Haunted Disneyland, skating and New Year!

BOOM. boom-boom-boom-boom BOOM. Trarararararara. It's new year in China and that's hard to miss. I believe even my new little fish, Zhigga, can hear it. Yes, I'm quite settled down in this apartment, although I haven't fully unpacked yet. School life is in full swing, and this time, I want to get it right from the start- so I'm learning my characters dutifully. And to my great surprise, it's paying off- I am actually becoming good at this 'hanzi' thing. Well, good is the wrong word of course- I can recognize a few characters every now and then, just like before, except now I recognize a few more. I am aware it doesn't sound like much, but it does feel like it!
And other than that, it was a good first week! I saw some of my friends back, the ones that didn't leave yet or that have come back already. I've discovered my neighbourhood, with the help of some of said friends. It is a great neighbourhood, as I expected. 

On friday I went to an awesome place! In the outskirts of Beijing lies an eerie set of structures, clearly intended to have become an attraction park called Wonderland. But in time, conflicts began to arise with neighbours and the constructors ran out of money.  The result is a skeleton of castles and other buildings, in some parts adorned to perfection and in other completely empty. To put it in the words of others: 

'Drive north along the Badaling Expressway for about 25 miles to Changping County, take the Chenzhuang exit and you will set eyes on a magical vision of archaic Western buildings and castles rising out of the farmland. Don’t worry, this isn’t some drug-induced episode, but Beijing’s answer to Disneyland, or rather the abandoned version of it.

This is one of the city’s forgotten landmarks; a source of much curiosity for passers-by, and the sort of place the Scooby-Doo gang might battle a headless popcorn seller.

Back in 1998, local company Reignwood Group invested in a massive theme park project set

 to span over 120 acres. Its aim was to create the biggest amusement park in Asia. However, financial problems stalled the scheme in its infancy; almost a decade and a half later, the developers have still to reach an agreement with local farmers on the rights to the land.

In the mid-2000s, Reignwood executives seemed poised to restart the project, but the local government and farmers raised the stakes as land prices had been rising ahead of the Olympics. The company refused and the project was left in limbo again.

Today, the park lies rotting, a monument to unrealised grand plans, while photographers travel to take shots of a dreamland that remains little more than the stuff of dreams.' (from: Timeout Beijing).

So obviously we had to see for ourselves. And it was just as creepy and exhilirating as we thought it would be. From the outside the place looked like dysneyland, only slightly unkept and completely devoid of human life. Inside the mighty castle, however, there was almost nothing. We walked around completely freely, climbing up and down beginnings of staircases and into pitch-black 'rooms'. There was quite a lot of (Chinese) graffiti, which was quite funny- one of the 'pieces' was the entire periodic table of elements! In one room we met a very troubling sight: In a ditch lay ten or so dead hedgehogs, some with mouths wide open, where they had obviously fallen and couldn't come out anymore. There was also a sickening, almost-mumified cat. It was quite upsetting and I'm not going to post any pictures of that right here. 

Outside the main body of the castle- like front building there was a huge skeleton for a hall, witch was also unfinished, and where my companions and I met the true meaning of fear: Walking up a subtle ramp which was easily thick enough to walk on, only a few meters above the ground- and we were terrified. All of us. Not one of us made it up the entire ramp.

Behind the skeleton of a building lay a little unfinished castle. There was a lot of graffiti around there, too, but we found no easy way in without getting stuck in some underground areas, so we just walked around a little more before heading back home to Beijing. But the experience was amazing, I would encourage anyone with a little time to go and visit this place- especially accompanied by friends who know a lot of horror movies. Apparently, since I was the only girl, I would have survived!

