hundred, nowhere near being able to contribute.
Suddenly now, I can understand conversations that are out of the daily norm, “What do you want to eat?” “Megan, what do you think about the American education system?” and talk about Buddhism!

That’s not to so that my Chinese is perfect though. Last night we took turns reading to each other from the book. (Its called a 漫画(cartoon), but really, its all text and excerpts and poetry). I could read it, but every line or so there would be a character I didn’t recognize and my pacing was off. (Though I high moment was when Zhu asked me what “涅槃” meant). But I really do sometimes read out loud awkwardly. To make me feel better about it, Zhu shared with me this story.
In elementary school, everyone in the class (just like America) often had to read outloud. He read this sentence:
不知不觉中学的知识 (“the knowledge learned unconsciously” ) as
“unconscious middle school knowledge.”

He said his teacher made him read it maybe five or ten times before he figured out where he was wrong. I’ll try to explain it, though if you don’t know Chinese it could be tricky. I’ll put lines where should have paused, 不知不觉中｜学｜的知识 but this is what he did： 不知不觉｜中学｜的知识. The problem was the 中, which means middle. He paired it with the 学 (study) to mean middle school instead of the 不知不觉 (subconscious) which would be the correct meaning, “in the middle of unconsciousness
” which I’m saying is “unconsciously.”

The more you know.

That rain I talked about.

Member that? Well its still a topic of conversation in Beijing. There have been pictures floating around on my Chinese facebook, but I don't know how to put them here. Finally, an English site came my way.
http://beijingdaze.com/general/2011/06/23/massive-flash-flood-hit-beijing-during-the-worst-of-rush-hour/

On Language

So something awkward just happened: I stumbled across only of my former classmates from my program’s blog on a topic that was often discussed at our school. Embarrassing: her writing is beautiful and mine is not. Awkward: she wrote a post that relies on Zhu and I, talking primarily about language.

Language is certainly a subject that I have a few thoughts about. She mentions that we only speak Mandarin, which is not entirely true. We sometimes throw English phrases around like, “I’m some little hungry” and he is teaching my a little bit of Wenzhou dialect. But she questions, to what degree to we use spoken language, and to what degree do we rely on body language.
I’ll let her address the body language bit, she does a good job.

And so one learns to interpret movements: the cocking of a head, slight movement of the shoulder blades, bent of a finger, raise of an eyebrow, biting of the lips. And relinquish some sort of story telling of excitement, uneasiness, worry, fear, happiness. And these movements string into tangible sentences that you, yourself, learn to respond to using your own cracking of the knuckles, shift of the eyes, firming of the lips.
And maybe those moments of words gone evaporated leaves the points of clarity when you shift weight on your left leg to your right, or your chest concaving its way into a sigh. Those moments when a thousand words fall short of meaning.”
But my question is, how important is language anyway? I do think its rather important, otherwise, what in goodness’ name am I doing with my life right now? But I think I huge part of language is not what you say. So, I’d be lying to say that Zhu and I only speak Mandarin.

Is that so wrong? I don’t think so. Are body languages, expressions, tone of voice lesser forms of communication? I don’t think so. Otherwise, why is it so important that we have important conversations in person? For example, if I break up with you via text, its scornful thing, much worse than breaking up with you in person, probably even if I say the exact same thing.
So I think that almost in spite of the fact that Zhu and I do not have the same mother tongue, we have a perfected form of language. Its true, much of what we communicate happens with looks, shrugs, facial expressions, especially on my part. I understand all of his Chinese, but naturally I don’t speak it at the same level. The funny thing about me understanding him is this: he can repeat word for word something that I don’t understand that someone else said, or read out loud a news article or essay and I will understand. How much am I accustomed to his accent? How much am I simply understanding him? I think it’s both. As a stage actor, he does have an excellent grasp of pacing and rhythm of speech, but even his lazy Beijing dialect I have no difficulties understanding.

