Sunday, December 31, 2006
New Years in Houhai
Between BNU and Tiananmen square are a series of lakes that lay out north and west. Towards the north and west end of the lakes, the lakes are surrounded completely by American expatriate bars. Budweiser signs are everywhere and in front of each of the 200 bars, a young Chinese man stood to yell at everyone and try to hassle them into going into their bar. Most of the bars were laughably overpriced with horrible jpop style keyboard and singer entertainment. A few had their patrons joining them in revolutionary songs. We stopped into a hole in the wall that was clearly the home of a 30 year old couple. We drank our drinks as fast as possible to avoid the ice melting and left again. On the other side of the lake we found a shady chinese club. A Campy chinese DJ spun fresh house music, alternating beats every 16 to 24 measures. every 32 or so he cut the volume and shouted into the mic ZENMEYANG?!?! or HAOBUHAO?!?! meaning roughly HOW WAS THAT?!?!. All of the Chinese dancing awkwardly screamed and danced harder. There were a few other westerners in the club. A good number of our classmates were in side. The club was a piece of shit from the outside, but a legitimate subculture business spot from the inside. The first time upstairs to use the bathroom, i made note of the line of sex booths next to the bathroom. The second trip up to the bathroom i made note of the overwhelming smell of opium. By the time i came out of the bathroom they had lit a bunch of incense sticks to cover it up. Downstairs relatively thugged out chinese men played dice in the dimly lit recesses of the back areas and a handful of chinese women danced enthusiastically far from the dance floor and screamed of being planted and paid by the clubs owners for atmosphere. At midnight I ran to the bridge in the middle of the main lake and met a group of our students and a number of top students from BNU that had come with us. Fireworks were launched from both the north and south and the scene of endless expatriate bars as far as you could see in both directions with thousands of people wandering and drinking was quite something to behold. We returned to the club, but after long we decided to join the growing number ice skating out on the actual lake itself. Tom and I lowered ourselves onto the ice, but the girls were wearing skirts and i moved to position myself to allow the girls something to climb down upon. However before I could be of any help, I went right through the ice and fell into the lake up to my waist. It never became any kind of problem, and i was able to quickly pull myself right out of the water, but we had to quickly catch a taxi home so i could get dry clothes on and not die or get sick. Upon returning home, many people stopped by our room again for drinks and Ned proceeded to explain and demonstrate to us why the handful of Dulce Gabana and Diesel jeans he had bargained for that day were counterfit, pointing out the specific seam discrepencies and mistakes only a real enthusiast would know to spot. Today we are nursing our hangovers and heading to the great wall before returning for the first day of classes.
Bargaining in Beijing
Bargaining at a market in Beijing is very fun. The clothes for sale can be very good, and can be bought for very cheap. The people of Beijing are unbelievably nice. They are determined merchants and will try very hard to sell everything they own to you, but after convincing them i would not buy anything from them in chinese, many just wanted to chat. a majority of the vendors at the silk market we visited today (just a name, there were about 7 or so floors with every kind of clothing and trinkets) were female. most of them were the same age as we were and my chinese was strong enough that many just wanted to talk about why we were here and where we were from. many lamented that they wanted to attend college themselves but could not afford it. they were clearly more than intelligent enough. on first glance at us they would all shout at us in english, but tom and i switched to spanish and began conversing in spanish, and the merchants switched with us and began shouting at us in spanish. some in better spanish than ours. we attempted with a few vendors to hide our identity as americans, and they would try french and german on us as well. all the while, their genuine niceness and earnestness was incredible.
although a large amount of clothing was dull or relatively unfashionable or tacky, there was a good amount of nice clothing on sale. I wish to bring back alot of gifts for people. i was able to purchase a very nice and very hip womens shirt and a very nice warm knitted throwover for about 30 dollars total. however, asian fashion is intense enough that although it is completely contemporary and of high quality, the pieces i bought today are different enough from american clothing that i worry that the list of people i could give them to that would make use of them is very very small.
it snowed the first night we arrived. the taxi driver that took us back from the market today told us that it was the first snow of 2006 and it is highly unusual. It was very novel and pretty, but now i look forward to it melting. tom and i have reassembled our skateboards and wish to go out and take advantage of beijings incredibly wide roads and perfect bike lanes.
