The quest to find cross-stitching patterns for my auntie.
3:15 Left the dorm and go to the bus stop to take the bus to 公主分.
3:50 Still on the 74 bus. Stayed in the same spot because of traffic for 30 minutes. I counted.
4:00 Finally arrived. Walked down the steps to the subway, and bought a delicious, juicy weiner on a stick on the way.
4:10 Boarded the 1 train to 国贸. It was pretty empty at first, but then it got fuller. I noticed that a lot of the youth don't give up their seats to the elderly even though they are standing there waiting for a seat. Culture change? This "Pretty Women" show started playing on the TVs inside the sub. It was disturbing. Then, it got really crowded, so everyone started pushing. Chinese people smell.
4:40 Arrived. Took the 28 train to the bus stop nearest where the shop, 本色十字绣, was supposedly at. As I passed by a shop that looked similar to it, I noticed that it was empty, closed down, or being remodeled. Uh oh.
5:05 To make sure, I got off the bus and walked back to the shop. It closed down. I took 2 hours to get to that damn place and it closed down. But, I wouldn't have known. There was no number I could have called to make sure. As a result, I bought a delicious 1元 包from a random hole-in-the-wall. Nom.
5:19 Boarded a train to 三里屯, because I had nothing else to do until later. While I was walking to the station, I noticed a distinct difference in the modern versus traditional (sort of) Beijing. The left side was all new, modern style: skyscrapers, glass, big facades with bright LCD screends. THe right side was red brick, older (although not totally old) and smaller apartments with the air conditioning units outside. A dormmate and I once compared Beijing to New York: Chaoyang district is Manhattan (UES?), Haidian is like Brooklyn, and Dongcheng is like lower Manhattan. If such a comparison is apt.
5:40 Next, I looked for this French bakery called Epicerie. It was supposed to be on 三里屯路, but I never found it. Getting frustrated, I decided to just blow some cash on food at the Village shopping center, because that was 2 failures in one late afternoon. I ended up getting a Wondermilk frozen yogurt (quite yummy), and searched around for a place I could get real food.
6:21 After walking around almost the entire southern perimeter, I settled on getting MangoBox, but then saw a Macanese restaurant, Macau Taste, next to it. So I got a pork sandwich and three Portuguese egg tarts to go. Nom. I realized that it was getting late, and I was going dancing at 8, so I started back for the subway back to school.
6:30 On the subway back, I saw a man wearing a gray trench coat with skinny flat fronts. It looked impossibly chic (fashionable, as a male word). I started drowsing. At one point I feel asleep so that bag holding the egg tarts slipped out of my one, yielding finger. People looked at me. I stared back, willing into their minds, "You've never fallen asleep on the subway standing up?"
7:20 Off the train, waiting for the bus from the subway to campus. It's a journey.
7:28 Caught the 658 bus to campus
7:38 Got off the bus
7:40 Got back to campus. 20 minutes to change.
7:58 Changed everything in less than 20.
8:00 Paul was already waiting in the lobby for me. The Salsa Story.
2:30 Got back to the dorm, and passed by the 丳儿 couple. Despite the temptation to buy some delicious skewers of meat, I went back to my room and took a shower. THen pondered getting some.
3:00 At Frank's nudging, I went back down to get some 丳儿 only to discover they were packing up and leaving. Damn. Oh well. The Big Bang Theory is awesome.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Visiting Teacher
刘老师：请进，请进！
大卫：老师，您的家真干净啊！
刘老师：是吗？来，坐这儿吧。
大卫：这是给您的礼物。
刘老师：哎呀！你们太客气了。
大卫：这是我们的一点儿心意，请收下。
刘老师：谢谢你们。你们喝什么？茶还是果汁儿？
大卫：随便，什么都行。
玛丽：我喝茶。
刘老师：路上顺利吗？
玛丽：不太顺利，车上有点儿挤。
刘老师：你们一般坐公共汽车还是打车？
大卫：我喜欢坐公共汽车，空调大巴很舒服。
玛丽：我喜欢坐地铁。
。。。。。。。。。。
刘老师：你们饿不饿？中午在家吃饺子，怎么样？
大卫：太好了，我最喜欢吃的就是饺子。
刘老师：你们会包吗？
玛丽：不太会，我们试试吧。
The translation in the back of the book...
