Blogs from Central Business district , Chaoyang district, Beijing, China, Asia

On Sunday we went to eat at a Japanese place, and on Monday we somehow managed to stay out late again in the pleasant setting of Hohai park. It was a long way from where we all lived, but worth the trip- it consisted of a large lake laid out in a figure of 8 surrounded by bars and restaurants whose lights lit up after dark and glimmered out across the water. On the way back from the park we discovered a gigantic screen had been set up on the square near where we lived, upon which was being projected some pictures of London and various Chinese olympic stars (of which this year there have been many). Seeing foreigners taking such a keen interest one of the women running it bounded over and explained. Apparently it ... read more

Well, as the title indicates, this week I ate a Scorpion. After school, looking for something to do, me and some classmates set off on the metro to Wanfujin, where we found between the Starbucks and the shopping malls a mass of picturesque alleyways, lined with stalls selling all kinds of exotic food. And by exotic, I mean exotic. Starfish, sea horses and beetles. Probably somewhere there was the little Mermaid, but we didn’t see her. And like I say, Scorpions. Little ones, the size of a ten pence coin. We bought a skewer of three and had one each. They had been dipped in batter and tasted like Cumin. This week again has been non-stop. Practically every evening somebody I know from the school has come up with some kind of activity. On Tuesday ... read more

There is no way around this. I was nervous on the flight. The food seemed to taste like cardboard in my mouth (though in all fairness most airline food does anyway), and I couldn't sleep. Though again in all fairness, I can't do that anyway either. So to distract myself I put on some podcasts about Chinese history. On the onscreen map the plane hurtled across Central Asia. Finally in the mid morning the plane landed, diving through what looked like a layer of thick cloud and touching down in Beijing Airport. The imagined hastle of getting through customs turned out to be effortless, and soon I found myself walking out through the Arrivals gate with my bags and £100 of changed RMB in my pockets, feeling ready to see what the city had in store ... read more

So it's been way too long since I've posted, so here goes. I believe the last time I posted I had just started working at Hampson English, and was waiting to hear back about a possible job at a video game company. Well, I never heard anything back from the company, even after sending a few follow up emails, and I'm still at Hampson. I've got quite a few hours now, and am enjoying it for the most part. I'm really enjoying the other teachers, and some of the students, but teaching's never really been my thing, so I'm looking forward to moving on. Right now I'm waiting to hear back from a law firm about a job. Through a family friend, I got an interview at the US based law firm O'Melveny & Myers LLP. ... read more

I’m compressing week 3 & 4 simply because week 3 was pretty boring apart from visiting an overpriced flower market. As last Friday came to an end, so did my first month as a member of the working force in Beijing, so I thought a review of my acquired love-hate relationship would be most appropriate. Starting off on a positive; I got paid, and better yet, it qualified as minimum wage in most respectable developed countries, so I didn’t need to contact the union… not that there are any in Beijing. And to bring equilibrium to this, I must mention the bad, the very bad… I’m sick of the ‘pleasant forest harmony’ song that gets repeated over and over again in the lobby of my office building. This prompts me to get from the entrance door ... read more

Joshua Stahl 3/14/2011 Internship Journal #2 Dear Journal, Over the last two weeks, I have been pleasantly surprised at the amount of responsibility that China Supplier has given us. Not to mention their genuine want to get to know us on a personal and professional level. They value our opinions, and most of all they value us as people. Our responsibilities over the past two weeks have included uncovering the likelihood of utilizing a new platform that not only connects buyers with suppliers, but allows China Supplier to facilitate the whole process on the buyers behalf. This process opens up a whole new market for America, because the tariff and logistics portion is being taken care of by a credible firm. That’s where we (Alyssa, Obi, and I) come in. They wanted us to carefully scan ... read more

So it's been a while since I last posted. I'm still living with my friend James, and have been working at Hampson English for 6 days now. The way things work there is that you have demos, which are 15-20 minute meetings with potential students to see if they like you or not. Each student has demos with 2-3 different teachers, and then they get to pick which one they like the most. If a student likes you, the Chinese staff arrange a time when both of you are available to have classes. Classes can either be 50 minutes, or 100 at a time. Right now I'm up to 23 hours a week, which, I've been told, is the most any teacher at this branch has ever gotten on their first week, and I've still got ... read more

So yesterday I went in to an English school that a friend works at for an interview. It turned out to be less of an interview, and more of a hiring. I walked in and filled out an application, then the lady told me to hold on just a minute. She leaves the room and comes back like 2 minutes later with a contract for me to sign. She let me look over it for a while and ask questions, then I signed it. Today I am going to go to the actual campus I will be teaching at to find out how much I will be working and everything. Yesterday's thing was at their Beijing main office. The school is called Hampson English, and they have 3 locations in Beijing, and 30 others throughout China. ... read more