this morning we visited the temple of heaven in the south of the city. it was indescribable, but i took many photos. its doubtful i will be able to scan them up before i return though.
although a large amount of clothing was dull or relatively unfashionable or tacky, there was a good amount of nice clothing on sale. I wish to bring back alot of gifts for people. i was able to purchase a very nice and very hip womens shirt and a very nice warm knitted throwover for about 30 dollars total. however, asian fashion is intense enough that although it is completely contemporary and of high quality, the pieces i bought today are different enough from american clothing that i worry that the list of people i could give them to that would make use of them is very very small.
it snowed the first night we arrived. the taxi driver that took us back from the market today told us that it was the first snow of 2006 and it is highly unusual. It was very novel and pretty, but now i look forward to it melting. tom and i have reassembled our skateboards and wish to go out and take advantage of beijings incredibly wide roads and perfect bike lanes.
this morning we visited the temple of heaven in the south of the city. it was indescribable, but i took many photos. its doubtful i will be able to scan them up before i return though.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Day one
So it appears that the great firewall doesnt mind our google blog, but two days before we left America, there was a big earthquake off the coast of Taiwan. It damaged the communications cable on the sea floor and so our connection with any western website that does not house servers in Asia is pitiful. Imagine a modem connection before the advent of the 56k.
The jet lag is turning out not to be such an immediate affliction as a battle of attrition. Our bodies still have not accepted the change in schedule weve imposed on them and many wake up at 6am against their own will.
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Immediate first observations:
Beijing is unfathomably massive in width and breadth.
The district Beijing Normal University is in and the areas to the Northwest we explored yesterday feel no more crowded really than a Western city.
The people of Beijing are shockingly well dressed. There are very distinctive Chinese fashions and they are very new and fresh and contemporary. They are not backwards in dress at all.
The area we saw yesterday is riddled with small commercial storefronts. They are little more than closets jammed with new merchandise with little room to manuever. The male shopkeepers of these tiny shoe and clothing stores pay little attention to their customers. I visited 6 or 7 of them yesterday and I received little more than a head nod from the male vendor. They were all too busy intently focused on the various Korean MMORPGs they were playing.
We have yet to see another American. We have yet to find on the street any of the hundreds of millions of Chinese that know any English. We stick out like a sore thumb but the Chinese are very friendly. As we wandered yesterday looking for one of the clothing markets on Emilys list (to no avail), more than a few times, a Chinese would see us and smile and yell "HALLO!" to us from inappropriate distances.
My Chinese has come a long way in 1 year but is still quite depressingly rudimentary. I can communicate with significant success with locals on the street when I initiate the conversation. However, many times, as soon as they hear that I can speak Mandarin with any proficiency they launch into casual responses of which I can rarely make more than guestimations on meaning.
Visually Beijing as an American is confusing. Many times I was hit with waves of disbelief as to my surroundings. A huge portion of city life walking around the streets seems identical to that in America. Every now and then though, you come upon a sight so alien that It makes your head spin and question the validity of your senses. I will e
To anyone that has spent any time in a major American Chinatown, the smell of Beijing is not overly surprising. The smog and pollution is disconcerting, but the sight of seeing people out doing tai chi in the snow at 7 am and the marvel of the construction products and the atmosphere is incredible.
Another wonder is the power of American money. Many daily needs and indulgences are all but free. In conversion: 20 cents for a subway ride. 1 dollar for a bottle of good whisky. 2 dollars for a good large meal. 3 dollars for a cross town taxi. 15 dollars for a fashionable sweater. 20 dollars for a fashionable jacket.
we are leaving to go look for a bakery. PEACE
-Winkler
The jet lag is turning out not to be such an immediate affliction as a battle of attrition. Our bodies still have not accepted the change in schedule weve imposed on them and many wake up at 6am against their own will.
------------------
Immediate first observations:
Beijing is unfathomably massive in width and breadth.
The district Beijing Normal University is in and the areas to the Northwest we explored yesterday feel no more crowded really than a Western city.
The people of Beijing are shockingly well dressed. There are very distinctive Chinese fashions and they are very new and fresh and contemporary. They are not backwards in dress at all.
