Wednesday 17 December 2008

A quick word about food


Guangzhou Croc, originally uploaded by biglebufski.

We have all seen the video of the rabbit heads and by now I'm sure you all know that Mark and I love the Hunan cuisine for its donkey meat. However, my recent trip to Guangzhou was a revelation: Never before have I seen so much fish and seafood alive, waiting to be grilled under your instructions. The highlight was the chopped up crocodile, 5.80 Euros for 500gr. A bargain really! I didn't have any and was warned by my team leader that if I mentioned the crocodile to our Chinese group they would order it. So I kept quiet until after lunch....

Sunday 14 December 2008

Moving in (properly) and leaving soon (5 days to go)

Well, well, where to start? I haven't been a good blogger recently, so apologies, but I blame it all on work! Everyone wants to get stuff pout of the way before Christmas and because it's not a holiday for the Chinese, they can't really see he rush, so it's all fun, fun, fun!

After a long period of wearing the same t-shirt every friday night and the same three blouses to work (not to speak of Mark who was even more hardcore), we finally had our beloved stuff delivered last Tuesday. So, I stayed at home and watched six Chinese little helpers unpack our stuff (mainly books, which they seemed to find very amusing) and afetr they left I staretd rearranging everything. I can annouce that we have now a visitor's bed (no, this is not a hint), more clothes and are in need of a bookcase. Luckily this is China, so getting a bookcase made to your own design is just the same price as going to IKEA. It's like an IKEA with better quality and more choice. So we shall pursue this issue then....

Another exciting thing of course is our retreat to the Middle East on Friday. 25 degrees I read ont eh internet (and the internet never lies) and one lovely lady to meet at the end of my trip. Before that, mountains, palm trees and family time!

So, in conlcusion, life has been busy, but we can't really complain and therefore won't. Slowly but surely, a certain routine establishes itself and with now knowing at least 20 Chinese words each, Mark and I can even order different kinds of food now.

Thursday 4 December 2008

Latest videos

Patrick's Birthday


Rabbit Heads


German Christmas Market


Beach Volleyball

Not Eating Wind

The padded, surgical face-mask hung limply from one ear like a beached jellyfish.
Mostly to keep warm rather than for health reasons,
she still used a spare hand to cover her mouth while taking on her phone.

Monday 1 December 2008

Under my skin

Paint it Black and Sympathy for the Devil are all Rolling Stones songs.
This post will be pretty wordy and will lack the usual photographs and videos I included.

By way of preamble, I often used to argue with Caroline that the UK, in contrast to many European countries actually gets more passionate and opinionated the further North you go. Given our love of football, partying and our general disregard for the working week, geordies are more like people from the south of France or Italy than our glum southern chums. (apologies to any glum southern chums reading - really this is just an excuse for geordies to drink too much - apologies to any geordies reading, etc). I never felt particularly British in the stiff-upper lipped sense and I'm not particularly taciturn.

However, I have felt more British here in Beijing. I'm sure this is a frequently observed phenomenon with a name and everything, but it's still relatively new to me, despite my time in Brussels. I discovered that until recently, a number of my students considered me to be "a cold British man". This is fine actually as I want to maintain a healthy distance at which I can demand their respect. But it's not a label I'd ever expected to be applied. However, when I started thinking about it, I could quite easily see that in comparison to the Yanquis, I am pretty reserved. Mind you, in comparison to Americans, everyone suffers avuncularity deficit.

So I was reconsidering my approach thus far in the light of this revelation. My attitude to China and Chinese people is very much one of respect. I am a guest in their country and do not know enough about the many different situations (political and otherwise) that many people see fit to comment on.

I remember some time ago, back when I still worked for the Council, discussing with someone our policy regarding links with China, in the Millstone pub. The guy I was talking with was at least a generation older than me, and for him the events of '89 were still too significant to consider working with this Chinese Government. Now this is not the forum for me to explain my consensual / constructive view of geo-politics, if you're interested, buy me a few beers sometime. But suffice to say, then and now I feel the need to fully understand a situation before I can offer comment.
This was not always the case of course...

So with these things in mind, I have been reticent about asking any Chinese people difficult questions relating to China and its recent history. I have been happier to wait until someone felt comfortable enough to broach the subject themselves.

And today, interestingly, that happened in class.
I'm having my study skills students (all 120 of them) deliver presentations on the subject of their choice. Trying to develop their confidence and public speaking skills. Something I am qualified to speak about.
One group today decided to speak about the recent Wenchuan Earthquake.
They gave a very interesting presentation on the psychological impacts of this disaster.

But what was most interesting was the comments after the presentation and the answers:

Q - Why did you choose this topic, it was such a difficult time for China?
A - We should not ignore things, even if they are difficult. We must see how we can learn from these situations.

Q - You say that some people are suffering after the event, but on the news it said the Government had rebuilt all the houses. Was the Government lying?
A - No, but rebuilding is not only about the physical, we must also think about the psychological impacts.

Now normally, the students are very reserved, the good ones work hard and the lazy ones can't be bothered. But this subject had clearly exercised the group, in a really positive way. Questions and answers were coming thick and fast in a good natured debate with no need for me to probe and suggest.

Once it was finished however I decided this was a good time for a question of my own.

Q - I was in the UK when the Earthquake happened and afterwards. The impression we got in the UK, mainly from the BBC, was that China openly welcomed relief help and expertise from other countries. This contrasted massively with the situation in Burma after the flood. (Cue a long and confusing discussion where we tried to find the Chinese name for Burma / Myanmar. Quite difficult).

Now admittedly this was quite a wordy question, but these are clever kids and it's actually the first time I have been able to really ask something I wanted to know.

A - The consensus of opinion was that because China is now so much stronger than in the past, they feel confident and comfortable receiving help. 30 years ago they would not have been able to let the world help them because they would have been scared about looking like they were accepting charity and their economic model wasn't working.

Now, it depends on your interests, but that to me is a very interesting insight.

Saturday 22 November 2008

My way to work

So, after Mark stole my idea and wrote about his way to work, I feel that it is time you find out about my every day adventures:

Depending on the workload I leave for work between 7.30 and 8.30. Coming out of our sheltered little compound you can see all the schoolchildren being put on the bus by their parents that live in Season's Park too. The school is next to my work, so about 20 minutes walk, but clearly too far for parents to take their kids there. Then again most of them are busy people, so probably understandable.

Coming out of our gate, people are still wearing pyjamas in the street (a Beijing fashion) and are doing their morning exercises of walking backwards, attempting a jog or stretching (any age between 15 and 90). The biggest challenge is to cross the main road (Donghzhimen), because even during green pedstrian lights it's ok to turn (if you have any kind of wheely item with you), so you have to be aware of taxis, bikes and diplomtic cars, which just make up their own rules for traffic. At least it wakes me up!

Once having braved the road, the street is treelined (Ginko) and now all the different leaves are red and yellow and glow in the sun. The first building I pass is Pizza Hut, but the next one hosts the embassies of Mauritius, Lesotho and the WHO. Crossing a little street I see the Armenian embassy on the left and the Australian one on the right (I regularly nearly walk into the ambassadors car, I have just adopted too much of a Beijing attitude to cars and his driver seems to like nealry hitting people). Then, turning left, one of the diplomatic compounds is currently being painted (not sue what colour yet, last week it was blue and then grey). One more big street to cross, but here no one can turn, so it almost feels boring. Usually on the other side of the road, one of the diplomtic cars sneaks past just in front of me and Friday two girls in saris on bikes nearly got run over by a taxi, so not too boring.

