Needless to say

Weddings galore

2009-05-25T17:12:00.001-07:00

Scott and I went to another wedding this past weekend, and Scott was once again the MC for the reception. It was a relatively big party, and it was a big responsibility for him, so he was glad when it was over.

Here are some pictures from the ceremony that afternoon:

Jan, the groom, and the groomsmen watching Janice, the bride, come down the aisle.

The kiss.
Bubbles instead of confetti.
After the ceremony Scott and I went for lunch with Kelvin and Connie and Chris. Then we went with Chris to hang out at a coffee shop before heading up to Grouse Mountain (where the evening reception was to take place). Lindsey joined us for a little while too. He shared the happy news that he and his wife Aileen are expecting their first child this winter. And Scott snapped a picture of the moment.
Taking the Skyride up to the peak of Grouse mountain.
The view from Lupins, the reception location.
Chris checking out the view. Scott was totally occupied getting things organized for the MC job, and we arrived an hour early, so Chris and I sorta stood around looking perhaps a little out of place as people ran around doing their various set-up duties.

The cake and head table:
They were posing for the professional photographer and I snuck along to take some shots too.
With the groom's parents.
And with more of the groom's family.
I didn't take any other pictures throughout the evening, but I got one last shot as we were about to leave and ran into the exhausted bride and groom on the way out.

Happenings

2009-05-20T23:06:00.000-07:00

I've been madly busy with wedding planning (with Scott helping, of course). I am making jewelry for the bridesmaids to wear and, if they like what I make (I hope they will!), to keep and use again. Here's a couple designs I am playing with.

Went to Steve and Kanako's wedding ceremony at Hycroft House. Although it was overcast, it was quite warm and perfect lighting for photos. Here they are saying their wedding vows:
And just after being pronounced husband and wife:

Justin, Steve, Kanako and Darryl. (Justin and Darryl were the groomsman and best man, respectively).
Scott (the MC for the reception later on) with Justin and Darryl. Scott has known all three of these guys since elementary school. I only met them all in high school and it was crazy to think that we're getting to the marrying stage of life...can't imagine how weird it must be for them!
Stop slouching Marie!

Kanako's mother and grandmother in their lovely kimonos.
The groom and groomsmen posing for the official photographer. Rubbing the lion head.
I had to go to a previously arranged bachelorette party in Whistler that evening, so I couldn't attend the reception. Scott took a few pictures though. It was at the Blue Water Cafe and it looked really wonderful.

Here's Oscar, Steve and Kanako's french bulldog.
And a couple pictures from my night in Whistler with Denise, Theresa and Loren.

Beauty

2009-04-22T13:21:00.001-07:00

Joy

2009-04-22T13:19:00.000-07:00

Last Day in Shanghai and Third Time to the Great Wall

2009-03-29T06:19:00.000-07:00

I didn't do much on my last day in Shanghai. I checked out of the hotel and then went to Gary's dorm. While he was in class I walked around my old campus and took lots of pictures. I liked this sign that was along the Suzhou Creek, where there is a lot of construction going on. It says, "The future security and safety of our Mother River, helps us overcome the temporary difficulties together."

Here's the old fruit stand I used to go, but it has expanded and seems to be doing much better than it was five years ago. Check out the delicious, pre-peeled pineapples. The small ones cost about 5 RMB (less than a dollar Canadian) each.
Here is the ECNU motto, and below is the word, "EXPO" since Shanghai will be hosting the 2010 Expo.
The view out the back gate of the university has remained largely unchanged, complete with the people selling IP phone cards and the people selling street food.
One back gate building was knocked down the week I was there. There used to be an internet cafe and some small food stalls in that building...all the internet cafes I used to go to are gone. I guess so many more people have laptops now that they aren't doing as well?
Speaking of Expo, here is the mascot for the Shanghai Expo. It is named Haibao (meaning treasure of Shanghai I think) and is apparently meant to look like the Chinese character for person: 人...well, that character but with a curly lock of hair. Hrm. I don't really like this mascot very much.
Here's the totally run-down, but lovely yellow old observatory on campus. I don't think it has been in use for a long, long time.
And finally, a man fishing in the river/creek that runs through campus.
Since I've been back in Beijing I've felt a little aimless. I'm not very motivated to go to class, since there isn't much point, but I also am not all that motivated to go out exploring on my own. It's still a little chilly here too, which makes me even lazier. Today it even snowed a tiny bit!!

On Saturday I went on a school trip to the Great Wall again. This time it was to Badaling, one of the most touristy sites you can go to. The Jinshanling site last semester was WAY better than this trip, but I was still more than happy to be able to go to the Great Wall again.

Here's my old roommate Ruyun with Daxian (my classmate from last semester) and their friend. Some western tourists asked Daxian to take a picture with them because they found his hat so funny.
The wall itself was incredibly packed with tourists...so our progress was a bit slow. Thus, we amused ourselves with lots of photo posing.

I thought these guys were kind of funny and cute in their paper sun hats. The guy facing me is waving the Chinese flag and posing for a picture.
When they saw me one of them asked for a picture together. Unfortunately he is blinking in the shot taken with my camera. He gave me a paper hat....which made me look like a super dork...especially in that pose I'm in. Remind me to dump that jacket when I get back home. Haha.
Zoe was teaching us model poses...I really am bad at them. Here she is with a Korean classmate.
And with me. Zoe looks lovely...I look odd.
We have seen lots and lots of Chinese women using this exact post for their photos, so I had to try it out. I kind of like it...guess that's why I see people doing it all the time!
Zoe sliding down the railing:
The view. You can see the gigantic Olympics sign and slogan on the right. And you can also see how full of people the place was.
More cheesy posing.

One more shot with a random Chinese person who asked me to pose with her.
Saw some very old graffiti. I wonder where the person who carved this is now?
The whole group:
And finally, my attempt at a pose Zoe's Korean classmate uses a lot. Lalala.

Last Couple Days in Shanghai

2009-03-22T04:11:00.001-07:00

After getting back very very late from Nanjing and checking into my hotel room on Friday night (I decided to stay there for the last three nights to make my life easier...and Gretty's boyfriend just came back to town so I didn't want to be in the way), I confirmed with Li Chao that I would be visiting him the next day.

He lives and works in Jiading town, north of Shanghai. He teaches Chinese to Han and Xinjiang people (at different levels, obviously). So on Saturday, after resting a bit, I made my way to Jiading. I waited a little while at the bus depot because Li Chao was running a bit late. It actually made for a few more interesting encounters.

I was standing there reading my book when a guy, maybe in his forties, came up to look at what I was reading. He was from Jiangsu province and most likely a migrant worker. We chatted a minute about it being an English book and the fact that he couldn't read it. I said I also can't really read Chinese. That was about it for our conversation.

About 5 minutes later a youngish guy came up to me and started speaking to me in somewhat broken English. He showed me a pen he wanted to sell me. He said the pen was also a USB and also a camera. I listened for a bit and then said in Chinese, "Well it looks nice, but I don't want it." I guess he hadn't considered that I might be able to speak a bit of Chinese so he was really shocked. I told him his English wasn't bad and said thanks, but I'm not interested. He seemed embarrassed and then said sorry and went on his way.

I didn't realize it, but the older guy I had first spoken to was standing behind us and listening to the whole exchange. He said it was good I hadn't taken the pen from the guy because he was a con artist.

Soon after that Li Chao came to meet me. We went to wait for a bus to his school campus. While waiting, a beggar came up and wanted us to give him money...I never really know what to do in that situation. Some people are so persistent and pushy and it makes me uncomfortable, but I also recognize that many of them are truly needy. So it's often very awkward. This man wouldn't leave us be, so eventually we had to get up and move away.

Jiading town looked very nice. There is an old town area which I would love to visit sometime in the future (if Scott and I can save up some money for plane tickets...or if maybe there's a conference in Shanghai at some point :)). We got off at the school where Li Chao teaches. Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries right as I arrived, so I don't have any pictures. Li Chao took some of the day, but I don't have copies yet.

We hung out and chatted and snacked. I was very happy to finally see pictures of his lovely wife Grace, who is working in Australia right now. I also got a brief opportunity to speak with her on the phone, as she called right when we were looking at pictures of her. Hopefully they can both come visit Scott and me in Canada at some point.

After chatting for a while, it was already getting a bit late. We headed out to get some food, but first we stopped by one of Li Chao's classes of Xinjiang students. I had such a fantastic time listening to the students first sing a song and then, as they got over their shyness (and I got over some of mine), they made a circle around me and began asking me questions to practice their English. They're all around 15 or 16 years old, and they were all so young and beautiful and so enthusiastic. We chatted and laughed together for quite a while, but eventually we had to leave if I wanted to be able to catch the last bus home. It was such a great experience and I felt so fortunate to meet so many wonderful kids! Once I get pictures from Li Chao I will post them on here.

After that we went for dinner together (at a 烤鱼 place where they seemed rather crabby that we didn't order a huge amount) and then I hopped on the last bus home. It was a bit of a long trip as I got caught in a rainstorm (including thunder and lightening, making me feel like I was going to be electrocuted haha) and by the time I got back to Gary's dorm (where I had left some valuables like my laptop) it was like I had showered with my clothing on. I was like a drowned rat or a 落汤鸡. I ended up taking a taxi from Gary's dorm back to the hotel and I got ripped off by the boorish, obnoxious cab driver who first pretended he didn't know which way to go, running up the meter, and who then gave me the wrong change. In the end he only stole about 3 bucks Canadian, but he didn't even drop me off at the hotel, so I had to walk even further in the rain. I was seething by the end of the night and wishing him very bad things. It was a relief to get back to the hotel and to get into some dry clothing.

The next morning, Sunday (the day I am writing all of these new blog entries), was my last full day in Shanghai. I was totally exhausted and all my clothing was still wet. I only brought one pair of jeans and one jacket since I have to carry all my luggage myself and didn't want to be overburdened. So I pulled on my wet pants, jacket and running shoes (Brrrr!!!!) and I headed out to meet Gary for lunch.

After eating, his mom joined us and we all went to check out the Bund. Here they are on the subway as we head to Nanjing Dong Lu.

A huge amount of the Bund is under construction in preparation for the 2010 Expo. The Peace Hotel is completely hidden under scaffolding and that green stuff they wrap buildings in here. At least two other buildings were also covered.
The air was rather hazy today, so you can barely see the buildings in Pudong behind Gary's Mom and me. I was cold and damp and it was cold outside.....brrr.
It was very crowded with tour groups and other tourists. One great thing that has changed since the last time I was here is that they have removed the overpasses that used to be at either end of the Bund. This restores its appearance to be more like what it used to be. It will eventually become a pedestrian-only zone, which will be fabulous thing. Here are the crowds on either side of us:

Gary and his mom throwing some fen coins at turtles below for good luck.
I walked a little more with the two of them and then they went to meet with their relatives and I went to head back home. As I walked back to the subway I came across this old church. I have no idea if it's still in use. I couldn't go in to look and it seemed that it was partially under construction.
I walked up Nanjing Road a little bit and found that there are a lot of new buildings. I think one of the buildings that Scott's dad wanted us to look for last time (was it Sincere building or something like that?) is now gone and has been replaced by a brand new building. The road was utterly packed and I was exhausted, so I just went straight home. I picked up some food on the way and have just been resting since then. I've had such a wonderful time here in Shanghai, but I am looking forward to my own room in Beijing and to being a bit more lazy again. My train doesn't leave until the evening tomorrow, so I'll probably head to the dorm and hopefully go for a walk with Gary and a meal before I head out.

Nanjing Trip

2009-03-22T03:50:00.001-07:00

I have been in contact with a Chinese director I very much admire and when I found out the he would have time to meet with me, I was excited and nervous. He lives in Nanjing, so Gary very kindly agreed to come with me on a trip to that city.

Here we are on the train in the morning:
And everyone boarding the train:
It took us a while to find our way from the Nanjing train station to our hotel (thanks in no small part to the city map which seemed to tell us that there are two subway lines in the city, when in fact there is only one). Thanks to a group of very friendly guys we consulted, we found out which public bus would get us there and we then relied on that route the entire time we were there.

