Feeling Good.

I find myself questioning China and teaching these kids. It’s challenging. How do you keep the class interesting? How do you keep yourself interested? How many times can you play the same game? How many times do you review the same words before you move on? I’m so inexperienced and I’m feeling bombarded and ill prepared. This is not easy. Part of me wants to pack up and just go home where things make sense, and I’m comfortable.  The sad part about that is it’s only been two weeks. I’m feeling frustrated and stressed about lesson preparations this week. Following the curriculum for this school is a pain, and I don’t feel like they’ve provided me with adequate information to prepare the lesson. I have plenty of material, that’s not the problem. Songs? Games? I hate the stupid course material books that the company gave me. It’s called Playway, and it’s dumb. That’s what the afternoon school wants to follow by the book. Why is muesli an important breakfast word for kids to learn? I don’t even know what that is; some type of cereal by the looks of it. Dumb. I’ve been in my room for hours glancing at the material from time to time, trying to come up with something. Anything. I can’t. I don’t know if I can handle this. How am I supposed to do this for a year? There are people dumber than I that can handle this, but I’m having trouble. I’m bugging out.

Just talked to my roommate, so I’m feeling a little better. Not much, but a little. It’s just tough, especially in the beginning. This is a whole new world to me. Everything is foreign here; the environment, the people, the smells, the city, subways and buses, fake snow, the food, and tons of other things. In actuality though, I’m the only thing foreign here. I’m the stranger. I’m the visitor. I’m the dumb American that’s bad with directions and barely speaks a few words of Chinese. I’m dazed and confused, wandering through a giant city with millions of people. I’d stare at me too. It’s one thing to move out. It’s a completely different thing to move to a foreign country.

I declined on ice skating with the roommates and friends today. I declined on dinner. There’s a skating rink inside of Joy City. (By the way, I don’t think that’s the 3^rd largest mall in the world. There is a mall that’s even bigger on the west side of Beijing that is rumored to be the second largest, though. Who knows. And since I’m correcting mistakes, thank you is actually xie xie. I’m not even gonna bother with the explanation of tone or pronunciation. I’d probably get it wrong anyways.) Back to skating. It costs 50 rmb for an hour and a half. Not ridiculous, but I had things to do today, which did not get done, and I’m trying to make my money last. I’ll do it at some point, like when I’m getting a steady pay check. If I make it that long.

While wasting time today, I shaved my beard. I was feeling a little naked without it and missing it, so I declined on the dinner invite as well. Besides, I still had nothing done. I went out walking around at like 7:30 PM, and that’s all I did. Walked around. I didn’t go into any restaurants or anything because I can’t read Chinese, and I didn’t see any pictures. So I walked around. It was pretty cold out, especially without a beard. It had snowed last night and part of this morning (Sunday). I actually saw it snow for once for a little bit, as opposed to just waking up to some snow that mysteriously appeared overnight. Anyways, after walking around, I came home and remembered we had bought peanut butter, jelly, and bread. I made myself a sandwich with 3 pieces of bread, followed by the traditional 2 slices of bread sandwich. Don’t worry, I also had some crackers with peanut butter and a plain yogurt. Yum. What a fantastic meal. What a fantastic day. I can’t wait to go back to school tomorrow and bore some kids. Just in a mood and being pessimistic. No worries.

Think I’m going to watch a movie or some episodes of ‘The Office’ since I can’t get a lesson together. Good idea Jeff. Let’s see how this week goes. Should be interesting.

-Jeff.

Schooooool - Officially done with my first week.

Man, another roommate. Damn. There’s definitely something missing there. She just keeps this dumb smile on her face all the time. It’s awkward. You can’t smile in every situation. I could yell at this girl, and she’d still be smiling. I can’t be sure, but I think she may have taken 3 or 4 showers last night. We’ll call her Re Re to keep it anonymous. Her boyfriend also stayed over. He’s 25, she’s 22. I don’t know what his deal is. Kind of funny, kind of weird. Claims his major his basketball and that he plays a lot. Basketball? Is that even a major? What kind of school did he go to? He’s no Yao Ming, that’s for sure. After they had gotten out of the shower/bathroom, I walked in to find my sandals soaked and my soap moved; clearly used. Fortunately, the soap was Axe. Had it been a bar of soap, I would have chucked it. You may think I sound like a psycho, but come on. It’s my stuff, you didn’t ask, you just got here, etc. I immediately removed all my items from the bathroom after this event. I was angry. This included hand soap, a towel, sandals, my bathroom bag, and the body soap. Yeah, I went as far as hand soap because I was already pissed off. I found it pretty amusing when I discovered that her little pink, girl shampoo was removed the next day also. Ya, because I’m going to use your girl shampoo. Good one. You want to play that game? I can play that game, and I’m going to win. I wasn’t too fond of them from the start, and they only confirmed suspicions. Oh, and back to the sandals. I wear those flip flops so that my feet are protected from their nasty feet. If they’re wearing them as well, this kind of defeats the whole purpose. BAH. My other roommates agreed. Luckily, I have them to confide in and rally support.

Alright, I’m done ranting. You got the gist. Before I talk about anything else, I remembered that other Seinfeld reference. “George likes his chicken spicy.” – And so does Jeff. Keep in mind though, Chinese spicy is different than American spicy. Tread carefully. I was eating Kung Pao chicken, and I immediately thought of George. In the show, they meet this guy that refers to himself in third person – Jimmy. Eventually, George finds himself talking like this. He also continues to eat Kung Pao chicken throughout the episode, hence the quote. There’s a lot more to it, but that’s a real quick summary. Here ya go, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Apa0nG1OfUc&feature=related, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGuXxHTgdWk.

School is interesting. Very repetitive. Every morning, I wake up at 7:45 AM. Not too bad. I’ll be able to wake up later once I don’t need a little preparation beforehand. Monday through Thursday consists of 6 classes at the morning school, 25 minutes each with 5 minute breaks in between each class.  I work until 11:30 AM in the morning school. I’ve got a break until 1:40 PM. At that point, I catch the school van at the bottom of the apartment and get driven to the afternoon school. I’m there from 2:00 to 4:00 PM. I’ll talk about Friday later, so this will all be about Monday through Thursday to start. Each class has an array of different kids. You’ve got the clowns, the quiet and shy kids, the smart ones, the dumb ones, the volunteers, the kids that don’t care, the bullies, the know it alls, yada yada. (More Seinfeld – The Yada Yada) Typical classroom atmosphere, I suppose. The morning school does a fairly good job of controlling them, and the kids are starting to understand what my commands mean. Ages range from 2-6 so you have to speak loudly, slowly, and clearly. Annunciation is key, and still sometimes not enough. Oh, and corporal punishment is allowed in China.