Professor Liu: Please, come in.
David: Professor, your home sure is clean.
PL: Is that so? Thank you. Come and sit down here.
David: This is a present for you.
PL: wow, thank you. You guys are too kind.
David: This is just a token of our regard. Please accept it.
PL: Thank you. What would you (guys) like to drink, tea or fruit juice?
David: It doesn't matter to me, anything's fine.
Mary: I'll drink tea.
PL: Was it a smooth trip?
Mary: Not too smooth. It was a bit crowded on the bus.
PL: Do you guys prefer taking the bus or hailing a cab?
David: I like taking the public bus. The air-conditioned buses are very comfortable.
Mary: I like taking the subway.
PL: Are you hungary? What do you think about (us) eating dumplings for lunch?
David: It's great. My favorite food just happens to be dumplings!
PL: Do you (guys) know how to make dumplings?
Mary: Not so good. Let's have a try.
Uhhhhh...
For anyone who reads this blog who is Chinese, I'm 99% sure this translation is a piece of shit. "Thanks, you guys are awesome?" Guys? Hungary? Let's have a try? This book was written by fobs, one, and it seems to be geared toward Americanos, or just plain ol' 外国人, two. The female characters are submissive and the men have massive yellow fever. I know it's possible for a white boy's favorite food to be dumplings but it feels too forced. Like it's trying to promote Chinese culture so they coincidentally, or strategically, made the American's (the character David is an American) favorite food dumplings. I don't know anyone in the world whose favorite food is dumplings.
大卫：老师，您的家真干净啊！
刘老师：是吗？来，坐这儿吧。
大卫：这是给您的礼物。
刘老师：哎呀！你们太客气了。
大卫：这是我们的一点儿心意，请收下。
刘老师：谢谢你们。你们喝什么？茶还是果汁儿？
大卫：随便，什么都行。
玛丽：我喝茶。
刘老师：路上顺利吗？
玛丽：不太顺利，车上有点儿挤。
刘老师：你们一般坐公共汽车还是打车？
大卫：我喜欢坐公共汽车，空调大巴很舒服。
玛丽：我喜欢坐地铁。
。。。。。。。。。。
刘老师：你们饿不饿？中午在家吃饺子，怎么样？
大卫：太好了，我最喜欢吃的就是饺子。
刘老师：你们会包吗？
玛丽：不太会，我们试试吧。
The translation in the back of the book...
Professor Liu: Please, come in.
David: Professor, your home sure is clean.
PL: Is that so? Thank you. Come and sit down here.
David: This is a present for you.
PL: wow, thank you. You guys are too kind.
David: This is just a token of our regard. Please accept it.
PL: Thank you. What would you (guys) like to drink, tea or fruit juice?
David: It doesn't matter to me, anything's fine.
Mary: I'll drink tea.
PL: Was it a smooth trip?
Mary: Not too smooth. It was a bit crowded on the bus.
PL: Do you guys prefer taking the bus or hailing a cab?
David: I like taking the public bus. The air-conditioned buses are very comfortable.
Mary: I like taking the subway.
PL: Are you hungary? What do you think about (us) eating dumplings for lunch?
David: It's great. My favorite food just happens to be dumplings!
PL: Do you (guys) know how to make dumplings?
Mary: Not so good. Let's have a try.
Uhhhhh...