The embassy of Guinea has one of the most alert guards and every morning he walks across from his little house to guard the gate when I walk past, I clearly look like I would do Guinea harm if I could (obviously I wouldn't). On the other side of the road Nepal and Saudi Arabia share the same block. Many plants and flowers greet you in front of the Kenyan embassy and then passing the school buses I cross the road to our building. The embassy of Usbekistan is worth mentioning for the fact that they have a random suitcase lying on the street in front of their gate which has an antenna and a little red light. Still trying to find out what this is for, but the security guards take good care of it.

Last Friday it struck me how amazig just walking around is. I finished work early at 5 and walked down towards the Chinese supermarket to pick up some noodles and stuff. The whole city got ready to begin the weekend and workers came out of the big building site near by to get their meal from their employer (it was delivered in a little white van). Then I turned around the corner and the smell of fresh popcorn immediately made me appreciate this town 10 times more. Fresh popcorn is available from lots of little stores, now that the corn has been harvested. Then just outside the supermarket the smell of sweet pineapple struck me. They even remove the skin for you if you want and form beautiful little shapes. I had to get one and also the tiniest clementines I've ever seen. They're about the size of a table tennis ball and really sweet.

Walking home with my purchases I could feel the icy air and the typically cold wind that has now taken over. Amazingly, you can even see the stars most nights.

Life really isn't a chore here, it has to be said.

Thursday 20 November 2008

The Long Journey Home

This is another post about my commute.
It takes a substantial part of everyday, during which I normally just relax and read, or listen to music, it gives me a chance to pay attention to what is going on around me in the city.
And then report the amusing things back to you.

I could take a taxi and miss the bus ride, this would save me from the squash, but cost €4 every day. Seems better to live with the inconvenience, pay €0.08 and travel along with everyone else. Hell it makes me feel more egalitarian, even if we enjoy a life in the city which is far beyond the reaches of most people.
Although, a student today did tell me the 'Typical' Beijing family has an investment portfolio, I think she may have been drawing a little heavily on personal experience. Most of my students are from well off families I think.

Anyway, tonight I missed the 628 to Datong Dong Lu deliberately, it was just too full. I should have known better, five minutes later the Yintong 110 turned up, but was at least as full and half the size. I took that bus to Huixinxiejie Beikou. On the bus there are TVs, this is pretty common in Beijing and I don't want to seem like a yokel, but it seems pretty technologically advanced to me. So often they show a home improvement programme, where a doe-eyed presenter knocks up some 'useful' implements for around the home. Last time I saw it, she was making a handy kitchen towel dispenser from a used oil bottle. You get the idea. Today however was a little different and illustrated two things I have noticed about life in China and the Chinese people in particular.

1. Green Tea can do anything. You may have seen that Chinese people often carry around little bottles with tea leaves in wherever they go. In many places there are water heaters, so you can fill up your bottle and drink tea til your thirst is slaked and beyond.
2. Hygeine is a big deal. No shoes in the house, face masks to block out pollution, etc. You might be fooled however if you saw the university toilets, but never mind.

So on the show this evening, the lady was showing how telephone handsets (the landline kind) can become infected with bacteria from people spitting when they talk into them. Ignore the obvious advice at this point and stay with me.
The obvious responseis to wrap some green tea in a piece of kitchen towel (dispensed with ease of course) and then place that between the mouthpiece and the rest of the phone. The Tea then acts as some kind of antibacterial agent while your not using it.
A smug chap popped up to suggest this wouldn't work with wall-mounted phones, but an elastic band soon dealt with that little problem. Not quite sure what you do when you want to talk into it though.

So out of the melee and onto the subway, line five to Yonghegong Lama Temple.
On the subway were a number of migrant workers, you can often spot them as they carry huge rolls of bedding around with them, presumably sleping near wherever there is work. You get the distinct feeling the city and indeed country would not function without their hardwork. This general feeling of respect evaporated somewhat when one of them whipped out his mobile and played what sounded like Chinese Celine Dion, accompanied by diso lights which actually shone out from the sides of his phone. Charver.

Then changing at Yonghegong for Line 2 and the single stop to Dongzhimen. Line 2 is one of the oldest and most established subway lines. Built in the seventies, it is one of the older modern things in the city. Beijing is curious in that sense, things are either ancient or modern, with little middle ground. Not likely to change in the near future either since the modern buildings often aren't built to last.

Anyway, there are also TVs on the subway lines and on line two there are three basic programmes. Educational shorts displaying the proposed behaviour of subway passengers, these are largely ignored and I frequently have to utilise my superior body weight to suggest passengers should stand aside and let people off before attempting to board.

The second choice is essentially meat adverts, evenly split between KFC, which in China thinks nothing of mainly advertising their beef wraps, I guess the C doesn't mean so much here. and a company you may remeber called Little Sheep. Who seem to make both backpacks as we have already seen, and lamb cutlets that send women weak at the knees. A curious business model if you ask me.

The final programme is a very short soap opera. It seems to be charting the 'will they-won't they' relationship of two young attractive Beijing urbanites. If you've seen the French movie L'Appartement, you'll know the plot.

So there it is another curious little insight into my daily travels and travails.

Wednesday 19 November 2008

December, DEcember, as in 2008, next month December?

Tonight I went to buy some train tickets.
We live about fifteen minutes walk from the nearest place you can buy train tickets, which in Beijing is saying something.
Actually our apartment is pretty much convenient for everything, except my work.

View Larger Map

Anyway, I went to the train ticket shop, or whatever it's called.
And armed with my increasing Chinese (and a very useful phrasebook) I asked for two tickets, using the correct measure word and everything.

Deciding I was one of the reasonable number of Laowais who can speak good Mandarin, the women at the window trotted of at linguistic pace.
Did I want train tickets she asked? Correct I responded.
When she asked?
So armed with the knowledge, I said, twelfth month, fifth day.
Twelfth Month, she repeated.
Yes I said, correct.
Twelfth
? She tried again.
Yes I responded. Again.
Now she had begun to speak really slowly as she clearly had started to doubt my mental faculties.

Actually, so had I, I was starting to doubt it was approaching the third week of November. I was wondering if it was only October and I'd just got ahead of myself, or whether the Chinese railways ran on some other special calendar which only matched the Gregorian one during special occasions, like Eid and Yom Kippur.

But no, it transpired I was being ridiculous, you can't possibly buy train tickets this far in advance. I'd have to go back on the 25th. I left quite amiably, enrichened with some new knowledge. However, I did feel I'd have to share this experience with you all back home. It's not the fact that you have to wait to buy the tickets, the woman wasn't unpleasant or crazy. The noteworthy thing was simply that this woman could not comprehend the possibility that other places could exist where train tickets might be available three weeks in advance.

I'm definitely lucky to have visited lots of places and lived in a couple of different ones, but honestly... use your imagination woman, I didn't ask to rent a pair or unicorn wings to fly to Suzhou.

Thursday 13 November 2008

Another real-life insight

And an excuse for me to rabbit on in front of camera which I'm quite enjoying.
Who'd have thought I enjoyed the limelight eh?