The weekend didn't start as I had hoped- in the morning I suddenly got a strong fever that had me hallucinating for hours, quite the shocking new experience for me. By the time I was sane enough to make my own tea, I got well quickly enough. In the afternoon I went ice-skating at Hou Hai, which is now obviously very much frozen. Just like the rest of China, by the way- the Chinese system of spitting on the floor creates some hilarious results!
Skating was fun, there were all kinds of activities going on like ice-biking and some kind of sleighs you could propel forward using little sticks. It was good fun, although it was really cold.
And the day afterwards, on sunday, it was time to celebrate new year! Again! I thought I was done analysing the year past, but here I was again- not with champagne but baijiu this time, and not in my cozy Dutch neighbourhood but in Beijing. First step was to buy some fireworks. We had no idea what the rules were on buying and using fireworks, and the guys got a bit carried away (behaving like 10 year olds, of course). BUT we weren't kicked out of the country, which was positive. I had been invited with some other people to celebrate new year on the top floor of a hotel, with windows everywhere, head to toe, overlooking the city.
It was an old Dutch friend from the U. school who asked, who is now working in a 5-star hotel. Good to have connections here!
It was a beautiful day of course- as is every important day here in Beijing. Rumour has it that is by no means an accident. After buying and using some fireworks, we went to have dinner with some co-workers of my friend, who turned out to be a lot of fun. We spoke half in Chinese and half in English, and they seemed quite impressed at my pronunciation in Chinese (hahaha). 

We had some ehm.. interesting food, called hotpot. It's a traditional dish here- the basics are similar to fondu but in boiling water. After 'cooking' your food in this way, you are supposed to dip it into a strange sauce. It's edible, although you might want to start with other dishes if you are new to Chinese cuisine. We had some nice moments of Chino-Western Confusion, such as when we asked for desert and got salty dishes of course.

And of course don't forget the cow stomach!

After that we set out in the large group to watch fireworks outside, and join in the fun. Chinese people are very content when you wish them a happy new year in Chinese! (The pictures here are of the co-workers of my friend.) And then we said goodbye to the Chinese people and headed up the hotel to the 27th floor to watch the fireworks. From above you could see the extent of new year for Chinese people. They have spent weeks now preparing for the new year- replacing old 'decorations' with new ones and buying a lot of fireworks. And I must say, although usually loud fireworks really annoy me and hurt my ears, somehow being here makes them a lot more bearable. It's part of culture here, and this part and the dedication to it really amaze me. So without further ado, here are some pictures of fireworks, I hope you enjoy! And have a happy Dragon's year! 


Love,
Soof

Massive noisy fireworks!

Leftovers, quickly cleaned up by thousands of workers.

BACK!

So I'm back in Beijing! And back 'for good' this time, or for better in any case. I'll be staying quite a lot longer than the last time, about twice as long- and I'm looking forward to it. 
My nice old roommates are living in Dongzhimen, the popular area somewhat closer to Sanlitun, so I didn't feel much like going back to my old apartment. Instead, I asked the school for other options, and am proud to present myself as the sole inhabitant of a little flat in the booming centre of a Hutong. And I mean, HUTONG. We're talking poop and other substances thrown away everywhere, toilets on the streets because some homes do not own them (!), small grey buildings made of bricks and adorned by faded dirty red lanterns, kitchy shiny poster-like items portraying welcoming cats and other rarities all around and thick black cables hanging low over the buildings twisting into... well 'things' hairdressers would be jealous of. All in all; amazing! And very much China. What makes the situation even more fun is that whilst my particular part of the Hutong is kind of quiet, I'm 10 minutes away from the booming Hutongs where Chinese people are starting to invest in really getting the tourism and culture to the Hutongs- Pretty little shops are springing into existence before my very eyes and bars and cafés with english menus are coming up. And my school is at a 14-minute walking distance from my house. 
Actually coming back was almost like coming back home. I was greeted by an old friend and by a LOT of pollution. It was easy enough to find the way to the gate outside the Hutong, but it was slightly more complicated inside, so we had a little help from a nice guy who had lived in the apartment himself. It was really fantastic, he could tell us in 5 minutes how to reach all the important areas from the apartment (small shops, subway, big shops, school, places to go out)!
China is so recognizable... like I'm back in this intricate dream I had woken up from for a while. The difference is that now it's a cold dream! There is ice everywhere on account of people throwing liquid waste out on the streets. The air is really cold, but for some reason (maybe because it's very dry) it doesn't feel as bad as expected. By now I've had my first kouyu and hanzi classes. Chinese comes back to the mind really quickly, I don't think I've forgotten much since I left. I am working on getting my room and apartment liveable, and am looking forward to getting a new roommate ^^, although it's nice to have some time to figure out the neighbourhood and apartment alone.
I'll write soon. To those who are worried: skype bailed on me... I'm trying to get back on it, but it might take a while.
Love,
Su Fei