Classes typically start off with a greeting, making sure they know my name, asking them their names, possibly their ages, and maybe what the weather was like for that day. Weather is a little more challenging. Most struggle through names, which is cool because it kills some time in the classroom. As for names, as I understand it, the parents choose English names for their kids. They have some interesting choices. I’ve got a boy named Jane, Dragon, Hero, Rock, Truck, Jack Chen, Sandy, Slim, Mars, Rain, Nono, and a few others that I can’t remember. In the girl’s department, I’ve got a couple Cocos, a Yoyo, Duola (she’s very cute), Tica, Sunny, Dodo, Angle (no, not Angel), and more. There are plenty of regular English names as well and plenty of English names spelled incorrectly. One example of this is a boy named Dany, but pronounced Danny. I also named some kid John Lee and a girl June. Their Chinese names sort of sounded similar, so hopefully it’s an easy transition.

After, greetings, I usually review anywhere from 4-8 flash cards, depending on the age of the class. I’ll make sure that kids are repeating me. If I don’t hear them or they’re distracted, I’ll single them out and ask them in some manner to repeat me. This still doesn’t always guarantee that the kids are going to repeat you. I don’t really sing any songs because I basically just don’t feel like it. I see no purpose in singing dumb songs. How is that going to help them progress in English? What is it teaching them? Are you really learning anything during ‘London Bridges Falling Down’? Oh yeah, you’re learning that we all fall down. Definitely relevant. I suppose you could argue that it’s just something to get the kids involved, having fun, and speaking English words, but I’ve got other things I’d rather do instead. MY CLASS, MY RULES. Sort of. I do a couple different things after reviewing the flash cards, depending on the day and the class. Sometimes, I’ll pass out all the cards to various kids and then ask who has ‘tomatoes’ or whatever we went over.  This usually goes fairly well. The kids like to help each other out though and or tell their fellow classmates what’s up. It’s amusing.  I constantly have to put my finger to my lips and say, “Shhhhh.”  I also like to have kids come up to me, either individually or with another kid, and then lay out the flash cards and have them point out to me whatever word I said. If the students are capable of handling it, I will sometimes just point to a card and ask them what it is. This technique allows me to figure out where the children are at and who the weaklings are that I need to pick on more. It’s a dog eat dog world. Only the strong survive. Half joking. I’ve also played games in which students race to the flashcards and back, hiding games where I hide the flash cards and allow the students to seek them out, and a back to back game. This game is played by placing two students back to back and giving each a flashcard. They then take 3 steps, wait for my command (Jump), and then turn around and jump. The student that tells me the other child’s card first wins. You can make tournaments out of all these games. I could definitely use some more creativity and variance, but I’m learning. I think I’m doing a pretty good job thus far. Time will tell. The company I work for has given me plenty of stuff to use like cards and stories and what not. They also give you ideas for games, but I think most are pretty dumb.

I like the morning school a lot better for several reasons. One, it’s 10 steps away from my apartment building. Two, I have more freedom. I can pretty much teach whatever I want, however I want as long as the kids are learning. And three, for the most part, the students seem to be better controlled. This all depends on the size of the class though and the individual kids in the class. Lunch has been pretty good, and it’s free so I can’t complain. It’s nice being able to go down and grab it, then bring it up to my apartment where I can chill out for my nice two and a half hour break. Ahhhh, so nice. The afternoon school is ok. Not as great. The first class I have there (mostly age 5 I think, and a larger class) really makes me mad sometimes. It’s hard to teach or get anything across to the kids that are listening. I’ve mentioned this a few times to the Chinese teachers. There are definitely a few bad seeds there. The problem is though, when I call up the bad seeds in an attempt to embarrass them and force them to say “I don’t know”, they all know the answers. That’s the worst. Kids don’t like saying, “I don’t know.” They pretty much understand what it means and that it’s not something good. Although, some do find it playful because when I want the kids to say that, I demonstrate by putting my arms up questioningly and then repeating the phrase. Not a whole lot of corporate punishment that I’ve seen at the morning school. Seen plenty at the afternoon school, though. The two kids were really acting up the other day. I watched this axe murderer looking woman step in. She grabbed the one and threw him down to the ground. He may have been kicked or hit after that. I was trying to keep from staring in astonishment so I missed some of it. The other child was grabbed from his chair and escorted over to the door. The teacher then grabbed his belongings, like jacket and blanket or something, and threw them out into the hall while chastising him. While I do think a good spanking is in order at times, I’m not sure about the rest of it. It doesn’t seem to make a difference. The kids still act up. They’re looking for attention, and they’re getting it. Not the solution. I do have a favorite in the afternoon school, though. He’s in my small class. It only consists of 5 children, maybe 6. His name is Jack. I believe he’s 5 years old, tiny, and super cute. He’s also pretty bright. Funny little guy. That class is small and well behaved. The little girl, Cathy, is also really cute. The other thing I hate about this school is that I follow more of a curriculum here. Oh well.

I’ve witnessed two throw up sessions at the morning school. Fun. Solution? Sweep it up, then do a quick mop job. No, I’m not the one doing it. There are Chinese assistants/teachers in each class for things like that, maintaining order, and translating directions. Vomit. Awesome. Oh, and what an awesome smell afterwards. I’m waiting for other children to throw up after seeing another kid blow chunks. They’ll all start doing it in synchronized order like dominoes. They are little walking viruses. DON’T TOUCH YOUR FACE. Whatever you do. Don’t go anywhere near your face until after you’ve washed your hands. I can’t even wash my hands until I’m back in my apartment. I’ve never even seen a teacher’s bathroom in the first school. I’m sure there is one, but soap is a rare commodity in China, so I don’t even bother. Most bathrooms don’t possess it. Kids certainly don’t use it. Gross. (G-ross for those that remember it.) All the kids wanted to come up and hug me the other day in a big cluster. One of the kids in the following was the kid that just threw up. I cocked my eyebrows and put my hands down in a ‘ewwww, back off’ gesture.

Well, you’ve got a nice overlay of school life. Oh, and back to Friday. Friday is such a joke. The morning school is 8:30 – 10:30 AM. I then catch the school’s van at 2:20 PM for the afternoon school. The afternoon school is from 2:40 PM until 3:40 PM on Fridays. 

