peony blossom: la chine blog

期末考试：口语

noreply@blogger.com (杏怡) — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 03:18:00 +0000

I BSed the second half because I don't think there was any point in preparing a 2-3 minute speech on something I can just talk about while normally conversing. The first half, however...

Half was written by me. Half by him. Guess who wrote what parts.

A：你怎么迟到了？
E：对不起我没想迟到可是我刚才喝太多了。
A：你在哪儿喝了？
E：我去公主坟那边的酒吧喝的.
A：为什么？
E: 我很渴所以我认为喝一个啤酒没有问题。我进去这个酒吧和买了一瓶啤酒。这时我的朋友也来了这个酒吧。所以我说“请坐，请坐，你可以作我的旁边.” 我和我的朋友聊了一会儿天，我说，”我得走了。可是我的朋友跟我说“喝多一点儿才走吧.” 所以我认为，再喝多一点儿也没问题。所以我喝了一瓶，又一瓶，又一瓶。
A：你一共喝了几瓶啤酒？
E: 我不知道，我忘了。可能吐了出来。我的朋友不停得买酒。然后有人打开了电视所以我们看看足球比, 赛巴塞罗那比皇马。
A：哪个队赢了？
E：巴塞罗那赢了，屋比零，巴塞罗那踢得很精彩。看完比赛，我去公共汽车站等车。因为很晚了，所以没有公共汽车了。只好跑步来见你。现在我很累。
A：你没问题吗？
E：没问题。你呢？等多了长时间？
A：其实，我也迟到了。我和男朋友分手了。
E：真的吗？
A：我男朋友背叛了我。看见他们... 可能因为我不会跟他上床。
E：上床是什么意思？
A：你真不知到上床是什么？
E：不知到。
A：上床的意思是... 两个人一起做爱... 是性交的意思。
E：啊，明白了。
A：横竖，我看见他们，看到前男朋友给那婊子买的新手袋。混帐。我们在一起两年，约会的时候从来没送给我东西。
E：他爸是李刚吗？
A：他爸不是李刚，可是他的条件不错。两年。而且，他跟一个丑婊子背叛了我。啊，丢脸了。他可能买了那个女人。
E：她像一个妓女吗？
A：买了一个新女朋友，何不再买三个女朋友，叫他们露丝, 格拉迪斯, 和罗斯玛丽。真受不了，我想杀死他。
E：在那刚去的酒吧，我可能看见你的前男朋友了。
A：去吧。带我去杀死他吧。

Cuz I'm so bad, bad, but I'm so good, good.
If any of the above is wrong, it's the café owner's fault for not correcting it correctly. We didn't want to say nonsense sentences. ^_^

期末考试：精度

noreply@blogger.com (杏怡) — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 16:17:00 +0000

95% yo. And 3.75 of the points taken off were from my essay that I half-assed because we have to use certain words and phrases and I really dislike having to use them in essays. It's not an essay, it's at very best a directed paragraph of a topic not of our choosing. Anyway.

Tomorrow at 8 AM (oh look less than 8 hours) is my 口语 exam. There are two parts: a 2-person dialogue and a single 2-3 minute speech on either the upcoming break or Beijing. Our prepared dialogue is not very clean. We're Americans.

I Don't Really Want To Go Home

noreply@blogger.com (杏怡) — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 10:23:00 +0000

Part of me is excited to go home and get out of this place. Part of me wants to stay here and explore more, learn more. But who am I kidding? The reality is I don't know what I want, so by staying in China I can stay blissfully ignorant to the real world. Because I will not be finding and marrying a rich Chinese guy.

I'll definitely come back. Maybe in February, or June, or September. I'll miss the people. I'll especially miss some people. But really, how well can we get to know each other when there's an essential language barrier? How many will miss my company, but not me? How many will miss me? What do I know about these people, what do they know about me?

We found a place in Beijing.

W.i.n.t.e.r.

noreply@blogger.com (杏怡) — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 09:38:00 +0000

There ~~are~~ have been frozen puddles on the ground. It's wintertime. I wonder how many accidents there will be because of the frozen puddles.

Being A Bear

noreply@blogger.com (杏怡) — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 16:49:00 +0000

Winter has finally arrived, ie. it's below 40 every day all the time. I haven't really gone anywhere or been out for the past month. I've become a bear. I love my room. Less than two weeks before finals and a flight back to America!