Almost back in Holland

As most of you may know, I am now entering my last week in Zhongguo for the time being. This world around me, once absolutely surreal, has become my reality. I've become caught up in the life here. I have made friends with people all over the world- my german and italian, particularly, have improved greatly. I have made enemies too- well just the one, and I still don't know exactly why, haha. I have survived the barren path that it is to study Chinese for three months, where quite a few around me have given up on at least part of it. It's not an American-comedy-success-story: There were moments when sitting through another class seemed unbearable- the Chinese was difficult, and there was this one person scoffing at my failures and questions constantly. Yesterday was a particularly good day actually- I was going home after the worst speaking class I've ever sat through (because I didn't understand anything.. there are good and bad days!). I didn't feel like facing character class- but then I decided I wouldn't let a random person dictate what I do and don't do in life. So I went back to class. Wrote down the damn characters for the day. And asked the person what her problem was with me. I should have done it a while ago, but I guess I never wanted to see more trouble than was actually there... In any case, even though there were no concrete results, I'm glad I faced the issue.
I made friends with a local dog who now follows me around jumping happily every time he sees me, to great amusement of everyone around. I have tried nearly all the food available. And honestly, if someone were to tell me now that I would never eat Western food again, only Chinese food, I'd be fine with it. How can I ever go back to potatoes?? Or knives and forks for that matter! I can even say the simplest things in Chinese now- not much, really not much at all,  but enough for everyday life.
But the biggest changes are in attitude. I've grown to accept failure and awkwardness when attempting to speak in Chinese. I've become used to not understanding almost anything that goes on around me. My ever-reading eyes can now handle not being able to read the 'letters' around me. My hearing adapted to different sounds, my health adapted to different air. I have been with people who are older than me, often much older, and I got along with them just fine. I lived alone, washed my own clothes (didn't even ruin anything!) cleaned my room, handled my money, made my own decisions. I can handle people staring at me, even when I walk in the wrong direction. Hell, I can handle any type of situation basically. As we'd say in Dutch- kom maar op!


What can I say? It is a form of success. To everyone who thought going to China alone was stupid, or crazy, or that I wouldn't be able to do it? Yeah, no. With many failures and some bad moments, I came out okay. Not perfect, but changed and I think quite a lot stronger. I have proven what I wanted to prove- but I'm not done yet. I've been here for three months almost, and I really don't feel like leaving at all- it's time to have a little time off and to visit home, but my job here is not done ;-).


Lots of love!


Su fei

Meh.

So, I thought this would be a story about me in Beijing (Soof @ China and all) but I'm starting to become convinced this might end up being the story of a young asthmatic patient in Beijing. I missed yet another day of school today because I was exhausted and had a huge headache- but the thing is, I've never slept more in my entire life. Okay, so maybe as a baby, but still. I'm sleeping 7-8 hours a day! And I'm tired. How pathetic. Yesterday I  spent the entire day outside more or less- I went to get my iPod fixed and decided I wanted to walk to Sanlitun from one of the subway stations (a good 45 mins walk), walked back the same distance and at night I played football outside with some U. school people for two hours. And that is obviously ignoring the time I spend outside everyday. I keep saying I'm ill, but I don't think so any more- I only remember having felt like this back when I came to China for the first time (and didn't want to leave my hotel room and put up a big fuss about walking around, after which we luckily figured out what was going on). If it is the same deal, though, I'm at a loss as to what I should do now. I guess I should start taking the asthma medicine more diligently, but God knows I'm going to forget that.
Unrelated, it's starting to get cold here, especially in the morning and at night, so I'm washing an extra blanket to use. It's also starting to get reeeeally dry- everyone is complaining about dry lips and mouths, and I'm actually making my 2 liters/day minimum of water (I mean.. wow!).


