Blogs from XiCheng District, Beijing, China, Asia - page 3

With the Olympics just around the corner, it's always interesting to consider the things that we all share in common, no matter what language we speak. I just got back from the skating rink and it amazes me how I can just walk into a skating rink anywhere in the world and not even realize I'm in a foreign country. Sure, everyone else is Chinese. And the lessons on the ice are all in a language I don't understand. But when I'm out there, everyone understands eachother. We know what other people are working on, even if we call it a different name. We can tell when someone's having a good day or a bad day at the rink. We know how to look out for someone who's music is on or who's setting up for ... 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

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

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