Sunday February 27th, 2011

Today, hopped out of bed around 8:30, got ready, and walked over to the subway station to go to church. When I got there, I found Jesse, David, and Bing-Bing fairly easily, and we all sat together for the service. I must admit, I caught little no nothing of what was said. The preacher spoke so fast, and with so few breaks, that I caught nothing but snatches of her sermon. The English one was much better than the Chinese one, and I understood most of the words that he used.

Then, I went to eat at the underground feeding facility by the church with Jesse’s Chinese friends, Mark, and Jocelyn. Mark is leaving tonight around 12:00, so this is his last day in the great PRC. Lunch was good, and we both repaid our debts to Jesse by putting some money on her card whilst she was unawares. She is so very Chinese in the respect of etiquette, and refuses to allow us to repay the debts that we owe her. After hanging out with them for about 1-1/2 hours, I decided that I needed to get back and do some homework. Otherwise, this week was going to be horrible. I cannot start this week out being behind; this week is midterm week, and what a midterm week it will be.

Jocelyn, Mark, Jesse’s high school friend (whose name escapes me), and I walked back to the subway station, where Mark and I bid each other farewell. He and the girls were going to visit 798 today. I gave them my best directions, and wished them the best of luck. Finding 798 is always a feat.

After getting back to the dorm, I got to work. Not only do we have a monster midterm test spanning the last two days of the week, but we also have to prepare two speaking tests and write a 1,200-word essay. And, we still have a lesson to learn for our modern Chinese class. I feel a little overwhelmed. First things first, I learned the lesson for tomorrow, and started on the 1,200 essay. That took a few hours, and I went over to Bally, where I studied while I rode the trainer.

Then, I came back to the dorm, studied some more, and when I could take the protestations of my stomach no longer, I went and got some food from Ma Lan, where I studied while I ate. Oh joy!

Then I came back to the dorm, studied some, wrote some emails, and went to bed.

I am already loving this week.

I’ll write soon!

In consternation and frustration…

Jamey

Saturday February 26th, 2011

Today I slept in, until about 12:00. I was really tired when I went bed last night, and it was good to have a night of recuperation. After rolling out of bed, I went straight over to Bally and ran long on the treadmill. Then I worked out hard, took a shower, and left feeling pretty worn out.

I came back to the dorm, played guitar, and read for the rest of the afternoon. At some point, I received a text from the other people in the program. Some folks decided to make a trip over to the Old City and eat pizza at a bar recommended by the Beijinger. Jocelyn also texted, asking that I inform her of anything fun that I had going on, and I told her our plans. The people from my program and Jocelyn all headed out from the dorm at 7:15, bound for the Bell Tower neighborhood.

The ten-person group split itself into three groups, that we might be able to travel by taxi. My cab and one other cab found the little pizza parlor with little difficulty, but the other one, the one holding Wes, James, Trevor, and Lauren, was not at the parlor when we got out. We had no idea what happened to them, and we decided that the best course of action would be to order enough pizzas for the entire group, so that we could speed up the process of eating. The bar/restaurant was really nice, period, and it seemed even nicer in comparison to the seedy locales that we have frequented over the last few weeks. It was almost as if a little bit of the West had transplanted itself in China – the owner spoke fluent English, her Australian husband worked in the kitchen, they had good pizza, and there was every sort of American beverage that one could want.

We ordered 6 pizzas for the ten of us – granted the pizzas were pretty small – and we waited. The pizzas included a bacon and garlic pizza, a zucchini and vegetable pizza, a potato and rosemary pizza, a sweet potato and goat cheese pizza, a pesto and vegetable pizza, and one more – the secret pizza.

The pizzas arrived, but our companions had not. We finished eating our fill of the pizza, and we waited some more. We grew ancy, and we waited some more. At 8:45, the rest of the group, weary and very cold, stormed into the restaurant. We did out best to calm their fiery passion and hunger, placating the angry students in their moment of tribulation. After they ate the rest of the pizza, we ordered another two, and the boss brought out the last segment of our delicious dinner: dessert pizza. This dessert pizza had chocolate, chocolate syrup, and ice cream on top, and needless to say, it was delicious.

The bar began to fill as the night grew longer, and we left the bar around 10:30, bound for our home – ye ole Kai Guan Hotel. When we finally opened our doors, it was after 11:15, and time for my bed.

I’ll write soon!