This is just for interest, it really isn't that unpleasant.
And as Caroline and I were discussing last night, if this is the price for hot summers and blue skies into November then bring on the dust!

Monday 10 November 2008

First the BBC, next the China Daily.

OK a confession, the BBC story was written by me, at no invitation from the venerable Beeb.
However, a very similar story was actually run by the China Daily and this is in fact, the genuine article.

Still to come, the story of a weekend: posted soon.

No Planes, but trains and automobiles. (Long Post Warning)

Well we are back safe and well from the border town of Dandong, but not without incident. More of that later.
Five of us met at 21:00 at Dongzhimen subway station on Friday evening. Me and Caroline, Carol, Patrick and Sunnia all fellow lecturers from my university.

Fortunately for me and Caroline they all also speak Mandarin at levels we can only hope for in the future. We took a night train from Beijing Station to Shenyang North Station, arriving around 07:30 where we changed to a train to Dandong.

On the train journey to Dandong from Shenyang we had seat tickets as it was only a four hour journey and during the day. When you have seat tickets, at least on this train, that simply means four people sit together on the bottom of three bunks. We were packed in with three Chinese women who I’d guess were in their thirties or forties. Over the course of the journey Patrick and Sunnia were talking with the three women and the train guard, another woman about the same age. It was a good example of much you can interact with people when you can speak the same language. Everyone was very interested in us, where we were from, what we are doing in China and how much money we are paid. It was simple curiosity rather than any kind of jealousy or resentment, although we obviously weren’t comfortable talking about money, especially if we seemed extremely well paid compared to people living outside Beijing.

We arrived in Dandong at around 13:00 and were all pretty tired, we had spent the evening on the train snacking, drinking and generally carousing to the chagrin of our fellow passengers who only wanted a normal night sleep - it was a bit too exciting for us though. As soon as we arrived in Dandong we could see the strong Korean influence, not least in the prevalence of the Korean characters on nearly every shop and street sign. These are distinguishable from Chinese characters as they use a lot of circles which are not present in Chinese script. We took a right outside the station, manfully avoiding the various hawkers and 10%ers trying to set us up with a hotel room. With the use of the trusty Lonely Planet and a few roadside maps we wandered up Connecting Road No.6 to find the Yalu river and the border with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.


From the river bank, after some obligatory photographs including an incredibly blue sky, we set off to check out one of the guidebook recommended hotels. A quick look at the available rooms in the Oriental Cherry and we were happy to check in for around €23 for a very nice double room with a view of North Korea. After the obligatory difficulties with Caroline’s Laissez-Passer (EU diplomatic passport) we left the hotel to find some lunch. As is often the way when confronted with new and cheap food we went a little crazy and ordered quite a lot. Seafood was popular since it was a coastal town and the octopus and scallops were fresh and good.

Next we wandered the streets getting a bit of a feel for the town. I say town as it only had the piffling population of 700 000. Strangely that seems small now after spending time in Beijing. As well as the writing, the Korean influence in the town was quite clear in the shops and we spent an enjoyable 20 minutes pottering about in a mini-mart gathering up exotic alcoholic drinks and snacks. We then managed to wander into a surprising sight: Tesco. I was quite keen on a look inside for comparison purposes, but we never quite made it. After a brief discussion with an American woman living in Dandong, we decided that a visit to the Eastern-most point of the Great Wall was probably best left for the following morning. Instead we meandered back towards the harbour to take the short boat journey near to the banks of North Korea. This may sound like strange tourist activity, but the mystery that the country is shrouded in makes it quite a compelling thing to do and an enjoyable forty minutes was spent peering at the unlit banks spotting exotic activities like group exercise and bike-riding, the kind of activities you just don’t see in China…

The Korean side of the river really did look quite forlorn with a sad-looking collection of cranes and rusting barges. The never-working Ferris wheel only added to the atmosphere. As the sun went down and the neon began to light up the Chinese skyscrapers, the different trajectories of two ‘socialist’ countries was described in sharp relief. Back on dry land we cheered up by buying some tourist tat and warmed up by visiting Peter’s coffee shop. A French Canadian place currently operated by the eponymous 16 year old boy and an American and Norwegian friend of the family. Like many things China does its’ “opening up” in a big way and is attracting people from all over the world, even to its’ smaller, less obvious destinations. We relaxed with some caffeinated drinks and sent some emails using the free Wi-Fi, a couple of games of Sorry and Connect-4 added to the holiday atmosphere.

After checking with Peter and a waiter we head off in search of some entertainment for the evening. Since lunch had been so substantial we were more interested in a few drinks than anything to eat. On the walk, we saw some evening activity down by the river:
We spent the evening in a classy little river-front joint called the July Bar. Kiwi drinks proved very popular, especially with a little Korean Soju added. We reacquainted ourselves with the dice drinking game that I was first taught a couple of years ago on a visit to Yangshuo. In the early hours we abandoned the bar having enjoyed the live music, Sarah Brightman DVD on loop and one waitress added to the list of fans gained. Back at the hotel, we enjoyed the lack of other guests by keeping the party going for a couple of hours.

Next morning after an early and ‘interesting’ breakfast we found a taxi prepared to take the six of us to Tiger Mountain (Hushan) and the Great Wall. The Wall looked quite steep, but we got to the top in pretty short order. From the peak of the hill there were great views all around, augmented by a telescope rented out for 3 Yuan by an old guy in a US Army coat.
Back down the other side and we reached ‘One Step Across’ the closest point between China and North Korea. Caroline was showing her usual disdain for authority when a border guard popped up to suggest we might like to get back into Chinese territory.


The bracing activity was just what we needed to recover from the previous evening’s excesses. We then took a taxi back to the railway station for the local take on the Jianbing (including a small sausage). The journey back to Shenyang was more subdued, as the return route normally as, especially as we were all pretty tired. Getting back right on time we had an hour in Shenyang before the fast train back to Beijing which would get us home at 22:30. We went for some Chinese fast food right next to the station. Baozi and beef noodles were the order of the day. After a quick meal we headed back into the station with plenty of time to spare.

Unfortunately this was Shenyang Nan (south) Station and our train was due to depart from the North station in 20 minutes. We headed across town in a taxi that showed more than usual reticence to speed and got to the platform after quite a substantial sprint. The train had just left. So we had a problem. It was 18:30 and we had a long journey to make. There were a number of different options, but the caveat was that we needed to be back insufficient time for Caroline to get to work for 08:00 the next morning. Sunnia also had a lecture at this time, while Carol and I both had lectures at 10:10. The usual hustlers at the gates tried to convince us that their bus was the only one in town, but again we turned to the Lonely Planet. After a bit of a hunt we eventually found the bus station and bought tickets for a night bus which left at 20:00 to arrive in Beijing around 06:00 the next morning.

Hardly ideal, but still a good solution under the circumstances, we settled into an almost empty bus as it departed the station. Just outside the station the bus stopped and approximately 20 more passengers got on. Half of whom were teenaged school kids, one particular girl could not hold her excitement as she saw our unexpected faces she let out an involuntary yelp. She then jumped into the seat behind us and proceeded to eat through a mountain of snacks., at one point offering a half-eaten pomegranate through the seats like feeding time at the zoo. We weren’t too worried by this development, as experience had told us that Chinese people are normally pretty reliable when it comes to settling down for sleep on public transport. The secondary market in tickets was an interesting one though as clearly empty buses leaving for Beijing are a useful thing to sell on. As far as we could tell, the bus drivers must have been in contact with the ticket touts by mobile phone, so ultimately everyone ended up on the same buses out of town. Depending on the deal you cut with the hustlers, this could be more or less expensive than buying the bus tickets at the station. Enterprising and environmentally sound, there was little to criticise about the set-up.