We first went to a small restaurant for lunch:
We ordered a meal of 皮肚肉丝面 which was very delicious:
Then we walked towards a bus stop to get to our next destination. On the way we saw this cute, funny baby sitting on its mom's shoulders. The baby is wearing split pants, which a lot of kids here wear, so that's why its bum is bare.
We first went to the Nanjing Massacre Memorial. It was an interesting and at times sad experience. Here's a note of paper cranes left by students from a Shanghai middle school. The first line says, "The lessons from the past can be a guide for the future."
Here is an altar where people can burn incense in memory of those of were killed.
There is a wall with a list of name of people who were killed:
On the day we went, there were huge numbers of tour groups and also lots of students on class trips. Here's a picture of the huge line-up to get into the museum portion of the memorial.
At the end of the museum section there was a gift shop. It was selling books and other information, but it was also selling DVDs of TV series...I was a bit offended by the covers on the TV series, as they were pictures of Japanese soldiers with their chests exposed towering over Chinese women in their underwear. Given that the museum is intended to honor and foster respect for the victims of the massacre, I was really disturbed to see such casual eroticization of an incredibly devastating and traumatic event.

I found it very interesting to visit the memorial, but the gift shop and a few other things bothered me and I hope that at some point they'll be changed and improved.

After the memorial it was already late in the afternoon, so we just spent the rest of the time walking around the city (as well as making a trip back up to the train station to buy a return ticket to Shanghai...we had forgotten to do so immediately upon our arrival).

Here's a couple of sweet doggies:
Some pictures from Nanjing's old town:
The dragons are obviously not old, they are new decorations:

I liked these guys sitting around waiting for customers:
On our way back to the hotel we spotted this kind of cute Chinglish sign:
The next morning we went to meet with the director. I was rather terrified. First we stopped by a lake to take a few more scenic pictures.

The meeting/interview was a bit awkward at first, given how nervous we both were, but in the end it went really well. I was so grateful to him for taking time out of his schedule to meet with us. He is a fascinating and accomplished person and I admire him very much. Here we are with him (you can see bits of his artwork in the background):

After the meeting we went to the Nanjing Museum where I took tons of photos, but I didn't always note the context of the image. The following two guys were on stone posts that apparently were used to tie animals to.

The outside of the museum:
They had lots of gorgeous lacquerware, but because we couldn't use a flash most of my pictures were too blurry.
They also had a jade burial suit, which was pretty cool to see. It is from the Han Dynasty (206BC-221AD). It was found in the city of Xuzhou in northern Jiangsu Province in 1970. I was pretty excited to see it:
The museum also had some clothing...mostly from the Qing dynasty, but a couple pieces of fabric from the Ming. Here's a child's top from the Qing dynasty.
I learned that I love Ming Dynasty porcelain...I much prefer the simple solid glazes to the more fancy designs of the Qing Dynasty.
Also, Tang Dynasty earthenware is really amazing and I love the mixture of Chinese and Indian/Middle Eastern influences.
Here's one of a foreigner (well, non-Han ethnicity) from the Tang Dynasty.

This one was of a musician:
Gary was excited to see this part of the exhibit. Here's the description:
And here's one part of it:
In one room there was a display of sculptures by Wu Weishan. They were all historically or culturally important figures. Here's Laozi:
And here's Confucius:
And here's a view of the room:
Gary and I took pictures of most of them with the idea of looking up who everyone is, since we definitely didn't recognize everyone.
After the museum we had to start heading back to the train station. On the way we saw this lovely old couple walking hand-in-hand:
Unfortunately the air was rather hazy in Nanjing, so this picture of Zijin Mountain (Purple Mountain) isn't too clear.
And here we are back at the train station:
Where we were definitely not qualified to sit in the soldiers, babies and mothers waiting room. What an unusual combo.

More Shanghai Days

2009-03-22T03:33:00.001-07:00

On Monday I went to wait for Gary to finish his classes at 12pm. Everyone at the school has the same morning schedule, which I really think is great because it makes it so much easier to meet people. Even as I just sat there waiting for Gary I met a few people...I haven't really had the same experience in Beijing.

The classroom and dorm buildings are all different from when I was there and are in a more remote part of the campus. Here's the classroom building:

It's right next to a sports field. You can see the old dorm building in the distance. It's the second-tallest one in the picture.
And here's the new dormitory. The rooms are a lot nicer than when I stayed here, but I didn't take any photos inside.
We first went to recharge Gary's phone card, which can sometimes be a confusing process what with all the numbers you have to call and enter.
I went with him and his mom to a fabric market where she was having a bunch of different things tailored. Then Gary and I went off for a walk through the old town of Shanghai.
I'm actually not sure what is being made in this picture. If anyone knows, feel free to tell me. It looked like some kind of dough.
Some rather creepy-looking kid's rides:
Some dried fruits and me in the window reflection.

A dog with an underbite. I am continually amazed at how many dogs in Beijing and Shanghai have funny little underbites like this guy.
After a relatively tiring day of walking we had pizza and tried to get some work done, without too much success.
The next day I met Gary again to go for a walk around the French Concession. First we stopped for lunch in a place called 'Metrotown,' just like the mall in Burnaby. We spotted this sign from the restaurant:
On the way we stopped at the train station to get tickets to Nanjing and my return ticket to Beijing. We both thought the little girl with the thermos and the cute skirt was adorable.
After the ticket-buying (which is often rather stressful in a busy train station), we went to Xintiandi, a very developed, upscale area. Lots of foreign brands and foreign people in this area of town.
The French Concession:

A little doggy, all dressed up for the day:
I thought his little outfit looked even funnier from the back.

An old Russian orthodox church. It was closed so we couldn't look inside, and I have no idea whether it is still in use or not.
A strange sculpture of a boy and a girl with the caption "Civilized." That is a real buzzword here and you see it all over the city: "Civilly cross the street." "Strive for a civilized society."
We went and had dinner at the ECNU back gate in a Sichuan restaurant. It was delicious.

The next day I went out on my own to get some shopping out of the way. I went to the French Concession again and stumbled across a beautiful old mansion which seems to be under construction or something. The men doing the construction are migrant workers who have come to Shanghai to work and save money.
I met these nice two women in a clothing store. I didn't buy the jacket, they just wanted me to wear some of their clothing in the picture together. They're both Shanghai people. Once I had picked out what i wanted i realized I was a bit short on cash, so I had to run to the bank. When I got back they had packaged everything up for me and invited me to rest and eat some sunflower seeds with them and chat. It was so sweet and fun.
On my way home I snapped a picture of the small back gate area of ECNU. I am on a bridge over Suzhou Creek. The right side is all old buildings and shops. ECNU is to the right of the old buildings. On the left are some new condominiums.

That was my last night at Gretty's because I planned to go to Nanjing with Gary for a night. She was so incredibly sweet to allow me to stay with her for several days. It was really nice to be able to get back in touch with so many old friends on this trip!
Next up: the trip to Nanjing!

I love Shanghai!

2009-03-15T05:12:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pics of the Beijing Train Station from when I was waiting to board the train to Shanghai:

Fancy chandeliers:

The trip to Shanghai was fine. I was only able to get the more expensive soft bed tickets. I got an upper bunk in a compartment with four beds in total. There is a door on the fancier, soft bed compartments (unlike the hard beds tickets I have always gotten in the past) and I'm not sure I like that. There was a friendly couple in the bunks below, but they also must have eaten something bad because they farted quite a lot and it took forever for the smell to dissipate what with the door being closed and all.

I never seem to sleep that well on trains (unlike my amazing compartment-mates who seemed to fall asleep the minute they laid down and barely move again for the 12 hour trip), but it was a nice enough trip as far as such things go.

I've been having a great time in Shanghai so far. I arrived early Saturday morning and went straight to ECNU where I met up with Gary. We had breakfast and then went for a walk before meeting up with his mom for some snacks. I then headed over to Gretty's place (which it turns out is extremely close to ECNU...but when gary and his mom walked with me there we got lost and I felt bad for making them walk so far, totally unnecessarily). It was really nice to see Gretty again. We had dinner together and then another friend of hers came by. We had originally intended to go out to listen to some music but ended up just hanging out and chatting. It was great.

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures that first day....I'm bad. But today (Sunday) I went out with Li Chao, another friend from my time at ECNU, and tried to remember to take a fair number.

I got up relatively early to get ready. Gretty was still asleep, so I left her a note and let myself out to go meet my friend. I first took a few pictures of the room I'm staying in. Here's the view from the bedroom window:
And here's the guest bed. It was super comfy and so nice to settle into last night...I was so tired after a long long day.
I took some pictures of the view from her apartment. The tall red tower in the distance is about where the ECNU campus main entrance is.

There's a small patch of old houses which seem to be partially demolished already.
Here's a view of Gretty's building. She's in the one furthest in the background.
My friend Li Chao and I met at the Zhongshan Gongyuan subway station and then walked over to ECNU campus. It's such a lovely campus, and everything is already so nice and green compared to Beijing.
The view towards what used to the foreign student dorm (where I used to live) but that has now been renovated into a hotel.
I think only Scott has seen what the old dorm lobby looked like, but just trust me when I say that it looks WAY better than it used to.

We asked a shopkeeper in a photocopy place to take a picture for us. At first he was hesitant because he wasn't sure how to use a digital camera, but then he agreed to help us out. We wanted to take a picture with some old, run-down houses in the background, but then a lady walking by said, "Why are you taking a picture with such ugly stuff? Take a picture here instead!" It was a bit awkward, so we agreed to change the background (we'd already gotten some with the other background on Li Chao's camera). The man taking the picture never counted down and just kept taking the same picture over. Another neighborhood guy came to watch too. By the time this picture was being taken we were both feeling awkward and were laughing at how long it was taking.

I look horribly pale and weird and old in this picture, but oh well:
After we had walked around ECNU and had lunch, we went for a walk to East China University of Politics and Law. It is full of gorgeous old buildings. It used to be called St. John's College (later St. John's University).

Here's an example of the cool architectural styles to be found on the campus:

According to Wikipedia the university was founded in 1879 and was the first place to grant bachelor's degrees in China, starting in 1907. The buildings were designed to be a mix of Chinese and Western styles. I can't believe I never saw the campus the last time I was in Shanghai.

Here's a water tower, which Li Chao felt may have been built during the 1950s or so.
In one corner of the campus we came across a pretty garden where there were two kids playing. They were using willow branches to weave necklaces and other adornments for a little dog to wear. You can see the dog wearing their creations around his neck and bum:
The little boy saw us and said, "Oh! A Chinese person and a foreigner got married!" We both explained that we were just friends (Li Chao is already married and has been since 2006) and then the little kid started talking about a celebrity named Fei Xiang 費翔 who is half-Chinese and half-American. He commented on how strange Fei Xiang's spoken Chinese sounds (I guess because he has a bit of an English accent when he speaks). Anyway, he was a cute kid.

The little girl he was playing with is behind the bushes in the picture below:
Here's a picture of the two kids working on their willow branches as they chatted with Li Chao.

Another old building on campus.
The campus borders Suzhou Creek and as we walked by we saw a gorgeous red sunset.
They are in the process of restoring another gorgeous old building. It's so nice to see things being restored instead of torn down.
We each took a picture in front of it.

The weather here was really quite cold on my first day in the city, but it's still a lot more comfortable than Beijing. I really really love the feel of Shanghai, and I love the fact that it's so much more easily walkable.

Wong Karwai's visit to BNU

2009-03-12T04:56:00.000-07:00

This morning I was feeling as though I might be coming down with something (just in time for a trip to Shanghai!) and I had decided to stay in, do some chores and relax. I was in the middle of a skype conversation with my mom when my room phone rang. Normally the only time it rings is when someone at the front desk needs to get in touch with me, so I was surprised to hear Zoe on the line. She was calling from a friend's phone to tell me that Wong Karwai was on campus and was about to give a talk in the Arts Building.

As soon as I heard that I told my somewhat confused mom I had to run and I half-walked half-ran to the arts building. It was easy to find the place where he was going to be, as there was a big crowd of people waiting outside. There were no seats left, but people were still hoping to be allowed in. A number of Zoe's classmates who had come in the hopes of seeing the presentation decided it was too crowded and that they were going to give up. But a few of us remained. At one point, we were at the front of a large crowd in front of the doors to the auditorium and then the organizers tried to get everyone to move backwards. In order to accomplish this, some of them tried pushing people back. One unfortunate person chose to push Zoe's Polish classmate (who was already incensed that we weren't going to be able to get seats). The Polish classmate was furious and gave that person a terrifying glare and told her not to touch her. The pusher was sufficiently intimidated and started apologizing, but nothing seemed to assuage the girl's rage. I was actually kind of embarrassed to be near her...but given that we were the only two obvious foreigners there, it was inevitable that we were thought to be together. I tried nervously smiling and laughing to soften the blow.