I regret not posting more. Specifically, not posting about all the things that happened following getting my Macbook back.

Public Transportation

noreply@blogger.com (杏怡) — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 11:26:00 +0000

Riding the public transportation in Beijing has made me realize two things: one, that China has some serious problems with metropolis overpopulation and two, that I really don't want to do this anymore. Especially not between 5:30 and 7:30 pm where everyone is literally pushing you as far as they can so you can all be stuffed in like sardines. Bad me, I forgot to never take public transportation in those two hours and it cost me some of my sanity. Being an American and brought up in America, I need some space. Maybe no privacy is why people are happier in come countries, but this is not privacy. This is just... so the new question now is, why do the Chinese push and shove their way to sacrificing comfort (which they are complaining about the whole way) just so they can get on the bus/train?

Tsinghua

noreply@blogger.com (杏怡) — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 11:29:00 +0000

I got into Tsinghua University to study Chinese for a semester. I thought I wanted to go, but now I'm not sure.

Tailor-Made Clothing

noreply@blogger.com (杏怡) — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 15:58:00 +0000

I am having two tailor-made 大衣s made. One is a (hopefully) replica of a red swing coat designed by Vivienne Westwood. The other is a Dorothy Perkins-esque military coat in a beautiful purple and green check I came across while looking at fabrics. They are costing me an arm and a leg (in China prices, of course), so hopefully they are completely worth it.

王府井

noreply@blogger.com (杏怡) — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 14:31:00 +0000

I ate two fried scorpions today.

I've been lazy, yes. Haven't posted. But everything has been recorded. Just, badly recorded.

Creepy Chinese Security Guy

noreply@blogger.com (杏怡) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 07:20:00 +0000

One night whilst getting 串儿 right outside the gate of the university, I decided to be nice, benevolent, and ask the nighttime security guard if he wanted a skewer. Cuz, I mean, he was all by himself there and it was around 1 AM and really who talks to security guards? At first he is suspicious but then he agrees and says I can get him whatever skewer I want. I come back with a 羊肉串儿 and he asks me why I gave him this skewer. I tell him simply because he's out there by himself opening gates for us. He then asks me if he can have my number, to which I give him a -_- really look and say bluntly, "我不要给你我的手机号码" and walk back the steps to the dorm.

The Great Wall

noreply@blogger.com (杏怡) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 07:01:00 +0000

October 30, 2010

I went to the Great Wall today. It was uneventful, apart from me being too cheap to purchase a cable car ticket (cheap way to "climb" the wall) and therefore having to climb a small mountain to get to the wall. and then being too tired to climb to the top of that one area in the distance that's really far because half the time was spent climbing the stairs to get to the wall to "climb." More like, walking the Great Wall.

Midterm

noreply@blogger.com (杏怡) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 06:38:00 +0000

汉语：91%
口语：91%
听力：94%

Indignant. I swear the teachers grade differently for foreign-university affiliated white people.

Beijing Without A Computer

noreply@blogger.com (杏怡) — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 02:28:00 +0000

Emotional Stuff

10/15
I chatted with Jinwoo for about 4 hour straight, about Korean vs American culture and naming male kids with the same character, about liking homework, about his 谢谢 rock and Tigger, about different ways to eat ramen and a whole slew of other stuff. It took 4 hours because it was all in broken Mandarin, Korean, Cantonese and English. The meaning of 大关系, which i know now to actually be 大件事… I hope he enjoyed it; i know i did, and maybe this is the kind of conversation both of us likes. Maybe. I guess i expect men to express their boredom right away, or be able to sense they're bored, but Korea may be different…

10/17
i washed my clothes… and washed some of them by hand. washing clothes by hand means it takes a while for them to get clean. it's kinda rustic. old day, way back when work, and i kinda like it. i must have been feeling ok because i didn't write a depressing note on the ipod.