So, we settled down again for the ride home. Only it wasn’t to be so easy. The engine proceeded to cut out on one of the main express ways out of town. The driver and his mate jumped off the bus to tinker with the engine and petrol tank followed by starting the engine again. We pootled forward a few yards and then rolled to a stop again. This routine repeated itself approximately twenty times to our dismay and yet to the complete lack of surprise of any of the other passengers, despite Chinese customers normally being a pretty demanding lot. At one point the driver ran across the carriageway, vaulted the central reservation and jumped into a taxi headed in the other direction. We were confident another bus would be on the way, but no such luck. He arrived back sometime later with a hose that was quickly ‘jerry rigged’ into place and away we went. With a fuel stop, a stop to collect more passengers, (at which point we hopped into quieter seats), a stop for a small cage of dogs to be loaded into the hold and a few more engine problems and repairs we then left Shenyang approximately 2 hours later.

Exhausted; cold and concerned about the state of the bus there was little we could do but fall asleep. A few hours of drifting in and out of fitful sleep we arrived back in Beijing at about 06:30. Curiously it seemed the arrival time was set to anticipate the curious carry on with the bus. So we took a short taxi ride from the bus stop home. Caroline had time for a shower before work and I grabbed an hour’s sleep.

The weekend was over. Despite the problematic journey home we’d enjoyed seeing another part of the country and a brief glimpse into one of the most secretive regimes on the planet.

Friday 7 November 2008

This teaching lark

It's not easy this teaching lark, it must be said.
We're coming up to mid-term exams, so everyone, teachers and students are a little nervous.

In the past 3 years I've come to the slightly surprising realisation that, in contrary to my school career, I'm actually pretty damn conciencious.
If I'm doing something I want to do it well, in fact, I often want to do it best, but that's just my perfectionist / competitive streak which I find reasonably easy to ignore.

So I'm trying to overcome the cultural divide between staff and students and do the best job I can to prepare these young Chinese people for their life in the UK next year. I know that for all of them it will be a big experience, for a lucky few it will be like my year abroad - life changing and may influence their career and life choices for years to come. Had I not been to Brussels, I would not have known about the exams which Caroline and I passed and which ultimately brought us here to the adventure in Beijing.

Anyway, that's enough of a contemplative window into my soul for now, I'll report back on general results of the exams soon and we'll see how good my pedagogic skills are.

This weekend we are off to Dandong near the North Korean / Chinese border, expect reports and pictures sometime next week.

Would enjoy a weekend beer/glass of wine/cup of tea with you all.
Will just have to raise my tsingtao to you on the train.

Tuesday 4 November 2008

THE Shopping Experience

I think it's time to talk about one of the most important thins we do here in Beijing: shopping. Noooo, I don't mean shopping for clothes, shoes, socks or DVDs (although I will say something about this later), I'm talking about the supermarket.

Chinese supermarkets are great, almost like zoos. There are lots of different things incl. live fish, crabs and other stuff like seaweed. And then there is the range of things that we have never seen in our lives, hundreds of bottles with mysterious contents, vegetables that we have no clue what to do with and bakery products that may be sweet, sour, hot, neutral or all of the above. My personal favourite: little sour dough buns with candyfloss beef filling. Usually we buy some things that look strange and try what they are at home, about 1/3 of them we buy again.

The real experience are the people in the supermarket: yesterday a young man saw us in the oats isle and came in specifically to inspect our basket and then walked off disappointed. Of course, there are staff as well and plenty of them. Yesterday I made the mistake of wanting to buy some moisturiser for my hands. Having chosen the one next to the 'White Hands' one (presumably it contains bleach), I tried to pick the chosen one up. Oh no,instantly, a little Chinese woman sorted shouting at me, preventing me from even getting near it (this is a normal isle I'm talking about). She picked it up, put it in a blue plastic bag and wrote out a receipt (also blue) with the product number and the price. Then she turned around. So,... I presumed I had to go to one of the counters to pay, so I asked the next staff member (about 2 meters away) and she pointed me in the right direction. No one at the counter, but luckily a Chinese guy also wanted to buy something and started shouting until someone came. Then it turned out that the woman had written the wrong number on the paper, so I had to go back to her and she had to send another member of staff to come to the till with me to tell the woman the right number. And this was just for some moisturiser and before any food shopping!

A quick word about the other shopping: clothes etc. Basically, you go to the market and there are NO fixed prices. Depending on the seller's day you can pay anything from about 1-100 Euros. Still being eco-conscious I tried to avoid buying anything unneccessarily, but having accompanied my colleague and tried some boots for the winter, I can speak from limited experience. I tried on a pair of boots and they were ever so slightly too small with my normal socks. So the girl went off to get a bigger size, but returned with the same boots (claiming they were bigger), but asked me to take off my socks and put on the tighty skincoloured ones. I could still feel the warmth that my foot had left in the boot only minuted earlier. Needless to say, I did not purchase that day.

So, when our things finally arrive from Europe, I will put my purchased Max Mara coat (had it been a size smaller it would have been Gucci) in the wardrobe and finally put my proper winter coat on!

Fame at last

As with the American election, coverage of this particular event is probably best left to the BBC.

See the full report.

Sunday 26 October 2008

Wanting to buy by the wall....


See below for Mark's overview of the weekend and our very own translation of Changcheng.

Having read many reviews about how to get to the wall (and back) we caught a bus about ten minutes from our flat for 1,40 Euro to Miyun (after one of the 'volunteers' told us that it would be far better for us to spend 60 Euros on a driver). Miyun is a bit of a boring place but the closest you can get from that bus station. There we haggled for a driver to Jinshangling. Afetr several attempts to walk off, we got them down to the guide book price (what would we do without these guiding bibles), the woman drove us all the way up to the wall through some quite remote villages and past the Miyun lake that provides parts of Beijing's drinking water.

We then got our tickets and started climbing up to the Great Wall. What an amazing view!!!! As far as we could see the wall stretches on he mountain summits and used to part Inner Mongolia and China. I took about 90 photos along the way and I don' think a single one can describe the majestic views we encountered yesterday.

We were extremely lucky with the weather too, nothing but sunshine and about 18 degrees, perfect for this walk. After having scared off some of the souvenir sellers (there weren't very many and their selling techniques are very questionable, capitalism has clearly not reached the wall yet), we could enjoy the walk with almost nobody around. One old lady followed us with her souvenir bag and water bottles and wanted to sell us all sorts until she gave up by asking "You walk Simatai, if I walk with you, you buy souvenir?" I would have probably thought about getting something just not to be accompanied by any sellers, but she really put this the wrong way around. Other than that, the sellers were quite cherrful and even wanted to show us shortcuts (that they use to get ahead of tourists).

The beautiful weather lit the wall and landscape in a glorious light and the coloured leaves gave the surroundings a very special feel.

