missing beijing

---

mbaade's random thoughts:

I miss Beijing. I was just emailing Moya and Sydney in our own little three-way conversational emails and I realized just how much I miss being in the 'Jing. Moya is still there, dancing up a storm, teaching English, and teaching dance! Sydney and Brent moved to Shanghai right after I left China, so it's great that the three of us are keeping in touch.

Until today, basically, all I've missed has been the food! Oh dear god, what I wouldn't give for this eggplant dish from the dongbei restaurant in the hutong! Ahhh roumou jiezi! It's this eggplant dish with wedges of like fried eggplant that were so delicately crispy but gooey inside in this awesome meaty, savory sauce with onions and some sort of greenery on top... . Or some yangrou chuan'r ! Oh, the sheeer joy of the spices tingling on your tongue as the hot fat melts in your mouth as you chew the tender meat, pulling it off the stick with your teeth, grease and flecks of spice on the corners of your mouth, washing it all down with some Tsingtao beer ... mmmm....

Today, however, the nostalgia moved beyond the food. I still get emails from the rugby team and from the Bookworm. I miss the culture! I miss being in a very international city, being surrounded with humanity, with the utter foreignness of the capital of China. I miss knowing exactly where I was in taxis because I got to know the city so well. I miss standing on the subway, watching the little world inside my car while I scanned the crowd trying to decide who was getting up at the next stop so I could snag the seat. I miss being overwhelmed and just needing to go to Lush for some western food. Or spending a Sunday afternoon in the Bookworm drinking coffee and messing around on the internet... much like I'm doing here at Old World, but this place has no - I don't know - no personality? I miss being able to meet Moya and Syd on a Friday or Saturday night for dinner and catching up on life and complaining about work! Deciding if we wanted pizza from the Den , or Thai food from Purple Haze, or excellent falafel and pita and kebabs from 1001 Nights while we oggled the hot Arab hosts and wondered about the Chinese bellydancers....

Beijing is just such a cool city! There's so much life! Sure, there are drawbacks, just like there are in any city in the world, but I fell in love with Beijing. I cannot wait to go back next summer for the Olympics!

---