He, he understands my sloppy Mandarin and facial expressions. Some skills of mine regarding language aren’t so great. I don’t think I’ve ever been so good at expressing myself completely orally on the spot. I have to let what I want to say simmer a bit. Facial expressions help me out a lot here, and so far in my life I’ve done a pretty good job of finding people who can understand me without language. There is a long-standing joke between my best friend and I about how good we were at communicating without saying anything—Charades champs for life. To this day, we don’t talk a lot, but still manage to be very close.
Perhaps my failures and faults in dealing with the words of birth language is why I like studying foreign languages so much in the first place. Having so many shortcomings with my so-called native tongue, it comforting to busy myself with the rules guaranteed slip-ups of learning another one. Its nice to have the excuse of speaking in a foreign tongue.

I don’t really know where I am going with this, but there are some of my thoughts, I suppose. (You see, pure language failed me again)

下雨了 It's Raining

While I was at work today not actually working I was brainstorming what I might blog about. I've currently got quite the interesting list running, so I would be sure to stay tuned. Alas, I don't think I am going to get to anything on my list because when I came home from work today, its was raining.

It was raining, so what?

Well, okay it was pouring. I got my first hint of the weather outside when I squeezed my way into the train on the commute home and several large drops of subway greese+precipitation thudded onto my head. Gross.
When I left the first train to make my transfer to the second train it was ablowin and agustin. It was awesome.

I'm discovering that I really truly love thunderstorms, especially in Beijing. The rain is a nice break from the heat (I live on the 10th floor in 100 degree heat and humidity with no AC), and the thunder drowns out the sound of the cars and the hustle and the bustle. Not even China can overpower a thunderstorm, and I like seeing it be put in its place every once and a while. I love watching the rain and how people react from out window, its so refreshing and exciting to see the little ants.

Anyway, while everyone else transferring trains with my ran, I slowly meandered, having got off work early and enjoying the Chinese rap on my ipod. Zhu's mom doesn't like it when I walk outside in the rain because she thinks I'll get sick, so I was really excited to get to play in it and feel rain on my face.

When I finally got to my stop it was really coming down. The top of the escalator (which is normally empty, our stop really doesn't get much traffic) was packed with people urgently making calls home asking for someone to drive the car over to pick them up. Meh. I braved it (though Zhu did call asking if I needed a ride for the two blocks home).

SO MUCH RAIN. I was soaked. When I got home I rang out my clothes and I think more water came out then when I ring them out after hand washing them (which is what I do now). And the street was totally vacant, everyone waiting inside for the rain to pass. Well, jokes on them because its still raining pretty hard a few hours later.

When I got to my building my clothes were being pulled to the ground with the weight of the water, mascara running, hair stuck to my head, and feet sloshing around in my sandals. Walking home was actually wading, with water, water, water, flooding around corners, from the parking lot down to the street. So cool, though probably rather filthy. I walked into the building awning (I think thats the word) and the building shifu (like a security guard) was chillin with the ayi (like a cleaning lady). They stared, so I just sort of shrugged and said, 下雨了，（It rained). They were totally delighted. That's right, I can make Chinese laugh.

I got the the apartment and continued to be hilarious. Zhu had some former classmates over (I know them, they already think my existance is a riot) and they were playing cards at the main table, as in, the apartment door pretty much opens up to their faces, the gallery. They died. And Zhu was very like, "You are crazy woman, why on earth did you walk home! I called you!" And his mom was doing the usual, alternating between Mandarin to me and Wenzhounese to Zhu, saying to me, "Quickly, quickly, quickly change clothes!" Everyone thinks I'm crazy.

Breakfast

I try to start every work day morning with two hot fresh steamed red bean paste buns. The are sold from a streetside shop on the walk from the metro station to my office building, just in front of Wal Mart.

