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.
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