Let’s talk about the van. The guy that drives me Monday through Thursday is insane. He’s a nut, like most Chinese drivers. Picture the worst driver you know of, then make his/her driving even worse and create millions of versions of him/her. You now have an idea of what driving in China is like. It’s one thing to see all the nuts on the roads (So many cars, so many bikes and scooters/motorcycles), it’s another thing to sit in the back of a van and experience it. I think the driver is some sort of alien robot. I greet him and thank him every day in Chinese, and I hardly get a nod. He was created by the Chinese government, and he has one mission; to get me to the school. I sit in the back with frightened facial expressions that appear multiple times throughout the 15 minute drive. I swear, there have been so many times that I thought we were going to hit another vehicle, or a bus, or a bike, or a person. So many. And he only drove me 3 days this week. He sits in the driver’s seat relaxed, with a blank expression on his face. No emotion. The driver knows how to use his horn, though. Most Chinese drivers do. They’ll drive in the other lane against oncoming traffic to get around people. Stop lights don’t exist because if they don’t ‘see’ it, it didn’t happen. How to get around speed bumps without slowing down? Go between them. I get driven by another guy on Friday (and possibly Monday). He’s still crazy, but not as crazy. He also smiles and responds to my greetings and goodbyes. He’s probably human.

Went shopping and cooked dinner today/tonight with Avi and Lian. Awesome. I’ll tell you about that and kiwi on steroids, aka Dragon Fruit, in the next post.

Thanks for reading - Jeff

Food and Things

I guess we need to back track a little bit. I’ve skipped around a bit and failed to discuss things that I said I would. I’m an airhead, what can I say? Speaking of airheads, I could go for one. Keep in mind though, candy is expensive out here.

Let's talk about Houhai Lake at night. I did end up going back two days after Lantern Festival. It was pretty cool. I’ll definitely be making numerous trips there throughout the year. It’s not that far and easy to get to. But yea, it was pretty neat. It’s cool seeing it all lit up and being there when it’s a little more happening. There’s a lot more people there at night for a couple reasons. For one, it was Saturday night. Satur-day! Satur-day! Satur-day! I’m sure you didn’t get the reference there. Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting by Elton John.  Come onnnnn.  Secondly, there are plenty of bars and clubs around Houhai Lake. Lady bars also if you’re interested. I’m not. Should you find yourself searching for one though, make sure you ask if STDs are included in the initial price. Anyways, I went out with my hotel roommate and the guy from Wales. It was a nice relaxing night, which included some beer and live acoustic music. I only paid 10rmb/beer this time. Yes, you can negotiate for beer in some places. Guys/girls (mostly guys) stand outside the bars and try to lure you in with their prices and what not. Most will make more than one offer if you keep walking or don’t like their price. We went out around 7:00 PM or so and managed to avoid the crazies that come out after 11:00 PM. Oh and the best part? I finally got to see some lanterns! Mission complete. I only saw two, but I would have been happy with one.  I don’t exactly what they are, but they look like a candle surrounded by some sort of paper box. They look like they could burst into flames at any minute and vaporize, but I watched them go as far as I could see. Very cool.

OH, and by the way, I’m not completely satisfied with the Chinese and their oranges yet. While teaching in the classrooms, almost all of the kids know the picture and the word ‘orange’. Coincidence? We’ll find out. If one of the kids doesn’t know many of the fruits, he’ll almost always know the orange. Interesting, very interesting. I’ll tell you more about school later; I’ve got other things to discuss.

I'll tell you a little about the food I’ve eaten this far. It would be much easier to show you through pictures, but unfortunately I haven’t really been going out and bringing my camera when eating. You’ll see a few, though. Strawberry Oreos. Yes, they were awesome. Do they make them back in the states? I’m sure they do, but I’ve never seen them. Not Chinese, but awesome. I had to mention them. When I was in the hotel, I got what my hotel roommate called ‘meat on a stick’ a few times. Meat on a stick. Yep, we’re Americans. I didn’t get a chance to try the squid on a stick, but I’m sure I will. Most of the time, I ate some sort of pork or beef. I really don’t know which it was. They always put the same sauce and spices on, so it’s hard to say. I think I also ate donkey on a stick the one time. I can’t be sure. A little chewy, but not bad. A lot of the stuff that I’m going to mention initially came from the shopping mall that’s near the hotel.  The 6^th floor contains a big food court with many different things that are fairly inexpensive. I probably mentioned this before, but I just wanted to refresh your memory regardless. I ate these sesame seed ball things that get fried and contain bean in the middle. It doesn’t sound it, but they’re actually pretty sweet. I also ate these things that look like pizza slices sort of. They’re really just two pieces of dough I guess, fried, with pork in between the two pieces. They’re pretty good. What else? I bought this pretzel looking thing from a shop on the side of the street. (Not a street vendor.) This was very sweet, too sweet. Hard to say exactly what it was. Mostly sugar and maybe some sort of syrup congealed together. Let’s see. I ate a piece of beef candy. Yeah, beef candy. It was beef in a little candy wrapper. Yeah, I don’t know. I mean it’s good, just odd. Last night, (Monday) I ate some dumplings accompanied with hot sauce and Chinese vinegar mixed together. Simple, but good.  Hmmmm. Uhhhh. Oh, I ordered this thing from a vendor at the Silk Market. It started off sort of like a pancake, but then stretched ultra thin. This was sauced and seasoned, and an egg was spread over it. Before folding it up, the woman put a crispy wafer type thing on it. You may think this sounds kind of boring and bland, but it was actually fairly good. And how could I forget? I ate at this little place that’s maybe comparable to a diner, open 24 hours, right next to the hotel one night. Food ranged from 10-30rmb if I’m remembering correctly. I looked through the menu, and ended up choosing this dish that appeared to be some sort of meat with maybe potatoes or something like that. Wrong….It was fricken tofu and small fishes that were about 4 inches. Man, I was so disappointed with this meal. Again, I ate through it simply because I paid for it. I could not eat all of the tofu and by no means did it fill me up. There was barely any meat on the fish and it wasn’t easy removing the spines. Luckily, my hotel roommate did not much of his dish. I capitalized on that. His meal consisted of these dough balls that get opened up in in the centers in order to shove in some bacon (or something like bacon) and some sort of vegetable. Pretty awesome. Especially after the meal I ordered.