Okay, so new plan: drink a lot of water, take medicine, take vitamins. It's gonna have to do, there is no way in hell I'm going to miss another class, I feel guilty enough as it is. Also, it's quite a lot of fun, I understand so much more of what's going on these days! And the teachers are very nice. Character class is tricky. We have quite a few students in the class who speak Chinese but don't write it. Combined with a teacher whose English isn't very good, the inevitable occurs- lessons are in Chinese. Impossible as it is, it must be good for something- ideally that 'something' being my Chinese. Although I'm making very good friends in this class too- that's quite awesome as well. I'm really going to miss all these people =(.


That's it for today! Love, Soof

Chinese

I am slightly proud of myself and ridiculously tired right now.

Proud because this morning I woke up on time, made myself a nice sandwich and a cup of tea, got dressed, packed my stuff and brushed my teeth before leaving for school. On time. Perfectly controlled. Non-tired. It was beautiful, just beautiful. Oh and also, I've been studying non-stop for two days for this stupid Chinese test. And tired- well it's more 'intellectually defeated', really. I haven't even reached grammar just yet, and already these words are swirling inside my head. Some internal monologue for you:

'Was it bàngōngshì... or maybe... bángōngshí? I'm pretty sure the gong was a gōng, but maybe it might have been gòng, as in yígòng, all together. Hey, wait, 'in total' was yī gōng, right? Wait a second! But... that's the same thing? Maybe I should check the characters for a second... Oops, same characters, so one of the two is PROBABLY wrong... hmmm... the teacher taught me one of them, wait what was teacher again anyway? Laoshi... eh.. lǎoshì? Let's look that one up again.. *sigh* damnit that was one of the first words! Lǎoshī, lǎoshī, lǎoshī, Soof, come ON! At least I know bù. Oh wait, bù changes tone! Oh F*** what was the rule for changing tones? I don't even remember where I wrote that down. Okay, let's just... eh, some old words, let's get some confidence for tomorrow. Chī, right, shénme, that's ok, jiǎozi, miántiào.. no. miàntiáo! Okay I've had it.'

In other words, this is DIFFICULT. Or maybe I'm just not very good at it, which is very possible. Anyway, I'm giving up for now, I'll see what happens tomorrow. Goodnight everyone!

The roommates as they are now!

Another week of class has been and gone. Next tuesday we're getting a big test on spoken Chinese- on the entire book. It's a big book. It's about 500 words in pinyin, as well as being able to make them into sentences. Ther hardest thing for me is the tones though. I can remember that a dish is called 'dzai', and I can even remember that in pinyin I'm supposed to write 'cai' (don't ask), but 'cai' alone means absolutely nothing and is completely wrong- because it's supposed to be 'cài'. It's not like french, where people would sneer at you if you missed an accent- it's just the wrong word. As if you say cat instead of motorcycle. No wonder Chinese people never understand what you're trying to say.  No wonder they laugh. The sentences we must be saying!

Smoggy Beijing

Pretty little temple-like
building at the top of a hill.

This week we went to a park north of Tien'anmen (sky-air-gate).  It's quite a big park with a few pretty high hills. I wonder whether these are man-made, but I expect they aren't, and in that case they're quite the freaks of geography. They have cute little temples on their tops and steep little winding rock-staircases to get there. It was a bad day in Beijing that day which was quite a pity because otherwise the view from up there is said to be amazing. Smog is weird- it actually looks a lot as if the city is shrouded in a soft, distorting, semi-transparent white hue. On a bad day, first thing you think is 'oh, it's a cloudy day', after which you realise you can't really see that apartment over there, which is actually quite close. And beyond that apartment is some kind of a dark shadow compared to the air next to it, so that must be an apartment too!