The area we saw yesterday is riddled with small commercial storefronts. They are little more than closets jammed with new merchandise with little room to manuever. The male shopkeepers of these tiny shoe and clothing stores pay little attention to their customers. I visited 6 or 7 of them yesterday and I received little more than a head nod from the male vendor. They were all too busy intently focused on the various Korean MMORPGs they were playing.
We have yet to see another American. We have yet to find on the street any of the hundreds of millions of Chinese that know any English. We stick out like a sore thumb but the Chinese are very friendly. As we wandered yesterday looking for one of the clothing markets on Emilys list (to no avail), more than a few times, a Chinese would see us and smile and yell "HALLO!" to us from inappropriate distances.
My Chinese has come a long way in 1 year but is still quite depressingly rudimentary. I can communicate with significant success with locals on the street when I initiate the conversation. However, many times, as soon as they hear that I can speak Mandarin with any proficiency they launch into casual responses of which I can rarely make more than guestimations on meaning.
Visually Beijing as an American is confusing. Many times I was hit with waves of disbelief as to my surroundings. A huge portion of city life walking around the streets seems identical to that in America. Every now and then though, you come upon a sight so alien that It makes your head spin and question the validity of your senses. I will e
To anyone that has spent any time in a major American Chinatown, the smell of Beijing is not overly surprising. The smog and pollution is disconcerting, but the sight of seeing people out doing tai chi in the snow at 7 am and the marvel of the construction products and the atmosphere is incredible.
Another wonder is the power of American money. Many daily needs and indulgences are all but free. In conversion: 20 cents for a subway ride. 1 dollar for a bottle of good whisky. 2 dollars for a good large meal. 3 dollars for a cross town taxi. 15 dollars for a fashionable sweater. 20 dollars for a fashionable jacket.
we are leaving to go look for a bakery. PEACE
-Winkler
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Map of Beijing
Metropolitan Beijing:
Beijing Normal University is up north-northwest of the forbidden city.
-------------
The fact that I am now an adult, have no siblings, and am part of a nuclear family lax in its christian dogma has allowed any Christmas excitement I have to be eclipsed by the anticipation of stepping off the plane in Beijing. Not helping I'm sure was the stomach turning footage that was just broadcast on network television of 'the first Christmas mass in Kabul held in over ten years!'
The next few days will be relatively empty aside from packing and preparing. I have a number of loose social ends to tie up, and a good amount of driving between Downingtown and Newark. I think the main theme of my overall state of mind is that I by no means trust myself to succeed. The amount of logistical responsibility for getting my person to China dwarfs what faith I have in my abilities. The fact that I have made it this far is based solely on the fact that I managed to pull through 5-6 bureaucratic deadlines either at the inexcusably gut-wrenching last second or well past the deadline at the pardoning of an administrator. Keeping my person and belongings in one piece, making it to the airport on time, and then home again without incident seems a surreal goal.
I am much more worried about this than any specific physical circumstance of China. I am relatively unfazed by the prospects of the physical strain of the trip. I have received a number of shots. My stomach copes well with stream water and well water. I am no stranger to backpacking and prolonged day to day life without appliances and electricity, nor am I uncomfortable navigating urban bustle and sprawl. My spring/summer/fall regimen of running has fallen to the wayside, but as of last friday I could still finish 5 miles in under 40 minutes. Plus, the thousands of hours tramping around in workboots and a carhartt suit up at the port has me with little fear of not being able to handle extensive exploration. I even feel relatively prepared for the battle with jetlag. I am a veteran of avante garde sleeping patterns and am armed with a modest arsenal of legal ingestable weaponry.
I am quite apprehensive of the mental strain of the trip however. I have no real experience with a trip like this and have no idea the price total linguistic and cultural immersion will exact on me each day. I told Tom that it is likely that the energy spent trying desperately to understand all that I hear will wear me out and that the end of the day, it will be up to him to drag me back home.
And I'm also sure that this pre-flight assessment will be laughable in a week. I'm stabbing in the dark trying to contextualize what this trip will be like.
Cheers, Merry Christmas again.
I hope that your wine hangover is nowhere near as bad as mine is shaping up to be.
-Winkler
Beijing Normal University is up north-northwest of the forbidden city.
-------------
The fact that I am now an adult, have no siblings, and am part of a nuclear family lax in its christian dogma has allowed any Christmas excitement I have to be eclipsed by the anticipation of stepping off the plane in Beijing. Not helping I'm sure was the stomach turning footage that was just broadcast on network television of 'the first Christmas mass in Kabul held in over ten years!'
