Blogs from Wudaokou, Beijing, China, Asia - page 5

Once upon a time, Boris and Doris the rabbits/hares (whatever, there's only one chinese translation) were living in the Forest of Wu. Life was peaceful. The mornings slipped away with noses in books, intelligent discussions on the inverse perceptions of the past and future, and sweeping generalisations of anything outside the forest. A home-made meal greeted the pair daily; of unleavened tuna, and bread soaked in spring water. Previously the afternoons had been calm, however, recent events in regard to the lumberjacks, had involved Boris and Doris selling their underpriced souls to young children. "What be the news of Piglet?" asked Geraldine the Frog. "He's 8-foot long." replied Jenny the skunk. "Indeed, tis time for me to inspire myself" quoted Boris. So he went over to Yurtle the Turtle's house in Dangly Dell. Here he found ... read more

hello everybody! well, this is my first travels blog. and I will have more in the future. Todays featured blog is what life is like during my stay at BLCUs Bei Yu Hui Yi Zhong Xin. although this experience maybe different if you have been here before. But I would say that shot term stay (a months length) is more advisable and defiantly not for the winter season. Well because they don't turn on their heaters till early November and it starts getting cold like middle of October so you have to buy a mini portable heater. And when they turn on their heater .. I think they set it to like 80 degrees C or something. Way too hot. My education tourism here has been educational. Certainly not from the class room point of view. ... read more

Hey all! A quick update: I have now finished my official program, and all my friends are flying home. Somewhat accidentally, I bought a ticket to fly out about a month after the program ends ... and I have no housing. So it looks like I'll be wandering for a while. The initial goal is to get to Tibet, but I'm still not sure how that is going to happen; my visa needs about 5-10 days to clear, and the easiest route is straight from Beijing to Lhasa. Which unfortunately pins me down here. So, right now I'm kickin' it in a youth hostel near my old campus. That being said, I couldn't tell you where I'm going to be tomorrow, much less in a week. I'm going to roll out to the train station to ... read more

For those of you who know us well, you probably won't believe us when we tell you that during this last week we bought a couch. Yes, BOUGHT. We paid for a couch. We didn't just wander the streets with a troupie and a trailer looking for a free bit of cushioning for which to plant our arses on. We actually went to a "shop", chose a couch, chose a colour and size and paid for it (after bargaining of course!). You may all be wondering why we decided to purchase a couch, considering that we moved into a fully furnished apartment. Well, fully furnished included a park bench in the living room, so called a "couch". After 2 months of TRYING to relax on our "couch", we were sick of numb bumbs and wrecked wnecks, ... read more

A computer at last (with emphasis on AT LAST). It has been many a phonecall in chinese regarding various unknown computer terms, landlords and computer technicians visiting our house and general anger in the vicinity of the laptop, but we're here. We don't have heaps to say ("that's a change" we hear you all say) but we do want to show off our apartment! We have learnt our lesson about english-teaching companies in China. If you get offered a job with a chinese company - dont sign a contract. Keep your employment as flexible as possible! Whereas a western-run company will be well-organised, pay better and generally be easier to deal with! The chinese companies do deserve a little cred though, you are able to walk in, present them with a resume that they probably ... read more