a belated return to the cyber-world.

I hate to do it...but I'm going to be "that" person. The person that sends out a mass apology for her absence in your life through her blog. Yes, not even a mass e-mail, but a blog post. As you probably know, I am still officially internet-less after the big move to the new apartment, and the times I find myself on a computer are few and far-between. Hopefully soon I will be a better friend and keep in contact with you. But until then, please accept my sincerest apologies, and feel free to e-mail me with your life updates.

Life in Beijing is great. It is starting to cool down a little bit (not much, but a little), which makes walking everywhere a little more bearable. The new apartment is fabulous; Pip and I are loving "settling in" and being able to finally feel at home. It's a great location, and it is warm and welcoming (so...please feel free to invite yourself over).
Language study is going alright; I finished my first book and am moving on to the second (yes, I finally made it to Elementary Spoken Chinese...slow, slow progress). I feel as though I spend three hours a day sitting in class, speaking with my teacher, and going home and memorizing twenty new words a night...and I still can only ask for directions.

Since the last post, I feel as though there have been several "oh, China" incidents (both great and not so great) that I have WANTED to blog about, but haven't been able to.
Biggest (recent) mafan issue to blog about: My visa.

So, after Pip and I moved into our new place, we needed to register with the local police. While we were at the neighborhood police station, I was told that my visa expired in three business days. I felt a little annoyed, since I had asked the company that issued my visa when it would expire, and they gave me some lame answer like "when your school wants it to". And, I asked my school, and they didn't know. SO, I found out about three days before it was to expire that I needed to get it renewed. Unfortunately, as a student, "renewing" your visa is a bit more complicated than it may seem. In order to apply for a student visa, apparently once you arrive to China, you need a physical exam (at a specific clinic, and the results take a week to process), plus you need various papers from various places. Once you get all of these things together, then you need to take them to the visa office, and submit for an extension. Once your extension is submitted, it takes about two weeks to process. Unfortunately for me, I had no idea.
SO, the morning I found out, I was in a mad-dash to get my visa done. I rushed out of my Chinese class at 10:15 in order to make it to the clinic in Beijing that does student physicals before it closed at 11. I show the driver the address (because of course I have no idea where it is), and assumed that he knew where it was. To his credit, he mostly knew where to go. Unfortunately, almost doesn't count. He dropped me off randomly (this is one of the many times my not-so-awesome Chinese didn't help me out), and I showed the address to someone else who pointed down the street. SO, I RAN down the street in flip flops and a backpack to get there in time. Once I'm in the building, I'm racing to get forms done...and then they ask for my payment. Which, of course I don't have since I wasn't expecting to do the physical. So, again, I run...this time to the ATM down the block, and then run back.
Once I got my money, I don't really understand what anyone is saying or what is going on, so I just follow people around. The first room I had to go to I got ushered into, urged to sit down, and then they had to draw my blood. Getting blood drawn by a little Chinese woman in a dingy room...not ideal. The following room was apparently some sort of an ECG. SO, I walk in to another dingy room, go behind this curtain, and lay down on this hospital-like bed. This little Chinese woman, who I didn't understand, took these metal clamps and clamped them to my ankle and my arm, and then motioned for me to pull up my shirt. SO, I pulled it up to my stomach, and she motioned very slyly for me to keep pulling it up...so I did, and then she motioned to my bra. Needless to say...I'm laying on this dingy table, exposed to this Chinese woman who is poking and prodding me, and putting monitors all over my chest. It was awkward, but pretty hilarious. The exam continued with an x-ray and all these other crazy little tests. The man who read my heart-rate printout seemed a little shocked my heart was beating so fast until I (tried) to explain to him that I was just running around like a madwoman.

Thankfully, despite all the craziness of running around town, I think my visa should be good to go. I need to go pick it up tomorrow. If it's NOT, then I need to head out of the country. I'm thinking Hong Kong might be a nice trip.

Anyway, a nap is calling my name.
More soon.

Miss you all!!

another word from the blogging machine.

I must say this: blogging twice in one week may be some sort of personal record. For those of you who wait daily in eager anticipation for the next words of wisdom and humor from China, don't get your hopes up. This will most likely never happen again. It's not even that I have much to say...it's that I just had a large mug of liquid energy (coffee), and am ready to conquer the world. In about 20 minutes, I will be able to do nothing other than lay around like a big lazy mess, so I must take advantage while I can. Also, there are a few dear people to whom I owe e-mails...trust me, I WILL get there. Soon.

