Internet Again

Apologies for the hiatus. The cafe where I steal my internet from has been having technical difficulties. After my first real weekend in Beijing I have much to tell, and not much time to write, so this will be part 1 of a 2 part miniseries.

For those of you wondering where our class went last weekend instead of the Great Wall, I will say now that the class went to a Chinese Opera, and I did not attend. I've heard mixed revues. Instead, I was playing soccer with some local Chinese students on our school's soccer field. I did not know this, but apparently soccer is a pretty big deal here, and they were all unfortunately very good. The experience was as fun as embarrassing. They had a nick name for me and, while I don't know what it meant, I don't think it was complimentary.

After 10 days in Beijing, I still have not completely adjusted to the time change. I wake up before my alarm every day and want to go to sleep around 9. It's really hard to adjust. Also the weather here is crazy and there were two days last week where it was completely dark by 4pm due to clouds which was unhelpful. I also don't have a lot of time at night to sleep so I have to sleep during the day after class which also throws off my body clock.

Talking to the locals is a really fun way to practice my Chinese and to test what I know, but many of them only want to talk to me to practice their English. It leads to an interesting dynamic, usually with them talking to me in English and me replying in Chinese. No one looks good, and no one understands anything. One Beijing local asked me for my email address, so that I could teach him English over the internet (I withheld my personal information). One thing that I'm noticing is that our teachers can understand us and can hold conversations with us but our Chinese is really difficult for locals to understand. It makes me appreciate my teachers all the more.

Anyway this weekend I went out Friday and Saturday night to two completely different parts of Beijing. On Friday I went to a giant rave in an old factory (converted to an art studio). The whole thing was pretty poorly put together and there was fog from the fog machines everywhere but it was a lot of fun. There were a lot of my Yale classmates there, both from my program and from other programs in Beijing. Also a ton of of locals.

On Saturday I returned to Sanlitur (I had been there the week before), and I went to a club called Vic's. Lots of my friends who have been to Beijing recommended this place to me and it was absolutely awesome. They play a lot of American music and pack a ton of people into a not so big space. There was a live performance of the Chinese hip hop type that was definitely something new.

I also took the Beijing subway for the first time. It is new and clean and air conditioned and has LCD TVs in all the cars. It really puts New York's subway system to shame. It's so new that even Beijing locals need to look at the maps on the cars in order to get around.

The big news of the weekend is a bit of a coming of age story. I bought a bike. It doesn't sound like much, but it's a big deal in Beijing. Everyone has a bike, and if you don't have one, you can't go far. I had to walk long and far to find my sweet ride. I ended up at a small shack in an alleyway, and paid 180 kuai (maybe $25). I had to negotiate the price down from the original 240 kuai. The fact that when they first put the bike together and I rode it out of the store it fell apart helped out. Even my Chinese teachers are impressed that I found a bike for so cheap. Like all bikes in Beijing, it has a "seat" on the back (a flat weave of wires) for a lucky passenger. It also has only 1 gear and minimally effective brakes. It's my pride and joy. Going to the market has never been faster.

Anyway that's it for part 1. The menu for part 2 includes meeting my host family and a very special meal they prepared for me. Stay tuned.

MS