I know what you’re thinking. All this mystery meat is probably dog or cat. The fact is - most of it is either pork or chicken, and maybe some beef. I’ve been told you won’t really find cat in major cities like Beijing. If you looked hard enough though, you could probably find it. As for dog, I was informed that Koreans are the people eating the dogs. That’s enough to make me vomit. I mean I have looked at Goober and thought about throwing him on the grill from time to time. KIDDING. I would never eat dog, but after seeing some of the dogs out here; I can understand why some people may eat them. They’re so FREAKING tiny. Seriously, they’re all small and many of them don sweaters. Some even have little booties. At some point in time, some Korean probably got really hungry or mistook the dog for some small creature and it all went downhill from there. Yeah, I’ll pass. And I don’t know what kind of training methods the Chinese are using for their dogs, but I’m impressed. They walk the ‘sidewalks’ and streets with their dogs following; no leashes. You’ll see leashes once and a while, but it’s not nearly as common. I even saw a dog following a woman a bike. One kid claimed that he saw a dog wait for its owner outside of the grocery store. Crazy.

Spit. All over. Everywhere. Watch your step. I’m not kidding. Every one spits out here. I’ve seen men, women, and children spit. Many people don’t care where they spit. They’ll spit right on the sidewalks, on the street, on their dog, on their friend walking next to them, etc. Just kidding about those last two. Seriously though, be conscious of where you’re walking or you’ll end up stepping in a nice wad of spit on more than one occasion.

I guess I’ll cut it off here. I’ve gotten through two days of teaching classes. It’s been going pretty well so far and it will get easier once I don’t have much preparation to do. It’s a lot of repetition so it’s really not that bad. It can be a little tiring and mundane, though. You’ll hear all about it soon enough. I’m ready to relax for the night and do nothing. I just ordered some beef and potatoes so it should be a good meal. There are no tips necessary or expected in case you didn’t know.

-Jeff

Apartment Time!

We'll get to the apartment, relax. Patience is a virtue, or so they say. Who are they anyways? And what do they know? Do I even know them? Doubt it, nobody knows them. But they say a lot, don't they? REVEAL YOURSELVES.

Ok, ok. I know you have all been anxiously awaiting some Seinfeld references, so you're in luck. I've got two for ya' in this post. If you know them, awesome. If you don't, I don't know what to tell you. Look into it. The first refers to the episode when George and Jerry are pitching their show (about nothing) to the Chinese. George is convinced (I believe this is due to Kramer, but don't hold me to it) that the Chinese love oranges. He goes as far as to bring a bag of oranges to present as a gift to the Chinese people running the television network. Both of the Chinese look at each other and question the meaning of oranges. If you know George, you know he's feeling pretty confident about these oranges. Haha. Now, I live with a kid who lives with his Chinese girlfriend. They're both very nice. (Avi and Lian if you must know.) Lian apparently loves oranges. Quite often, from what I'm told, she'll eat multiple oranges in one sitting. I was told this went as high as eight. Probably exaggerated, but regardless, a lot of oranges. I like them as well, but you won't find me eating eight in one sitting. Anyways, thinking back to the episode, I asked her if the Chinese liked oranges. I was curious, ok? No big deal, simple question. She gave me a weird look, and responded, "No, not really." Case closed.

I actually can't think of the second reference right now. I know, I know. Maybe later. For now, I'll tell you about the apartment and what took place before and after. I met with one of the company's assistants in the hotel lobby at 9:00 AM on Sunday. From there, we took the subway. Bear in mind, I've got two large bags both weighing close to 50 lbs. Add my laptop bag, a large backpack, a plastic bag filled with some dirty clothes, and another small bag with some school stuff. This subway venture is not for the feint of heart. Most would opt for a taxi. For one, I don't mind a challenge. Secondly, it's 2 yuan versus about 30 or so. Not super expensive, but what the hey? If I can save money, why not? I've got fully functional legs and arms, so I might as well use them. It wasn't the easiest thing in the world with the subway transfers, walking, and bus transfers, but I made it. I carried everything except for the laptop bag and the two small bags. I was willing to take any help I could get. So, I got my stuff up to the apartment and set it in my new room without too much inspection. I then helped carry down things with the other two guys that were moving out to their new apartment closer to their school. Ok, time to shop.

I needed to get a few things. I was aware of this. Things were a little pricier by the apartment so I decided to go right back to the shopping mall near the hotel, Tian Feng Li. Prices are good, and you have a little bit of bargaining room. I was headed back with the assistant. She knew the girl selling comforters so she figured she could help me with the price on that. I had put together a list of items I needed, which included cleaning supplies. But then, it occurred to me that I should not be doing this cleaning. I'm moving into an apartment, my room should be cleaned for me. Ding, ding, ding. I'm always prepared to be a nag, and I know how to state my case and ultimately get my way should the situation call for it. Haha, most of the time anyways. Or at least in my mind. I stated this to the assistant, and she insisted that it was just cleaned. Oh ya? What kind of cleaning do you call that? I looked behind the bed and other general areas briefly. Behind the bed was disgusting. Dust and dirt central. It took a little bit of persuasion on my end, but in the end I got her to agree with me. She made some phone calls and set up an appointment for a cleaning lady at around 4:00 PM. Niiiiice. We'll get back to that, rest assured.

We got to the shopping mall and made our way to the comforter section. The other store we looked at had them priced between 80-120 rmb. Not too bad. You gotta figure that's less than $20.00 USD. But granted, the material is not nearly as good. The sales people immediately told me it would cost me 80 rmb, cheaper than what they would normally offer thanks to the assistant. But I still wanna bargain. Less than normal or not. I offered 60 and stuck around there for a while. I don't remember where we ended on that, somewhere between 65-75, I think. Still, it was a good price. Remember, I had some help with the translation part of the negotiating. This can work for you or against you, though. Long story short, I payed 108 for a comforter, a comforter cover, a pillow, and a pillow cover. The original prices were as follows; around 200 for the comforter, 40-50 for the cover, between 40 and 60 for the pillow (I don't remember), and 25 for the pillow cover. I did pretty well. The assistant left after this was finished.

I still wanted to get some cleaning materials for general maintenance of the apartment and what not. I needed some clothing hangers as well. The first guy I talked to started at 25 rmb for about five or six heavy plastic ones. I was thinking more around 10-15. I got him down a little bit and had a little help from some random guy that spoke some broken English. Anyways, this guy was rude and spoke in a mocking Chinese tone. He kept on a scowling sort of face. I told him I was going to find it cheaper some where else in a matter of words and gestures. NEXT. I went to the shop right next door to his, bargained a bit and got a small waste can and about 8 metal hangers for 18 rmb. When I walked back past the rude guy, he lifted his eye brows with a questioning face (still had that dumb scowl on) and looked in my bag obviously wondering if I was able to get them. I nodded while giving him a cocky smile. Yea, that's right. I found the whole thing pretty funny. I also bought hand soap and air freshener for about 15 rmb in the 'mall'. It's not the kind of mall you think of when in the U.S.