For anyone who reads this blog who is Chinese, I'm 99% sure this translation is a piece of shit. "Thanks, you guys are awesome?" Guys? Hungary? Let's have a try? This book was written by fobs, one, and it seems to be geared toward Americanos, or just plain ol' 外国人, two. The female characters are submissive and the men have massive yellow fever. I know it's possible for a white boy's favorite food to be dumplings but it feels too forced. Like it's trying to promote Chinese culture so they coincidentally, or strategically, made the American's (the character David is an American) favorite food dumplings. I don't know anyone in the world whose favorite food is dumplings.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
MeiMei
I saw the cute receptionist (known as MeiMei or XingXing but who knows what her real name is... not allowed to tell us, maybe) off work today, in normal clothing. What an adorable sight she was; also, she dressed in black and gray. Personal plus to me. Anyway, later that night she had the night shift, so I was going out I noticed that she was not wearing her bun net. All the female receptionists with hair that can be put in a bun must wear that blue bun net with the velvety bow on top. I informed her of this, "You're not wearing your *gesture gesture*?" A resounding no. I asked her wouldn't her boss get mad? "My boss already told me off." "He already went home, didn't he." "Yep." What a badass.
Friday, October 1, 2010
One Month in Beijing
I had a test Thursday, so I studied Wednesday to prepare for it. As I was sleeping, however, a mosquito found its way into the room and decided to try and penetrate me. Which was not cool. Because I ended up only getting four hours of sleep, and ended up taking a blanket to the lobby to sleep on the dirty sofas, then called my roomie to open the door cuz I couldn't find my key when I was trying to leave.
The actual tests went well. I'm 90% sure I got at least 90%. My speaking teacher gave me a Snickers bar for my birthday because I told her I was going back to America for my birthday. She is adorable.
When I got back, new roommates moved again. As a list of the roommates Caroline and I have had…
1. Indonesians
2. Kazakhs
3. German/Thais
4. Italians.
Yes, my new roommates were Italian, and why do I say "were?"
Because, I finally moved rooms! About an hour and a half after arriving, I got a call from the front desk saying room had opened up for 2-person room. Upon further inquiry, however, I realized it was not for two people but rather, a 2-person room with one occupant. I had to choose. I decided to check out the digs first. New roomie is Italian, tiny, and hates smoking. Bingo. New roommates were smokers… I smelled it on them. So, I packed up my stuff, said a tearful goodbye to Caroline, put my name on the list again in case space opened up for an actual 2-person room so we could live together (so we could practice our Canto together), and moved in 3 floors down to a room right next to the elevator and kitchen. Too bad the floor is full of white people who only hang out with white people.
Then, I went out with some classmates to "celebrate," and found myself back in my room yet again. It's kind of nice, being normal and quiet. At the same time, I feel so scared that I will not be able to handle it again like I did before. Then again, that made me seek out more people. I should start doing my "talk to one new person a day" goal again.
The actual tests went well. I'm 90% sure I got at least 90%. My speaking teacher gave me a Snickers bar for my birthday because I told her I was going back to America for my birthday. She is adorable.
When I got back, new roommates moved again. As a list of the roommates Caroline and I have had…
1. Indonesians
2. Kazakhs
3. German/Thais
4. Italians.
Yes, my new roommates were Italian, and why do I say "were?"
Because, I finally moved rooms! About an hour and a half after arriving, I got a call from the front desk saying room had opened up for 2-person room. Upon further inquiry, however, I realized it was not for two people but rather, a 2-person room with one occupant. I had to choose. I decided to check out the digs first. New roomie is Italian, tiny, and hates smoking. Bingo. New roommates were smokers… I smelled it on them. So, I packed up my stuff, said a tearful goodbye to Caroline, put my name on the list again in case space opened up for an actual 2-person room so we could live together (so we could practice our Canto together), and moved in 3 floors down to a room right next to the elevator and kitchen. Too bad the floor is full of white people who only hang out with white people.
Then, I went out with some classmates to "celebrate," and found myself back in my room yet again. It's kind of nice, being normal and quiet. At the same time, I feel so scared that I will not be able to handle it again like I did before. Then again, that made me seek out more people. I should start doing my "talk to one new person a day" goal again.
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