拔罐 Ba Guanr

Literally translates to pulling up the cup. Whatever that means, right? On Monday after work my lower middle back was killing me from sitting so long (10 hours!) in an office chair. It wasn't extreme pain, but painful enough that I could no longer sit, standing was uncomfortable, as was laying down, etc. So the bf gave me a bad massage then said we should for his mom to give me ba guanr. So what it that exactly? Well you have probably heard of Chinese cupping, right? Glass cups, heated up, the suctioned onto a persons back. Its supposed to pull all of the bad stuff, the heat out of your body and leaves a two nice rows of dark perfectly circular palm sizes bruises on your back.

I especially need cupping because I 上火-have fiery blood (that the best I can think of right now for a translation, but its sucks). Lots of heat inside me. It makes sense to me, because I get hot and sweat especially, and am prone to breakouts. Also, I've heard people say that people who 上火attract mosquitos. That absolutely describes me. In a word, I'm starting to buy into Chinese medicine.
Zhu's mom is all about Chinese medicine (as I mentioned earlier with all the things that she makes Zhu drink). Chinese medicine 中药 uses food and drink as primary cures, and massage, pressure points, and cupping! But she wasn't willing to do 拔罐儿 for me, so we went to the neighborhood beauty salon.

I got a massage and cupping for 60快，11 bucks. Per usual, the lady was really surprised I spoke Chinese. The cupping. It was a little scary because by that time Zhu had left for home (the massage took forever), and the lady said it might hurt a little. Zhu said only hurt if you moved, so I was trying really had to stay still, but that became difficult because as soon as the cups were suctioned onto my back she started giving me a very vigorous leg massage. Putting them on hurt. She did a very dr. thing, which was telling me she only had two more to go then added four....tricky, but too bad I can count. As soon as they latch ontoyour back you can feel the skin being sucked up....
After 15 minutes she took them off and gave me a mirror to check out my new bruises. Big puffy purple bruises full of all my hot blood that got sucked up and away from me. I was instructed not to take a cold shower (torture, not taking cold showers in BJ heat right now) or eat cold food, as that would push the heat back down.

Now, because its hot, all of the clothes I want to be wearing reveal some part of my back, and thus my new marks. Which is fine, normal even in China. I see middle aged guys all the time waltzing around with their shirts off, parading their ba guanr battle wounds. But the problem is, as much as I try to deny it, I look foreign. So people see me, assume I don't understand Chinese and proceed to talk about me openly inches away. Particulary in elevators at work or in the subway on the way to work. Ears burning? Oh, that is so accurate. The very last time it happened I decided to pull my " I can't understand what you are saying about me and I don't think its very funny" peak over the shoulder look at these two 20 something guys. The result was, as usual in response to that look, "Oh man, she understands? Woah!" But then, an adjective that always gets used ingenuinely to my face and never behind my back was uttered: "厉害“。 (li hai, formidable, badass, awesome)

First day of work

Was yesterday!
I have my very own desk and everything. There are about 8 fulltime people including me. We all chat while we work on Skype. Its lovely. I'm really tired.
My boss, the VP, is very micromanagy. She has one on one meetings with everyone in the office twice a week. Actually, since this is my first real work I can't really say if that is normal or not.
I'm really too tired from work to talk about work. I think I have to cut my fingernails, because they are inhibiting my typing and Ipad usage, but I really don't want to because they are so pretty. Just last week I got a super long lasting manicure-the kind that is cured with a UV lamp and my nails still look great, though unfortunately are a little long. But I really don't want to ruin their green and purple pretty sparkilyness.

Yesterday I got off work really late because I was too afraid to be the first one to go home, even though I was the first one to get there. I got there at nine, left at seven. Today I left at 4:30. My work was already done for the day though. Yesterday after I got of work I went to my other work, the one where I teach English to get my paycheck (almost just said salary, because the word is the same in Chinese, oops). I don't know whether or not I want to keep working there: I don't really enjoy it, it takes up one of my two days off, and getting paid is really difficult. The pay is in theory really good, but yesterday when I was supposed to get paid I couldn't, and today when I went back it was a battle to get 1/3 of what I was supposed to receive.