After a bit, the Polish girl (for some crazy reason) moved far away from the doors to the auditorium...bad strategy if you were hoping to get inside....never, ever lose your ground. Me, zoe and a Korean classmate did not follow suit. We planted ourselves against the wall next to the doors and just didn't move. This eventually resulted in us being right at the front of the line. When the organizers finally agreed to let us in, standing room only, we were able to get in rather quickly (in spite of the angry calls of students further back in line who were concerned they wouldn't get in).

In the end, I think most of the students who stayed and were persistent got into the show. Here's a picture of the three of us feeling triumphant to be inside, finally.

Here are some pictures of the auditorium. The huge crowd standing in the corner is in front of the doorway where we waited to get inside.
And the crowd just kept getting bigger and bigger.
There were tons of media people in front, and many students also had really nice cameras or camcorders, like the girl below with the gigantic lens.
The first people on stage were the hostess and three people...one a writer, one a comic book artist and one...I don't remember. They opened by talking about their thoughts on the film 'Ashes of Time' which was originally shot in 1992 but which Wong Karwai has recently recut and remastered. The event, as it turns out was based around this re-release. I know the picture below sucks, but I didn't realize until I downloaded it that the guy with the video camera appears to be filming us as I was taking a picture and I kind of like it for that reason.
I took a video of his entrance, but I can't get it to upload properly. So instead, here's Wong Karwai, looking rather tiny, wearing shades. My zoom is not the greatest.
Here's an attempt to zoom in for a close-up.
They showed a couple trailers for the re-release and then they revealed a giant poster for the film and the movie (and with the topics of the day on it too).

Wong Karwai looking a little bored or maybe just very thoughtful.

It was an interesting day! Anyway, I'm off to Shanghai tomorrow for about a week or perhaps a bit more. Hope I don't actually get sick!!!

Class Party!

2009-03-09T08:08:00.000-07:00

My class this semester is fabulous. A huge variety of people from all over the world. There are people from eight countries: Korea, Japan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Australia, America, Indonesia, and Canada.

Only two of my old classmates remain: Yinxin from Korea and Mika from Japan, both of whom I like very much. And while last semester's classmates were all very nice, I feel like the atmosphere this term is much more relaxed and welcoming.

Last Friday we had our first formal class party. We went to an Indian restaurant and then moved to a Korean restaurant/bar for the rest of the evening. I let Tie Muer (铁木尔) from Kazakhstan borrow my camera to take a bunch of the pictures as I was feeling rather lazy.

This is me, Yinxin (引馨，my classmate from last semester, wearing glasses) and Zhao Enzhen (赵恩振) from Korea.
This is Li Xiangdian (李相电) from Korea, Cassie from Australia, and Mika from Japan.
This is Tie Muer from Kazakhstan showing off the menu:
This is Chen Jiashi from Indonesia.
Here's our class head, Xie Dongjin, from Korea, catching Tie Muer taking a picture.
Cassie, Mika and another classmate from Korea.
Tie Muer and me:

Diverse group here, Chen Minghui from Indonesia, Xiangdian from Korea, Tie Muer from Kazakhstan and Cassie from down under.
Dan Nier (丹尼尔) from Kazakhstan and Amy from New York.

Continuing with the eating at the Korean restaurant:
I'll be heading to Shanghai soon, which should be great fun, but most likely won't update again for a while.

Past Couple of Weeks

2009-03-09T04:15:00.000-07:00

So I'm officially booked to come back to Canada early. I'll be home by April 15th! It was a big decision, but I think it's the right one.

Over the past couple weeks I've been busy with school, shopping and other work. Not too much exciting really, but I've gathered some pictures of scenery and of the results of my shopping sprees.

This one is from a bizarre underground supermarket in Sanlitun. It was totally deserted and everything in it seemed to be incredibly old and dusty. They had bulk containers of foreign spices like oregano...but it seemed that those bulk containers had never sold, so they had repackaged some of them into little individual baggies which also didn't look like they would ever sell.

Mmmm, tuna liquor.

One weekend we went to Hongqiao market and to a silk factory nearby in order to research qipao fabrics. The factory was a total tourist trap, but was ok to walk through. Here I am on the overpass by Hongqiao.
Here are some pictures of silkworm cocoons in a machine used for processing them...this was there only to show tour groups how the machine worked. They would turn it on for a minute to demonstrate and then move on to something else.
Silk strands being pulled into spools on the top.

Various looms:
Outside Hongqiao we saw this oddly name coffee house whose logo also looks very much like that of another multinational coffee company.
I picked up a leather purse for myself:
And some red beads for the wedding...
I got a red table runner for Carol (if any other friends or relatives reading this have any particular requests for things from Beijing, let me know ASAP).
I bought myself a cashmere scarf:
A red shawl for the wedding:
And a couple other colours:

After much research and price-checking, Zoe and I finally decided to return to the very first qipao place we ever looked at. It's not far from our school and is easily accessible either by bus or even on foot. First, we stopped for Across-the-bridge-noodles in an upstairs restaurant. While we ate I took a picture of the view, fake green hedge and all:
Then we went to the qipao store and spent a long time choosing fabrics from the various swatches. I really didn't want anything too over-the-top, so I finally decided on the fabric below, which is real silk and which has a pattern of dragons and phoenixes on it (representing male and female, so perfect for a wedding). The dress will be be edged with gold which should be flashy enough for me, but not too much. It's kind of hard to capture what it looks like with a picture...and it's hard to imagine from just a swatch, but I think it will be very nice and elegant. I'm nervous, but also excited to see the result.

After looking through all the swatches I decided what the hell, I may as well order two dresses. When else will I get the chance to have a tailored qipao? So I picked out this nice green fabric, which is a lower quality fabric than the red swatch, but is still fine. In person the peony flowers are not quite so prominent. There is also a pattern of phoenixes on this fabric.

We get to go and try on the dresses in early April. I'm really looking forward to it!

Catching Up

2009-02-23T04:28:00.000-08:00

Hello dear readers, it's Zoe here. Not sure how are where to start since I've completely neglected to blog for months. Perhaps with a bowl of tasty instant noodles that comes with an egg?

Difficult, if not impossible to find in Vancouver and very delicious. Marie told me about this once, and then I saw this brand on T.V. As I don't take pictures nor write often, you would be correct to guess that I must love or am fascinated by them, since I photographed these noodles and they take top spot here.

I would eat instant noodles more often, but they are too bulky to carry home and so every so often, I bring food back to my room from the cafeteria. Tomatoes and egg underneath the rice; beansprouts and black beans on the right; and spicy mushrooms and chicken, or what would be more aptly called, mushrooms with crushed bone shards.

And, in other news, I've moved! The room is narrow, and it's smaller than my old room (now Marie's room), but it's great. I am on the 4th floor, the window faces east and looks onto the street. I do hear street noise but I like it.

The washroom is across from the closet which is visible in the picture below:

A maid cleans the room daily.

Here is Marie standing with Colin and Ella. We were in line waiting to get into the traditional arts exhibition:

Some artists made alot of money. This guy was counting a thick wad of RMB.

I bought a papercut with the subject of flowers from each season, and the Chinese character for good fortune appears inconspicuously on the vase, appearing more like a design than a character. I chose it because this design requires more labour than the typical symmetrical ones (see the one on the table in comparison which first entails folding the paper in half before cutting), it differs from traditional designs which show lucky characters too overtly, and finally, because each flower displays a different cutting technique (some petals were round while others are pointy).

The artist is signing and putting here seal on it below.

I also asked them to give me a freebie. This one is of a rooster with a scorpion in its beak. I love it. It's just funny looking; and I love to see odd subject matter or odd depictions of serious subjects in traditional mediums. It's completely different than any other Chinese paper cuts I've seen. I think it is the roundness and proportion of the bird to the insects that strikes me funny or maybe it's the rooster's nonchalant expression.

Some people were making butterfly candy sticks made of what looks like caramel and honey.

A fridge:

Eye washing instruments:

Landscape by beadwork:

Silver ornaments:

I bought some silver jewelery from this artist:

I also bought a butcher's knife from here:

Knife making:

Rabbit hats!

Fish skin shoes:

Fish skin outfit:

That's all for now. Phew! Marie, this blogging thing takes much more time than I thought!

Weekend

2009-02-22T02:02:00.000-08:00

My first week back in Beijing has been a bit challenging at times. I wonder a little bit about why I am here, and I miss Scott and my family, all of which sometimes makes it difficult to feel at home here. In order to counteract these feelings, I have been keeping very busy, so this weekend was actually kind of tiring, but that's better than having spent the time sitting in my room feeling down. It was definitely nice to see some snow during the week.

On Friday Zoe introduced me to her friends Colin and Ella, two Canadians who are living in Tongzhou, an area outside of Beijing (near Songzhuang, the place where I went for a film festival last semester). I unfortunately didn't take any pictures for most of the night. We went for dinner at a Japanese restaurant, and then we went to see a band called Pet Conspiracy. I took one terrible picture near the end of the show when I remembered I had brought my camera.

On Saturday I had lunch with my old roommate, and then at 3pm I met up with a film prof, Ruihua, I had met at a film festival last November. Zoe came along (thankfully, since I was nervous about having to handle hours of Chinese by myself) and we met Ruihua's husband, as well as the subject of their first documentary film. They screened their film for us. It was really interesting, but it took a huge amount of concentration for me to follow it as it was entirely in Chinese (luckily it had chinese subtitles which made things a bit easier). It was a bit strange watching a film with both directors AND the subject of the film watching it along with you.

After we finished, they were obviously wanting feedback, and I felt so exhausted from watching and thinking so hard that my mind went pretty much entirely blank. Zoe is much quicker on her feet than me, and made some very good comments and observations that I think they were very glad to hear.

Anyway, we told them we could help them translate the film, so that will be our project for the next month.

On Sunday Zoe, Colin, Ella and I went to the Agricultural Exhibition Hall for a free show on Chinese traditional arts and crafts. Because it was free and the weekend, the line-up snaked around in a gigantic swirl in front of the Hall.

Colin and Ella used our obvious status as foreigners to our advantage and managed to get us to the front of the line. It was rather unfair, but it was also nice to be able to get inside faster.

Once inside, there were lots of neat things going on, but the place was so insanely packed that it was a battle to get close to anything. This lady was doing some paper-cutting:

Here are some of the results:
This old man must have also been involved in paper-cutting in some manner, but he was just chatting with people when we went by. Zoe bought a very beautiful paper-cut from another artist there. Hopefully she'll post her own pictures from the day at some point.
There was a stand with two ethnic Tibetan women from Sichuan province. They were selling these scrolls, but they couldn't really speak Mandarin. All these people kept coming up and asking, "How much for each one? What are these things?" And then the ladies only seemed to know enough Mandarin to say they were 5 rmb each. It was a bit strange....they were block prints....must be prayers of some kind?
Here are the two ladies:

There was a section on Chinese medicine. I took some pictures of the various tools and materials of the craft.
These were "Dragon Teeth" from the Yuan Dynasty. I'm not sure what animal they are actually from, but they were huge.
Here are "Dragon Bones" which are actually turtle pieces:
I think these were stones for placing on different parts of the body.
Here's a mud sculpture being made by a guy from Guangdong province:
And here's the artist:
Here's a member of the Miao minority making silver ornaments:
And here's an old fashioned refrigerator:
And finally, here's the reason why I was utterly exhausted after only about 20 minutes....every time I wanted to see anything I had to fight through several layers of humans just to get even a tiny glimpse. I guess it's normal when you're living in a city that's half the population of Canada or larger.
I found out this morning that Leonard Cohen will be playing shows in Vancouver, Victoria and Seattle in mid to late April. I am seriously thinking about flying back to Canada in time for one of the shows. That would, of course, mean ending my trip to Beijing about a month earlier than planned...but at the moment I think that might be ok. It would give me more time to prepare for our wedding, to work on my thesis and also to work a bit to save some money. It would also allow me to attend many of my friend's upcoming weddings (for some reason 2009 is turning out to be the year when everyone gets hitched...I guess it's just the age I'm at). Anyway, it's something I am considering. If anyone reading this has seen Leonard Cohen's recent tour (Gina or Graeme?), was it fabulous enough to make it worth cutting my trip a bit short? Haha.