10/18
i went to 阜成门 with andrew because he wanted to visit this supercool castle like place. chinese malls are full of cool/cheap stuff and bargaining and delicious cheap food. the problem is, for a prissy girl like me, cool/cheap stuff means bad or subpar or fake quality. but in any case, i bought the mahjong set i was so bent on getting since coming to china, and only got it for 100k, or about $15. afterwards we went to the castle likee place. it was a mall decorated on the outside with chinese mythology characters mixed with zebras and noah's ark stuff and the zodiac characters and christmas characters like jingle bells and christmas wreaths and people-sized nutcrackers. supercheesy, but the stuff inside was expensive. it was interesting to look at, though. afterwards we made banana bread with a mini oven and went to the english corner to chat in english with chinese english education majors (yeah. english education in china. i don't know, man.) of course, while everyone asked the white people their for their phone numbers, no one asked me for mine. because i'm ABC. i don't count. but afterwards, we went bowling at the bowling alley near the school. young chinese people are retardedly inept at bowling. it was almost comical.
since it had been raining the previous night, it was fucking freezing. it couldn't have been much higher than 35-40 degrees fahrenheit. and to think, it only gets colder. i'll probably have to ask chinese people to help me pick out a good, huge winter jacket. otherwise, i'll freeze come winter. i also don't have shoes fitted for winter, i think. converses are made for like, california.

10/19
today i went with another guy (i have no girl friends. well, i'm starting to have girl friends. more to come) to a mall next to sanitarium to get his sister athletic shoes for her birthday, and send them back to america. an interesting guy, similar to two people i know. has an air of arrogance and doucheness, but all in all he's not a bad guy. just overly confident and a bit clingy. afterwards we went to this restaurant called the blue frog, where the food was f-ing expensive for china prices. i found it a bit admirable that he just went and sat down without pondering how expensive it was, something that i've started to do simply because everyone is stingy with their money here. we had a pretty long discussion about his and my personality, starting with my telling him that i liked that he didn't think about how much it would cost, but rather how good it would taste. also an american, when he saw cold stone, the guy flipped and bought a 50k waffle cup of ice cream, so yeah like 7 bucks. it was interesting to watch, and overall a fun guy to be with. too bad another guy warned me as i was leaving: "be careful, make sure he doesn't try to rape you."
afterwards i wanted to go to unique to buy some of their heat tech garments to try. they seem very good quality and so far have worked well. they are also extremely formfitting, so any bulge shows.
when getting back to the dorm, i thought about custom made clothing and wondered if it was better for me to just spend 500-700 on a coat made exactly to my specifications rather than a coat off the rack for 200 less? i thought about it...

10/20
i skipped my first class to sleep in.
after having lunch with classmates i was feeling bored and restless so i went to get dumplings, then went back to the dorm to see if anyone was in the cafe. the guy i was with yesterday, his uber christian friend and the central asians were in the cafe. i decided to perform an experiment. i was wearing the heat tech turtleneck i had bought the other day, and sat down, then slowly got up and took my jackets off to reveal the turtle neck. then sat back down. then got back up and walked to the counter to ask the guy behind it if he had vinegar. then, walked back. out of the corner of my eye i saw mohammed watch me with steady eyes. so predictable. and then kept staring at me. then, after about 5 minutes, got up, bought a bottle of water, and left without saying a word to his friends who were laughing at the chess game that was going on between two of them.
later that night when i went to dinner with other people and a girl named joy, one of the guys said "nice sweater." thing is, now that i know / am aware of when a guy says something like that, it means something more along the lines of "damn girl, __insert something sexual__" rather than the female meaning which is more fashion based and not carnally based.
anyway, i met this girl named joy, who is someone the guy who commented on my sweater had met online. i didn't know those things existed. yeah. i tried to strike up small talk / conversation with her, and she was pretty receptive. thing is, i couldn't tell what kind of person she was. she had dark skin, she looked southern asian, but finally revealed that she was actually Chinese and just didn't like speaking chinese unless she had to. we exchanged numbers and promised to call to hang out and stuff.
this was the night i couldn't sleep. i couldn't sleep and didn't sleep until 6:30 and woke up at 7:30 pissed off and totally tired and wanting to sleep more. but i had class and had already missed a class. so i went.

10/21
class was horrible. the portuguese girl has finally realized that i'm not a fan of her and thus decided to be wan and lackluster and a bit rude to me. a teacher noticed that she was being a bit rude and decided to intervene. quite frankly, i was glad to have an intermediate.
after class, i decided to go shopping for a birthday present for jinwoo.

