A Brand New China

This is amazing. Wikipedia is back online. Blogger is back on! Not sure if anyone out there is anyone still interested in keeping up with my adventures in China, but this might be incentive to start the blog up again!

Truth be told, life in Beijing, although exciting, does not provide quite the same inspiration as the alleyways of Hangzhou. Though the reckless drivers, oblivious pedestrians, and machismo bus drivers that I encounter every day during my bike ride to work do manage to provoke the occasional outburst.

So, this is one of those times when there's just so much to say that the thought of attempting to do so is a bit of a turn-off... still adjusting to the new found web freedom (thanks, WTO!) and think might go wiki-wild.

Lastly, looks like some random readers have made their way to my blog. Odd, but an honor nonetheless. Thanks!

x

Back up and running

First post since Hangzhou. New adventures have been had in Beijing... but I haven't been able to access my blog here until just now, which is not at all shocking considering the latest string of internet blocks. Two months is too long to recap - just know that Beijing is an amazing city. And that I love it here.

It's finally happened

考effing完了! And I have the mother of all cricks in my neck.

This afternoon, the great plum Liwei and I are off to Xihu to treat our roommates to a nice little lunch at the Qingteng Teahouse. Then an afternoon of massages and maybe some English. Haolaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Jieshu le!

Things are starting to wind down...

Classes are done as of this morning
Business and Newspaper class oral exams have successfully been presented
The 24-move taijiquan sequence has almost... almost been mastered
All of my new dvds have been viewed at least once
Hanging clothes, sheets, underwear on the balcony to dry has become natural
Baozi and malatang have become cravings
And, according to Chen Laoshi, Autumn has arrived.

Now all I have left is to memorize 2000 vocab words and grammar structures and prepare 8 potential oral exam topics and... and then "graduate"... and I'm DONE.

I think I'll do a little jumping around in celebration now.

This is my mom

It is her birthday today!
Happy birthday Mom!

She is in Switzerland. This is her view from the Champery chalet.


Wish I were there, and not here. This is my gorgeous view. Oh, have I not mentioned the 24-hour on-going construction?

Music

There's a funny thing about China... well, there are many funny things... but what has been catching my attention most recently has been the ice-cream-truck-esque music that comes in and out of earshot approximately 50 times a day. The funny thing is that it's not just music.. it's Christmas carols. Christmas carols in August? WTF?

My mom explained to me that China likes to be able to "show off" how Westernized they have become, and "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," played on repeat, is a preferred vehicle for their message.

I finally asked Caili if she thought it was strange that every now and then trucks would drive by school (remember, the main road outside the back gate, or "houmen" as we lovingly call it, is more of an 6-lane highway that leads into one of Hangzhou's massive ring roads) playing Christmas music. She looked confused at my question, then explained that in China, only certain trucks play music. So, in response to this music (the fact that it's actually "Jingle Bells" on repeat is unbeknownst to them) they've basically been classically conditioned to think, "garbage truck's coming!" "street-washing truck's coming!"

I guess it's not much different to our Western "ice cream truck's coming!" reactions. Only they don't start salivating in response. Here's to hoping.

APFG

It's really such a shame that you guys can't meet Antony. His isms are priceless.

On China's massive firewall:

i really don't see how my life could be much worse

i mean, kids in africa don't have to deal with blocked internet access

On Marina helping me download a song that said firewall is blocking:
ur friend is amaZING

i asked my friend to do that and he was at work

and said he couldn't

so yeah i am not friends with him any more
(me: well yeah she's also in Panama with nothing to do)
well my friend is working in a lab that is performing groundbreaking cancer research. i just told him that he needs to get his priorities straight

On friendship:

I mean, suck it up. Isn't that what being friends is about, buying things for each other? I mean, that's what I do for all my friends. If I didn't buy them presents I wouldn't have any friends. You guys don't do that? I guess it's a Northern thing.