More Snow!

2009-02-17T06:55:00.000-08:00

Some more snow came tonight! So lovely!

Beijing Snow!

2009-02-17T01:10:00.000-08:00

This morning it snowed for the first time I'm aware of this season. It didn't last long, but it was so pretty and uplifting. Here's what it looked like from my room...I don't think I've ever posted a picture of what my room view was (I have now moved to a new room...more on that later). It looked onto a courtyard...basically the back of a restaurant...and I could see into other dorm rooms across the way. There was a cage across the window...to prevent break-ins I guess?

People would take their breaks out there and sometimes spit up some phlegm, which was never too pleasant to hear, but otherwise it was a decent view.

Here's the outside of my dorm building. the big building across the way is still under construction but has basically been put up at a rapidfire pace since I arrived....there are workers from the countryside (I assume) who live on site and work there at all hours.

So....in other news...Zoe decided to treat herself to a single room with a private bathroom and a fridge in another dorm building, so her single room was freed up. I kind of agonized over whether or not to move into a single room as it seemed a bit indulgent and because it costs me a bit of money (whereas the old room was free...basically I pay the difference between the cost of a double and a single room). But after much thought and discussion with Zoe, Scott and my parents (driving them all crazy in the process I'm sure), I decided to take the single room. I might not even finish the term here, so I may as well treat myself and be comfortable for the last few months I'm here. Anyway, after Zoe very kindly cleaned the room while I packed my things, I moved in and unpacked. (Zoe had already moved to the new room last night). I think it's going to be really comfortable and a nice, private, peaceful place to live. And it already has the floor covering since Zoe also bought some in September.

The view out this window is of a small bamboo grove...sorry the picture isn't too clear, but that's ok.
I still feel a bit bad for wasting money I could have saved, but I'm feeling very happy and comfortable here.

Back in Beijing

2009-02-13T04:26:00.001-08:00

I'm back in Beijing and utterly exhausted and feeling rather down, as I always seem to for the first couple days here. I walked into my dorm room and was greeted by a stranger...while I was away a single room opened up and my roommate moved into it. I'm really sad about it. The new roommate seems fine....I have barely had a chance to speak with her much. Her name is Metta. But I was already comfortable with my old roommate and we could speak mandarin together. Anyway, since I might be going home early anyway, I asked the front desk lady whether there are any other free single rooms. She said she'll check, so I'll ask her again tomorrow. Probably there won't be anything, but oh well. Sigh. I'm a big baby.

Anyway, I had a really wonderful time in Vancouver with Scott and seeing my family and friends. Here's a few more pictures from my visit.

Scott's lab mate Marcel, and his girlfriend Lauren threw a silly hat party. Here's Marcel wearing a beanie and making bruschetta. Classic.

Me with some of Scott's labmates:

The labmates attempting to look tough, but being foiled by beanies and colanders:

Here's a picture of Scott and me both looking super exhausted at the Vancouver Airport this morning. It was hard to say goodbye again, but because I know it's for an absolute maximum of four months (most likely more like three months), it was a teeny bit easier. I'm so looking forward to traveling everywhere together from now on!

Second Victoria Trip and other things

2009-02-04T22:48:00.000-08:00

Late Christmas gifts for Scott:

Dinner with friends:

My Dad's Birthday...Brittany, Paul and Mom preparing the coconut cream pie birthday cake:

Dad with his new instrument...a melodica...I'd never heard of it before either...

Scott's aunt Esther had her birthday as well and we all went for sushi to celebrate. Here's Scott and his Grandma:
Me with Scott and his family...his aunt Athene is taking the picture.
Scott and his family:
Aunt Athene, and Scott's parents Yvonne and Philip:
Scott and his parents:
Scott and his aunts:
Me and Esther:
Back in Vancouver I was browsing through a local used bookstore and came upon the owner's cat, nestled cozily among the books:
Scott and me about to head out for a delicious Greek food dinner:

Victoria Visit

2009-01-27T13:56:00.000-08:00

Scott and I spent the past weekend in Victoria. On Friday we got together with some old friends and had dinner and drinks. It really made me appreciate and miss Victoria. It's such a nice city, although it really is incredibly small and quiet, even compared to Vancouver, but especially when compared with Beijing.

Here's Tomoka and Jamie, who will be having a wedding ceremony this June. We spent time with them in Japan in December 2007. Scott has known Jamie since elementary school, I believe.

Samantha and Dave. Scott has known Dave for years (I think since elementary school as well), and I have known him since high school.
Scott and me:
On Saturday my family had "Christmas" again for me. I had a few small gifts I had brought back from China, as well as some things I had picked up during my first few days back in Vancouver, so we had a dinner (steak dinner, not turkey haha) and christmas crackers, and then opened the gifts.

Mom also gave me some Christmas foodstuffs that I missed out on eating while I was in China, such as Christmas pudding. Mmmmmm. I'm hoping to make one more Christmas dinner for Scott and I before I head back to Beijing. Even though Scott isn't a big fan of the British-style Christmas pudding, I LOVE it.

Here's nearly everyone wearing the Christmas cracker hats:
Sitting in the living room by the tree:

On Chinese New Year's Eve both Scott's and my families had dinner together at a local Chinese restaurant. It was interesting because the food included some more Northern or Shanghai dishes, so my parents and brother got to try some new things. In the past, when we have gone out for Chinese food in Victoria we have generally eaten more Cantonese-style food. Anyway, they all really enjoyed the food...and they were utterly stuffed. For some reason we mistakenly thought all the dishes had arrived and we were all very full but then the kitchen sent out three more dishes!

Here we are after the meal:

Visit to Chilliwack

2009-01-19T18:29:00.000-08:00

This past weekend Scott, me and my family went to Chilliwack to visit my Grandparents, my aunt Carol and my uncle Brent, as well as my cousin Jill and her two lovely kids, Willow and Evan. We all had a nice time...but I realized my sleeping schedule still isn't back to normal. I woke up at 3:30am and couldn't sleep again until 7am or so. Oh well...slowly but surely I'll get used to it.

I didn't take enough pictures, and I entirely forgot to pull out the camera when Carol and Brent were over, so there aren't any pictures of them, and only one of grandma. I also missed getting a good picture of Jill. Damn.

Mom opening a gift from Grandma, and Dad looking sleepy or soused.

Dad looking unchanged, Paul and Scott.
Grandpa opening what I'm sure was a rather thrilling gift of a table runner. Unfortunately I had a hard time finding masculine gifts in China.
Scott with the adorable and chilled out Evan:

Grandma helping Evan check out the microwave.
Me and Willow playing with her new BC Ferries toy.
Me and Evan as Jill and the kids were getting ready to leave.
I've been having a wonderful time on the trip home so far. The time is flying by though, so I have to make the most of it!

HOME!

2009-01-15T06:18:00.000-08:00

I'm back home in lovely Vancouver!! The flight was decent since I took something that made me sleep, which made it feel a lot shorter than usual. It was so wonderful to see Scott at the airport waiting for me with some flowers. I'm so happy!

I'm not adjusted to the time yet...I was up until about 11pm on the day I got back and then woke up at 5am, but that's still not too bad.

Anyway, no time for many pictures yet. Let me start off with a couple from China that I hadn't gotten around to posting. Here is a Santa/Tree who is still in the window of one of the restaurants Zoe and I frequent:

And here's a gigantic spread of food we ordered so that we would have leftovers to eat while studying for exams:
And a couple pictures back in Vancouver. Here's me prepared for a walk and dinner:
And here's Scott looking serious in the restaurant:

Interesting Old Footage of Beijing

2009-01-09T21:53:00.000-08:00

Through the Danwei website (which found this via another website called Quirky Beijing), I just watched this old travelogue about Beijing. Obviously the commentary is rather dated and at times condescending, arrogant and racist, but it really is amazing to watch and see how much this place has changed since 1931!

As is obvious, I am having trouble studying much....i'm nervous about the exams, but I'm also excited to be heading home, so it's hard to focus.

Here are a couple more pictures from dinner last night:

And a couple more pictures from the last day of Jingdu class:

Last Class Party!

2009-01-09T05:56:00.000-08:00

Tonight my class had our last party at a nearby restaurant. It was really nice and our Jingdu teacher even joined us!

Here are some pictures!

Mika, me, Yinxin, Zhimin, and Minghe

Guangyou and Hao Laoshi (our teacher)
Xianyu, Song Jun and Jhonny
Dae Hyun, Guangyou and Hao Laoshi
Minghe, Dae Hyun, Guangyou and Hao Laoshi
Mika and me
Izumi and me squishing Mika
Hao Laoshi!
And a few pictures of some of the dishes we ate:

Last Newspaper Class!

2009-01-08T01:34:00.000-08:00

After my other post we had a break for a few hours and then went to our last newspaper class. Unfortunately our teacher was ill and so we had a substitute. Anyway, we spent the entire time just individually working on exercises. Once the class period ended we took a few pictures together.

Here's Jhonny, from England and Indonesia, and Mika, from Japan.

And Mika and Daxian (Dae Hyun) from Korea:
Me and Izumi, from Japan, and Daxian:
Me and Mika:
L-R: Baoxian, Xiuzhen, Guangyou, Xianyu, and Yinxin, all from Korea.
Minghe, Shengjun, Jhonny, me and Daxian:
Me, Yinxin and Jhonny:
Now it's time to spend the next three days cramming and by this time next week I'll be back in Canada :D

So Tired...hate proverbs and other sayings

2009-01-07T19:49:00.001-08:00

Agh, the test today didn't go all that well. One of the questions I was asked was to list three proverbs or sayings and then explain their meanings. Proverbs are the bane of my existence! I can't even remember English ones, let alone Chinese ones. Anyway, I could think of two, but it took me awhile to slowly think up the last one...and I couldn't remember it properly either. How annoying...oh well. At least it's over now.

I am exhausted as I didn't sleep well last night and both my roommate and I were up a bunch of times during the night.

After the oral exam I went to our very last reading and writing class (Jingdu). We took some pictures together. My teacher, Hao Laoshi, is the one in the front, making 'bunny ears' behind Daxian's head (the guy wearing the baseball hat and in a pose which makes me laugh my head off). Mom said it looks like his bum is right on me, but I assure you it's not! Haha.

One more of everyone. This time our teacher is third from left, at the back. Still, it's not really the complete class...we're missing Kaitlin, Tammy and Alex who should all be in it too! :)

Surprise Delivery and Test Anxiety

2009-01-07T08:02:00.000-08:00

It's the night before my oral exam and I should probably be heading to bed, but I thought I'd post this before I do. I probably won't sleep well anyway as I'm a bit nervous about the exam. It's not really a proper speaking exam, it's more like a test of how well you can memorize the textbook, so it's a bit tiring to prepare for. My brain is full already!

I went for dinner with Zoe tonight and then on the way back I got a phone call from a guy saying he was from a package delivery company. I wasn't expecting anything, so I was suspicious (I am too paranoid, that's for sure). Then he said he was in 'such and such' a location but I was kind of panicked and my listening skills suck so when I didn't immediately recognize where he was, I asked him to wait a second and then asked poor Zoe to speak to him to figure out what he wanted. (Thanks Zoe!) She said he was at the tennis courts....huh? Neither of us knew where that was. So we hung up and then went into our dorm and asked one of the security guards to help us. She said the tennis courts were too far away and to call him back and tell him to come to our dorm. I called back, but I couldn't seem to get across what I wanted. The security guard then spoke with him and I was told to go walk to the Science and Technology building and wait there. Zoe came too, and when we got there I called the guy again and said I was there. He said to wait a bit, he would be there soon. We waited for about 10 minutes or so and then a white van with with two guys in it pulled up. It was kind of odd because they were facing us, but neither one called out to ask if I was waiting for a package. So we all just sort of sat there a bit longer. Then they flashed their headlights and I walked over to see if it was them. Anyway, after all that I finally got my package! It was from 李超 (Li Chao), my good friend from Shanghai, who I'll finally be able to visit again in the Spring. After I got the package I called his cell, and it was the first time we'd had a chance to speak directly in five years, but we chatted just as comfortably as before, in a mix of both our languages.