But for now...more tales from China. On Tuesday of this week, my laoshi (laoshi is Chinese for teacher) invited my classmate Heidi and I to her parent's apartment to make jiaozi (a famous Chinese dumpling). It is times like this that I LOVE living in China. After class, the three of us made the trek from our school to ShangDi (one subway stop away). We arrived at her parent's place to a warm greeting from her mom, friend, and about 3 other people (maybe they were cousins? friends?). Anyway, I loooove Chinese hospitality. We were urged to sit down and relax in the cool airconditioning while her mom and company got everything ready to make jiaozi. We were served drinks, a barrage of yummy treats, and basically treated like royalty. AND THEN...the jiaozi was ready to make. Hopefully my laoshi will send me pictures soon so I can post them, and you can see. Making jiaozi is involves the use of small flour-based pancake-like things, of which you put in your hand and then put in the stuffing of your choosing (we had pork and celery). THEN, using special care and a lot of skill, you gently pinch the outsides together to make a dumpling. Once you put the jiaozi together, it must then be boiled to cook the meat inside. All in all, we probably made about 200 jiaozi (enough to feed a small army...or Heidi at least :). We were jiaozi machines. Most people choose to dump their jiaozi in either vinegar or soy sauce. Regardless of your sauce choice, the jiaozi is delish, and maybe one of my favorite chinese foods. Mmm, hen hao chi. (very delicious).
After the jiaozi, we sat around and chatted (meaning I sat there and smiled and nodded while everyone around me spoke Chinese, and tried to ask me questions that I couldn't answer). And then, our laoshi's friend/cousin/relation played us a beautiful song on this Chinese instrument (and, of course, I can't remember what its called...but you would most likely recognize it). It was great. I love being around Chinese people (hence, the reason I live here).

In other exciting and much anticipated news...WE FOUND AN APARTMENT. If you can't tell my the capital letters, I feel very happy about this. Yesterday we did a lot of looking; some places were OK, some were about the caliber of my last apartment (for those of you who visited, you know this means it was practically unlivable). SO, after much searching, deliberating, number crunching, and fighting with potential landlords...we landed a place. Pip and I are excited, and feel blessed to have found a relatively good space. In comparison with most Chinese apartments, it is great; no cracked floor tiles, the bathroom sink and shower drain into a DRAIN (no icky water floating on the floor). The living room is spacious, the place is clean, there is good light. It even came with a big, jolly buddha (unfortunately, he doesn't quite fit the look we're going for, so he'll have to go...) I will post pictures once we settle in.
Now that we found a place, I feel that I can officially offer you a place to stay. If you are even considering an Asian visit...consider it more seriously, because you now have a place to stay in a great location! We have an extra mattress, and truly hope that our place will be welcoming to all who wish to visit.

Ok, as promised...I'm crashing fast. I think my afternoon nap is calling my name (eat your heart out full-time employees, I can sleep during the day!).

much love and misses,
k

a weekend in the 'jing.

It is Monday afternoon, and I find myself at the end of my third weekend in Beijing. I was reflecting last night on elements of life in Beijing that seem "normal" to most of us foreigners who live here, especially the ones that have resided here for awhile, but how they may not seem so average to most.

One element that I love about this city is that it is such an international city; a melting pot for incredibly interesting people from every walk of life, every area of the world and each person's draw to China is completely unique and different. Also, as I have stated many times before...I find much enjoyment from observing the absurdities of Chinese culture. Let's have a peek into a weekend in the 'Jing...

Friday night, indulging in Beijing's variety, we decided to grab some Russian food in the Dongzhimen area. Now, I'm aware that Russian food may not seem so "out there", BUT, Russian food with a Chinese flare is always an adventure (and by "adventure", I mean amusing). My favorite element of the evening was the Russian duo performing on a stage at the front with a large, plasma screen TV behind them playing a cooking show (of course, who wouldn't watch to learn how to cook while listening to Russian music).

Saturday featured a visit from THE Michael Bumann (lovely to see a Minnesota face and bond over a shared love for our great state). After meeting up in Wudaokou, we hopped on the subway and headed down to the Forbidden City to one of Michael's favorite hole-in-the-wall Chinese joints. Of course, upon our arrival, the restaurant had been demolished in place of a newer, renovated shop. SO, we set back out in search of a hole in the wall...and we succeeded. We relished in a delicious plate of Kung-Pao Chicken laced with MSG, and some interesting leafy veggie. Afterward, we strolled around Tiananmen, musing how we get to call this beautiful and incredibly interesting place "home" (at least for the time being). It is also worth mentioning that we were asked for our picture 5 times during our little Tiananmen visit.
Saturday evening featured a celebration of the birth of the one and only Philippa Nelson (aka, my roommate). The evening commenced with a fabulous meal at our favorite neighborhood spot, Lush, followed by an evening of crazy dancing at Wudaokou's new hot spot, "The Chamber".

Sunday featured another celebration of Pip at our favorite neighborhood Xinjian restaurant, enjoying great chuanr and beer, the pinnacle of a Beijing summer evening.

I realize that as I'm wrapping up this post (I need to go buy some groceries) that this really isn't the most cohesive post. BUT...another glimpse into a weekend in the life.

until next time,
k