10/22
my fake real leather mulberry's clasp broke. the only thing i could think was: this is the result of you buying something fake. fake fendis, man. fake fendis.
I also got my computer back today. From a friend of my mom's boyfriend. While I was out with some people I met through a friend who met one of them through the internet. And we went to eat Russian food. And then went to a bar frequented by the foreign business people of Beijing. And then went to the very first club I visited in Beijing.

Guys are easily interested in a girl. Sheesh you men.

One-Day Adventure in Beijing

noreply@blogger.com (杏怡) — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 22:47:00 +0000

The quest to find cross-stitching patterns for my auntie.
3:15 Left the dorm and go to the bus stop to take the bus to 公主分.
3:50 Still on the 74 bus. Stayed in the same spot because of traffic for 30 minutes. I counted.
4:00 Finally arrived. Walked down the steps to the subway, and bought a delicious, juicy weiner on a stick on the way.
4:10 Boarded the 1 train to　国贸. It was pretty empty at first, but then it got fuller. I noticed that a lot of the youth don't give up their seats to the elderly even though they are standing there waiting for a seat. Culture change? This "Pretty Women" show started playing on the TVs inside the sub. It was disturbing. Then, it got really crowded, so everyone started pushing. Chinese people smell.
4:40 Arrived. Took the 28 train to the bus stop nearest where the shop, 本色十字绣, was supposedly at. As I passed by a shop that looked similar to it, I noticed that it was empty, closed down, or being remodeled. Uh oh.
5:05 To make sure, I got off the bus and walked back to the shop. It closed down. I took 2 hours to get to that damn place and it closed down. But, I wouldn't have known. There was no number I could have called to make sure. As a result, I bought a delicious 1元包from a random hole-in-the-wall. Nom.
5:19 Boarded a train to 三里屯, because I had nothing else to do until later. While I was walking to the station, I noticed a distinct difference in the modern versus traditional (sort of) Beijing. The left side was all new, modern style: skyscrapers, glass, big facades with bright LCD screends. THe right side was red brick, older (although not totally old) and smaller apartments with the air conditioning units outside. A dormmate and I once compared Beijing to New York: Chaoyang district is Manhattan (UES?), Haidian is like Brooklyn, and Dongcheng is like lower Manhattan. If such a comparison is apt.
5:40 Next, I looked for this French bakery called Epicerie. It was supposed to be on 三里屯路, but I never found it. Getting frustrated, I decided to just blow some cash on food at the Village shopping center, because that was 2 failures in one late afternoon. I ended up getting a Wondermilk frozen yogurt (quite yummy), and searched around for a place I could get real food.
6:21 After walking around almost the entire southern perimeter, I settled on getting MangoBox, but then saw a Macanese restaurant, Macau Taste, next to it. So I got a pork sandwich and three Portuguese egg tarts to go. Nom. I realized that it was getting late, and I was going dancing at 8, so I started back for the subway back to school.
6:30 On the subway back, I saw a man wearing a gray trench coat with skinny flat fronts. It looked impossibly chic (fashionable, as a male word). I started drowsing. At one point I feel asleep so that bag holding the egg tarts slipped out of my one, yielding finger. People looked at me. I stared back, willing into their minds, "You've never fallen asleep on the subway standing up?"
7:20 Off the train, waiting for the bus from the subway to campus. It's a journey.
7:28 Caught the 658 bus to campus
7:38 Got off the bus
7:40 Got back to campus. 20 minutes to change.
7:58 Changed everything in less than 20.
8:00 Paul was already waiting in the lobby for me. The Salsa Story.
2:30 Got back to the dorm, and passed by the 丳儿 couple. Despite the temptation to buy some delicious skewers of meat, I went back to my room and took a shower. THen pondered getting some.
3:00 At Frank's nudging, I went back down to get some 丳儿 only to discover they were packing up and leaving. Damn. Oh well. The Big Bang Theory is awesome.

Visiting Teacher

noreply@blogger.com (杏怡) — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 22:37:00 +0000

刘老师：请进，请进！
大卫：老师，您的家真干净啊！
刘老师：是吗？来，坐这儿吧。
大卫：这是给您的礼物。
刘老师：哎呀！你们太客气了。
大卫：这是我们的一点儿心意，请收下。
刘老师：谢谢你们。你们喝什么？茶还是果汁儿？
大卫：随便，什么都行。
玛丽：我喝茶。
刘老师：路上顺利吗？
玛丽：不太顺利，车上有点儿挤。
刘老师：你们一般坐公共汽车还是打车？
大卫：我喜欢坐公共汽车，空调大巴很舒服。
玛丽：我喜欢坐地铁。
。。。。。。。。。。
刘老师：你们饿不饿？中午在家吃饺子，怎么样？
大卫：太好了，我最喜欢吃的就是饺子。
刘老师：你们会包吗？
玛丽：不太会，我们试试吧。

The translation in the back of the book...