Stairs!

We've been having a few more bad days here. Every time it rains (which is not very often- I've had 3 'rainy' days since I arrived, and then it only really rains for a few hours, not like in endless-raining-Holland) the skies clear for a few days, and breathing is a fantastic experience. Well, I'm overstressing the point- in fact being asthmatic I had expected to be really bothered by the smog, but actually I'm quite fine most of the time. What gets to me more is that we're starting the cold period over here (already!). For the last 3 days it's been cold enough for Dutch and German students to start wearing warm-ish sweaters, so obviously my Ecuadorian friend is dying. As for me, I'm just a little colder than the Dutch students, of course. How's the weather in the Netherlands anyway? What's going on with the world? For the first time in 6 years I haven't touched a newspaper for a month and a half, and I feel like a hermit. I think we would barely get the news of a new world war, especially if China is not in it. Maybe if someone bothered to tell us, but to be honest I don't know the Chinese word for war. I wish I could read the newspaper... even though that might not even get me anywhere in China. I sometimes watch the English version of Chinese news, and that's all about China too.

I just liked this flower.

If anyone is wondering how the visit to the police station went- it is a great success story! As always when I want to go/do/get something specific I translated a few sentences into Chinese using Google translate and my own knowledge of Chinese (haha). I set of, first to ask where the police station was exactly. I asked someone who completely ignored my question and almost turned back (you try that kind of rejection when you're feeling sick in a country you don't know), but I managed to find someone who explained where it was. I walked into what ended up being the backdoor of the police station, which was actually closed, but because I was there and it was easier helping me than trying to explain it was closed, or maybe because the policewoman was a really good person, the whole thing was arranged in a few minutes. Which was nice, very nice. We need some successes here, to get over the times people don't understand you want a coke and bring you a sprite ('kuhluh' and 'schwepie'... I mean, really?!).

New Soof?
(Inside parent joke)

I ALSO met a Chinese friend of my Chinese friend-that-lives-in-Holland, which was... interesting. It's difficult to make conversation, since I don't really know what the glass houses are in China. Also, who pays what? She showed me around this really cool hutong and we went for dinner. Her absolute favourite? Chicken feet. Let me repeat that, just to make sure you understand this: Chicken Feet. So of course, I tried one, said that it tasted really nice and no problem, she could have the rest since she liked them so much! We kind of arranged to meet again, but I wonder whether that's going to happen- I mean, in Brazil that would mean little to nothing.


This isn't all I've done- it was actually a busy week after all! I'll be trying to keep the blog juuust a bit more updated, since it's come to my attention that some people actually like to read it or in any case do so ;-). 

Sick

So, Sophie is now laying in bed. Sick. I'd write ill, because I was taught by someone that being sick actually means vomiting or being close to that, but it turns out a dictionary contradicts that statement. Anyway, what do you do when you're sick and alone? There is no mom for me out here. So basically I have the full moral charge of not going to class today, and I took my own little pill and I made my own little tea with honey. But today I am supposed to go to the police station to say that I'm staying in Beijing another month, and that cannot wait for me to get better. Also, I really need food- yesterday all I had left more or less were onions and potatoes (incidentally: onions and potatoes make a great dish). And if I want to eat at all I'm going to have to cook eventually or venture to a restaurant to get take away. But there are also a few more complicated issues- to start with, in Beijing, where do I get the freshest air? Should I open the window or leave is securely closed? Should I turn on the air-cleaning mechanism in my room that looks kind of weird and doesn't really seem to help? Should I keep the plants where they are or get them out? All in all, it's difficult to just get some air worth breathing here. I'll leave you now- there's some Chinese tea waiting right here for me that I need to get to!

