It goes on

What a week.

We started our one-on-one classes, one-on-two classes, I started my painting class on Wednesday, and Ping Pong class on Thursday.

In painting, our laoshi taught us how to mount paintings. The added bonus: he gave us all a painting of his to start off. Mine went well, except someone kinda ripped it off from where it had been hung up the next day, so now it's wrinkled.

At first I thought it was a mountain with some flowered hills in the foreground. Tan Qing told me it's actually a basket of peaches - something you give to older people for longevity. You can see mine in the picture with the guy.

Goodness, I think the colors are gorgeous. He told us if we have perfect attendance then at the end of the semester we'll all get a real painting by him. I'm too excited.

On Wednesday, for our language practicum my class went out to eat.

Here we are! Chinese food remains too good to be true. (also, here's a reminder that if you want a bigger version, you should just click on the picture).

Last night, we went to Laoshe Teahouse. Three stories of teahouse, it was gorgeous. We sat down and had some 'little eats' and watched some performances. A shadowboxer, a sample of Peking Opera, and a legitimate throat singer.

You know what's cool? Throat singing. I'm not sure if you can hear my giddy giggling in this, but I have wanted to see some throat singing for a long time. Then it came out of nowhere.

Arianna, in this picture, has her hand on one of the types of teacups we learned about. There are three pieces - the top, symbolizing heaven, the bottom, representing the earth, and the cup, standing for the people.

I don't like green tea at all. I've always been a fan of tea, but man, how could anyone enjoy drinking real green tea. Regardless of this, I had about seven cups. I was thirsty, and rarely here do I drink actual water. It tastes like burnt plastic. I'm not sure if you can see in the pictures, but the china's decor makes use of the Peking Opera makeup. I'm really digging that face paint right now. Maybe I'll be able to actually see some opera soon - who knows?

Something about yesterday was just excellent. It was a beautiful blue day, and I may have finally acclimatized. By that I mean, I wore one pair of pants, and no winter coat, and felt good. It was like I was on vacation from Beijing.

I felt some kind of language break through, too. I was able to make jokes over dinner, Tan Qing and I had serious bonding time - things went well.

Today we went to Xi Dan, which is basically the shopping district of Beijing. We took Line One on the subway... which turns out to be what people are talking about when they talk about the crowds of Beijing.

Holy cow, man. First of all, waiting in line isn't really a thing that's done here, I've noticed, so people cut in front of EVERYTHING. If you're buying ice cream, if you're hailing a cab, if you're trying... to get on the subway. People will push you.

I was thinking about this as we were already squished just waiting for our subway to come. I thought, if Rebecca and them get on the subway, and I don't, what do I do? I don't have a phone, and I didn't really know how to get to Qi Dan. Of course, had I not been able to get on the subway, I'd just bail and go home, which I'm sure I could have done, but it would be a very stressful experience.

Then our sub came and I had no choice but to get on. I'm not kidding, with the force of people pushing me, I could've lifted my legs and I'd still get on that subway. Or maybe I'd die instead.

And people just kept pushing. Some dude, I'm pretty sure he didn't want this to be happening, had his hand all UP on my pants pocket. I was so stuck that I had t-rex arms. I couldn't stop laughing. I'm a huge tourist here, so I would've had no problem taking a picture of the mayhem, but that wasn't possible. It simply wasn't possible. Everyone kept shouting, "TIAN-A!" Which translates to 'heaven' with a particle to soften it. So basically, "OH MY GOD!" People kept looking over at our group, as if wondering how we were doing in it. Then I said, "Now we'll all become good friends." And the subway laughed together! That was cool. Apparently Line One is always crazy, because it goes to Tiananmen, Xi Dan, etc.

Xi Dan was wild, man. First we went to a gigantic book store. It was five or six floors, maybe more, and ridiculously crowded. Half a floor was devoted to the study of English, and that made me sad. I'm not sure why. But I took advantage of that and bought a volume of book called "The most beautiful English," which is a collection from Bacon, Emerson, some other folks, printed in English and Chinese. I'm actually really excited for that.

After that, we went to a mall. It looked kind of like your standard four-story mall in America, only it was totally unclear where one store began and another ended, and some of the stuff was really, really cheap. But you know what, I think Chinese cheap is way cooler than American cheap. What I'm saying is, even the crappiest stuff there is at least exotic enough for me to not poo-poo it.

I haggled! I bought a bag for 40 kuai, it was originally 130. That was neat. Though the woman spoke really quickly, my impatience translated just fine. "80 kuai, you said? That's not very good." "But with this bag you can do this and this and this!" "When would I do that?" "I want it for 40 kuai." "40 kuai?! Tian-a! This bag is too good." "That's okay, thanks anyway." (feigned walking away) "COME BACK I'LL GIVE YOU 40." I wonder how low she was allowed to give it to me for. Anyway, about $6 isn't so bad for a huge bag. Hah!

After that mall, we meandered around. We ate some street food outside. I still don't really know what I ate. I think it was just... the thickest noodles I've ever eaten in my life, with some spices. We bought them then went and found this sort of alley to eat it in. Some places in Beijing are too odd to me. The fact that some people spend a lot of their life in a little corner of Beijing, which is an entire world in itself, is something I think about from time to time, but I'm not sure for what purpose. I've really liked Beijing so far in that it just seems to work, I'm not sure how, because a lot of things don't seem planned very well, but it's bustling on its own. No need for cross walks to be followed, no need for any area to be designated for any specific purpose, be it residential or business or loitering, it's just space. Hard to explain.


We walked into basically.. a Chinese specialty food store. I sampled this one kind of candy that was basically just compacted cake batter with peanut flavoring. I spoke to some women selling tea - I bought rose tea, and then this one type of tea that you don't really drink, you just put the flowers in water and they bloom. Then I think it acts as a perfume? I wasn't clear if you drink it or not afterward, but I bought it anyway for 5 kuai. I also bought rose tea. It's nice having conversations with people and not being scared anymore. (in English) "This is Jasmine tea." (in Chinese) "Jasmine tea?" "You speak Chinese?" "Not really." "How long have you been here?" "About.. a month now." "You speak Chinese well!" "I wish!" (I hear it's very common for people to tell you you speak Chinese well without having heard you say... anything). "So... I love the way Jasmine tea smells, but I hate the taste." "Hah! It is a little sour. What about green tea?" "I think green tea's a little weird

Then we went to Joy City. Again, holy crap. Now, this was definitely the most commercial part of Beijing I've been to. Yeah, it had plenty of recognizable American places, and then it had plenty of Chinese stores I've never heard of that had the most beautiful clothing I've ever seen, though this was all too expensive. And it was absolutely huge. I think it was over ten floors, and took up about a block. The restaurants in it were all beautiful, the colors used in the clothing were nice, the arcade was wild, I don't know. Malls overwhelm me a lot of the time, but this was just an interesting experience.

We went into their version of FYE. Here's how you know that I still don't realize I'm living in China: in the "international" film section I kept wondering, "where are the international films?!"

Now, if things go well, I plan to watch "My aunt's post modern life," a film I've never seen nor heard of.

Thanks for listening.