I had spent a little while in here, ate lunch there as well, so I had to get back to the apartment for the cleaning lady. More bags on the subway. Luckily, they were much lighter. Still a bit of a hassle, but it's all well and good. Got back and shortly after, the cleaning lady showed up. I was given the money to pay for her services (30 yuan for 2 hours - yes, that's pretty cheap). I didn't know what to expect, but I was not expecting this. She shows up, smile on her face, with a bucket, filthy rags, and sandals to change into. Uh? What? This is all you're going to use? Am I missing something here? I could not get past those disease ridden rags. Guaranteed they would do more harm than good.  I'll admit, I was expecting a little something more than this. It was a sad sight. At this point, I said to myself, "Whatever" and pointed her around to what I wanted done. We started with sweeping. Yes, she was my little Chinese slave. And I had her for two hours.  She did not even possess a broom. I gave her one, and proceeded to move around a lot of furniture so that she could get underneath things. I had already pretty much emptied my room to make things easier and to ensure that what I wanted done - got done. Another sad sight. I kept a loose eye on her and her 'sweeping'. Even with an empty room, the woman was going in a circle. I don't think she ever considered the corners. I'm exaggerating a bit, but seriously; it was bad. Greaaaattt. I watched her do some of the apartment with this technique, or lack of, and eventually I had to call it quits. I could not bear to watch it. Screw it, I'll do it myself. I could not sit there for two hours watching this display. I know it sounds mean, and maybe it wasn't entirely her fault. She was willing to work, just not very good at it. You get what you pay for. I used a few words (of which she did not recognize) and some hand gestures. Basically, I was trying to indicate that I would pay her 10 rmb for the 15 minutes she worked. That sounds bad, but think about it. She was getting payed 30 for two hours worth of work. I think she called her boss, and I proceeded to call the assistant that set up the appointment. The woman was prepared to go back and get clean rags, but I could bear no more. I stated this to the assistant and we went in a triangle a few times (me, the assistant, and the cleaning lady) and eventually we ended up somewhere. At that point, I think the infecting - errrrr cleaning lady was still prepared to go and get clean rags because she wanted to work. But again, I couldn't watch this. It wasn't just the rags. It was the whole operation. I managed to make her understand, attempted to apologize and say that it wasn't her, paid her 10 yuan and sent her on on her way. It was her, or maybe her boss. I felt bad, but it just was not going to work. I can and would rather do the job myself and get it done right. What can you do? I guess I'm a pain in the ass. I apologized to the assistant as well for putting her sort of in the middle. Unfortunately, there was no way around that.

Anyways, at this point I just didn't care. I had my mind on one thing, cleaning my room. I couldn't rest until it was clean. Cleaning supplies can be a bit pricey. Not ridiculous, but a bit. It was 30 yuan just for a bottle of pledge. Well worth it though, and it will probably last me quite a while. I bought a few other items not important enough to list. All in all, I spent about 300 yuan or so that day/night. That's really not that bad because you gotta figure 120 yuan is about $20.00 USD. It's always a little expensive at first to get set up because you have to buy all kinds of supplies initially. It won't be an every day thing and most of the items will last a while, so not a huge deal.

Before starting my cleaning escapade, I went to dinner with my roommate, his girlfriend, and a friend of theirs. There's a massive mall right by my apartment, (2nd biggest in the world I was told - Joy City. It has 11 floors, 14 if you count the basement.) For the most part, this mall is expensive. Near the top though, there's this western Italian food restaurant that is actually really cheap. I payed 36 rmb for a 9'' Hawaiian pizza, a fruit salad, and an apple soda. Yes, apple soda. It was interesting. Worth trying, but probably not drinking all of the time. It was pretty good food, and the price was right. No, not the show. That's 'The price is right'. I'll definitely go back there when I need a decent western meal. It's probably the cheapest you'll pay for such a thing out here. Those prices are comparable to average Chinese food.

Back to the apartment. I was a man on a mission, and it was time to clean. I took apart the bed in my room and moved the pieces over to the spare room. Paper towels, check. Pledge, check. Sponge, check. Bucket with warm soapy water, check. Mop, check. Let's get to work. I sprayed pledge and dusted in about every spot I could. I used the sponge and soapy water for the non wood items. I dusted off the supports of the bed and the other pieces of it as well. By the way, I got rid of the original wood bed and took the metal bed from the other spare room. It was newer and nicer with better support, so it might as well be mine. No one is in the other room anyways. I swept the room and then moved onto the mop. It's an actual mop, like with stringy thick threads on it. Lian had offered to mop for me, but I insisted on doing it myself. I told her that if you give a man a fish, you'll feed for him a day. Teach him how to fish, you'll feed him for life. I love that saying. She was later impressed with my work ethic and the fact that I wasn't lazy like most people. I just couldn't relax in filth, regardless of the time. I did ask her how to clean out the mop, though. Pretty easy. Just dunk it into water a few times, maybe after getting fresh water once or twice. All in all, I worked for about 3 hours or so. I took a shower, put on some clean clothes, and moved my suitcases back into my room. Finally. I finished around 11:00 PM or so. Close enough. Lian complimented me and thought it was cool that I was willing to do all that work. It's not that much, I know. But it was something. I was proud, and it looked 20 times better. Not to mention, 20 times cleaner. I've still got to clean the windows and bathroom up a bit, but I'll get that done in due time. For now, I was fairly pleased with myself. And you better believe that I'm going to have a word about some possible reimbursement from Expertise Education for supplies and my labor. It felt good doing the work myself, but that doesn't mean it was my responsibility. Those cheap 'you know whats'.

I had my first school day today, but we'll get into that in the next post. I'll tell you about some Chinese food as well. This post has already been dragged on a little bit. Not as exciting, but hopefully not too bad. Still can't think of the other Seinfeld reference. Oh well. I tend to correct posts later on, so you may have found some errors in my writing. I'll get to them.

Just edited, and I think I got them. You can be the judge.

-Jeff

Silk Market and Other Things

It's funny. I used to say I'd never want to live in a city, and now I'm living in one of the largest. Funny how life works. I'm enjoying Beijing, though. I really do like it. I read that most foreigners get a sense sort of like, 'This is where things are happening.' I can totally agree with that. There's a lot going on here, and it's exciting. The nice thing about living in a city is that there's so much to do at any given time. Transportation is so cheap and for the most part, fairly easy. For example, It's 4:00 in the afternoon right now, and I've already gone to the Silk Market. I'm chilling out for a little bit and then going back to Houhai Lake tonight with a bunch of foreigners. Despite the fact that I was just there, I really wanted to get back and see it at night. For one, it's awesome. Two, it's a happening place and it's Saturday night. Three, the effects of the Chinese New Year and Lantern Festival are still lingering a bit, so it might make it that much better. Sounds like a plan to me.