Three hours later we reached Simatai, one of the possible exits. Our hostel was right on the bottom of the mountains and we could see the wall from the terrace. The hostel itself had quite poor reviews and complaints ranging from lying staff to non-English speaking staff and staff eating in teh restaurant that was for tourists. We chanced it and thanks to my colleague at work, Tiantian, had a room reserved in the courtyard. The setting was beautiful and once the girls got the heating going, it was quite cosy (if you didn't look too closely).

We slept for nearly 12 hours (9pm we turned the light off) and the morning was beautiful and sunny again, so we had the remaining biscuits with view of the wall and then walked towards the next town to catch tzhe bus back.

After about 20 minutes, a car stopped next to us and the driver jumped out and showed Mark very enthusiastically his phone. We realised that it was the same car of that took us to Jinshangling and the husband of our driver had just chanced it and went to see if he could pick us up in Simatai. So, for 10 Euros, we were chauffeured back to Miyun, had a walk around town and decided it was a not a place where Westener would have a quiet time living, because people constantly asked it we wanted to go to Simatai. Can you imagine doing your weekly shopping or coming back from work and people asknig if you wanted to go to the Great Wall?! So we got back on the 980 Bus and were back at the flat in an hour.

Becasue the weather was stil lso beautiful (and the upstairs neigbour was practising the piano), we went down to Sanlitun and sat in teh sun, had a little shop and then a drink in the 'Bookworm' (that's another story). Finishing off with some Thai food, we are almost prepared to go back to work. I still have to learn my Chinese vocabulary for the lesson, but other than that this was definitely our most relaxing weekend yet.

And I've been thinking about how we can purchase the hostel and make it carbon neutral and a magnet for hippie tourists and an even greater place to be. Happy for suggestions!

The Long Orange

Learning Chinese is a tricky business.
We're both getting along pretty well, although as you might expect Caroline is learning in an altogether more focused and sensible method than me, which might explain our different A-level/abitur results....

Anyway, we're slowly getting to grips with the tones.
However, on the way to the Great Wall we discovered a confusing fact.
Not only should it strictly be called the Long Wall, according to our phrase book; the word for Wall is also the word for Orange. Same tones and everything.
How confusing.

Anyway, we both have some unbelievably good photographs, it really is one of those places you cannot take a bad picture.

Ben, Mark and Kerry, in memory of our fantastic trip here last time, here is a quick video directed at you three:


I will upload the photographs to Flickr as usual.
So if you're interested, do check them out there.

We actually stayed the night at Simatai, one of the 'scenic spots' next to the Wall. Here is a video of our view from the hostel:


Finally, by way of a thank you to the generous people in room 242 at NCC, here is a piccie of me sporting one of the most useful leaving presents known to man:

Thursday 23 October 2008

Animals we have encountered so far




Beijing is obviously known for being a huge city with bad air, a lot of noise and many many people. What you wouldn't expect is to run into animals at every corner.

Dogs inside the 3rd ring road are not allowed to exceed a certain size (which is tiny, so you see a lot of hairy rats and weird mixes of husky with mouse etc. Dogs are very beloved here, maybe a replacement for family members? Anyway, my favourite dog in the neighbourhood is a slightly oversized grey poodle who always wears the latest fashion (see picture: all in pink for the Saturday out).

Then, on Saturday night we went to the art district (old factories converted into studios, pretty cool). First thing when we passed the gate (we may have already had one or two drinks by that point) was the sight of a huge Bengali rabbit!!!!!!!!!!! It was chilling out on the grass just after midnight, so Mark took a picture with me and a glow stick(don't ask, all I say is Suzie Wong). The next day we came back to have a nice Sunday stroll and the rabbit had hopped away.

Then, as if the rabbit wasn't enough, we entered this big old water tower and between two free glasses of champagne (Andrea, this would have been your favourite party ever)I saw a leopard lounging on one of the sofas. It changed sofas between this and the next glass of champagne and then I saw what it actually was: some weirdo had taken a fluffy toy almost life-size leopard to this party (on a leash). I just had to take a picture and may have also laughed in his face, but I just couldn't help it. That would have been a great accessory for a Friday night in Foundation.

Sounds like a story out of Alice in Wonderland? Believe me, that's how I felt and kept looking out for the mad Hatter all night.

To finish the weekend on an animal note, we went to a Muslim Chinese restaurant with the promise that there would be a lady dancing with a snake whilst we were eating. Instead 3 different types of belly dancers ran the night, no snake in sight!

On Saturday morning, we will go out into the country and spend a night next to the Great Wall (not in a sleeping bag as suggested by my roomy at work, too cold at night now). So, we can report after the weekend, whether it's even worth bothering!

Tuesday 21 October 2008

All apologies

We're back.
I hope our absence hasn't lost your interest.

We've been up to loads and I guess something approaching a normal work routine has started. Consequently we have been busy and a little knackered.
So consider this something of a super-update.
Here are five videos I have recently uploaded to Youtube:

This is taken in a Xinjiang Restaurant not far from our apartment.

This video is the skyline of Beijing taken from Beihai Park with an amateur choir singing in the background.

This is the flag lowering ceremony in Tian'anmen Square, short and uneventful, but still good to see.

This is a very short clip of a man writing the character for North on the floor in water at Beihai Park.

Finally this is a short clip of people piling onto a bus, outside of my work.
Which clip leads me nicely into the normal post I had intended to write.

The Best and Worst of Beijing.
Well, it’s neither the best nor the worst actually.
It’s more like a good thing and a bad thing in Beijing, but that just doesn’t make for a snappy title, does it?
I have discovered a new route to and from work, which saves me a bit of time.
I take the 628 bus from the South Gate of the University to Datun Dong Lu.
There I change and take a subway, line 5 south to Yonghegong Lama temple.
At the Lama Temple (no lamas as previously noted) I change onto Line 2, effectively the central Circle line. Then it’s one stop anti-clockwise to Dongzhimen, a 15 minute walk from our apartment. Were buying bikes this weekend, so that should be a 5 minute bike ride.

Anyway, this particular example comes from the 628 bus on Thursday night at about 18:00. The bus is a little full when it picks us up outside uni, no seats left obviously. After a few stops it’s filling up pretty well. Full, in fact by Newcastle standards. Then it stops at Baofang. And approximately 40 people rush the front and middle doors. Often people will be carrying huge unidentifiable packages too.
Each bus has a conductor/trice on too.
However, his/her job is not to regulate the number of people on the bus, merely to sell tickets to the few people that don’t have oyster cards, to duplicate the electronic announcer and shout out each stop before we get there and to stick his/her hand out of the window in a more threatening manner than the mere indicator light to warn errant cyclists and motorists that the bus intends to maneuver.
So the band point is that these buses have absolutely no maximum capacity, the number of people the bus takes is the number of people that want to get on.
I am bigger and sadly bulkier than many of the other passengers which means I suffer less from the crush than most. However it still makes getting off an interesting experience. And that brings me to the good point.

As I have already mentioned, public transport in Beijing is excellent. If you use one of the easily available Oyster-like cards, buses cost 0.04€ and subways cost 0.20€. Ridiculously cheap. Different buses work in different ways, but on the 628 you have to swipe your card on the way off as well as on. However, with so many people on the bus, just getting off is challenge enough without worrying about swiping your card. Anyway, on this particular day I had elbowed my way close to the door and a girl nearby could see I was getting off, but had no chance of swiping my card. As she was closer to the reader, she motioned to offer to do it for me.