Here is what he sent:

The card is for Chinese New Year and inside the box there is a chop (a name stamp) with my name on it, and red ink. The chop is from my old university in Shanghai (East China Normal University) and it has the school motto on one side, and the school's name on the other side. The ink container also has the school's name on it.

It's late and I couldn't get a decent picture of the stamp itself because I was too lazy and it's too dark. But this gives you an idea. My last name is on the right, a single character, and the two characters of my first name are on the left, one on top of the other. My Chinese name is 欧曼妮, or Ou Manni, and means 'Elegant girl,' according to the teacher who chose it for me.
Anyway, I was really touched by this gift and I'm really looking forward to finally being able to see him in person again soon!

Canada New Year and Night Out with Friends

2009-01-02T19:54:00.000-08:00

On Jan. 1st at 4pm my time I rang in the New Year in Canada with my parents using Skype. For a brief period they were still stuck in 2008 while I was already in 2009.
Last night I met up with Mathias and Hyejeong (as well as Hyejeong's boyfriend), two friends from my time in Shanghai five years ago. We went for a delicious Korean food dinner and then out to a pub for some drinks. I don't think the elbow on my shirt is really worn like it seems in the picture...i think it might be the light from the beer glass? But then again, I am pretty raggedy looking compared to most of the women here. I'll have to take a closer look at that shirt again.

Couldn't make my camera sit on an angle, so I got a nice portrait of the table with us in the background.

Happy New Year...a little late

2009-01-01T19:37:00.000-08:00

Not too much news on my front. For New Year I had originally planned to go out for the evening, but when I found out how expensive it would be to go out to dinner and clubbing I bailed. Instead I went for a walk around Houhai with Zoe, where we each got a coffee from evil Starbucks, and then we went home and watched the CCTV and Yunnan New Year's celebrations on TV and then we watched a documentary called 'Grey Gardens.' It was nice and cozy and quiet, which was fine with me. I only took a few pictures.

Here's a yummy recent dinner:
And my the only seat we could get on the chilly new year in the starbucks...looks awful, but it was nice and warm and cozy inside and there was good music playing.

Exams are coming up again starting this week and into the next. My last one is on Jan. 13th and my flight back to Canada will be on the 14th, so things are going to be a bit hectic for the next little while. It's time to cram and memorize hundreds of characters....gah. I doubt there will be many posts until perhaps when I get back to Canada (yay!).

Cockroach Clean-up

2008-12-28T01:44:00.000-08:00

Walking around Beijing I always look at the many red banners hung in various places. These banners often relate to political things like encouraging people to work towards development, economic issues or (on some older ones) supporting the Olympics. I can't always read the signs easily, but I like to try. Anyway, on Saturday I was on my way to go shopping for a few things in another district and I noticed this sign:

It says "Everyone take action, Wipe out the cockroaches"

I looked it up when I got home and found that a Beijing-wide cockroach eradication campaign started on November 15. I'm all for it!

Merry Christmas from Beijing!

2008-12-25T17:09:00.001-08:00

Zoe and I had a nice Christmas here in Beijing, although we certainly also missed everyone back home a lot.

On Christmas Eve I had class in the afternoon, and then I met up with Zoe and we went to Wudaokou to buy some DVDs, walk around and have dinner. On our way to the first DVD store (which is inside a hotel complex) we spotted a Santa and had to take a few pictures with him. We also got a couple with the lights display (and with traffic reflector cones thrown in for some extra brightness).

We picked out lots of DVDs, then we walked to Issin, a Japanese restaurant, for dinner. The walk to the restaurant was interesting and the streets were utterly packed with people. There were people selling Chinese New Year decorations, as well as Christmas decorations, socks, santa hats and even light-up devil horns for sale.

Here I am in the restaurant:
Here's the only picture we got of the two of us:
After we finished eating we stopped in a bakery to pick up some snacks for our movie watching that night. Zoe had me pose under this decorated tree in the store...haha.
After we got our baking we headed back to the dorm and spent the rest of the evening in Zoe's room watching movies. We watched the Shrek Christmas special and Home Alone.

On Christmas Day I had class at 8am, and I had bought a bunch of snacks to bring to share with my classmates. Hardly anyone came so we watched movies and ate instead of having class.

After class ended at 11:30 I met up with Zoe and we went to the local coffee shop I sometimes hang out in and had lunch. The place had a few Christmas decorations:

Me, not looking into the camera so as to avoid photo face....
Here's the food we ordered. I had tuna and garlic pasta and Zoe had bacon and garlic pasta. It was tasty, but definitely was like an Asian version of standard olive oil pasta.
It's a bit out of order, but here's the entrance to the stairs that lead up to the cafe, all decorated for the holidays.
After eating we headed towards the subway station. On the walk there you have to cross over a river and it is now totally frozen over.
We took the subway to Andingmen and walked South through various Hutongs, exploring in shops and just taking our time enjoying the sun before we got hungry again for dinner.
Me looking at something:
Some of the hutongs had their doors open...sometimes the doors opened on just another alleyway, but sometimes they opened onto Siheyuans (courtyard homes). It was interesting to peek inside, but we also obviously stuck out as it seemed most people in the area were residents and knew everyone else. At one point as we were looking at a map an older man came and helped us with directions. He was quite sweet. We also saw some old Grannies....I wish I could've taken their pictures, they were beautiful.
This picture is of the inside of a courtyard home....there's a broken glass display case just inside the entranceway. You can also see the screen wall (yingbi) just behind the case. The sign on the left says they aren't renting rooms so don't just walk inside...I guess lots of tourists and other explorers must have gone in and bothered the residents before.
Here are some pictures of the main street just outside of the hutong alleyways:

Here's a cute little bar that was inside one of the hutongs. I like the sign, "The Here It ts! Baycafe." Cute.
Here's a view through another doorway. I would've loved to look inside more but I think both Zoe and I would have felt rather weird and intrusive going down such obviously residential lanes.
Down one street we came across what looked like a Siheyuan undergoing total renovations. My guess is that it is being fixed up for a wealthy person, but maybe it's for a shop or something else.

The pile of construction materials outside:
Some old men playing a game...and a sweet dog:
Another alleyway:
On one of the main roads we came across a model shop which sold some pretty fancy stuff, including the creepy Alien head.
After walking through all the residential hutongs we then entered a totally renovated, touristy hutong area on Nanluoguxiang. There were lots of interesting shops with very expensive things. It seemed the mark-up on Chinese New Year decorations was about three times the price I paid for the same things in a different part of the city.
Here are some Chinese gnomes:
After walking around for a few hours we were ready for some dinner. Zoe's boyfriend had kindly researched places for us to eat and found a particular Korean restaurant that was highly recommended and delicious:

The inside was a bit too dark to get any really good pictures, but I did manage to get one of the goldfish stream that split the restaurant in half:
We went with the Christmas set menu for 158 rmb (split between us) which is about $30 Canadian, or $15 each. It was so tasty! The perfect meal for our somewhat unusual Christmas in Beijing!
Here were the tasty snacks we had before the main dishes started coming out:
The salad and the ginseng which despite not looking fabulous in the picture were really delicious.

More of the food....a stew and some fish.
After all the dishes had arrived. Those round cakes were filled with red bean and were SO delicious. Oh and you can see the glasses of mulled Christmas wine that came with the meal.

After eating we walked back up to a main street and took a cab to a place called Ginza mall where we picked up some baking and then, totally exhausted, we took the subway back to the dorm. We got into comfy clothes and then snacked and watched movies until late. We watched Fred Claus and Mamma Mia.

When I came back to my room my roommate was already in bed so I couldn't skype properly with my family, but I did get to see them briefly on Christmas morning...it was a bit weird as I was only able to type but they could speak to me. And then when I got up Scott was over at my parent's place so we all skyped and I opened the gifts Scott had mailed me.

It wasn't a standard Christmas, but I still had a very nice time. Thank goodness Zoe is here so that we were able to spend the holidays together.

I hope everyone in Canada (and in England, Hong Kong and everywhere else) has had a wonderful, happy Christmas. My love to you all.

Webcams and snow

2008-12-21T03:08:00.000-08:00

Can I just say how much I love having my own computer here? I can't believe what a huge difference it makes and it's so different from my last experience in China when I had to walk to internet cafes to use the internet, or I had dial-up internet only.

I've been feeling jealous of what will most likely be a gorgeous white christmas back home...and I definitely miss the cozy Christmas season. I've haven't experienced it recently due to being in Asia both this year and the last. Here's Dad and the lovely Christmas tree (and me in the tiny box in the corner with my miniature tree):

Paul and Brittany waving for the camera:
My everyday desk set-up...newspaper assignment in semi-progress:
Paul opening a couple of presents:
One sentence almost finished!
Mom and the Christmas tree:
Nearly the entire family....dad is holding the computer up for me to see the entire room.
I also of course often speak with Scott and he showed me some of the snowy weather back home. Here's the view out the apartment window. So lovely!
And Scott looking handsome and happy (although he was actually freezing from standing outside with the computer, showing me the snow):
I miss everyone and am looking forward to my visit home!!!!

Forbidden City

2008-12-20T02:08:00.001-08:00

Today I went to the Forbidden City/Tiananmen Square/Jingshan Park area with my soon-to-be-going-home American friends and one Korean classmate. It was SO cold. Low of -16 with a -19 windchill today. Luckily I was prepared and felt a bit like a marshmallow in my thick coat. When we got to Tiananmen my friends wanted to go in to see Mao's body in the Memorial Hall. The Hall was due to close at 12pm and it was already 11:45am. I had seen his body 5 years ago and didn't really feel a need to see it again so I took everyone's bags and waited for them outside. I watched all the touts standing around making people pay 10 rmb to check their bags...what a rip-off. While I was waiting, a Chinese lady, her small daughter and cute, old mother came running along wanting to get in before the doors closed. At first they didn't believe that you weren't allowed to bring in even a small purse, but I showed them my friend's bags and said it was true. Then the lady asked me if I could watch her bags and I said sure. I was amazed she would rather trust a random stranger (and a foreigner at that) rather than the bag-check guys around me. After she was finished she came and got her bag and asked me how much she owed me! Haha, of course I said she owed me nothing at all...But maybe I've just discovered a new way to make some extra cash while I'm in China. :P Here are all the bags I was watching....

Here's a picture of almost all of us after the Mao viewing, with the Monument to the People's Heroes in the background. From left to right: George, Tammy, Gina, Ivy, Daxian, me and Angela.
Kaitlin in front of the monument:
Me in front of the Monument:
Daxian wants to collect a picture of himself in all the different places pictured on the different renminbi bills. So here we are with the 100 rmb note in front of the Great Hall of the People. People seemed to find this a bit odd.
Here's a family posing for a photo in front of the gates. The one grandchild, two parents (they are taking the picture) and a number of elderly grandparents/relatives. They were a cute group!
This picture is rather blurry, but I like the "Happy Boy" on the back of this kid's coat.

A bunch of guys wanted pictures with Kaitlin (but ignored me....perhaps due to the marshmallow coast and the fact that I'm older? Dunno, but I didn't mind). So here's a picture of them all staring at her.
And here she is posing with one of them:
Here's Kaitlin imitating one of the singers from the music video for the song "Beijing huanying ni (Beijing welcomes you)" which was partially filmed in the Forbidden city.
Shadows...
Tammy taking a picture of the only two nanren (guys) with us today.

Jumping shots!
Failed attempt:
Success! But I really need to work on my jumping skills....how come I'm so low?
After the jumping success.
Love this guy's coat:
Inside one of the chambers:

In front of the tree in the garden at the back. The love tree....hence the heart poses in the two pictures.

Goldfish heartily surviving the freezing Beijing winter safe under the ice:
The view of the Forbidden city from the peak of Jingshan:

After this we were all utterly freezing, so we hightailed it home and I am so happy to inside and warm right now. Yay for central heating!! Tomorrow is meant to be even colder, so I might just stay in and work on homework rather than going out in the freezing cold!

Jack Frost nipping at your nose...