As for foreigners. What is wrong with people? Is it me? Do I have an 'old soul'? Maybe I'm not hip, haha. I just don't get it. These people, man. They get here and all they want to do is go out and party. Why? Were you sober when you got off the plane and arrived in China? I'm not sure if they actually know that they're in CHINA. This isn't some weekend venture or Thursday night at your college. There is so much to do and see and all they want to do is party. Me? I've got better things to do. Granted, I don't mind doing a little bit of partying and having that sort of fun here and there. But not all of the time. I talked to this kid earlier that was drunk as a skunk. It's 4:00 in the afternoon, dude. Everything alright? Life got you down? I think he was taking some retard capsules. You laugh, but I'll put up a picture up of pills that say on the box, Retard Capsules. They're actually for serious colds I guess, or so the picture on the box illustrates. I think they're just for retards. Like that kid. I can drink in the states and hang around all the westerners I want back home. YOU'RE IN CHINA. Unfortunately, it's people like this that give foreigners a bad name and cause other countries to think poorly of us. As far as I'm concerned, you're a guest. Have fun, but be on your best behavior. You're being scrutinized even more so because you're foreign. Retards. Mean while at the grocery store, "Yes sir, he's going to need another box of retard capsules. Uhhh, ya know what? Better make it a case. He tends to go through them rather quickly." Idiots.

Ok. So. On to Silk Market. I read that it was not going to be a pleasant experience. People had said that they would grab you and swear at you and call you names if you didn't buy from them. Now, this may be true if you're rude. I was polite and joked with a lot of the sales people, and I really found it quite humorous and really enjoyed it. You'll see pictures of it eventually. Anyways, this place has plenty of everything and there's about 4 or 5 floors. Lots of clothes, but plenty of other things. Just about every sales person there will speak to you in American and say something like, "Hello, you want shoes? I give you best price!" I just laugh and say, "No, thank you" or use a hand gesture stating no. I'll give you a couple examples of my experience there. Now again, I was having fun with it so they behaved in a friendly manner as well. One girl said, "You need bag? Wallet?" I stated that I did not and had them already. She responded with, "Oh, how about your mother? Girlfriend?" I told her that I didn't have a girlfriend and that my Mom had plenty of bags. She just kept insisting I needed more. I told her my Mom had plenty and didn't need more. To this she said, "You don't know your Mom." I laughed at this. It's all very amusing. Another time, a girl had asked me if I had a girlfriend. When I replied no, she said "Oh, I didn't think so." This was pretty funny, so I laughed and told her that now I definitely wasn't buying from her. Another girl was trying to sell me shoes and when I pointed to mine and said, "I already have shoes, you like them?" She said, "They're ugly, you need more." Even better. Again, I laughed and told her that now I would definitely not be purchasing anything from her. She quickly changed this and told me they were pretty. Haha. Love it. I'm gonna keep giving you some examples, so be prepared. At another shop, a girl asked me if I needed a shirt or something of that nature. I informed her that I did not and she asked why. I kept on walking and had said, "I don't know" in a half laughing tone. I was able to hear her say, "I know." Hilarious. They all tell you they need help opening their business. I get real with them though and tell them I know differently in a friendly tone. It's amusing. I exchanged names with a few of them so they would recognize my face and take me seriously the next time I was there. Again, it's good to know people and they'll know I'm not a fool. I did end up bargaining with a nice woman named Nina for about 10-15 minutes over some more chopsticks. These were much nicer than the ones I had already bought. They came in a box, very ornate, sitting on top of silk with 2 duck stands (used to set the chopsticks on). It's a touristy type item typical of China. But I really liked them. I tend to be very anal and check out the details of them and such. I want to get the best item I can if I'm going to spend money. So this woman told me that the typical price was 180, but she would give them to me for 50rmb. This is common. Still plenty of room to work.  I stuck at 10 for a long time and she was definitely stand offish at that price. But I was looking around her shop and enjoying the nature of the game. I was talking to her as well and being pleasant. She kept dropping here and there. She stayed with 40 for a while, then told me 'maximo' price was 35. At this point, I was at 15. Again, I stayed here for a while and she stayed there. Her 'maximo' price then dropped to 25 and again, I knew I would probably go a little higher to get them. I was just amusing myself more than anything. You can always go up, but you can't go back down in price so go super low every time even if you know it's ridiculous. They go super high, so it's kind of a give and take. Besides, you can always walk away and get an even better deal than their 'best' deal. I did get called crazy and one woman walked away from me after one offer, but it's all well and good. I was more so just getting a feel for prices and what I could get away with. Anyways, back to the chopsticks. Eventually, she suggested we meet in the middle to be fair. Since I had come this far, I decided I would do that. I bargained a few times, but only bought one thing. Like I said, I was just playing around with it and having some fun. I find it highly amusing. I also picked the best 2 duck stands I could find amongst the other boxes. But yeah, I payed 20 and with some encouragement even got her to throw in another chopstick stand.  The sale was pretty much done at that point so it was much easier to get her to throw it in. She told me those normally cost 10 yuan. (Remember, rmb, yuan, and quai is all the same.) I think I got a pretty good deal, much better than most foreigners. I think she sort of enjoyed my haggling as well. I told her I'd be back and that I would recommend people go to her. She liked that as well. Contacts, all about the contacts. These sales people talk to each other and observe your actions in other shops. I've written chopsticks so many times, I started to write chops instead of shops. Haha. This being said, when I walked into a shop next door and stated that I was only looking, the girl immediately told me she knew that because I went everywhere and said that. That doesn't mean she didn't try to sell me something. She wanted to sell me this cool fan. It was a good price. She told me that she would skip the bargaining price and show me the real price. 35. This very quickly dropped to 5 yuan. I didn't buy it, but again, I got her name and told her I'd be back. And I probably will.

I think I've given you a pretty good idea about going to the Silk Market. I had a lot of fun with the place. I like matching wits though and playing games like that. Very amusing. I'll be here for a year, and I'm sure I'll be back there for some more items several times. If you've ever seen those cool water type shoes that have toe slots so you can run on pavement and what not, I plan on buying a pair there. A woman started at 750, down to 480, and down to 200 when I walked away. I think I could get them at 100rmb with a little tact. That's less than $20.00 USD. They sell for over $100.00 in America. Now, they're probably fake, but they'll do the job nonetheless.

