I’ve heard from her daughter that Mrs. Ma’s quite a photographer so I asked Mrs. Ma if she would share some of her photos with me. Turns out she’s got quite an eye for art in respect to concepts of colors, shapes, light and composition. For someone who’s only been at it for a year and a half and without any formal training, using an old basic digital SLR camera, I must say I was pretty blown away. It's way beyond amateur photography. I felt humbled when she said that she liked my style of photography in my blog photos and [View Full Entry]

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Another torrential downpour in Beijing today. It was a very unusually cool hazy morning. But by 10:30am, the sky was almost pitch black and it started to pour. By 1pm it was back to haze again. Really bizarre. I really need to get those Wellingtons! Need someone to mail me a cute pair from the States! On the way back home, I saw two men slaughtering a cow for a special ceremony at the mosque. It was both the grossest and coolest thing to watch, seeing the hide being peeled from the flesh down to the tail, the blood dripping out [View Full Entry]

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Famous Chinese saying, "In America, you've tasted everything there is to eat by 8. In China by 80, you still haven't tasted everything there is to eat." One of the small pleasures I've been enjoying daily since I got to Beijing - the food. And I've been trying a new dish pretty much everyday. There's so much more to go around that I haven't had to eat the same thing twice. Actually, I'm enjoying this so much that I'm afraid I'm going to lose all my cooking skills the longer I'm here. I guess you can say that I'm NOT a [View Full Entry]

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Being a gym addict, getting a gym membership is pretty high on my list of priorities. Apparently, from local friends as well as from checking out some gyms, I've gathered it can go from really cheap to as expensive as it can get in the States. They're all around and all types. You just have to google them up in chinese - 健身会所, 健身馆 or 健身房. California Gym in Chaoyang was RMB1000/month(US$150). I decided it was too expensive and didn't even include a pool. My friend Cai Ying helped me find one close to me that's right in the mi [View Full Entry]

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If you ever make it to this part of the world and feel like having a good laugh, try smiling at a Chinese person. You’ll get a real kick out of it. I don’t mean friends or your typical tour guide or hotel staff who are trained to smile as a regiment for keeping their jobs. I mean the average stranger on the road. Chinese people are not used to smiling at strangers for no apparent reason. I think its an American thing. The British for example are notorious for being snobs on the streets of London. That's just my experience. [View Full Entry]

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China's complex history with its contradictory and conflicting stances and politics is well known. From the fact that they really seem to have a strong dislike for the Japanese because of the wars of invasion and brutalization without apologies, yet not apologizing for the millions of their own that were killed by Mao's leadership, down to criticisms of their human rights violations and environmental issues. Yet the brighter part of the picture is that there does seem to be a sincere desire to improve the living standards of its people and play it's part in the global scene. The reason bei [View Full Entry]

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Mrs. Ma explained to me how Chinese New Year is celebrated here. She talked to me about how she didn't like how loud the fireworks exploded into the air when the clock strikes midnight. Apparently, the smoke and fire from all the fireworks literally obliterated the 36 storey China Central TV (CCTV) building from the Beijing skyline. She complained about the culture of having to eat 'jiao zi' or chinese dumplings at midnight symbolizing getting rid of all the bad luck of the previous year to start anew for the coming year, wearing new clothes and buying presents as gifts visiting [View Full Entry]

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I went to get my health examination certificate today. They took my blood pressure, chest X-ray, checked eyesight, did a blood test and a couple other things. Every foreigner's got to do it here now because of the H1N1 virus. In the airports, there were lots of people wearing face masks. Not sure if it's offers any real protection but there definitely is a scare about it in this part of the world. I was pleasantly surprised that all the doctors in the facility were extremely friendly. On my way back, instead of taking a cab to the subway line for [View Full Entry]

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I was talking to my Chengdu friend, Sunny today. She said she drives an hour to work everyday and that it was normal by Beijing standards because it's so big. According to her, the average Beijinger normally drives 2 hours to work each way. I have to say I don't envy them but one day, I think it would be nice to drive in China...but out to the countryside or a roadtrip somewhere. Sunny was surprised that I was able to give her directions around my neighborhood already when she got lost. I thought it was a huge compliment. It's only [View Full Entry]

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Today, Beijing went back to it's usual 30 degree Celcius weather. Thanks to my local friend Fang, I discovered eyedrops are found in "药店" (ie. Medicine Shop) rather than the usual supermarkets or convenience stores like Watsons (like Walgreens or RiteAid or CVS in the States). But don't expect to see the word 'Pharmacy' or you'll be chasing your tail all day long. EVERYTHING in the store was packaged in Chinese. I was like a deer in headlights. Now don't get me wrong. It wasn't that I didn't like being surrounded by 70% chinese herbal medicine and 30% westernized products. I [View Full Entry]

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