Professor Liu: Please, come in.
David: Professor, your home sure is clean.
PL: Is that so? Thank you. Come and sit down here.
David: This is a present for you.
PL: wow, thank you. You guys are too kind.
David: This is just a token of our regard. Please accept it.
PL: Thank you. What would you (guys) like to drink, tea or fruit juice?
David: It doesn't matter to me, anything's fine.
Mary: I'll drink tea.
PL: Was it a smooth trip?
Mary: Not too smooth. It was a bit crowded on the bus.
PL: Do you guys prefer taking the bus or hailing a cab?
David: I like taking the public bus. The air-conditioned buses are very comfortable.
Mary: I like taking the subway.
PL: Are you hungary? What do you think about (us) eating dumplings for lunch?
David: It's great. My favorite food just happens to be dumplings!
PL: Do you (guys) know how to make dumplings?
Mary: Not so good. Let's have a try.

Uhhhhh...
For anyone who reads this blog who is Chinese, I'm 99% sure this translation is a piece of shit. "Thanks, you guys are awesome?" Guys? Hungary? Let's have a try? This book was written by fobs, one, and it seems to be geared toward Americanos, or just plain ol' 外国人, two. The female characters are submissive and the men have massive yellow fever. I know it's possible for a white boy's favorite food to be dumplings but it feels too forced. Like it's trying to promote Chinese culture so they coincidentally, or strategically, made the American's (the character David is an American) favorite food dumplings. I don't know anyone in the world whose favorite food is dumplings.

MeiMei

noreply@blogger.com (杏怡) — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 06:59:00 +0000

I saw the cute receptionist (known as MeiMei or XingXing but who knows what her real name is... not allowed to tell us, maybe) off work today, in normal clothing. What an adorable sight she was; also, she dressed in black and gray. Personal plus to me. Anyway, later that night she had the night shift, so I was going out I noticed that she was not wearing her bun net. All the female receptionists with hair that can be put in a bun must wear that blue bun net with the velvety bow on top. I informed her of this, "You're not wearing your *gesture gesture*?" A resounding no. I asked her wouldn't her boss get mad? "My boss already told me off." "He already went home, didn't he." "Yep." What a badass.

One Month in Beijing

noreply@blogger.com (杏怡) — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 18:50:00 +0000

I had a test Thursday, so I studied Wednesday to prepare for it. As I was sleeping, however, a mosquito found its way into the room and decided to try and penetrate me. Which was not cool. Because I ended up only getting four hours of sleep, and ended up taking a blanket to the lobby to sleep on the dirty sofas, then called my roomie to open the door cuz I couldn't find my key when I was trying to leave.

The actual tests went well. I'm 90% sure I got at least 90%. My speaking teacher gave me a Snickers bar for my birthday because I told her I was going back to America for my birthday. She is adorable.

When I got back, new roommates moved again. As a list of the roommates Caroline and I have had…

1. Indonesians
2. Kazakhs
3. German/Thais
4. Italians.

Yes, my new roommates were Italian, and why do I say "were?"

Because, I finally moved rooms! About an hour and a half after arriving, I got a call from the front desk saying room had opened up for 2-person room. Upon further inquiry, however, I realized it was not for two people but rather, a 2-person room with one occupant. I had to choose. I decided to check out the digs first. New roomie is Italian, tiny, and hates smoking. Bingo. New roommates were smokers… I smelled it on them. So, I packed up my stuff, said a tearful goodbye to Caroline, put my name on the list again in case space opened up for an actual 2-person room so we could live together (so we could practice our Canto together), and moved in 3 floors down to a room right next to the elevator and kitchen. Too bad the floor is full of white people who only hang out with white people.

Then, I went out with some classmates to "celebrate," and found myself back in my room yet again. It's kind of nice, being normal and quiet. At the same time, I feel so scared that I will not be able to handle it again like I did before. Then again, that made me seek out more people. I should start doing my "talk to one new person a day" goal again.