Love,

Jamey

Friday February 25th 2011

I woke up, looked over my notes once more, and then took my test. Now that I’ve taken the test, I wish that I would have studied a little more for it, but then again, I don’t know what I would have studied. The test was much like all of the other 6 tests that we have taken thus far, but there was one interesting essay on the test that I would like to share.

The topic of the essay was Kung Fu Panda, and the crux of the essay was that China was “selling its culture and history” in order to make money. When faced with this question, we have to ask, is that even a bad thing? What were the 2008 Olympics? What is part of the motive for Chinese investment in Africa and other parts of the world? As is the case with Kung Fu Panda these other activities are also means of China increasing their prestige and recognition across the globe. What I did find interesting in the article was that I Chinese person would even say that Kung Fu Panda was a Chinese movie at all. It was made in the States by American designers, produced in the States, and then marketed to an American audience…

After the test, I came back to the room for a little while and talked to Morgan on Skype before going to eat at the Chinese table. Today was took our lunch at a small SiChuan restaurant beside The Legend of Spice. Today’s Chinese table was unlike the other ones that I have attended; there were only 5 of us total at the meal, 2 teachers and 3 students. All of the groups were like that. My group consisted of Christina and Yuki, and the teachers were Teacher Sun and another 3^rd year teacher whose name escapes me. We ordered belt-fish, green beans with peppers, eggplant covered with bell peppers and onions, bok-choy, and spicy tofu. We each complimented the meal with a bowl of white rice, and I ordered none other than Beijing’s finesse Yanking Beer. The best part of the meal was that we didn’t have to put in any money of our own. Food always tastes better, drinks always drink better, when you don’t have to pay for it yourself.

We didn’t get back to the dorm until around 2:00 in the afternoon, and I had an hour before I was going to meet my host mom. Over the past 5 days, I have been texting her about borrowing a bike from them, if it was not too much trouble for them. She said that she could definitely get a bike for me; I had but to wait a few days for them to get it to me. I met her at the back door of the dorm (which has essentially become to front door of the hotel due to the construction), and the bike switched owners. My steed is a little woman’s style Giant with a basket on the front, a rack over the back wheel, and front and back fenders. That set-up – basket, fenders, and rack – seems to be the standard in China, and I am still getting used to having it.

When I got the bike, it was adjusted for my host mother who is more than a foot shorter than me. After parting ways with my host mom, I rode the bike over to a bike-fixing shop on campus, and the guy there lifted the seat up for me. I had my own bike! There was only one thing that I could do in a situation such as the one in which I found myself: I had to go on a bike ride. I rode north, looking for HaiDian Church, as I’d never been there save by subway or taxi. I wanted to see what was in between the MinZu and the church, and I found a lot of cool stuff. Riding a bike to the church is definitely the way to go: it only took me around 15-20 minutes to get there, which is less than half the time that it takes on a subway.

From there, I took a ride up to the ZhongGuanCun electronics emporium, and then I turned south to ride back in the direction of campus. I took an alternate route back towards MinZu, following a road that parallels ZhongGuanCun South Street, which is the street that I see when I look out of my window. I am looking at it now, as a matter of fact. I passed the school, then traveled farther south, looking at a park on the south side of the school, and then riding up a back street to get to the East Gate.

I came back up to the room, showered, checked the location of my dinner date tonight, and then walked over to the subway station. Jesse, Mark, Jocelyn and I had decided to eat at the world-famous Li Qun roast duck restaurant. We took the subway to the QianMen stop, and Jesse informed us that we would be meeting another one of her American friends – Biscuet. I have been hearing about Biscuet for the last three years, and to finally get to meet him is a little surreal. You can thank the students of Auburn, and also Passion, for building up a legend around this guy. I was not disappointed. He works for English Learners in China (or some other company who goes by the acronym ELIC), splitting his time between China, Vietnam, North and South Korea, and the US. His work sounds like a dream. Mark, Jocelyn, and I got to know Biscuet a little better while we were walking to find the famous restaurant.

Li Qun Roast Duck is in a hutong, in the backside of nowhere southeast of Tian’An Men. We passed the restaurant once, and had to retrace our steps and ask directions on no less than three occasions.  We finally found the restaurant, and believe me when I say that it was one of the best-smelling places that I have smelled in China. We had to wait a little while to get a table, and in the meantime, we ordered two ducks for the 5 of us. The restaurant was a little on the pricy side, and I was a little doubtful when we finally sat down and looked at the menu. But we were already sitting down at the table; there was nothing that I could do at this point. Then, they brought out the food. This was the food roster: two roast ducks, the “dark” meat roasted – one covered in cumin and the other in Chinese BBQ, eggplant, egg rolls, lotus, peanuts in vinegar, and a lot more that I can’t even remember. I immediately cast aside all of my doubts about the price of the food. It was amazing, and they hadn’t even brought out the duck yet. When they finally did, I was a believer. Li Qun deserves the name of being the best roast duck restaurant in this city, and possibly even the best roast duck restaurant in the world.

