Monday, April 17, 2006
MY 222ND DAY AND 50TH POST
On Thursday, I went out to dinner with my homestay family to say goodbye. I had an amazing time staying with a Chinese family and it really helped my Chinese. They were very friendly and I was constantly amazed that they would take me into their home. After my semester program they invited me to come live with them again. A really nice offer, but not one I was interested in. After I moved out, they still occaisionally took me out to eat or sightseeing, even to a Chinese wedding. I asked my homestay mom who is an Ob/Gyn about CHinese people eating taipan - placenta. She verified that people do eat placenta and not fetuses. She said she has friends who eat it but she finds it revolting. A placenta costs 10RMB ($1.25)
Friday night I had my going away party. We went to the Speakeasy, but there were too many Chinese hip-hop teenagers (referred to by my friends as "chiggers") so we went to Chapter One instead. After hanging out for a while and saying goodbye to people, I went to bed.
Saturday night I got to Beijing. It was late and I was hungry so I went to a duck restaurant. My plan was to eat at least one whole Peking duck before I went home. Sitting down at the restaurant, I ordered a duck. I was disappointed to find out that "no have duck, but you order more food." I left and went to another duck restaurant. This time there were no problems and I ate a whole duck. Mmm, REAL Peking duck.
Walking around Beijing, one is constantly approached by "art students" who speak perfect English and want to invite you back to their gallery. They're harmless and friendly, but the art isn't great, and I don't want to buy any. When they approach me, I've started playing games with them. They are always shocked when I ask them if they are an art student. Sometimes I'll tell them I am also an art student and will draw them a picture. They'e nice and I'll talk to them for a while and help them with their English, but nobody likes a shill.
Sunday was Easter. I have seen Easter Mass in many different places and languages, from Nelson Mandela's church in South Africa to Italy. I thought I'd go see Mass in Chinese. NOPE. There were masses, but Chinese people could go to Chinese Mass, foreigners to English Mass. To prevent intermingling of peoples, there were soldiers doing passport checks at the door of the church. I saw a Tibetan Catholic Mass in Yunnan without any problem but this is Beijing. The rules are enforced here. I didn't want to see the English Mass, so I wound up not going to Church. Sorry Jesus. I did walk past the 300 year old Church on Wangfujing which is the one Condileeza Rice visited on her trip here. There were no serivces since a wedding was going on. Outside, the church had hung a sign saying "Jesus Christ, Allelujah" in Chinese characters. Now if I ever need to write allelujah in Chinese, I know how.
That afternoon I went to the Panjiayuan Flea Market to buy all the souvineers and gifts I haven't bought over the last 8 months. I bought everything from Tibetan thanka paintings to little red books to Mao propeganda posters. Now I just have to fit them in my suitcases.
Last night I wandered around the night market. The night market consists of about 100 stands with people selling food. Since I'm going home, I made myself a food sampler. In the past, I've tried the odd things - scorpions, starfish, various internal organs - so this time I decided to stick with things I like. I had some dog barbeque, some beef dumplings, a pork sandwich, some eel, and a few other animals. It was quite delicious. I also met a guy from Turkmenistan. I'd never met anyone from there, but now I actually have proof that it exists. Turkmenistan is a real country.
This morning, Reuters is reporting: "BEIJING - A sand storm struck the Chinese capital on Monday, covering homes, streets and cars in brown dust and leaving the skies a murky yellow as it suffers its worst pollution in years ahead of the 2008 Summer Olympics." The air already is terrible here. Breathing it is like smoking 3 packs of cigarettes per day. This sandstorm that has been as "one of the worst in years," left the city coated with less than a milimeter of sand/dust. No big deal. Sorry Reuters, you just lost some credibility.
On Thursday, I went out to dinner with my homestay family to say goodbye. I had an amazing time staying with a Chinese family and it really helped my Chinese. They were very friendly and I was constantly amazed that they would take me into their home. After my semester program they invited me to come live with them again. A really nice offer, but not one I was interested in. After I moved out, they still occaisionally took me out to eat or sightseeing, even to a Chinese wedding. I asked my homestay mom who is an Ob/Gyn about CHinese people eating taipan - placenta. She verified that people do eat placenta and not fetuses. She said she has friends who eat it but she finds it revolting. A placenta costs 10RMB ($1.25)
Friday night I had my going away party. We went to the Speakeasy, but there were too many Chinese hip-hop teenagers (referred to by my friends as "chiggers") so we went to Chapter One instead. After hanging out for a while and saying goodbye to people, I went to bed.
Saturday night I got to Beijing. It was late and I was hungry so I went to a duck restaurant. My plan was to eat at least one whole Peking duck before I went home. Sitting down at the restaurant, I ordered a duck. I was disappointed to find out that "no have duck, but you order more food." I left and went to another duck restaurant. This time there were no problems and I ate a whole duck. Mmm, REAL Peking duck.
Walking around Beijing, one is constantly approached by "art students" who speak perfect English and want to invite you back to their gallery. They're harmless and friendly, but the art isn't great, and I don't want to buy any. When they approach me, I've started playing games with them. They are always shocked when I ask them if they are an art student. Sometimes I'll tell them I am also an art student and will draw them a picture. They'e nice and I'll talk to them for a while and help them with their English, but nobody likes a shill.
Sunday was Easter. I have seen Easter Mass in many different places and languages, from Nelson Mandela's church in South Africa to Italy. I thought I'd go see Mass in Chinese. NOPE. There were masses, but Chinese people could go to Chinese Mass, foreigners to English Mass. To prevent intermingling of peoples, there were soldiers doing passport checks at the door of the church. I saw a Tibetan Catholic Mass in Yunnan without any problem but this is Beijing. The rules are enforced here. I didn't want to see the English Mass, so I wound up not going to Church. Sorry Jesus. I did walk past the 300 year old Church on Wangfujing which is the one Condileeza Rice visited on her trip here. There were no serivces since a wedding was going on. Outside, the church had hung a sign saying "Jesus Christ, Allelujah" in Chinese characters. Now if I ever need to write allelujah in Chinese, I know how.
That afternoon I went to the Panjiayuan Flea Market to buy all the souvineers and gifts I haven't bought over the last 8 months. I bought everything from Tibetan thanka paintings to little red books to Mao propeganda posters. Now I just have to fit them in my suitcases.
Last night I wandered around the night market. The night market consists of about 100 stands with people selling food. Since I'm going home, I made myself a food sampler. In the past, I've tried the odd things - scorpions, starfish, various internal organs - so this time I decided to stick with things I like. I had some dog barbeque, some beef dumplings, a pork sandwich, some eel, and a few other animals. It was quite delicious. I also met a guy from Turkmenistan. I'd never met anyone from there, but now I actually have proof that it exists. Turkmenistan is a real country.
This morning, Reuters is reporting: "BEIJING - A sand storm struck the Chinese capital on Monday, covering homes, streets and cars in brown dust and leaving the skies a murky yellow as it suffers its worst pollution in years ahead of the 2008 Summer Olympics." The air already is terrible here. Breathing it is like smoking 3 packs of cigarettes per day. This sandstorm that has been as "one of the worst in years," left the city coated with less than a milimeter of sand/dust. No big deal. Sorry Reuters, you just lost some credibility.