Monthly Test

noreply@blogger.com (杏怡) — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 15:59:00 +0000

Tomorrow I have a monthly test for everything I have learned thus far in class. More than anything, all I can think about is bringing stuff back and taking stuff over to China. On an academic note, I seem to be doing well in class. On a social note, I don't have many people I would call friends. I seem to be a maneater, or something. On a personal note, I feel a little more in tune with myself than I did before. So, that's good. But we'll see. We're only one month in. 加油加油！

All By Myself

noreply@blogger.com (杏怡) — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 14:30:00 +0000

Today I decided to go to Vegan Hut for food, and to study. I texted one friend to see if he wanted to go, and of course, got a resounding "Even if I was free, which I'm not, I wouldn't go. Gross." Expected answer. On my way out, I saw that friend who proceeded to question as to why I was going to eat vegan food. His friend whose name I don't know and who doesn't know my name asked me if I'm going alone. I say yes and he repeats the question. Then, some other people I know are walking up the steps to the dorm and they ask me what I'm doing. I tell them where I'm going and where it is and the question is the same: "You're going there? By yourself? That far?"

Yes, and here is why. After some incidences with other people, I have abandoned my search for someone who appreciates the same things that I do. Most people cannot fathom why I'd travel so far to eat vegan food. Most people cannot fathom why I'd even want to eat vegan food, or to even travel so far to eat. And those who I have taken with me on my excursions to find new places in Beijing... well, I've ranted before. Rather than drag someone into my perceiving, intuitive stupor, I've just decided to go at it alone. That way I don't have to worry about someone not liking it, I don't have to worry that it's too expensive for someone else, I don't have to worry that someone will get tired of traveling so far just to get food.

I probably sound crazy to a lot of people, but the fact is that although going out like this is rather lonely, it beats being hella stressed out from all the pressure you feel when you go with someone who isn't enjoying it as much as you do, and expects you to cater to their needs. We know by now that I am no longer trying to do that. So, I piss people off. I'm looking at you, Portuguese girl.

By the way, this site is awesome.
http://thegrandnarrative.com/

More Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (杏怡) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 07:54:00 +0000

This is the 先生 I buy skewers from almost every day. At first, his food gave me constant diarrhea, but now it is no more. He knows me now cuz I buy from him so much ^_^

Zsuzsi (Hungary), Ana (Portugal), Danbi aka 金秋 (Korean)

Hurr.

My humble digs.

成老师, my 汉语 teacher. Look at her handwriting...

谈老师, my 口语 teacher. She is beauteous, 5'8", and only 25.

80% of the class eating lunch together before afternoon class.

I Cracked

noreply@blogger.com (杏怡) — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 12:59:00 +0000

Yesterday, I cracked and went on a hunt for honest-to-goodness food. I looked up this small chain store, Lohao City 乐活城, whose stated mission was to provide the people of Beijing with good, whole food that hadn't been spoiled or muddled with. Essentially, a Whole Foods in Beijing. Or something like it. In my quest, I was becoming rather disgruntled as the directions given to me were totally wrong; I wasn't finding it and everyone I asked in my stilted Chinese said they had never heard of a "乐活城." So, I walked on and passed by this cafe named "Jing Fun Veggie Cafe." I thought if anyone knew where this place was it would be the people working in a vegetarian cafe. Sure enough, they told me exactly where it was. Since I already had passed though, I decided I would come back for dinner.

Lohao City was ... much smaller than I imagined it would be, but it carried some really nice stuff, stuff that I would have bought... if I had a kitchen with equipment in China. Raw cashews, frozen sorbets and fresh veggies, tons of different kinds of grains, beans and dehydrated veggies... and all in expensive-for-China-but-cheap-for-America prices. I ended up buying a couple packets of freeze-dried fruit and mushroom chips.

While the dinner at Jing Fun was good, I wouldn't consider it by any means an awesome dinner. The pasta was kind of bleh, and a little rich considering all the food I've been eating (rich and oily). I got a free cup of delicious bean soup, though. And this cheese plate which I thought was cheese... but turned out to be more of a cheese salad, four different kinds of cheese tossed w/ olive oil, olives and baby tomatoes. Which I devoured slowly because I've gone almost a month without cheese.

