Blogs from XiCheng District, Beijing, China, Asia

There are many things about Beijing that I'd like to write about. But my knowledge of the city is quite limited considering that it's been around for thousands of years. It's a city with a history so rich that it would need it's own Beijingpedia site to capture the fullness of its character. Of course, I'm not here to tell you about Beijing, but rather my experiences with the people and places I visit. Why am I here? (that's a question I often ask myself!) Officially, I'm here as an intern working for the China Academy of Urban Planning & Design through a program they have with the University of Southern California. China's population can be described in one word: developing - and in every sense of the word. The average Chinese family today compared to ... read more

We had our first day of work on Wednesday, May 16th. Fernanda and I are in different groups and in different buildings. I'm in the environmental planning group while she's in the countryside planning group. Hopefully they're both interesting! My supervisor is very friendly and he had me sit in on a meeting (all in Chinese) about a project they're just finishing up in the South. They're building a whole new tourist area and relocating a lot of locals in the process. Apparently the locals are happy because they're poor farmers who will be given new homes and jobs at the the tourist spots. As someone who's been trained now to be totally against central planning, it's hard to get my head around this idea. My supervisor then took me for lunch to a restaurant nearby ... read more

Annie, Josh and Lachie have arrived safe and well. Our first Family excursion was to see the Beijing drum and Bell tower. It was a great day, apart from the fact we froze on the way home. It got that bad, we stopped and bought gloves for everyone... The Bell tower bell was very impressive, but I think Annie was more impressed with the Tea house at the base of the tower. The Drum tower was also very impressive, with a great demostration of the drums and a great view south to the back end of the forbidden city. We had a lovely little detour on the way back, wandering through the street stores along Luogu Xiang. It seemes to be the place for the younger set... and we loved the collection of trinkets and the ... read more

Sup Everyone! So as a quick spoiler alert, I have officially finished CET, passed that sucker, and am now in Shanghai with my two classmates Megan and Jenny. So last week I visited a Hutong, saw my first two street fights, and had my China Night. And from there… Aug 8th: So we studied TV today, which was really boring – but then we had to do a skit to promote a new TV show – so Robbie the Dos and I teamed up and did an awesome cops and robbers skit – to say the least, it was really balling – there was a robbery, I told him to stop in the name of the law (in Chinese no less) and then I “chased him” (as far as you can chase someone 5 meters in ... read more

Alright, pokemon reference! And if anyone is wondering, yes it’s a Japanese cartoon/game, yes I’m in China, and no, I don’t care I just infused the two cultures. You’re welcome. So last time I said goodbye to some friends, had maybe the craziest bar experience ever, and was then inspired by art (but not because I thought the art was good). While I continue to drool over my embroidery (yeah, that still hasn’t stopped – I put the pictures online, please go look at them – also suggested you have a bucket with you for the drool to follow) I guess I should talk about my week and stuff (and get a bigger mop…) Aug 1st Oh yeah, so guess how much sleep I got last night? One hour. Some stupid fly would buzz in my ... read more

Hello again everyone, so last week I pinged some pong, I lost my marbles looking at some embroidery, and then there was that Shanghai place, but the embroidery! I mean it was so fantastic … July 25th: So class happened or something, and then instead of doing homework, I went out to dinner with my good friend Zishu, as it was her last day in Beijing, and I won’t see her till next year at the earliest – so I think that takes priority (and I think means it does. Cause I’m a boss.) So me, Zishu, and friends went to some Japanese place at a mall (with a subway stop continently located in said mall) and enjoyed my time ragging on Zishu as she ragged me back. And then I think we ate for free. ... read more

Surprised by my title? You’ll be even more surprised at how I contribute to it (and now that you’re drawn in…) So last time I ate break that might as well been sprinkled with crack, said goodbye to some friends, and lead my group to write possibly the best skit in CET history – or the world (about the same, right?). And now to fight a war on drugs (not to be confused with: fight a war, on drugs). July 29th: So after the mini-party, Tucker, Ian, roomie Jian Qiang, and myself went off to eventually go to an electro party for acupuncture records. But first we took the subway to near where tucker lives, and then meet up with Tucker. We went to his friend’s café, one of those cool hole in the walls you ... read more

And now for the third part of the trilogy. So last time I fought a war on drugs using something those druggie-losers (riding the Technicolor dreamscape) never thought of: tripping on life. So I went to the steampunk club, was forced to watch gay strippers, and may or may not have been approached by a 40 year old prostitute. And since I went to bed, I must have slept in super late right? July 30th: 8 am I wake up so I can make it back to CET, where at 10 we went to 798. I took a cab back, because I don’t think I was functional enough to walk back to CET with just 3.5 hours of sleep. So I got in a cab, and was able to have a conversation with the driver. Who ... read more

And it’s that special time again, where I write about my life, and people read about it for some reason. And then I do a dance. So last time, I had a Kiliman-fail-o (play off of Kilimanjaro for anyone who isn’t a gamer/mountain enthusiast and doesn’t get that reference), went to An’Yang, and everyone looked at my tall black friend with out being super obvious or blatant about it. Ok, on to what you care about. July 18th: Tucker came back! So he came to chill for a little bit with me and Li Xuan, who’s one of the student directors at CET (also been helping me a ton with my visa problems – thank god), so we went out to a local restaurant, had some chuan’r (kebobs) had a (meaning 1) beer (cause school is ... read more