Anyway, yesterday, after attempting to get my paycheck I agreed to take part in a promotion outside a wedding photography store: one of those answer these few questions, listen to our sales pitch and you will get a free useless gift. If you have the patience, these are really good opportunities to practice Chinese. I wasn't in a rush to go home and felt moderately curious, so I agreed. I chatted with the guy for about an hour and a half. Nothing noteworthy happened, he told me I was pretty, my Chinese was really good, told me how I could take really pretty pictures, and asked the obligatory question, which is better: China or America? I still don't have an answer that I am satisfied with for that. I either resort to they are different, or that America doesn't have as many crazy things to eat. I do like my response for the remark, "Oh, your Chinese is so good!" I always say, "Its not as good as yours!" or "Right? I think it might even be better than yours," depending on the mood. Hahahhaah.

Later, I still wasn't feeling the need to head home, so I took a really long walk. I walked for about an hour down the same street, just walking walking walking . By that time it was about 10:00 and still hadn't cooled down completely (as if it ever does these days) and the street was pretty lively with people of all ages enjoying the cool clear evening. I live pretty close to downtown now, and despite the fact that I live in a big apartment complex, my surroundings still have the "Beijing feel," with lots of hutongs, which wikipedia describes as hutongs are alleys formed by lines of siheyuan, traditional courtyard residences.[1] Many neighbourhoods were formed by joining one siheyuan to another to form a hutong, and then joining one hutong to another. The word hutong is also used to refer to such neighbourhoods. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutong) From the outside they are just a storefront or and alley entrance, but one the inside they are winding twists and turns of single level residences, dating back to forever. The second you walk past or into a hutong, everything is quieter, the sky is suddenly bigger. And they have trees.

Walmart is not the land of wonder.

So I've decided that after having ignored blogging and recording my time in China for the past five months, now would be a good time to get the ball rolling again. And as is pretty apparent by my heavy reliance on cheesy cliches, the English is not so "proficient." You don't even want to know how many red squiggly lines are on the screen.

So I've just wrapped up my semester of advanced Chinsese language intensive. What a mouthful. The plan was always to work at Simplot doing a combo of teaching English and research about agriculture in China, but that failed for numerous reasons. So after about a day of AHHA:LKJVL what I am going to do this summer??!?!? I found the dream internship. And so I've decided that now, with my first working in a office experience in front of me, I should pick up the blogging again.

The posting for my internship went up about ten minutes before I found it and sent in resume, so I was really really lucky with the timing of the whole thing. Normally the website that I used doesn't have anything good. That was a Saturday. The boss lady called me and I interviewed in Chinese and said I would get back to her on Monday after I got back from my whirlwind trip to Hong Kong/Shenzhen. Then today, Tuesday I went to the office to have another interview. AND I'M HIRED!

The details are thus:
The company is brand new. They design games and software for Ipad apps. (could it be anymore in the moment?) I'm in charge of running their social media promotion. ( I will tweet and write Facebook updates) I will also call program developers in the states and sell them the company's software. This is where the big bucks come in---commission! But I also get paid, and its a decent salary for an internship in China, so I'm pleased. I will be working in both English and Chinese, which is also good. ALSO, I get my own desk which is terribly exciting because I've never had a job with a desk. I also get a new laptop and phone! I'm hoping they are both apple products, but I'll be happy with whatever they are because I'll have a Work Computer and a Computer for Personal Use and a Work Phone and a Phone for Personal Use. So many fun toys, plus I get to pretend to be someone important. I couldn't be more thrilled.

And so where is this company? Its just north of where I am currently living, near where there are a lot of software company things. It very convenient for me, only four stops (with a transfer) on the subway. I have a commute! Its forty five minutes including walking time and I get to do it with my boyfriend's sister. She is still living at home, which is where I will be staying for the summer. Zhu's older brother is off away studying in America, so we switched places. Zhu will be in and out, filming and stuff. I was initially really really hesitant to live here for a lot of obvious reasons, but after some serious thought I decided here would be the best place. Safe, good location, not smelly, not sketchy. No weird meeting roommates on the internet, no stuffy hostel, so scary landlord. Plus, my Chinese should continue to improve by a lot and if I lived somewhere else with foreigners, I'd miss out on funny looks. For example, the air conditioner guys just came over, and I wish I could have a photo of the looks on their faces when a blonde girl answered the door. HAHAHAHA.

