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Published: September 24th 2009
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Now that it’s been a few weeks since I got here, I’m getting used to living in China. I keep discovering more delicious food as well. Yesterday Nikki brought me to a little place that sells cold noodles on campus. It’s nothing too exciting, as the name implies, the noodles are cold and they put bean sprouts, peanut sauce, cucumber strips, some other sauces and spicy if you want it. It’s one of the simplest things I’ve eaten here but one of the most delicious.
A couple days ago I also went to a vegetarian restaurant with Emma, Nikki and Hilary. Emma and Hilary are also vegetarians. It was a really fancy restaurant. We got our own little room and everything. I have some pictures and hopefully soon I’ll get some more from Nikki. The food was really good and we also had a pot of tea which was also good. The dishes we had were tofu, eggplant, black rice, noodles with veggies and this green stuff, I don’t remember what it’s called. They also gave us some kind of roasted nuts, they tasted like soy beans but they were big and black on the outside. It was a good
meal, and it cost less than 5 dollars, which doesn’t sound like a lot but we usually get meals for less than a dollar.
The next night we went to the Kro’s Nest. It is a pizza place and it’s the closest bar to the campus. On Tuesdays they have free beer until one keg runs out. We all got pizza and beer and some people had class so they left but some of us hung out for a while. I couldn’t stay too late because I had some homework to do but it was really fun. The pizza was pretty good and they had a foosball table so that was pretty fun. That actually cost more than the fancy restaurant, even though the beer was free. It cost about 5 dollars. We all had beers plus our fill of pizza, after this trip I don’t think I’ll ever get used to American prices again.
On Sunday I met my language partner. She’s very nice and she speaks English very well. She is a junior and she is a double major in Math and Finance. She plans to go to graduate school in the US so the classes
she is taking are in English. She says it’s a little hard because some of the teachers have a bad Chinese accent, and are sometimes hard to understand, which I can understand because her accent is very good. She helped me write my speech for Friday, I have to give a 5 minute speech all in Chinese. I also talked to her about the living arrangements for Chinese students here at Beida and it made me glad to be a foreign student. They live at least 4 to a room and they don’t have their own bathrooms like we do. Most of the students actually don’t even have a shower in their building so there is a big building in the middle of campus which is the shower house. Also, their power goes out at 11pm, which includes the pump so she told me you have to make sure you’re ready for bed before 11. I guess it’s something you could get used to once you are accepted to the best University in China, but it’s pretty crazy. One of the main reasons they don’t update the system is because Beijing has a huge shortage of water, and this way
I’m sure they’re saving a lot of water, as well as energy. Although China has plenty of environmental problems they seem to be trying harder then what I see in America. They charge you if you want plastic bags at stores and when you get food to go it’s not in Styrofoam, it’s in a small thing plastic bag. I assume they must be reimbursing people for plastic and aluminum because you always see people digging through trash to pick out the recyclables. They also have big plans for the Beijing metro system, which will hopefully lead to less drivers, and less smog, but the air is one thing that might take a while to clear.
We have fall break next week starting Thursday. We have 4 days off so most people have travel plans. A group of us are going to Inner Mongolia. Inner Mongolia is an autonomous region in Northern China. It is right below the country of Mongolia. It has a lot of desert and grasslands; we’re excited about the trip because we’ll be out of the city. It is the 60th anniversary celebration while we are gone so we’re all okay with not being in
Beijing. They told us we won’t be able to do anything because there will be so much security and it will be extremely crowded. The trip we are taking cost only 650 kuai, which is less than 100 dollars. It covers the bus there and back, all the lodging and food with the exception of one breakfast and one dinner, entertainment and entrance to a couple tourist places like a temple. There are also optional things like horseback riding which costs about 10 dollars, camel riding, sand-boarding and some other stuff. One of the nights we stay in the grassland in a yurt, which is a traditional Mongolian style tent. From what I heard they are a little more touristy then just a tent, but it should be pretty fun. We have a fun group going so it will be a good time. I might write one more blog before I leave next week but I’m sure after that there will be plenty to write about my trip.
One last thing, yesterday we went to Sanlitun. I’ve only been there at night because it is a fun place to hang out and a lot of Westerners go there because
it’s near all the embassies. During the day it is probably the most upscale shopping in Beijing. I have some pictures of really cool buildings, the coolest of which is the Adidas building. There is also a big shop very similar to the silk market, in which I bought a pair of “Nikes” I assume they are fakes but they are very nice regardless. They cost me about 12 dollars, like 1/8 of the American price. I kind of got them as a joke but I’m definitely wearing them, because I’m pretty sure you haven’t seen shoes like them. I have a pic posted of them.
I almost forgot, on Tuesday morning I went to Taiji class. If you don't know, Taiji is what most people do in the morning to wake them up. It's kind of meditative and it gets your blood flowing. The teacher is hilarious and it was a lot of fun. There are 24 positions so I'm not sure we'll get through them all by the end of the semester but I hope we do! The point is to like move your chi ball around, so there's a lot of pretending you're holding a big
ball, so the teacher offen yells "embrace basketball!"
I’m about to go get some cold noodles for lunch for 50 cents!
Peace
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Dad
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Embrace Basketball!
Good to hear from you agan Jake, sounds like you are settling in to some of the China culture. Sounds like yo0u are also visiting the bars. You do remember you are not of leagal age until the 28th right? It does sound like the prices for fool are real cheap. You will have sticker shock when you get back home. Not real sure I like the shoes - you do know wath the rainbow of colors means! The adidas building looks different. The colors of it reall stick out. Again it sounds like you are having a great time and you are getting out and experiencing China. Looking forward to hearing how your trip to Inner Mongolia goes. Be safe and have fun. Love you - Dad