We, to be frank, gorged ourselves on the meal, myself especially, as the food at Chinese table left something to be desired. We chatted for about 1-½ hours while we ate, as dining at a Chinese restaurant always takes a little while.

Then, walked back towards the QianMen station. On the way, we talked about the state of the church in China, and Jesse had some very intriguing perspectives about house churches and the “hidden” church here. We literally sat in the subway station for 45 minutes, talking about the Church. Then we hopped on the subway back to the dorm. I said goodbye to Jesse and Jocelyn at my subway station (Mark and Biscuet had already parted ways with us), and then went back to the dorm to write a letter and emails.

I’ll write soon!

Love,

Jamey

Wednesday February 23rd, 2011

Today has been much like the other two days: studying, working out, and reading.

I’ve started reading some of the Stiglitz Report, a book about the international response to the financial crisis. It is a very interesting book, and is allowing me to keep up with the economic debate on current events.

I am also trying to keep up a little on the situation in Egypt and Tunisia. I am not going to comment on the situation itself, but the Chinese response to the crisis has been rather interesting. There is very, very little on the Internet about Egyptian revolution. To access the information, I had to enter “Egypt current news” in Google to get any results about the revolution. I find this interesting because in the States, if you entered simply “Egypt,” I am sure that you would find all manner of news on the topic.

However, most of the information on the situation in Tunisia, Libya, and Yemen is blocked. Intriguingly, I can access nearly all of the information on Wikipedia, and from there, I navigated to the history of the current crisis. Can anyone tell me why the government will allow the existence of Wikipedia in China? You can look at anything on the Wikipedia site, from Tibet to Xinjiang, to any other sensitive topic that Beijing deems as “harmful to the reputation of the Republic.”

As you can see, I spend a lot of time of the Internet – why would one not while the smog outside threatens to kill us? I wonder about why the CCP allows certain things to be public access here, while not allowing some sites that appear to be rather harmless. The primary site that comes to mind when I contemplate this topic is Google. The relationship between the CCP and Google stretches much farther into the past. Around 2-3 years ago, the Chinese government outlawed Google within the Republic because the American-based site accused China of breaching intellectual property laws. Google was challenging the right of the CCP to allow people in China to download music, movies, and books straight off of the Google server. I don’t think that the Chinese government could deny the fact that they are allowing people to effectively steal information off of the Internet, and the US government and Google were both up in arms about the blatant disrespect of property rights in China.

This resulted in a rather awkward standoff between the CCP and Google, which eventually resulted in the CCP allowing citizens to access Google in China but limiting the amount of information that the Google searches could access. For those computer nerds out there, Google prides itself on searching information from every website in existence, and from that list creating the best search options for you, the customer. Thus, Google was not too happy with the arrangement either.

Also, if you type anything that is “sensitive” into Google, your Internet connection will suddenly “time out.” Imagine that. I mention all of this to say that I can’t access Google News, and it makes it very difficult to find news on the web.

On the other hand, if you wish to search any topic on the web, your best bet would be to use Yahoo!. Of course, if you don’t mind only accessing CCP sanctioned documents.

I’ll write soon!

Love,

Jamey

Tuesday February 22nd, 2011

Today was more class… I have been steadily plugging away at finishing The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes, and I am getting nearer to the end of the book. I am currently about 650 pages into the 1050 page volume.

Other than that, I have been studying a little for class; however, I have been slacking in studying for my classes. It is very difficult to motivate myself to study…

I’ll write soon!

Love,

Jamey

Monday February 21st, 2011

I awoke to smog in the city. This is no ordinary smog, this smog bigger, better, stronger, and faster than anything that grows in the Western Hemisphere. This smog is self-aware. This smog will take you hostage and demand ransom. The Beijing government has a device of sorts that measures the smog level in the city, but on this day, the smog was “above index.” Take a look:

“On Monday, dense smog blanketed the city of Beijing, China. It was so bad that the hazardous air pollution exceeded measurable levels, forcing Chinese officials to urge residents to stay indoors. Official measurements indicated that the smog was "beyond index," plunging below the worst rating on the city's pollution scale.” – Yahoo News

It is that bad, and I was here to witness this dubious mark in world history. The smog, paired with the fact that it is below freezing outside, has me not wanting to go outside for any reason. I went to class, almost losing myself in the smoggy wilderness and found that I didn’t study very well on the night before. I was lulled into a false sense of security.