The next few days will be relatively empty aside from packing and preparing. I have a number of loose social ends to tie up, and a good amount of driving between Downingtown and Newark. I think the main theme of my overall state of mind is that I by no means trust myself to succeed. The amount of logistical responsibility for getting my person to China dwarfs what faith I have in my abilities. The fact that I have made it this far is based solely on the fact that I managed to pull through 5-6 bureaucratic deadlines either at the inexcusably gut-wrenching last second or well past the deadline at the pardoning of an administrator. Keeping my person and belongings in one piece, making it to the airport on time, and then home again without incident seems a surreal goal.
I am much more worried about this than any specific physical circumstance of China. I am relatively unfazed by the prospects of the physical strain of the trip. I have received a number of shots. My stomach copes well with stream water and well water. I am no stranger to backpacking and prolonged day to day life without appliances and electricity, nor am I uncomfortable navigating urban bustle and sprawl. My spring/summer/fall regimen of running has fallen to the wayside, but as of last friday I could still finish 5 miles in under 40 minutes. Plus, the thousands of hours tramping around in workboots and a carhartt suit up at the port has me with little fear of not being able to handle extensive exploration. I even feel relatively prepared for the battle with jetlag. I am a veteran of avante garde sleeping patterns and am armed with a modest arsenal of legal ingestable weaponry.
I am quite apprehensive of the mental strain of the trip however. I have no real experience with a trip like this and have no idea the price total linguistic and cultural immersion will exact on me each day. I told Tom that it is likely that the energy spent trying desperately to understand all that I hear will wear me out and that the end of the day, it will be up to him to drag me back home.
And I'm also sure that this pre-flight assessment will be laughable in a week. I'm stabbing in the dark trying to contextualize what this trip will be like.
Cheers, Merry Christmas again.
I hope that your wine hangover is nowhere near as bad as mine is shaping up to be.
-Winkler
Emily's list
The following is a list presented to me by a friend. She studied in Beijing this past summer and obliged me with a list of recommendations. I am putting it up online so that it will be easy for me to access once we get to beijing. Otherwise I would have to carry the paper around with me, and anyone who knows me knows how long those pieces of paper would last. In addition, It also allows our friends coming with us to access her list without needing my presence. For public consumption, I have abridged and modified it, so she should receive no blame for any wordage, but still full credit for the information.
Shopping and markets
General prices for bargaining
Pants 50-180 kuai
Shirts 40-80 kuai
Jackets 60-200kuai
Sweaters 40-120 kuai
DVDs no more than 15 kuai. Even if it says english on the outside its most likely in chinese.
Check that what you get is what you pay for. Sometimes rack items are of better quality than what they will put in your bag.
1) the silk market- great stuff; great deals are possible but they will rip you off if you don't know how to bargain. Go to other markets to learn how first.
2) wudaokou fuzhang shichang- near xue yuan qiao, big bargain market with anything and everything. Listen to the prices the chinese get first.
3) dong wupifashichang- near the zoo there are a couple of markets. Across the street behind the bus station are 2 enormous shopping markets. This is where many locals go to shop. The older buildings are better.
4) haidan electonics district- any piece of electronics; Zhongquancun dajie; Caretour nearby and great korean restaurant near wudaokou
5)miliandao- tea street
6)xidan- 7 intense floors; can't miss billboards; right near xidan 'times' square
Bars&clubs
1)nanjie- downtown near workers stadium cheap good atmosphere good starting place
2)bar blu- sanlitun bar street. Lighted floors decent bands good terrace bar
3)lush & zubbs right near wudaokou metro stop; lush-good western food; zubbs-doesn't pick up till midnight wednesday ideal go somewhere first
4)mix-near workers stadium european style club crowded can be $ on weekends
5)bus bar- right next to nanjie rasta deal
6)browns- also in sanlitun wed ladies night drinks a little weak
7)bed- 17 zhonguang hutong jiu gulou dajie no tables, beds good mojitos and tapas
Merry Christmas!
-Winkler
Shopping and markets
General prices for bargaining
Pants 50-180 kuai
Shirts 40-80 kuai
Jackets 60-200kuai
Sweaters 40-120 kuai
DVDs no more than 15 kuai. Even if it says english on the outside its most likely in chinese.