2008-12-19T08:37:00.000-08:00

I've been suffering from another flu this past week. I barely left my room last weekend, so not too many pictures recently:

From dinner at a Hunan restaurant with Zoe last week....yummy.
Picture from the second round of the singing contest, My classmate won third prize!
My Christmas tree and a package with some Christmas presents from Scott and Loren and Corey! Exciting! I'm looking forward to opening them all!
Tonight was a class party to say goodbye to the three Americans in our class. They have an earlier exam and go back home for Christmas. Here's Alex and Song-Jun, the singing contestant.
Here's Tammy, Daxian, me and Kaitlin:
Baoxian, Izumi and Xiuzhen:
Yinxin, me and Mika:
Most of the group:
After dinner:

After the party we intended to go bowling, but the miniature bowling alley was already full, so the party ended pretty early. I did however see this advertisement for a rather expensive, rather oddly named Christmas party...
Tomorrow I'm heading to the Forbidden City for the first time in 5 years....I bet it won't have changed much since my last visit.

Classmate in Singing Contest

2008-12-08T05:31:00.000-08:00

He's singing a Jay Chou song...unfortunately it's a bit shaky due to someone pushing past me at one point, and the sound quality isn't great, but it gives an idea. He was 24th so it took quite a bit of waiting before it was his turn. There were a few really good singers and a lot of mediocre ones....wish I had their confidence!

Weekend

2008-12-07T08:05:00.000-08:00

Here's the decoration I put up on the outside of our dorm room door:
Went to a friend's (Alex's) birthday party in Houhai on Friday night. He is the one sitting next to me.
Here's me and Kaitlin:
On Saturday I went with Kaitlin and Jared to Panjiayuan (a market that is supposed to full of antiques, but they are all fakes). First, here's a picture of a horse outside the Mudanyuan subway station. Horses pulling carts is a common sight, despite the fact that we're in a huge city.
Here are some Panjiayuan photos:

This is from a restaurant we went to for lunch. They plastic-wrap the dishes to show they're clean, and they charge you for it. What a rip-off!

The past few weeks in photos

2008-12-02T06:21:00.000-08:00

The past few weeks following midterms have been a bit of a blur....I'm not sure why. During the midterm week I managed to go see a couple screenings of short student films at the Beijing Film Academy. Here are some pictures of the directors at the post-screening Q&A:

I was really shocked at how mean the audience could be when they weren't enjoying a film. They would start yelling "Hao, hao (good, good)" loudly and laughing, but it was obviously sarcastic. I wouldn't have been able to handle it if I was one of the directors.

After midterms I went on my own to check out the Olympics buildings. It was fine, pretty much what I expected. Here's the Bird's Nest as it looked from the subway station:
Here's a random guy from Hunan. I approached him to ask him to help me take a picture but he didn't move and his friends obviously wanted some "Look at me with this foreigner!" pictures, so I got a picture with him too. I can add it to my "Look at me with this Chinese person!" collection of pictures. haha.

Here's the water cube before the sun went down, with no lights on.

I believe the building with the green lights is the media building. Dunno what the one in the foreground was.

There was a stage and lighting set up in the middle of everything. They were playing music loudly and it sounded interesting, but it was surrounded by a wall. As far as I could tell, it was some kind of promotional activity put on by a bank or investment company, but it was only for bigwigs I guess. I joined a huge crowd craning their necks and trying to see something, but it was a fruitless effort.
Here's the water cube lit up.

And the bird's nest lit up:
Here's a pic giving you an idea of how close the two buildings are to one another.
My shadow:
Later the next week I went to a school-organized kungfu show which was among the weirdest things I have seen. It was in English and was entirely geared towards the foreign tour industry. I liked the promotional stuff outside of the theatre....I bet the Nobelists loved it:
One of the kungfu kids entertained the patrons before the show....
Last week I spent going back and forth between Beijing and a place called Songzhuang, about two hours by bus and subway from where I live. There was a film fest taking place there and I had a fabulous time. I felt lame pulling out my camera to take pictures of all the cool directors and artists there, so I only took a few pictures outside to give an idea of what the place was like. It was in the countryside....here's the road to one of the galleries where they were showing films:
There were some other galleries on the way, and a lot of private, fortress-like villas which apparently are owned by some incredibly wealthy, famous contemporary Chinese artists.
The other place in the village where films were screened was here, the Songzhuang Art Gallery. Kind of a weird building. The path in the pictures above is behind this building.
The barren-looking path behind the art gallery:
And finally, tonight Zoe and I went to Carrefour and bought a few things to decorate for Christmas. Here are the rather underwhelming results, but they make me happy.
What says Christmas more than the water cooler, bucket and tree trifecta?
Here we are with our miniature tree:

Last Weekend

2008-11-08T01:18:00.001-08:00

Here's a little comic drawn by Derek Kirk Kim which expresses how I sometimes feel here. It's easier to sit in my dorm room and eat oatmeal at times rather than going out and trying to find a decent place to eat. Haha.

Last weekend was a mainly uneventful three day weekend. However, on Thursday night I did go to a class party. Since the vast majority of my classmates are Korean, it took place in several Korean restaurants/pubs in an area in Beijing known as Wudaokou, which has a huge Korean population. It's not too far from where I live.

I'm still not used to being addressed as 'Big Sister' by the Koreans....because I am older than everyone (as you can see in the pictures below), they respectfully call me that, but I have to say it makes me feel like a creaky old lady.

I got most of these pictures from a Japanese classmate, which is why the quality is a bit up and down. One thing I can say is, man some Koreans can really put back a lot of Soju (Korean alcohol). The evening was fun but got expensive because everything was split amongst everyone evenly, so even if you didn't drink, you paid for the alcohol too.

We first went to a Korean BBQ restaurant which was delicious! Here's some of the food cooking. You used a lettuce leaf to wrap up the cooked meat and veggies, eating it all in a little package.
The younger people are supposed to pour drinks for the older people. No one pours for themselves. So needless to say the first thing that was figured out when we sat down was who was oldest....me!
Making toasts and getting pissed:
That's me in the corner with Kaitlin, an American student from Wisconsin. The three people on the other side of the table are Korean. The girls names in Chinese are Zhimin and Xiuzhen. I can't seem to ever say the guy's name correctly in Korean or English.
This is a picture of me (looking freakishly pale), Kaitlin, and Baoxian (a Korean girl) in the front row. Behind us from left to right are Minghe (Korean), Alex (another American), Daxian (Korean) and Izumi (Japanese).
Here's a shot of nearly the entire class...a few people couldn't make it that night.

After eating, we walked to another Korean place. On the way we came across Hump Cafe and had to take a picture. The Chinese name means 'Camel Hump Coffee.'

On the way to the next place, Alex mentioned how his former Chinese teacher told him that she still remembered the first English sentence she ever learned, which was "I like to eat apples and cock." Of course, that was supposed to mean she likes eating apples and chicken. Not a very useful lesson!

At the next place we went to the Koreans ordered more food even though I felt totally stuffed. It was all really delicious though. We played various drinking games that were a bit complicated to play in Chinese. One involved hitting the table and clapping in a specific rhythm. People would call out someone's name and a number, for example, "Marie four!" I would have to say my name four times fast along with the rhythm and then call out someone else's name and a number. It was impossibly difficult to remember everyone's Chinese names and to respond to my own Chinese name. I lost each time we tried, as did the other Americans with the group. So, instead we just assigned everyone seat numbers which was a lot easier than having to call out, "欧曼妮四！李大贤三！" and so on!
I sat with these girls for a little while. They are really nice, but they prefer to converse in Korean. I can totally understand, but it made sitting with them a bit isolating. Haha. Thankfully, one of the Korean guys noticed and offered to switch places so I could be closer to the people speaking Chinese together.

Finally, we ended the night in a karaoke place. It was ok, but since I don't know a lot of Korean songs it was a little slow at times. I was also strangely exhausted and feeling a bit homesick that evening, so I was happy to head home at the end of the night.

The rest of the weekend was pretty slow. On Halloween I went with Zoe and Ruyun (my roommate) to try to go watch a new film called 'Painted Skin' 画皮 with other Chinese students, but when we got there it was too packed for us to fit in. Instead we went for a walk and bought the DVD. I watched it with Ruyun and found it to be a bit cheesy, but it was still ok for a bit of entertainment. Definitely nothing scary about it at all though.

On another evening I went back to the Across the Bridge Noodles place with Zoe. Here's a picture of the outside and you can sort of see the bridge you walk across to get to the tables.

Here's a picture of the menu....just to give an idea of what the dish is like....they put it all into a boiling broth, like a hotpot.
And here's the final product, all ready to eat. Mmmm.
This week has been busy with school stuff, but nothing exciting otherwise. I have midterms this next week, so I have spent all the previous few days trying to study. I am rather nervous about the tests as I know they will be very challenging for me.

There's a film fest going on starting tomorrow (Sunday) at the Beijing Film Academy. I bought tickets, but I don't know how many screenings I will end up attending. I'm disappointed with the timing, since it conflicts with all the exam stuff. Boo.

After exams I am joining a language exchange thing that should happen once or twice a week. I might also try to volunteer somewhere. I want to try to start doing more activities than i've been doing lately. I started using the weird gym across the hall from my dorm room and I think that has been good for my mood.

Blackout

2008-11-04T16:03:00.001-08:00

Halloween arrived a few days late. There was a blackout yesterday at around 3:30pm. These pictures were taken just outside my room.

This is the view to the right of my room. The light shining on the two doors is the room to the foreign student's "library," which is really the bookstore. Very convenient for me.

This view is to the left of my room. The light down the hall is from the washroom. There was a handyman dressed in a blue jumpsuit, sitting on the sink counter with folded arms, swinging his legs, and chatting idly with a female fuwuyuan (a service staff). I prefer not to see men in the woman's washroom, but I told myself they were sweethearts, and had no where else to hangout. As you may know (or not), there are classroom in our dorms and the first door to the left, shining a narrow band of light on the opposite wall, is a classroom. Curious?

Here is the star of the blog, little Marie, in class.

Adam and Steve, Peking Duck and Dancing

2008-10-28T09:24:00.001-07:00

This Sunday Zoe and I went to Xidan (an area of town) to take a look at store selling wedding stuff. One place we went to was a huge building with about 3 or 4 floors of wedding related stuff. It was all actually quite expensive, but it was interesting to look through. Definitely a place for newly rich people.

We found a couple stores that make wedding qipaos (cheongsams) and the people there said they charge 800 rmb to make a tailored one. At the current exchange rate that's about $160 Canadian....so not too cheap. I hope that it would be possible to bargain them down, but I'm not really sure. Some of the qipao stores we looked at in the complex above cost more like 10,000 rmb, which is insane!!! Anyway, I tried a couple on and I thought that they looked pretty nice (especially if they fit perfectly....they fit better here than the ones I tried in Vancouver, which was a kind of humiliating experience due to my body shape not being quite right for the dresses they had in stock). I will definitely be getting at least one made....it'd be nice to get one in a non-wedding colour as well, but I'm not sure I can splurge that much. We'll see.

After looking at all the wedding stuff, and successfully finding a bank for Zoe to withdraw money from her Canadian account (I had no idea that was possible), we went for dinner. Here I am eating "Across the Bridge Noodles" a dish that originated in Yunnan province. So delicious! To get into this restaurant you even have to walk across a bridge....clever.
Next to us was a family...the little boy was eating KFC, but the parents were eating the Yunnan noodles. The boy had run off somewhere when Zoe was surreptitiously taking this picture. You can sorta see the KFC cup and burger box on the table.
Tonight (Tuesday night), I went with Zoe to meet Adam and Steve, her friends from Vancouver. Adam has been working and living in Shanghai for almost a year now. We met them in Wangfujing and then decided to go and have Peking duck at a restaurant called Quanjude, which is apparently famous for its duck. It has been around since the mid-1800s. Here are some of the ducks and the ovens they are about to be cooked in. The little tubes sticking out of their bottoms are for blowing air in, in order to separate the skin from the flesh, so that it cooks up nice and crispy.
Here are Adam and Steve with their beer in wine glasses. Steve is wearing a hat with a fake queue attached.
The place was packed:
We ordered one veggie dish, a fried rice and a whole duck to share. The veggie dish was a gai lan-like veggie with mushrooms:
They bring the duck to your table and prepare it in front of you:

Posing with the duck and the chef. Steve is like the emperor or like the elderly relative who gets to sit in the family portrait.
The sliced duck, all ready for us to eat. It was delicious and sooooo fatty. Yummy.
After dinner we went to the Jishuitan subway station and walked from there to Houhai. One of my favorite things we happened upon was a huge crowd of people dancing. I was so happy to see this and I really wish Vancouver had activities like this at night! I took some videos and I hope they work. Let me know if you can't see them.