I left class and went straight to the dumpling hut outside the West Gate. It was delicious, as if I had to clarify that point. Then I returned for my one-on-one class. It was intriguing… Then, I returned to the dorm and finished an essay that is due the morrow. The essay is a synthesis of several essays that we have written over the semester thus far and was actually quite easy to finish.

Then, I went to Bally, where I read some Sherlock Holmes while I rode on the trainer. One could not ask for anything better – reading classic English literature while working out. Then, I came back and played guitar.

I eventually got hungry, as all humans do after not eating for some time, and I went out to eat with Wes and Hannah. We ate at the Beijing Duck restaurant across from the dorm, ordering eggplant, chicken wings, Japanese tofu, lotus, and green beans with peppers. It was another great meal, and that makes two delicious suppers in a row. I am getting spoiled.

We went back to the dorm, where Wes showed me more about the wonders of the Internet in China…

Sleep.

I’ll write soon!

Love,

Jamey

Sunday February 20th, 2011

I got up around 8:30, ate some breakfast in the room, and walked to the subway to meet Jesse and Bing-Bing at the HaiDian church. Jesse was, as she always is, a bundle of excitement the entire time. The Chinese church service was good, but I did not understand the half of what they were saying! I will have to keep at trying to learn vocabulary so that I can keep up with them.

While we were at the church, Jesse met two girls who are members of the English Learners in China (*) program in Beijing, and introduced them to Bing-Bing and I. They were nice, but I don't think I heard them say more than 20 words the entire time. One of them is from Atlanta, and the other is from a little town in Georgia. Small world, right?

The five of us walked over to the same underground cafeteria area where we ate last time. I compensated Jesse for the use of her card, and we all ordered food. I got what I can only describe as white rice and eggplant, served on a frying pan – much like fajitas. An older lady came and sat with the two girls, and I can only guess that she was affiliated with the language program as well. I believe that she thought the girls didn’t like their food, as the girl from Atlanta kept looking at her and saying, “I really like the food! I’m not lying!” I could tell that she really didn’t…

While we were eating, Bing-Bing’s brother – David, sat down at our table and ate with us. He openly asked the table at one point, “Does anyone know someone who is studying international business?” Everyone at the table pointed at me, and I was supremely embarrassed. He asked me some questions about the woven bag industry in the States, and I said that the majority of the bags that he was describing were used in industrial facilities of storage. Then he informed me about the nature of his business: they make all nature of woven bags for everything from grain to cement – and they also do their own printing on the bags. They are looking for a native English speaker who is willing to be a sales rep for the summer. I am going to try to talk to David some more about what the internship would entail, for it looks like a pretty good opportunity to me.

I took the subway back to the dorm, and studied for class tomorrow. My only conclusion from studying this afternoon is that class this week is going to be easy. After finishing my studies, I gathered my exercise clothes, and went to Bally. After running, I came back to the dorm and played some guitar.

By 7:30 I was getting hungry, and I made rounds in the dorm to see if anyone would want to get any food. Trevor and Darius both assented. They are both interesting guys; they go to school at George Washington University in the capitol. Trevor is an ACC student from last semester, and he has been in Beijing for almost 7 months straight. Trevor is a really interesting guy, living in a almost perpetual state of either real or feigned drunkenness – I cannot determine which. He has spent a year living in Africa before going to college, where he taught English. He grew up in Idaho, and we share a mutual love of snowboarding and water sports. Darius is from the east coast, and that’s about all that I know about him…

I congratulate Trevor on ordering an amazing meal foe the three of us, including roast carp, hot and sour soup, cabbage and noodles, shrimp and eggs. Today was my first day to ever eat carp, and truthfully, it wasn’t that bad.

I sauntered back to the dorm, where I read some and then got ready for bed. I got in bed, pulled up the blanket, and my roommate sprang into action. My going to sleep is his cue to roam about the room after a 3-hour immobile stint at his computer. I then toss about in my bed and go to sleep about an hour after I wanted to. I cannot understand my roommate.

Sleep (sort of).