Then, I got home and systematically ate myself through the freeze-dried fruit and mushroom chips. Hm... I wonder what that means. The problem with freshness in Beijing is that if you buy fruit, you pretty much have to eat it the same day. Even if you leave it in the fridge, it spoils within the day. This makes me feel that it's not really fresh and it makes me not want to buy it again (bad experience with a banana). A bit of a problem. Anyway.

Today, I went on a similar expedition, except since it was further I employed use of SMS and invited a few people to go. Two people ended up going with me, and my roommate (who decided to stay back and do her hw cuz she's Asian like that) asked me to please please get her some bread. Salty bread, because for some reason in China all the bread has this sweet taste to it.

After walking down the embassy street for what seemed like an eternity, we finally made it to Comptoirs de France, this small chain bakery/patisserie offering sandwiches, breads and sweets. And because I'm a spoiled rich American girl who compared it to American prices and deemed it supercheap even by American standards, I decided to purchase 135元 worth of stuff... about $20.00. Which, considering what I bought, came out to be about American price. Which, in the state that I was (craving anything but Chinese food) was perfectly reasonable. My companions didn't think so, though, and one started complaining about the price while taking her wallet out to pay for her sandwich. Which was half-covered by another friend who had a scholarship that gave him $3000.00 to spend on whatever the hell he wanted.

A baguette, a bag of chouquettes, six macarons, a cannelle and two meringues later, we left in search of the second place I wanted to visit; Boucherie Michel, whose establishment boasted meats, sausages, cheeses, wines, the like. We found it and discovered that holy crap, the price of cheese was severely inflated in China; it was more expensive than in America. But, of course, I bought a wedge of Mimolette cheese (I wanted Camembert cuz roomie is a fan but they didn't have it), which happened to be the most expensive cheese there. Go figure.

Within a timespan of about one hour, I spent close to 200元, 20% of my allotted monthly salary in China. For which, my mother will not be happy about, because she wanted me to stay within 1000元 so in October she wouldn't have to dish out anything extra. But I'm happy. My stomach's happy. I can go back to eating Chinese food again. Everyone's favorite dish here is steamed broccoli. Infer why.

On Karaoke

noreply@blogger.com (杏怡) — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 04:12:00 +0000

It does seem a bit ironic, doesn't it? You fill yourself with activities to not feel lonely but inevitably feel sharp pangs of loneliness. Hoards of people go to KTV, with their friends, co-workers and lord knows who else. In a room of 16 people, it's practically a suite. A hotel. You're having fun, but as soon as someone starts singing a song you don't know, you feel left out. Bored. And then you decide that you're not having that much fun after all, and leave. And others start trickling because they realize the same thing; karaoke is competition, and unless you really love to sing those songs or unless you're just a really benevolent person who is just happy being around people who seem to be having fun, it's an isolating activity. Especially if you have four languages being sung.

Beijing Rain, Part III

noreply@blogger.com (杏怡) — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 08:55:00 +0000

OK, nevermind. The weather changed from 80-something degrees to 62 degrees in a span of 8 hours. I am not ready for this weather. Especially if this is the average autumn temperature outside. I need to go to UNIQLO, fast.

Beijing Rain, Part II

noreply@blogger.com (杏怡) — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 08:15:00 +0000

Beijing Rain over the course of one day reduces the city's overall temperature by at least ten degrees celsius. IE) I can wear my awesome clothes out now. Yessss.

Also, the Germans are leaving. Caroline and I both hope that no other new random roommates occupy the top bunks. We like our fridge full of our food and our bathroom undirty. Since it looks like we're not gonna get a 2-person room. Damn Asians. At least they're cool when you talk to them... the young ones at least.

Beijing Rain

noreply@blogger.com (杏怡) — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 15:54:00 +0000

I would have loved to have been all "singing in the rain," but my brain kept shouting "acid rain!" at me. Also, rain makes you place certain things into a lower priority category. Such as homework. And not drinking and playing beer pong. And being ok with someone you barely know touching you and kissing you like a camel. It also makes you less prone to being a wuss, therefore causing you to stop the kiss cuz it was sucking, grab your things and shut the door behind you.

On the flipside, 五道口 is the place to be to meet other college folk who are international students... because all the Chinese students care about (the ones who care, at least) is studying and getting into a grad school abroad.

Rain also makes taxi drivers hate you, no matter who you are and where you want to go.