In the first one everyone was dancing to a song with english lyrics telling them which foot to put out (left, right, left, left, right) and so on. Not everyone had the right foot out all the time, but it looked so fun I really wanted to join in.

I couldn't get the other videos to work on blogger, so i put them on Youtube. Here are the links:

After the dancing finished, everyone started jumping rope. It was so wonderful and made me so happy for some reason:

Coffee Shop

2008-10-25T22:09:00.001-07:00

Since I was at the coffee shop again last night doing some homework, I took a couple pictures to show you where I've been hanging out a lot lately. The laptop in the photo below is Zoe's. The big blue bowl sitting next to the laptop was her gigantic "large" latte. I felt like I was in "So I Married an Axe Murderer" when I first saw it.
The place definitely has a nice atmosphere, although sometimes it can get a bit smoky as people are free to light up inside.

Friday Night Shopping, Exploring and Eating

2008-10-24T21:11:00.000-07:00

Hello, this is Marie here. I changed the comment options on here, so it's now possibly to write something even if you don't have any kind of blog account. Just select 'Anonymous' and go ahead and write your comment. Let me know if you have any troubles!

Nothing much exciting has happened over the past week. I've been going to a coffee shop nearby which has a really nice atmosphere, free wireless internet, and good coffee and other drinks. For some reason going there really improved my mood and made me feel better about being here.

The weather has cooled down considerably. I've pulled out my winter stuff (gloves, hat, scarves) and used it all for the first time this week.

School is still rather busy for me and I have to prepare a presentation for my newspaper reading class. I really hate that class as I am the only westerner and therefore about the slowest at reading characters among all my classmates. It is really challenging....so challenging that it is actually a bit discouraging. The other classes I'm taking all feel like they are the right level for me, but in this one I just constantly feel like the slow kid in class. We have to do two assignments each week in which we write very short essays. For one, we have to pick a newspaper article, write out all the unfamiliar vocabulary in the article (for me that's just about every word), write an article summary and then write out our opinion on the article. Finally, we have to think up two questions for the class. I am so slow at writing that it's a bit of a nightmare for me. Anyway, that's what I'll be working on for the rest of the weekend.

Here's a picture of a lunch Zoe and I shared earlier this week. One is a bamboo shoot dish, another is bok choy and mushrooms and the last one is eggplant, potatoes, green peppers and meat. It was delicious and it cost us about $4 canadian each.

Now for what I did Friday night: Zoe and I went to a shopping area in Wudaokou (the area where her old university is located). I spent way too much, but I had fun doing so. I got some new shirts, a pencil case, DVDs and other things. I also noticed a ton of yarn stores there, so at some point I'll probably go back to pick some up.

After all the shopping (plus Zoe got a haircut), we went for dinner at a really delicious Korean place. Zoe had been there in the past with her boyfriend and really enjoyed it. It was the perfect thing for a cold evening. We ordered a hotpot and a korean pancake.

Here I am with the hotpot just as it was starting to cook (the korean hotpot comes with everything already in it.
Here's the view of it all from above:
The delicious Korean pancake:
A nice picture of Zoe and an awful picture of me. Photo smile + awkward hunched posture = looking much larger than usual.
Here's the hotpot once it was all cooked and ready to eat. So delicious!
After eating, Zoe took me to the area "where the locals hang out." On the way we saw huge bundles of stuff for recycling. Zoe said people bring stuff they have collected (such as bottles, styrofoam, etc.) and drop it off here. They get paid based on the weight.

At one point in the evening we saw an old lady with a gigantic, heavy-looking pile of recyclables. It was sad seeing such an old woman having to do that kind of work. She was pedaling so slowly and really seemed to be struggling. It looked like so much work for probably a very small amount of money.
The area where the locals hang out was really interesting...based on some of the stares I got, it was obvious that not too many foreigners go there. I took a few pictures to give you an idea of what it looked like. Here's a street of shops selling everything from food (butchershops, groceries, restaurants) to clothing:
Here's me looking like a dorky tourist:
Another view of the street:
Mantou (steamed bread) for sale:
Sorry for the blur, but here's a butcher shop:

And that's it for my Friday night! It was fun and nice to get off campus to explore. I am so sick of homework!

Tanzhe Temple Part II

2008-10-21T01:13:00.000-07:00

Greetings to all! I am Zoe, Marie's friend and cohort at BNU. I've made a few appearances on this blog, most recently wearing sock-hats. First, Thank You, Marie for adding me as a contributor. Creating my own blog was a task that never went beyond, "I should." And it just makes good sense, on my part anyway, for me to piggyback Marie's efforts, as we are often together, and I am a lazy sort.

I just wanted to add a few more pictures from the trip to Tanzhe Temple:

东观音洞 East Guanyin Cave:

Main East Guanyin Temple from the exterior

Guanyin statue inside

Ribbons with the names of people wishing for sons

Entrance to the East Guanyin cave

Marie getting ready to go inside

As previously mentioned by Marie, we snuck down a path to see another Guanyin statue that was set in the middle of a pond.

Marie about to sneak down the path

Here is Marie skipping down the path, swinging her arms and all.

Marie posing with our gal pal, Guanny

Here is Guanny, being slightly amused, I think.

And here is an aside on the hike up to the Dragon well:

Along the hike there were a couple of caves such as the one shown above. It looks interesting doesn't it? However this one was filled with:

Trash

Marie making the most of the view at the top of Dragon Well

Other kinds of seemingly interesting routes that end in disappointment include a path near Tiger Cave.

The narrow, windy path set among boulders catches your eye. Beckoning, it promises to lead to something spellbinding...

You want to explore! You want to see what the other tourists are too tired to see. Your heart skips a beat as you approach the rustic archway...

A painted stone tiger, tosses his head back, rolls his eyes and laughs in your face.

Although it was disappointing at first to see a simple stone carving, it is precisely the awkward execution and common stone material (instead of say, marble) that is of interest, as these indicate a greater likelihood that this statue has been around for some time.

A random picture of people posing their son on a tree branch. There was some instruction for this kid to lie down, put his face on the branch, etc. This was an attempt to take a memorable and adorable picture. I admit, it did cross my mind to have a turn on the branch and ask Marie to take my picture, but I was too tired.

A wishing pond. People toss coins into the mouth of the fish.

A wishing stand. People attempt to toss coins to hit bells hanging in the holes of the coins. Each coin repres

And finally, when I think of Tanzhe temple -- I get the impression of persimmons...

Tanzhe Temple

2008-10-18T05:17:00.000-07:00

Went to a temple about an hour out of the city today (Saturday) called Tanzhe temple. I was happy to be going somewhere after a week of pretty much constant homework and just short walks to explore the area around Beishida. This was another school-organized trip, so it was free and I didn't have to do anything. I'm actually very glad because I'm not sure I would have made the trip to this temple otherwise...it would've been a bit of a hassle.

Anyway, the temple has apparently been in existence in some form since the 3rd century, although everything presently there was constructed much more recently.

Demonstrating what a stereotypical tourist I am one of the first things I noticed was the funny translation of "non-recyclable waste" as "Organism." One of the ladies working there was really confused when I took this picture and even though Zoe and I explained that I thought the English translation was cute, she didn't seem to understand or perhaps she just didn't approve. Hard to tell.

Another great translation:
Some guys working to fix up the roof tiles I think:
I've now forgotten what this neat water stream carving was...but I think Emperor Qianlong wrote a poem praising it? haha I'm not really sure though.

Incense:
Zoe entering the East Guanyin Cave. Inside were three Guanyin statues, but I didn't take any pictures (well I did until we saw the no photos sign). Each was labeled with the specific things the Guanyins could help you with. For example, one was for people wanting children. Another was for studying and business. People can come in and pray to the one best suited to their particular situation/problem. People can also purchase red ribbons/banners to hang on the cave walls. They just write their names and their specific wish on the ribbons. One of the Guanyins we saw was surrounded by little dolls, apparently symbolizing children. It was actually quite interesting and sweet.
After the cave we went down a path that was apparently off-limits, just to have a closer look at what was at the bottom. It was a pond and in the center there was a statue of Guanyin standing on top of a fish. She was holding a jug in one hand and a sprig of some kind of plant in the other. Unfortunately she was totally white, so the pictures didn't turn out.

We then started up a path to see the "Dragon Pool" which sounded very cool. About 15-20 minutes in we were exhausted, as it was mainly uphill. We asked some people coming down how much longer it would take. They said it was still pretty far away but well worth the trip, so we kept on going. Once we finally got there and saw the dragon pool we were a little disappointed....it had no water in it...and that was about all there was to see. I'm still kind of wondering if we missed something because the guy was so adamant that it was fabulous. Anyway, without further ado, here's the dragon pool:
After the pool hike we were both kind of hungry, so we bought a boiled egg each from the people at the stand in the picture below. I have never eaten such a delicious boiled egg! The deliciousness was enhanced by the fact that I was hungry, but it was still really good. I guess they boiled them, then cracked the shells a bit and boiled them again in salty tea water. So the entire egg was perfectly flavored and salty. And they only cost 1rmb each! I want another one as I write this.

People were throwing coins at these giant sized coins. There was a bell hanging inside each coin and it you hit it you apparently would get some good luck.
The view from one of the temple pavilions. The weather turned out to be quite nice. We saw lots of persimmon trees....man that is an odd looking fruit.

On the way out I stopped at some food stands to buy a few snacks. Unfortunately I hadn't seen Gary's blog stating that raw Haw tastes rather sour, so I bought some to try. They only cost 2rmb, but now I have to figure out a better way to eat them so I don't waste them. Note the tiny bite I took out of one of them...
I also bought some almonds (the white things in the picture are pistachios I bought in the past) for 6 kuai for half a jin (a chinese measurement... 1 jin = about 600g), as well as some dried, middle-eastern style dates that cost 15 rmb for one jin. The guy selling them told me that the dates are very good for your hair...I've never heard that before and I wonder if it's true.
In other non-temple news I have been knitting off and on when I have time (which has generally been rather limited recently). Here's the beginning of the toe of a sock....it's sitting on my rather hairy-looking fleece blanket, but oh well.
And I finally finished my alpaca shawl/scarf. It naturally rolls into a tube and I'm quite happy with it.
I've come down with a flu/cold and so I'm super tired and just planning to rest as much as possible for the next little while. I also have homework to keep on top of...I consistently feel like the slowest kid in school, but I'm trying not to stress since my grades here don't really matter at all. I have to prepare an oral presentation (with powerpoint slides if possible) about a Canadian holiday....anyone have any interesting ideas? I mean I know all our holidays, but they all seem a bit boring to me.

Friday Night and the 798 Art District

2008-10-11T20:23:00.001-07:00

On Friday night, happy to be finished a week of school, I first went for dinner with Zoe and for a walk to Wumei, the local walmart-type store we often check out for various sales and such. As we were walking back to the dorm I got a call from one of my American classmates. It was her birthday and she was going for dinner and then out with her classmates.

I can't remember whether I've mentioned it before, but there's a large number of Americans here on the EAP program, from California. They're able to drop the newspaper reading class (for which I envy them, given how much work it is) and they have extra classes they can sign up for. Most of them have been here since June, so they got to see the changes to the campus during the Olympics (the American Olympic team rented a huge chunk of the campus, and many of the students living here were kicked out for that time period). Apparently the campus was totally redone within about a month...the roads were all repaved, flowers were planted and grass laid, entire buildings were redone. I had heard this before from an Iranian student who was living in the same dorm as me but who was then kicked out during that time period...she said that the construction was so intense that it went on 24 hours a day and that she couldn't sleep well because it was so noisy. I'm thankful I avoided all of that crap. The Americans mentioned that they had been having a fabulous time prior to all of that: they regularly played basketball with local Chinese students, but then all the courts were closed and the vast majority of Chinese students had to leave campus for the Olympics. How crazy.

Anyway, back to Friday night, I went with them to a local pizza place called Kro's nest which is actually owned by a foreigner, an American I believe. It was expensive (I only had one piece, but because it was split amongst us all I still paid 50 rmb), but it was definitely decent pizza. The Kro's nest customers were all foreigners....mainly American or British students (there is another huge group of students here from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London). It was a bit odd to be in Beijing but to be surrounded only by other foreigners. The atmosphere was relaxed and cozy, so I can see why so many students would want to hang out there, though.