Alas, our crazy fun polish roommate left on saturday. So on friday, we set out with a group of 24 people to have dinner and go out. Have you ever tried walking into a restaurant with 24 people? Exactly. 
We ended up on two huge tables in a huge private room. Man, Chinese food is just REALLY good. I'm enjoying it so much lately! Noodles are not so much my thing, mostly because of the weird sauces they use. No, the way I like it is how Chinese people usually eat- in a medium-to-big group, they order lots of different dishes and everyone just choses and takes whatever they want to. Obviously, you get rice too- although hardcore Chinese-eating people will tell you that Chinese people only eat rice after dinner. Anyway, the magic words to remember are 'jigga' (means 'this one'- most Chinese restaurants have pictures of their food) and 'bu la' (meaning 'not spicy'- please, please, don't forget bu la, especially the first 10 times or so you eat chinese food). It's fun to eat this way- the food is varied, you can eat what you like and not feel guilty about eating everything (there's always SOMEONE who likes that last dish) and because you try so many dishes every time, you start getting a feel for what kind of food you like.  Which is good. The only detail is that you shouldn't be too squeamish about what it is you are actually eating- liver and duck's head are quite the treats here. 

Yay! Lost!

Anyway, after dinner we were supposed to go out, but my new Ecuadorian roommate wasn't feeling too well (there was a lot of smoking going on) and I didn't want to let her go home alone, so we took off. I must say, after the last night I didn't mind much at all. Obviously, the taxi driver didn't understand and took us to the wrong subway station, which immediately confirmed the need for me to be there. Now, you may or may not believe this, but of my roommates I'm the one with the best directional skills. I guess because I've biked and walked around quite a lot on my own, I usually know where I am and where I should be going, which is more than I can say for most people around here. I can actually read the Beijing map. What? It's true! Ask them if you don't believe me! I've led people around in the right direction looots of times!


SO that was it for friday, but I guess I became a bit ill (it was chilly and I gave my poor Ecuadorian roommate who has never known below 15 degrees weather my jacket) so on saturday I wasn't feeling very well. I guess the roommates felt the same, because after we said goodbye to the Polish roommate we just watched some movies. I mean, bonding is important too right?
On sunday we went for happy hour at the 'Drum and bell', a (kind of) bar I went to on my second night here. Happy hour is actually happy hours, a plan by which for ± 3 hours on sunday afternoon you can get as many of a chosen drink as you want for 5 euro's total. Needless to say, when we arrived we found a few people from the U. school already there. And then more came. By the beginning of actual night we had a crew out there! There's something about the U. school and their friends- this happens all the time. It's awesome! =D

Crowd =).

We had arranged with some of the people to go to the Summer Palace the next day, on monday, but in the end they bailed out on us (something about a headache?) and my Belgian roomie wasn't feeling too good either, so E. (the Ecuadorian roommate) and I went to the Summer Palace alone. When we arrived, we were shocked by the crazy amount of people. We might not have considered the implications of this being a national holiday ()=). So we got ourselves started on some nice Chinese meats-on-sticks (they're really good: bu la!!). After that we went in and started the crazy visit of the entire area- it's really really big. 

It had big colourful buildings full of detail, in the same typical colours as I've seen before in China and some very pretty little towers and shrines. There's a  huge lake within the Summer Palace area, as I've told you before, but apart from that it had little areas with lakes and typical 'walkways' (I'm not quite sure how they're called, see the picture on the right). I'll just tell you about the four things I liked the most. 
First one was a small lake enclosed by walls. You could walk around it, and there were lots of people just sitting down and relaxing, or feeding the fish. I really liked the place for its taste- usually important places look important and imposing, not beautiful an sich. 
We sat down for a while, and I heard a little girl explaining to her even younger sister that the small fish were called 'small fish' in english. I decided to agree, and next thing I know we were talking in our basic Chinese and English sentences (nice to meet you, ni jiao shenme ming, my name is, wo shi ba sui, etc). In the end we took a picture together, but E. has the picture on her camera and right now I have no idea where she is xD. In fact, that's a pity because she has pictures of the next thing I liked best- a little tower overlooking the massive lake of the Summer Palace. I might post some pictures of that later- it was really nice. 