Anyways, tonight should be fun. Ditan park was a bust. Disappointing, but that's ok. Now I know how to get there when there's another cool event going on. Gotta look at the positive sides to every thing.  Until next time, be good. Hope these blog posts are interesting and that you're enjoying them. I'm enjoying writing about my experiences here and will continue to do so.

Oh, real quick. While eating dinner last night (Friday), I met this kid named Henry. His real name is Ren He. Very clever of him. He's my age, 24. You know when people are put in front of you and you were meant to meet. This was one of those times. I was real happy to meet him. He was Chinese, but spoke English very well. I definitely plan on getting together with him. It's not about what you know, it's about who you know. Believe it or not, there are many Chinese that haven't seen the Great Wall. He's one of them. We discussed perhaps going out there some time. Sounds good to me. He told me the Chinese have a saying that's loosely translated as, 'You're not a man, until you've visited the Great Wall." Great to meet you Ren He. 


-Jeff (Haggling Pro. Just kidding, but I'm decent. I'll get even better when I can speak more mandarin.)

Enjoying Some Free Time

I'm not sure if I mentioned this or not, but you will get stared at when in China. I actually don't mind the stares; makes me feel like a celebrity. Besides that, most of the time the stares are coming from elderly people. It's understood. The funny part about that is the fact that I admittedly stare at foreigners when I see them. You're seeing hundreds and thousands of Asians a day so when you see someone foreign, they stand out like a sore thumb. I can't help it. You look for a familiar face or just wonder what the hell they're doing out here. They're probably thinking the same thing about you.

Everyday, I make an appearance at the office once or twice. It's real close to my hotel, and I just like to stop in and say hi to some of the assistants. Tool around a bit. It's good to get to know them and make yourself known as long as its not in a negative manner. I figure when push comes to shove, they'll know me and be able to help me out since I've been forming a friendly relationship with a lot of them. Besides, I like to do some ball busting with them and they're funny. They seem to enjoy my silly American ways.

But the zoo. Let's talk about the zoo as promised. What a piece of s*#t. Seriously. This is why I don't go to zoos. My roommate and I had discussed going to the zoo the day before. We found out it was pretty cheap, about 20 yuan, and decided to go. The day of, he ended up having a demo to do so after some debate I decided to venture there by myself. I figured if I wanted to take pictures and what not, I could go my own way without any hassle by myself. Once I arrived, I had to walk through an underpass I guess to get to the zoo. This underpass was a little depressing. Upon walking in, I saw a woman standing next to a sack full of puppies. There were about 6 in there, all very cute. What puppy isn't cute? I took a few photos of them that I'll put up on facebook when I have the time. Poor dogs. Hopefully they find good homes. There were also 2 guys singing and playing some music. It was actually decent. I threw him a single yuan. Why not? One yuan is nothing, and I knew he would appreciate anything I gave him. He did.

On to the zoo. Luckily, I took the right subway exit and found myself in front of one of the zoo entrances. There's 4 gates, I believe. After staring at the signs for a little while, trying to figure out how much it was, it looked like it would cost me 10rmb. I was expecting 20, so it seemed good to me. Again, figure about 6.5rmb/$1.00. I ended up paying 15, but it came with some kind of ticket for something else within the zoo. Figured I would maybe find out sooner or later.

The zoo started off ok. I found myself at a pond that contained fowl, ducks, and other birds. I got some decent shots of them with my camera. Those pictures will be up next month on flickr since I maxed out for this month. I'll probably get some on facebook in time. I know, I've mentioned this like three times, but I didn't want anyone to feel left out about the pictures. There will be NO crying on this blog. Haha. Alright, I'm done. Any who. I saw a sign pointing towards amphibians and reptiles. I love reptiles so I decided to check this place out next. There were some cool creatures, but the glass was really dirty on all the tanks and there didn't seem to be anything real special. This was at least how it was presented. Remember, this is a sad excuse even for a zoo. Spent a little bit of time there checking things out, but I realized that this zoo could take me a while with all the walking around I'd be doing. I'm not gonna go on about the zoo too much though, so I'll sum it up. Seeing a hippo close up is nuts. I mean I knew they were big, but you really don't know how big they are until you're up close and personal. They're like small submarines. His/her home/environment was terrible. Way too small. Again, seeing a rhino and an elephant up close was awesome. They're just such magnificent creatures, it's a shame they're stuck in that garbage zoo. Again, their environments, if you can call them that, were very small. It's almost enough to bring you to tears seeing such awesome creatures like that in such small cages. I'm very tempted to sneak in at night and set all those animals free. Where would they go you ask? I don't know, and I don't care. Go wreck some cars or something. Run over some people and free up some space in this city. You might think I'm sounding a bit sadistic, but don't forget I'm freeing animals. So it's ok. And back to the zoo. I saw a couple different types of monkeys, some really neat birds, lions and tigers and bears, OH MY. But seriously. I saw them. All of those. It just happened to come out like that when I was typing. What can I say, my fingers have a mind of their own. If you slice open the ends of my fingers, you will find little brains in each one. Haha, I'm a little bored and taking this too far.

There were plenty of cool animals to be seen at the zoo, but there was little to no upkeep done to maintain the zoo. The animals and their cages were filthy. It was a sad sight, indeed. I came across the panda part of the zoo when I was trying to get back to the entrance I came in through. This requires an extra ticket, so I decided to give mine a shot. Bam, got in. Seeing the panda bears was one of the saddest sights I've ever seen. They are amazing to see in person. Even the pandas were dirty and their zoo homes were a disgrace. No life for a panda. My only consolation in seeing them was that the one panda turned and looked directly at me when I was taking a picture of it. This is actually hard to even talk about now, so I'll stop there. I walked around the zoo once there simply because I paid to be there. It was hardly enjoyable. Funny story, though. I saw this guy eating something that looked pretty good out of an orange looking wrapper. When I found myself in one of the zoo's little food courts, I saw something in a similar wrapper. The size was somewhat similar as well, so I figured this has got to be it. It was only 4 yuan, just what I was looking to pay. I didn't inspect it too much prior to opening it. Discovered it was a loaf of bread. GREAT. Just what I wanted, a fricken loaf of bread. So I walked around eating a loaf of bread. It made me feel a little better when I saw other people eating it here and there.