Now, under normal circumstances I would never pass my wallet, full of cards, if not money, to an absolute stranger in a new and relatively unfamiliar city. After all, she would only need wait 'til the doors opened and nip off into the crowds leaving me wallet-less. However, this being Beijing I briefly considered it and passed her the wallet. She swiped the card and passed the wallet back to me.
So far my experiences of China in this regard have been great, no-one seems to be out to fleece you directly and certainly not to steal from you. All of the people you speak to on this topic are most worried that when they move back home or to another country they will be so naive from living in China that they will be victims of crime immediately.

So perhaps you think I'm a little bit foolish from this story, but you should also take away from it that Beijing is remarkably safe, especially for a capital city, especially with so many people.

I have also uploaded a load of new photographs to flickr, you can see them all here.
I've organised them all into sets, so check out the latest ones.

Sunday 12 October 2008

A weekend full of warmth

Despite the apparent lack of our stuff from England, we decided to warm the new flat yesterday. Unlike in ‘Spaced’ (thanks for the recommendation Cesca, we bought it here and love it) plenty of people came with gifts and full of enthusiasm to warm the place and to annoy our neighbours. We had left notes in everyone’s letter box last week to warn them about the noise, but this clearly didn’t stop some people phoning compound security at 10pm (!!!!) complaining. The guards themselves looked a bit embarrassed. They should spend a bit of time in Pandongate, that would have taught them, hihi. (Reliable sources have informed me that apart from kebabs in the hallway, our old home is quiet these days.)

The damage materialised itself more inside our fridge, this morning we counted a total of 70 beers having been drunk, at least 4 bottles of wine and a bottle of rum. Not bad for a first party!

The cleanup was fairly quick and we still have a well-stocked drinks cabinet for an emergency party (Andrea, there is even champagne). Because the weather has been so lovely over the last days, we decided to spend the afternoon by the lake, just north of the ForbiddenCity, called Bei Hai (North Lake). The view of the city is spectacular (no pollution problems at all), and we could see the Forbidden City in the distance (we’re keeping this gem for a full day, when we’re ready for it, hihi).

We then walked along the outside walls of the Forbidden City to Tian’anmen Square, where everyday at 6pm the flag is lowered (I think they put it away at night, so it doesn’t get too dirty). A fairly unspectacular affair if you ask me, they had trouble rolling it up, and that was as exciting as it got. After walking past Mao’s Mausoleum (now only open from 8-12, he doesn’t like visitors in the afternoon), we discovered some crazy reconstructed place that even had a tram and lots of pictures of old Beijing. Went into one of the side streets and found ourselves right in the heart of touristy but still very Chinese Beijing. We bought some Chopsticks in cases (to take to restaurants to save the Pandas, but more about this another time) and counted our last kuai for some food and a taxi back (we had to get off early, coz it wasn’t quite enough).

All in all, a lovely weekend and a celebration of us being here more than a month now!!!!!

Saturday 11 October 2008

Korean perm

Here it is, the after-effects:


Can't blog for long, just waiting for Carrefour to deliver 100 beers, wines and spirits for tonights party.
Ganbei.

Thursday 9 October 2008

A Two Parter

This is a video before my first haircut in China.
The commentary tells the story.

I have another video for after too, I'll post that tomorrow.
This is the salon I visited:

Tuesday 7 October 2008

Little Sheep

Following me enjoy the time
in Spring
With you appreciate to read it.
Little Sheep, keep company with
me bathing in the beautiful scenery.

(Faithfully transcribed from someone's backpack on the tube last night).

Monday 6 October 2008

Interactivity zero

Here is a quick and dull post.
You've seen no action from us recently as our new apartment is not yet online.
However, we expect that to change in the next couple of days.

Since moving in last Wednesday we have mainly been:
- Sharpening out bargaining skills in Yashow Market
- Exploring the area around our new apartment
- Eating at the Middle 8th (Yunnanese) Restaurant, the best we've tried so far in Beijing
- Deciding not to pay Y300 each to see Linkin Park at the Worker's Stadium
- Not even contemplating paying more to see Kanye West at the same venue
- Relying on Michael to keep up with news from SJP
- Laughing at dogs in clothes / buggies (pics to follow)
- Visiting the Yonghegong Lama temple (warning, no lamas)
- Going to an underground Internet temple where everyone was playing WoW in little hives
- Booking our Christmas flights to Oman
- Shopping at the Wu Mart to stock up our new apartment
- Buying coats in anticipation of autumn (not bloody Fall as it's refered to here)
- Wearing shorts in October
- Eating what may have been donkey, but was definitely tasty in a Hunan restaurant
- Getting up at six! to trek across town to work
- Learning various ad-hoc phrases such as takeaway and is this sweet?
- Drinking good cocktails on the roof terrace
- Planning a house warming party for next week
- Wiring and re-wiring the DVD player
- Completing the 6th season of 24
- Learning that Yanjing clearly based their style on American beer, therefore it tastes of water


There's much more of course, but I can't remember it all.
Back online regularly soon (hopefully) and we'll keep you in touch.

Wednesday 1 October 2008

A word about work

I know that there has been some interest into the actual work I'm doing here in Beijing, so I thought, since it's National Holiday in China today, I reflect on my last weeks in my new job.

The Delegation is fairly large and spread over two buildings and three floors. Nevertheless, we all constantly email and phone each other, so nobody can really hide. Different sections are logically doing different work, so there is Agriculture, Energy and Environment etc. I work in Cooperation, which means that our projects are mostly ran jointly with a Chinese Ministry/ local government or at least with their consent. It's all about cooperation, hence the name really makes sense!

I wish I could tell you in ten words what my job exactly is, but at the moment, I'm still trying to find my way around various computer systems, the scanner, the kitchen and the In- and Out tray. I am partially the assistant to the Head of Section (although I'm not much use yet, apart from asking questions over questions), but also have my own little project, which is very different to the others in the Delegation. It has a set budget of around 6 Million Euro and these are to be spent on activities that are proposed by either sectors of the Delegation or by Chinese civil servants. It's aim is really to support the policy dialogue, for instance one activity in October will be to send Chinese Coal Mine Managers to Europe to see how health and safety can be implemented in the coal mines. China has the highest accident rate in the world (bizarrely the US is second, but much much lower).

Apart from that, there are visits to organise, other projects to be studied (until there is a replacement I am kind of responsible for two environmental projects, at least with processing paper work), to help with interviews and to try and persuade IT to be as interested in my funny ideas as the last people I worked with were.

So far so good. Maybe a word about my colleagues and a normal day? Flexi time kind of exists (the Union is fighting for it) and generally people trust you that you do your work (most people work more than required anyway). Everyone has been incredibly welcoming and I have made several lunch buddies. Lunch is a big affair by the way, we sit down and have a meal every day (unless you hide in the office). Choices are between Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, Subway etc. etc. The Italian place does the biggest Ciabatta I have ever seen, it is square and about the size of my head for about 2,50 Euro.

Other than that,I have started my Chinese lessons and am struggling through. Mark and I get very excited when we can try out new knowledge in day-to-day situations. I learnt how to say "How much is it?" and was very proud when people understood. Unfortunately, I keep mixing up the numbers, so the answers becomes less useful.