Also, a pro about living here is Zhu's mom. She is awesome and always has great stories to tell that I don't always understand. She has a pretty thick Wenzhou accept and sometimes I can't tell if she is speaking in Wenzhounese or Putonghua. She uses a lot of adjectives and onomotepia when she talks, which sounds easy to understand but its not. The general pattern of her speech (I think???) is Subject+verb (repeated) then adjective phrase (ABAB or AABB). There is a lot of repeated, so when she talks its really quite sing song like. She probably has a great onomotopedia based adjective phrase for the way she talks. I need to figure out a way to figure that out.

I think sometimes her people under-appreciate her, but I try not to. Sometimes she talks and talks about how when she was our age, or how things are in her hometown, or about how she used to sing and I feel like no one listens except me. But we bonded a few times, over cheap clothes made in sweatshops in Southern China and the one time that I taught her how to use Safari on her ipad. She also is always giving Zhu strange things to drink that are supposed to fix any of his numerous problems and I get to watch what happens. One it was a thick green slushy concoction of milkshake consistency, once it was a sticky carmelly colored hot potion. Today (just minutes ago) it was innocent looking tea. I tried the carmel drink, sweet and delicious. The green thing did not pass my lips. I gave the tea a shot. The best part about this whole ordeal is Zhu's mom will ask him, "Do you want to drink xxxx?" He'll say no way, absolutely not. After about a half and hour the drink will appear and Zhu's reaction will be, "What is this? I don't want this!" and his mom will ignore him and tell him to drink it. Then he turns to me and says "She's always giving my these crazy things to drink." Then he'll pick it up and sniff at it, then put it down and repeat, whine for a bit that its too bitter and then finally take a sip at say that its not bad. Then his moms is just thrilled and will say something about the drinks benefits of history. Then Zhu will willingly finished the drink, and probably like it. The tea that just happened was some special kind of green tea. When dranken, its first mild and green tea like, then very bitter and ultimately leaves a sweet aftertaste. How is that even possible??



So why does the title of this post about Walmart? Well, you see, my new office is in the same complex as what I think must be the biggest Walmart in Beijing. I've seen minibuses that you can take for free from various locales around the city for free that take you there. Its crazy. Anyway I was so excited to go after my interview for so many reasons 1. I had a couple of things I needed to buy: sunscreen and conditioner and originally I was planning to go to the Carrefour near my old school, but that would mean taking the subway in the opposite direction of home, which was kind of a hassel and I would have to pay twice as much in public transportation fees 2. I had only been to Walmart twice before, once in the winter of 2006 with my dear friend B in Telluride, and it was an amazing experience because it was my first time, and one in Qingdao, China, looking for Tsingdao beer peanuts (which we couldn't find but it was okay because Zhu took us out for ice cream at the attached Mcdonalds after. 3. I was so excited about the endless possilblities that Walmart held for me. What kind of products would they have? Would the have different things than my very familiar standby, Carrefour? Would it be cheaper? What kind of deals could I get?

It was very dissappointing. Yes, huge. More expensive than Carrefour AND no bath products section that I could find, so I had to go to Carrefour anyway. So far everyday since moved out of my old neighborhood I've been back. Yesterday to play monopoly with Zhu and his sister, her boyfriend, Zhu's [god] brother ZXY and his wife XL at my old favorite coffee shop after Duan Wu JIe (Dragon Boat Festival) lunch with his mom and today to go back to my good old trusty Carrefour. I was really scared I woud never go back, but it doesn't look like its going to be that way. My most concrete playtime plans are too go shopping at the shopping place over there (I used to live on top of the largest clothing market in Beijing) with XL and to go swimming at a nearby aquarium. So I guess my old neighborhood is still mine.