Funny story number two. It is such a small world. When I was walking near the Oryx, I saw two women that looked familiar. I'm very good with faces. The one woman saw me looking on and said, "It's a beautiful world, yeah?" (In her Italian accent, I think) Now I had to ask. I asked her if she had flown out of Russia. She told me she had on Aeroflot Airlines.. I knew I recognized them. We all briefly laughed at realizing the coincidence. I doubt they recognized me, but it didn't matter. How strange. There are approximately 11 million people in Beijing, and there are plenty of different things to do. Somehow, I ended up at the zoo and saw these two people there on the same day I was there. Your chances of running into someone at the zoo alone is slim enough. Weird.

Lantern Festival. At first, I was excited to see this. By night time, I was pretty tired and had lost interest. While on the bejinger website though, I saw a picture of tons of lanterns being let go into the sky. This enticed me to get up and try to find some. I ended up at Tian'anmen Square. The subways were packed, the streets were crowded. Fireworks were being lit all over the city, but there was very few here. I understand this is an important place, but there was nothing here. It was cool to see the square and some of the buildings at night, like the outside of Forbidden City, but overall I was pretty disappointed. I should have listened to one of the assistants and gone to Ditan park. It was more of a hassle than anything going to the square. I've got some pictures of it you'll be able to see in due time. I found out that Ditan Park should have more lanterns for a few days. I'm grateful for this because it's very traditional and looks really cool. As I understand it, people make a wish or something like that and let their lantern go off into the night sky. Hopefully, I'll get to see this. It's a big celebration, so I should be alright. As for fireworks, I could have seen better ones outside my hotel. It seems like people invest their life savings into the stuff and buy enough to last them until midnight. Firecrackers and fireworks go off for hours. Crazy. They're a bunch of pyros. All of 'em.

That's it for now, enjoyed just walking around today which I'll talk about in the next post. Ta ta for now.

Out and About

So seeing how I have the week off before I start work, I've been going out and doing some touristy type things. I mean, it's gotta be done at some point. The beautiful thing about being here for a year; I'll get to see the stuff most tourists don't get to see as well.

On Tuesday night, 3 of us decided to go out to Sun Li Tun to check out some bars or something along those lines. It was easy enough to take the subway and get in the general vicinity of the place, but finding it was slightly more difficult. It wasn't too bad, typical stuff really. Ya know, say hi to a few Asians here and there, point at a map or attempt to say Sun Li Tun and hope they point you in the general direction. We ended up finding it without too much searching. We just kind of walked around until we found the place. Sun Li Tun (pronounced more like san-lee-twor) is kind of a big night life scene for Westerners and college kids. There wasn't much going on seeing how it was Tuesday night, but still fun to go out and get a drink. We passed a bunch of lady clubs, and people will  offer you deals and try their best to get you to go in. I used a 'no' gesture and said, "Xia xia" (pronouced sheea sheea, but dont' drag it out too much). It means thank you. As I walked away, he responded "You can't speak Chinese". Haha, this made my night. I wish I had said back to him that he couldn't speak English, but I was still half laughing about his comment. Amusing to say the least.

Anyways, we were sort of looking for this bar called Bar Blue, walked down an alley, payed for this awesome little sandwich type thing, and bam; there was Bar Blue right behind us. We got the sandwich from this little street vendor. It consisted of 2 pieces of dough rolled out like pancakes with oil on them. The vendor then proceeded to open it up a little bit with chopsticks and crack an egg in/on it. These get cooked and then lettuce, bits of pork, relish type stuff, and sauce all get put in between the 2 pieces. Delicious and cheap.

Bar Blue is alright. It's kind of a cool place, but I don't dig the smoking inside. Seems that's the case with most places. The music mostly consists of older hits remixed with an upbeat tempo. It was also 40 yuan for 1 pint, but you get one free. So figure 20 yuan per beer. This is a little steep considering I can buy a large beer in a bottle for 2.5 yuan (if I return the bottle, other wise 3) from a place near my new apartment. I mean you are out at a bar, granted; but still, 10-15 yuan is more reasonable. Whatever, I was out. Most people don't come out though until around 10 PM - 12 AM. We were there at like 7:30 PM, so there was not a lot of people. Again, it was Tuesday also. Oh well, live and learn.

Wednesday was an awesome day. With time and nothing to do this week, I figured seize the day. I wanted to go and do a little sight seeing so this kid Johnny and I decided to make our way out to Houhai Lake. This place was really cool, even in the winter. If you'd like to see some photos of this, check out my flickr site. There's a link on my page. I'll probably put some up on facebook as well. But back to the lake. You'll find that most excursions, when new to Beijing, turn into little adventures just searching for places. It's all part of the experience. This place wasn't too hard to find, but as usual took a little time. We actually ended up finding it by asking the first white person we came across. When walking around, you may come across a white person every two or three hours so they'll stick out and may end up being as misguided as you are. See, you're not necessarily lost - just misguided. Walking towards the lake was cool enough on its own, though. It's just a different part of the city and it's nice to see some variation. We came across these two massive buildings that look like the architecture you think of when thinking of China. Apparently, they're about 700 years old. Pretty neat.

When we got to the lake, one guy on a rickshaw immediately tries to get us to pay for a ride around the place. Johnny was up for it, I wasn't. For one, I didn't feel like paying for it. Two, I don't mind walking. I've got legs. So he went, and I proceeded to walk around the entire lake on my own. The lake is pretty big and there are plenty of cool shops and restaurants around it. Again, lots of cool architecture. I enjoyed the time to myself, got some great pictures, and it was nice to be in one of the regions that encourages people to come to China. For the most part, a city looks like a city, so you've got to get out and see places like that. Johnny enjoyed his rickshaw ride, and I have to admit that the guy was pretty cool. Very friendly. I suppose you have to be when you're trying to sell rides, but nonetheless. I met up with Johnny in about 40 minutes, and we walked around a little more before making our way back to the subway. We even walked out on the lake for a little bit. It was frozen after all, and other people had done it. It's like the old saying goes, 'When in China'.... I'm fairly certain that's not actually a saying. Finding our way back to the subway proved a little difficult and again; we had to play the dumb American card, ask some people, point to the subway map, and smile. It works from time to time. The trick is to ask multiple people because I've been told (and I've witnessed this) that people will point you in a direction and appear very confident. This is done simply to save face and not look dumb. It's all well and good, but just be aware.

Unfortunately, I checked out the zoo today (Thursday). I don't like zoos, and I remember why. I don't know the last time I was at one, and it's going to be quite a while before I'm back in one. I can tell you a little more about that in the next post.

As for tonight, it's Lantern Festival. Should be pretty cool and I'm excited to see some neat things, whatever that consists of. I'll be sure to let you know afterward.

-Jeff