And today is a special day: We are moving into our flat!!!!!!!!!!! We packed all our bags, a last visit to the gym and off we will be!!!!!!!!

So, the next blog will be from Season's Park!!!!!!!!

Sunday 28 September 2008

A weekend full of Tat

The last days have been fairly stressful with trying to sort out the contract for our little flat. Hopefully, we'll be able to move in later on in the week, so we will blog from there then. 

To reward ourselves (and to help out a friend who needed a gift for his room mate) we went back to the Electronics market on Super Bar Street. The purchase we made can be seen in  this little video. Honestly, it's the coolest pig I've ever seen and pigs are supposed to be lucky as well, so we're covered on all levels.

Today, we took a slightly more cultural route and went to visit the Temple of Heaven.

And truly heavenly it is. A big park surrounds several temples and houses form the 14th century. We were wondering where the masses of Chinese tourists were that had been promised to us (next Wednesday to Friday is public holiday in China). Thene we realised: Because those three days are off next week, the Chinese have to work all weekend to make up the time for it. not sure where the fun in a public holdiay is then, but it seems to work quite well.
The highlight for Mark was not the wooden structure of the temple or the glazed dragons all over the place, but some chickens and geese we saw just as we left the park. On the right side, one of the buzzling three-lane roads in Beijing and on the left, some chickens and geese chilling out on a Sunday afternoon. Just as Mark wanted to take a picture, two little boys came running and chased them away. Maybe chickens are not so photogenic in Beijing.

Thanks to the public holidays, I only have one day of work, which is tomorrow, so there will be a blog about my work later on this week, maybe even from our new flat!!!!!!!!!!



Saturday 27 September 2008

Here is a short video of our new apartment

Internet has been down in the hotel recently.
It's back now and so are we.
As the title says, this is a video of the apartment we will hopefully move into on Wednesday.

Tuesday 23 September 2008

A noisy video from Houhai lake at night



I am also uploading some photographs from this place to Flickr.
Caroline was going to blog about this, but at the moment there's just too much going on at work, so you'll have to do with me for now.
At lunch time today, we're going to our new apartment to ask for any changes in furniture we need.
I'll take some video and post it up here.

Also, just a brief anecdote.
We were in our local Xinjiang restaurant, one of the few places in the Teutonic Triangle that has similar prices to cheaper parts of the city.
We were there with one of Caroline's colleagues and her husband, and initially a little unsure we should go there. The restaurant looks a little run down, but the food is good. Anyway we were having a nice meal when a bit of a scuffle broke out between the man operating the charcoal barbecue at the door way and one of the waitresses.
Face was lost, faces were punched, it was unseemly and very entertaining.
Happily they were both featherweights, so no harm was done, other than to the boys pride as he took a firm right-cross on the chin which kind of sparked the whole thing off.
Our Danish and American companions complimented us on our choice of restaurant with a floor show.

Friday 19 September 2008

Just some videos.


Lady's Street

Super Bar Street

Conclusion of the hunt

Will I forgot to mention there was a 2nd hand robotics and remote controlled goods shop in that market, you would have loved it.

Picking an apartment this weekend, finally, stay tuned, you'll hear it here first.
CNN is a little pre-occupied.

Thursday 18 September 2008

South Africa 2010, T-Shirts, Bureaucracy and Cheese (and crackers).

Walking back from the visa office this morning, I realised that the only other time I've lived outside the UK, in Belgium, was just after a major sporting event too. Euro 2000, I remember being concerned that this was going to make me very unpopular when I got there.
I guess by using the same logic I should assume that Chinese people see me as a successful Olympian/Paralympian.
Anyway, this makes me curious to know which major sporting event I'm going to miss by weeks in my next country of residence...

I meant to talk about this at the time; when I was in Suzhou I saw a girl sporting this confusing T-Shirt:
The layout was exactly like this and I spent a while trying to figure out who or where Botu Linum was. It didn't look like pinyin or Wade-Giles but that didn't stop me trying it out in a few different tones, saying it in my head.

A couple of moments later I had a revelation when I realised it said I heart Botulinum. According to Wikipedia, one of the world's most poisinous naturally occurring toxins. More commonly sold as Botox. Obviously a T-Shirt saying I heart Botux is still a bit curious, especially on someone younger. It just so happens that this ever-so-slight mistranslation rendered the thing hilarious.
Walking around the city you see hundreds of T-shirts written in curious English, some amusing, some just baffling.
I wonder if Chinese people encounter the same thing when they see Europeans on holiday, walking round with their tops off sporting Chinese symbol tattoos. I'll try and find out from my students.

So this morning should represent my last encounter with bureaucracy for a while.
A small selection of the documents I currently have:
These acknowledge various things;
I do not have AIDS, syphilis or any other communicable diseases, they didn't take my word for this you understand I had to give blood, have an ECG, an eye test and cough whilst being cupped, etc.
I am the only living human capable of doing my job.
I have registered with the Police.
I am a foreign expert.

Actually that last one is quite satisfying, I have a passport-like document with stamps and embossments which identifies me as a bona-fide foreign expert. It makes me an officious, authoritarian gimp to enjoy owning this doesn't it?

Although slightly arduous, I have to say all of the bureaucracy has been very efficient thus far. And I don't think a country now exists that doesn't have fairly tight border controls. Something we should appreciate more in the 'borderless' EU perhaps. (Propagandising over)

Before I finish I could do with a some suggestions. Mike is probably best placed for this, but anyone should feel free to chip in with good advice.
Cheese is expensive here.
What else goes well with crackers?
The mid-morning snack is a difficult hole to fill and I fear baozi everyday, whilst delicious would simply hasten rotunditude. EDIT, not Baozi at all, I have in fact been eating Roujiamou made fresh at a stall near the apartment.

Finally, a couple of observations:
1. Has there ever been a more Guardian article than this?
Try and find a box it doesn't tick. It's even written by a Libby other than Purves for God's sake.
2. This site is always good for a bit of procrastination.
The question is, is it genuine?
And will I ever learn enough Mandarin to establish a Beijing sister site.

OK, I'm off to try and find a second-hand electricals market on Lady's Street to scope out a mobile for Caroline. Then this afternoon another instalment (hopefully the last) of apartment hunting. Victoria Gardens could be the new home.

Monday 15 September 2008

Bird's Nest Super

Last night was great.
You can see the photographs here.
They speak for themselves, ably abetted by my non-witty descriptions.
In a civilised country like China you can pay £4 for tickets and watch the action drinking a 40p Tsingtao.
Wonder how London will do...

Sunday 14 September 2008

The first 7 days




Well, as Mark is saying, work has taken over very quickly and today (Sunday - by definitition day of rest, but not necessarily in China) is the first day that I can put up some pictures and tell you about my week. I started work on Tuesday and then thursday was already a late finish (around 20.00). But what could I do, radio America phoned and wanted to interview my boss and he had to prepare and so this all happened (hihi, and all in my first week).

We've been out for a lot of meals this week, partially due to the fact that the kitchen in this apartment is really made for cooking (some pictures on the left of our current apartment)
 and also there is so much to try, To be honest, without the pictures in the menues I would be lost. 

