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Published: September 30th 2007
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Jeez. We were worried there for a while. They took away our barbeque! Not actually our barbeque, but the nightly outdoor barbeque that we regularly go to (called chuanr). Anyway, they took it away. Who? The people who may be censoring this blog, that's who. Won't mention any names. Get this:In an attempt to prove that Beijing is a suitable city for the olympics, 'some people' took some 'random' samples of beijing air. These samples took place during what was almost a shutting down of the entirety of Beijing. For four days, only half the cars were allowed on the roads (depending on whether the number plate ends in a odd or even number). Fair enough; awesome for us. But this is China, and in china, something ridiculous always happens. It was deemed that OUTDOOR barbeques added too much pollution, so have been made illegal. Indoor barbeques, however, are fine, and produce no pollution whatsoever. So we can all happily ignore the piles of smoke coming out of every maccas here (about 100 at last count) where their 'patties' are being barbequed. For fuck's sake. Anyway, these outdoor barbeques have now returned, illegally we think, and we'll make the most of
it cos they'll probably disappear again.
In an attempt to bring some Zac and Sof to the residents of Beijing, we had a couch partay! Yay! Just like the good ol' Croydon days. And our welcoming couch party was a hit! In fact, we don't think Beijing knew what hit it! Follow this recipe for success: 1. Find the cheapest alcohol possible and buy heaps (and none of that 'orrible erguotou either).2. Invite 25 random people, from 8 different countries, with 7 different mother tongues and chinese being the only common theme and throw them into a really small apartment (but at least it has 2 couches now).3. Try, a little unsuccessfully, to get the tea-totalling chinese women drunk. 4. Fail.5. Sneak more vodka into their fanta.6. Turn up the music really loud and blow a fuse.7. Try to fix the fuse whilst drunk and in the dark.8. Dance madly.9. Try, a little unsuccessfully, to remove the guys shirts.10. More dancing.11. Midnight. Everyone left (we are still yet to explain this phenomenon).We haven't heard anything from the neighbours. They're probably still in shock.
Good news is that our chinese colleagues came back a week or so later and
More Jiao Zi than you can poke a duck at!
Shirley, Sof, Sanmy, Annie and Raining. (Our colleagues from Yan Tsing Education) helped us cook 饺q(jiao zijBSo they obviosly forgave us for pouring vodka in their softies. But they decided (politely) that foreigners have no idea how to cook, so the two of us made apple crumble while the chinese made the main course, and then we ate lots and lots and lots and lots of food. This country cracks us up sometimes, because just occasionally we get hugely looked down upon, and a massive mark of respect, all at the same time. When we produced this crumble, the chinese people figured that it was going to taste pretty ordinary. And then they tried it... Score! What followed, as sometimes does, is wonderful praise, while all the while pretending that they're not surprised because we're not actually stupid and incompetent. Gold.
Celeste time! Our first visitor! We took 5 days off work to sightsee, drink and shop. Emphasise shop. That girl can shop! Her african experience has made her a ruthless bargainer!! We had such a fantastic time in marketplaces... Celeste also got dragged to all of our favourite restaurants, in an attempt to let her try as many chinese dishes as possible. Unfortunately there just aren't enough meals in one
day, but there was more duck than you can poke a stick at!The two girls spent a relaxing day at the summer palace, including an awesome photo of the two of us eating icecream with 3 old chinese ladies posing for a photo by our sides! Just another chinese family photo album to star in!!!
Celeste also has naming rights (come up with anything yet?) to our new addition to the family - the guest bike. She earned it. We kinda forgot that riding the wrong way down the street is normal until we heard a voice screaming "we're going the wrong way" "the cars are coming towards me!" Whoops. Should have warned her about that one. The new bike is not as clumsy as the Tank or Tankette, but not as fast. That's probably a good thing. In fact, it doesnt seem to have any inertia worries whatsoever. And it even stops in the rain! (Why would we want to ride that - no fun!)We had a blast. So cool to have a visitor... we want more! Prepare your livers. And bike muscles.Thanks Celeste - and we want to see Luke next time too!
AND... WE FOUND
Traditional Breakfast!
You bing (deep-fried pancake thing), tea eggs, zhou (congee) THE BLA BLA BAR!!! Not everyone would find this to be exciting news. But you would if you had been here 4 years ago. {I wonder if Bob Loblaw from AD was the founder?? Or whether he found it a good place to write the Bob Loblaw Law Blog....} Cheap G&Ts. Cheap tap beer. Darts flying at your head as you walk in the front door. What more could you want???
Well, you could want to attend the oddest wedding in the middle of nowhere, in the kitchest setting instead. Or not. But we went anyway. A trip to the out-outskirts of some city near beijing maybe, for a canadian/chinese wedding, involving firecrackers, lion dancers, indoor rainforest, bubble machine, m.c. with the biggest lapels ever, a bad soundtrack (even as far as this country is concerned - WOW!), 3 costume changes for the bride and groom, bai jiu, waitresses dressed in outfits that make zac's old shirts seem lame and boring, a pink curtain, free plate of cigarettes on every table, and a bunch of foreigners thrown together on a table, all resulted in a pretty funny sunday morning/afternoon. The plus side was that we made good friends in
Qian Men
Does your front gate look like this? the process. The downside was the smell of bai-jiu lingering for the next couple of days. Good times all round.
Anyways, that's all folks. See you on facebook. You know you will. You can't help it. Everyday, you just HAVE to logon. It's a safety blanket. It's the one place where english is written without spelling mistakes. It's just always there. And there's so much to do...
Lots of love,Sof and Zac.
P.S. We saw our landlord recently. He couldn't understand why we bought a new couch. He has 4 wooden ones at home (what's wrong with these people???).
P.P.S. Does anyone want to go to 'The Big Pagoda Tree Root-Seeking and Sacrifice-Offering-to-Ancestors Garden'? We're intrigued. We would have taken a photo of the advertisement, but we don't have a wide angle lens on our camera.
P.P.P.S. The chinese government are having a little bit of a problem with the recent hotmail upgrade. bugger. so for now, we're communicating via facebook, this site and our old uni email addresses. please send all complaints to: Beijing Authoritative Pain-in-the-arse Internet Control.
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