Check that what you get is what you pay for. Sometimes rack items are of better quality than what they will put in your bag.
1) the silk market- great stuff; great deals are possible but they will rip you off if you don't know how to bargain. Go to other markets to learn how first.
2) wudaokou fuzhang shichang- near xue yuan qiao, big bargain market with anything and everything. Listen to the prices the chinese get first.
3) dong wupifashichang- near the zoo there are a couple of markets. Across the street behind the bus station are 2 enormous shopping markets. This is where many locals go to shop. The older buildings are better.
4) haidan electonics district- any piece of electronics; Zhongquancun dajie; Caretour nearby and great korean restaurant near wudaokou
5)miliandao- tea street
6)xidan- 7 intense floors; can't miss billboards; right near xidan 'times' square
Bars&clubs
1)nanjie- downtown near workers stadium cheap good atmosphere good starting place
2)bar blu- sanlitun bar street. Lighted floors decent bands good terrace bar
3)lush & zubbs right near wudaokou metro stop; lush-good western food; zubbs-doesn't pick up till midnight wednesday ideal go somewhere first
4)mix-near workers stadium european style club crowded can be $ on weekends
5)bus bar- right next to nanjie rasta deal
6)browns- also in sanlitun wed ladies night drinks a little weak
7)bed- 17 zhonguang hutong jiu gulou dajie no tables, beds good mojitos and tapas
Merry Christmas!
-Winkler
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Tom here, trying to get the feel of this site. As internet time will be pay-as-you-go once we're in China, not to mention I want to spend as much time doing things rather than figuring out this website once I'm there, I thought it would be good to learn how to use this site before heading out. I expect to be very very tired at the end of each day, so anything that might give me an excuse not to blog might very well derail the activity completely, and I'd really like to be at least fairly regular with this. I haven't checked the comments feature, but I'm hoping it will be fairly robust, as it would be a nice way to have some contact with the people from home.
Oh and I am not quite sure what Mike meant by the "narcissistic indulgements of self-publishing," but I intend to include a couple pictures with each post. Taking lots of pictures will definitely be one of my main activities in China. I think that it will be a really good time for me to work on my photography, as I'll have plenty of interesting material as well as little else i need to accomplish with my free time.
OK. for now, I'll conclude with a picture of a inchworm, purely to make sure i can figure out how to put up pictures on this site.
OK so the picture thing doesn't seem to be working. I don't feel like dealing with it now.
Oh and I am not quite sure what Mike meant by the "narcissistic indulgements of self-publishing," but I intend to include a couple pictures with each post. Taking lots of pictures will definitely be one of my main activities in China. I think that it will be a really good time for me to work on my photography, as I'll have plenty of interesting material as well as little else i need to accomplish with my free time.
OK. for now, I'll conclude with a picture of a inchworm, purely to make sure i can figure out how to put up pictures on this site.
OK so the picture thing doesn't seem to be working. I don't feel like dealing with it now.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Test
alright
Today is Wednesday December 20th 2006
Newark has emptied of students and the weather is mild and clear
----------------
This is a test post for a blog that will be operated by two American students while studying in China for the winter:
Thomas Bentley-22 and Michael Winkler-21
Required by the university program upon returning to America is a document of reflections on the experience of the trip. Required by our wholesome relationships with family and friends are consistant updates and contact.
The main objective of this blog will be the minimization of effort needed to accomplish these things by merging them all into a series of one-size-fits-all updates.
I am seated at a computer in the Morris Library right now, but I will update later exploring posting capabilities from my mobile device. Tom will likely also be testing and playing with the account.
-Winkler
Today is Wednesday December 20th 2006
Newark has emptied of students and the weather is mild and clear
----------------
This is a test post for a blog that will be operated by two American students while studying in China for the winter:
Thomas Bentley-22 and Michael Winkler-21
Required by the university program upon returning to America is a document of reflections on the experience of the trip. Required by our wholesome relationships with family and friends are consistant updates and contact.
The main objective of this blog will be the minimization of effort needed to accomplish these things by merging them all into a series of one-size-fits-all updates.
I am seated at a computer in the Morris Library right now, but I will update later exploring posting capabilities from my mobile device. Tom will likely also be testing and playing with the account.
-Winkler
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