Then on friday I caught a cold (in 30 degrees, didn't even know that was possible)., so have been sleeping most of the weekend. Apart from this afternoon, when we're going to see some Athletic finals int eh Bird's Nest, which should be good fun. 

Tomorrow is back to work and hopefully I'll feel a bit better . My aim is to loose my cold next week and to find a flat to live in. (Think the flat 
bit is more important though). Check out the adpated Mini on the right: the the low carbon option!!!!!!

Saturday 13 September 2008

Bo Gong, Mooncakes and all that

Caroline is currently having an afternoon nap.
Plenty of sleep to catch up on after arriving on Monday afternoon and starting work Tuesday morning.

A busy day yesterday spent apartment reviewing in the morning and teaching in the afternoon. We saw some great flats, but it's going to take at least one more viewing session before we can settle on one for sure. Some crackers though. If you didn't see the photographs, check out my earlier posts.

So this is quite a short post as work and real life kicks in and there's less time for bloggable activities.

A couple of nights ago, after Caroline had been working late (already, see the need for the nap) we were intrigued by the view from our window:
So, you can see it's the Bo Gong Restaurant, but what does that mean in practice?
Well another blogger described it like this.
Personally I would say that 250Y for the bottom half of a chicken and some cold spinach and clams was a bit steep, maybe we are just harder to please than the Swiss.

It doesn't help that after class yesterday, Caroline and I went for dinner near the university which was delicious and came to the ridiculous price of 40Y. Where we currently live is not too healthy on the wallet, well not compared to the rest of the city anyway. However, there's bound to be good and bad experiences as we find our feet. Oh, look, there they are, covered in blue plastic bags:

Tomorrow is Mid-Autumn Festival here. It seems to very roughly equate to harvest festival, without the need to take old tins of beans in to school (apologies to the Germans, this is a curious British tradition I can't seem to reasonably explain).

In order to try and integrate ourselves, Caroline and I have been trying out different kinds of mooncakes:
An entertaining story about these is that during the Yuan (Mongolian) Dynasty, group meetings were banned to prevent the ferment of rebellion. Noting their Mongol rulers didn't eat mooncakes, leaders of the rebel alliance concealed messages in thousands of Mooncakes to "Rise up and kill the Mongols on the 15th day of the 8th moon" they then asked for permission to distribute the cakes to the Chinese populace. All went according to plan, just like the A-Team, the Yuan were overthrown and the establishment of the Mingers.
A good story doesn't even have to be true.

Anyway, that's us up-to-date, I'm going to go and disturb Caroline and see if she fancies some duck for dinner.

Thursday 11 September 2008

Update and Frogger

I've been pre-occupied since Caroline arrived and starting classes and all, so here's a fairly in-depth post to bring you all up-to-date.
I've decided that Frogger, below, is very representative of my life here is Beijing at the moment. Certainly my commute anyway.
The first half of the game is fairly representative of how you cross the road here. Green man or no green man. Although in fairness, the traffic is a lot slower.
The second half represents how I travel around on buses from Wudaoku subway station to the university. Because I don't know where any of them are actually going, I just jump on one heading in the right direction 'til it turns off course. I then jump off and jump onto the next one. This is feasible because of the aforementioned IC card which means each bus journey costs <4p.
PLAY Frogger






Diggy Games


I had my first class yesterday, it was quite tiring but also quite good fun.
Here is a look at one of my classrooms, including some students:
I can already tell this is going to be hard work, but I like a challenge and it's bound to be excellent experience, even if I only do it for the minimum of 6 months.

So for the remainder of this post I have three videos which pretty much speak for themselves, or at least I speak for them:


Tuesday 9 September 2008

Finally there!

Well, after getting off the plane yesterday, time has just been flying. Mark met me at the gate and we went for lunch with my new boss. Our new address (even though it's temporary) is where Horst Koehler has been lodging over the last days, so security has been tightened and prices increased.

Our little apartment here is cute, with a little business corner, a cling film cutter (of course German make) and a bathroom without a fan, which means you have to leave the door open after a shower to get the wetness out. It's a great starting point for flathunting and on friday we'll hopefully be able to choose one.

then, I started work this morning. The jetlag has not fully hit me yet, so I slept from 10 to 8. Still half asleep Mark dragged me to the subway (it was raining pretty much all day) and dropped me off at the Commission building. All very exciting and the work sounds great. The colleagues are really nice (if slightly overworked) and the ambassador is cool and totally into climate change (who would have guessed that big boss is engaged in stuff like this???). 

I had a rather random day, trying to remember people's names and reading papers about the section I'm in. Tomorrow I'll start working with one of the girls on 'my' project and open a Chinese bank account, so then I'll be almost settled. 

Ate Lemon Chicken for lunch and noodles for dinner, not bad for the second day int eh new world. 

Highlight of the day: a stand with thin plastic bags of different lengths to put your umbrella in!!!!!! 

Here is an 'artist's' impression of Caroline's 1st day at work.


Obviously she was understandably sheepish of me taking a actual photograph in case any of her new workmates saw me being geeky.

I am now working on my 1st lecture for tomorrow lunch time.

More soon.

Monday 8 September 2008

Caroline arrives

Well Caroline arrived today at 11:40, half an hour delay.
Not bad for a flight halfway round the world.
Here are a few pictures of her departure:




So, as you can imagine, I've got better things to be doing than blogging, so this will have to suffice for now.

Sunday 7 September 2008

I'm beginning to think I am a tortoise

I am currently packing to move again.
This is move number 5 in a series of 6 in the last month.
Pandongate
Gosforth
Berlin
Suzhou
China Agricultural University
Kempinski Hotel
And then there's still the final one to come when we actually pick an apartment to rent. I'll be pleased when I stop the nomadic lifestyle I think.
But the very positive side of packing is that Caroline arrives here tomorrow at 11:10 in the morning.
And happily when I received my timetable a couple of hours ago, I saw that I am not due to teach on Mondays (I work two hours on Wednesday lunchtime and two hours on Friday afternoons. Until October when it goes up by a factor of four), so most importantly I am able to go and meet Caroline, but also see the new Beijing airport terminal T3, which is apparently one of the biggest in the world. 17% bigger than all five terminals at Heathrow if you like pointless trivia, which I do. You can bet it'll function better than T5 too. Honestly when I last came through there after the momentous flash visit to Berlin it was like entering a Police State, all of the cameras and bio-records they take. Ironic really since I now live in China.

Last night me and my new mate Dan went to try and get close to the Bird's Nest stadium so that we could see the opening ceremony fireworks of the Paralympics. We didn't get too close, the security was pretty tight. But we certainly got close enough to see the fireworks and drink a few beers. We then went for a few games of pool and big bottles of Tsing Tao for 10Y. Actually if you want another piece of pointless trivia, here's one for you. It's basically German beer y'see, that's why it's good.

Anyway, as we couldn't get too close to the Bird's Nest last night, today I decided to buy these:

It should be excellent, these are the events that we get to see. Two tickets for 100Y or about £8. Let's see if London manage to keep the prices so low.

I currently have indigestion after going for dinner with Dan and three American teachers. Big Pizza have an all you can eat buffet (including beer) for 45Y. The food was fine, but I had no urge to have 'Western' food. I overcame that lack of urge and managed to overeat.

Right, off to finish (start) the packing and watch the remainder of Casino Royale ah the beauty of DVDs in China.