Hmm.. let's just sit down?

Third thing was a building designed to be a theatre. We were just walking around when we saw lots and lots of Chinese people just... sitting there, on some steps. We figured they had to be waiting for something, so we joined them. They had been waiting for a little demonstration of how women danced in the time of the emperors (the Summer Palace is was built and expanded by emperors of different dynasties). The theatre was decorated vividly, and it had really weird stairs which were really cool. If I ever have a lot of money I'm definitely getting one of those for my house. As well as a lake like the one I saw. And round 'doorways' made of decorated wood.

Click to enlarge!

Come on, aren't they cool?

Which brings me to the fourth coolest thing I saw- a tiny exposition on furniture owned by the emperors. Mom, you would have loved these! They were mostly made of wood, carved painstakingly into intricate shapes. I don't have any good pictures of this, so a bad one will have to do. Because of the wonderful weather, it was actually worth it to have gone, even though the place was quite crowded- once you got out of the main tourist areas, it was quiet and nature-y. I even saw a squirrel running around carrying something in his mouth! I'll tell you about yesterday later- I'm really hungry right now, and I need to figure out where my roommates went xD. Bye!

Days §24-27§

Pretty sights in Beijing

It's three fifteen in the afternoon and I'm lying in my bed, about to sleep. Why, may you ask? Well, it's the end of month one here at U. school and that means people are coming and going- such as my beloved Polish roommate and a (crazy) Polish friend of hers. So she managed to convince me to go out with her on wednesday AND thursday, which is easy for the rest of my roomies since they have afternoon classes, but waking up at 7.30 in the morning after going out is no fun. In fact today I was philosophising about writing a book called 'What a human can and can't do with 2,5 hours of sleep'. 

A man selling goods.

It seems I can function quite normally- my afternoon-class roommates are skipping school as we speak, and I went to both classes in the morning (writing and speaking)! I also have a new roommate (so there's four of us now for two more days). The new girl is Ecuadorian. She arrived a few days ago, so I led her around a bit because she doesn't have much with her. How amazing is it that now I'm the one taking someone around, showing how to get to school on a little self-made map, asking Chinese people where I can find certain things in Chinese? 

The things we must get used too...

It felt good, in any case. Another thing I've been working on is the extension of my Chinese visa for a month. To extend a visa her you have to have more or less  2000 euro's on a Chinese bank account, so first step was actually making a bank account and 'borrowing' a lot of money from the U. school to have in there for one day. Next step was visa office- since next week is a national holiday, everyone is extending their visa NOW. I'm only getting my passport back after the holiday, and to book & get a train ticket you need a passport, so the chances of me getting very far out of Beijing are highly diminished right now.

MEGA SALAD.

()=)

We'll see about that later. As it is with every official thing in Beijing it was a bureaucratic and sloooow business- it took me at least 5 hours to get my visa extension request done. Anyway, around here we Westerners are getting so crazy that one day (on tuesday) I got together with some classmates and we made a HUGE salad. Mindblowingly big (see the pic). We also visited the (*shame*) McDonalds once. Ah, it's part of the China experience, all of it.

The...thing?

I added a little video of my German classmate, A., and me playing... a uhm, a game. It's typical Chinese- on parks you can find old men and women as well as young children showing off their skills. We are not quite as accomplished. We are really, really bad is another way of putting it. But we have decided that even if we don't learn ANY Chinese, we will at least be able to play this game decently by the time we leave this city. Underneath that is a video of biking in Beijing, but it might be too long and boring for most of you. Maybe sped up it's interesting! Love, Sophie