After pizza, some of the people were going out clubbing. I didn't join in since I was planning to get up early the next morning to meet Zoe and go to the 798 art district (more on that later). Still, I ended up going to a classmate's apartment (he is renting a place off-campus) along with about 5 other people, where we watched a movie called "The Visitor" starring the guy who played the father in Six Feet Under. I really enjoyed it and it was great to be in an actual roomy apartment. I was surprised by how large it was...way bigger than anything I could get for that price in Vancouver (I believe they pay about 3000 rmb a month for a 2 bedroom place). If I wasn't on a scholarship I would definitely have wanted to live off campus.

I got home at around 2:30am and then got up at 9am the next morning to go and meet Zoe. My roommate, Ruyun, also decided to join us. We went out for a breakfast of congee and then we took the bus to the art district (which is quite far away). When we first got on the bus it was insanely packed. We managed to squeeze in and I ended up standing over a guy in one of the seats. Because it was so crowded, the only place for my big shopping bag (not my purse) to go was right in his lap. Zoe pointed it out, saying, "I love how your bag is all over that guy, but it's totally normal." Hahaha. It's true, the guy didn't care at all.

After a long bus ride we arrived at the entrance. The 798 Art district used to be a huge factory, but it has now been converted into art galleries, cafes and other stores. It's quite cool and we were lucky to have perfect weather too.

Among the first buildings we passed had newly painted slogans on it. This one says, "Long live the great Chinese Communist Party" (the end of it is covered by the trees). I found a lot of the art galleries included imagery that evoked Mao and Communist Party.

Here's my roommate Ruyun:
I loved this giant man sculpture:
I'm not sure whether the tape and ladders were part of the sculpture or not. Either way, I liked this piece.

A couple watercolours (i think) that were sitting on the floor.

Melting man sculptures....I'm sure I have read before about who this artist is, but I don't recall anything about him at the moment.

Melting, drooling couple?
I really liked Wang Gangfeng's photographs. The one of the two boys looking amazed/excited that was on the poster was particularly cute and well done.

What amazing rooftops:
Black water fountain:
Upside down man:

Rainbow in the black water:
I don't know what's going on here, but the contrast between the little comical demon guys and the praying human hands is a bit strange.
This gallery was full of steel/metal sculpture. It wasn't really my thing, but the building itself was really beautiful.
There was a gallery of artwork from North Korea. I didn't take any pictures inside, but there was a weird assortment of artwork, including very socialist realist-style pictures, as well as animal pictures and more traditional looking Korean artwork. Very odd.
I liked these guys...I kept seeing them all over the 798 area:

Neat sculpture:
Squished face man:
And now for the most awesome sculpture of all....haha...the Transformer sculpture!
It was the only thing I took a picture with...because I am a nerd:
Finally, on our way out I saw this one....two soldiers (?) holding a big wad of cash aloft....done in the style of old propaganda posters.
After we had walked around quite a bit (but had barely scratched the surface of all the galleries...I will definitely have to go back and spend more time there) we were all exhausted and rather hungry. We went to a Shabu Shabu restaurant and each had a bowl of hotpot (I love the fact that we each had our own personal bowls). It only cost 28 rmb for a huge plate of beef, veggies, tofu, an egg, and noodles. However, previously when I've had hotpot it was usually with Scott and family. Often Scott will do the cooking and retrieval of food from the pot....I just sit and eat...so I realized again how crappy I am at picking up big hot things with chopsticks. I find it impossible to eat something like that without burning myself....or without looking like the awkward foreigner (which I already do anyways, but dropping stuff or dripping sauce everywhere doesn't help).

After we ate we walked over to the Ikea (which, it turns out, is nearby) and Zoe bought a lamp like mine, a rug and a few other things. We took a cab home and I spent the rest of the evening sitting drinking tea and surfing the internet.

Now it's Sunday and I had better get going on my homework. I have to write two short essays, plus one newspaper article summary and opinion thing. I wish there wasn't so much emphasis on writing here. I honestly do not aspire to write well in Chinese... just want to be able to speak it and read it comfortably. The school here is very much aimed at preparing students for the HSK, but I don't really care about that stuff, so all the homework can get a bit annoying.

Anyway, I guess I've used this blog for a bit of procrastination enough already this morning. I should try to get going on some real work before going back to classes tomorrow.

The Past Week

2008-10-09T05:01:00.000-07:00

This week has been rather uneventful, hence the lack of updates. On Sunday I went with Zoe to meet with one of the other Canadian CCSEP recipients. Unfortunately she was the only one who could come (some were out of town and others either didn't check their email or didn't reply). The dim sum place is huge and is open 24 hours. It's the building on the right in the picture with all the lanterns and the Chinese-style architecture. The big weird black building next to it is some sort of club or something...it definitely made for an odd contrast right next to the more traditional style dim sum place.
When we arrived we found that the entire second floor was in use for a wedding, so there was a waitlist for a table. The restaurant provided chairs, sunflower seeds and tea for the people waiting. The guy with the broom's job was simply to constantly sweep the area...very boring I'm sure.

While waiting, we saw two kids get into a fight. A boy and and a girl...perhaps siblings but we weren't sure...were playing. The girl was maybe 7 or 8 and the boy quite a bit younger. Maybe four or so? I guess the boy somehow poked the girl in the eye, perhaps intentionally but I wasn't watching them at that point. The girl was infuriated and started screaming insults at the boy. The boy's dad came over and had his hands on the boy's shoulders, but was just watching and kind of laughing as the girl angrily pointed at the boy and told him off. I couldn't understand everything she was saying, but it was obviously very mean and eventually the boy got so angry his face turned red and he lashed out and tried to kick the girl. The dad held the boy back and then picked him up and moved him away from the girl, so that he was now standing next to one of the dishes of sunflower seeds. The girl soon walked over and again began to point right in the boy's face and get angry at him. Eventually the boy got so angry he grabbed a fistful of sunflower seeds and tossed them at the girl. It didn't even phase her. Eventually the two were separated, but it was kind of amusing and bizarre watching the entire situation.

Once we got into the restaurant, the dim sum was really delicious! Unfortunately I didn't think to take any pictures inside. After we were finished I went home and just worked on homework for the entire rest of the weekend.

Other than schoolwork, I did make an outing to Ikea to buy a lamp and a few other things, but other than that I have just been really busy with my studies.

I did take a couple pictures of the dorm lobby. In this picture you can see the service desk (no one is there, but you can see all the time zone clocks behind it), and the guard who stands by the front entrance. There is someone there 24/7.
There is a little, overpriced shop to the left of the desk. The hallway to my room is on the left side of the shop and you can barely see it in the picture.
Today (Thursday Oct. 9) I went with Zoe to a shopping area by the Beijing Zoo. I bought two new pieces of clothing: a jacket and a comfy hoodie.
Here are some pics of the comfy hoodie. I paid 40 rmb for it:

Here's the jacket which I couldn't seem to capture properly in the pictures, but you still get the idea. I paid 68 rmb for it. I also tried on some super cute leather shoes that cost 200 rmb (no bargaining possible) but I didn't buy them....although I'm kind of regretting that now.

National Day and Other Activities

2008-10-03T05:32:00.000-07:00

On October 1st, the official national day, Zoe and I went for dinner in Wangfujing and then walked to Tiananmen Square to see the celebration. It was insanely busy on the subway there. Since Zoe previously lived in Beijing from Feb. 2008 to this past June, she could see all the major changes that had occurred in the area since she first moved to the city. She was really excited to see how nice everything looked.

The last time I was in China for a National Day was in 2002, in Shanghai. I remember going to Nanjing Lu and it being just as packed, if not more, with people celebrating the day. One difference, however, was that in Shanghai there were huge numbers of vendors selling inflatable toys, such as giant blow-up hammers and baseball bats. I remember being surprised to see so many young men and boys goofing around by bashing one another with those things. I didn't see anything like that this year in Beijing.

Anyway, here is what I had for dinner. It's supposedly Yunnan style chicken and musroom noodle soup. We got it from a big food court where you buy a card and then can go around to different stalls to try different types of food. It cost 14 rmb for a bowl and it was delicious.

Here is a view of the huge crowds on the street right after we emerged from the Wangfujing subway station. You can see that the air pollution was not very good that night. Whenever I used a flash I could see all the particles in the air. I want all the Olympics restrictions to return!
Me holding up the crowds:

Some of the building decorations we saw:

They had erected a huge display that summarized some of the major moments from the Olympics, particularly the achievements of Chinese athletes, but also athletes from other countries.
Here is a male gymnast jumping over my head. People looked at us a bit strangely for taking this shot.

Gah, I can't wait for my bangs to grow out a little more.

Here is one of the newly finished buildings. The big black rectangle is a gigantic screen.
The next bunch of pictures are all from Wangfujing's street food area. We passed by these food stalls on our way to Tiananmen. They are all selling snack foods and there were many people lined up to eat. Sadly, I was full from the noodles I ate before, so I just took pictures. I had to keep paying attention to my footing because the ground was so greasy and wet in places that it would have been very easy to fall flat on my face and man that would be very gross as well as embarrassing.
They will cook all of the stuff on these skewers for you:
I like the way the guy in the picture is staring back at me:

I'm pretty sure the thing on the right is some kind of stomach...cow stomach?
My favorite treats, tanghulu, candied hawthorn berries or other fruits. Delicious!!!! But I noticed that the ones they were selling here were much more expensive and less delicious looking than the ones sold near my school.

Starfish on a stick....Sadly I also saw seahorses for sale....they are incredibly endangered and so I was a bit upset, but there's not much I can do except to never buy them.

The Wangfujing area, as it is called, is named after a well (a jing) in the area. The well's location is still marked so I had a picture taken with it.

This is an underpass that leads to Tianamen Square, as well as to a subway station. It was insanely packed with people, some of whom were already lining up to catch the subway home.
Tiananmen Square crowds:
Yeeecccch, look at all that pollution. Other than the hazy air, though, it was all quite nice and the square was well-decorated.

A gigantic picture of Sun Yatsen (otherwise known as Guofu, or the Father of the Nation):
An advertisement by the Twins that we saw on a gigantic screen (outside of the Tiananmen Square area).
After checking out Tiananmen Square, we managed to find a number 22 bus stop at Qianmen that took us right back to our school. Happily I am getting better at fighting the crowds to get on board and I managed to get a seat for both Zoe and I. So we were able to sit and watch the city out the window as we made our way home. We even passed by what looked like a wedding district. There were stores advertising wedding photos, wedding dresses and wedding accessories. I'm sure they're probably rather expensive, but I will definitely go by there sometime soon to check it all out.

After I got home that night I was incredibly tired, so I just relaxed. Same thing with my day on Oct. 2nd. I just went for dinner with Zoe in the evening and went along with her to buy a heater for her room.

Today (Oct. 3rd), was also relatively uneventful. I really should have spent it doing some homework, but instead I went out in search of a good yarn store I read about on the internet. I didn't take any pictures from my day...I need to try to remember to take more, but I always seem to forget. Anyway, I took the subway to an area of town called Chaoyang. I got off at a stop called Dengshikou, which is on the newly constructed Line 5 of the subway system. And it's right next to a yarn store. The ladies there were quite helpful and I didn't feel like they were trying to overcharge me (but then again, who knows, I can be a little oblivious sometimes). They showed me camel yarn which is amazingly soft and doesn't seem as though it would be itchy. They also showed me a shawl-like thing with sleeves that they said would be very warm in the winter. So I bought enough yarn to make one. They sell it by weight here, instead of based on length. It cost me 196 rmb for three huge skeins of camel yarn...that's about 30 bucks Canadian, which is insanely cheap for the amount of yarn I got....so hopefully it's a reasonable price in Chinese money too. Here's a picture of my new yarn stash:

After the yarn store, I hopped on the bus to a relatively nearby store called the Bookworm. It's an English language bookstore/library. By the time I got there it was getting dark, so I just browsed around a little before heading to the subway and going home. I stopped on the way to pick up some dinner and soy milk for tea. And now I'm back here in front of my computer listening to music and possibly working up some motivation to do some homework. I am really enjoying picking a new destination each day and then making my way there....still, I would enjoy it more if Scott was here and we could explore together. Although, I'm sure he wouldn't want to go to yarn stores in China any more than he did in Canada. haha.

Tomorrow I will be going to the Yonghegong Lama Temple area to have dim sum with some of the other Canadian CCSEP recipients.