北京欢迎你

Well, I’m back in Beijing after a splendid and refreshing three-week vacation back in America. It was great to take a break from the oriental austerity of my life in the Far East in favor of the security of my home in Albany. I feel in many ways that my break was too long and too short at the same time. I constantly found myself not having enough hours in the days to see the people I wanted to see and have the experiences I wished to have during my brief return. To the same extent, I felt myself being rapidly re-Americanized, a symptom that is not easily alleviated. When I returned I had a depreciated appetite for Chinese food and I found myself using an excessive amount of slang, which made for several very confusing conversations. But nonetheless my vacation was a fantastic way of cleansing my mind and giving myself a fresh perspective on my objectives during my year abroad.
All in all I found Beijing much as I left it, as chaotic and familiarly novel as it was on my departure. My friends still wild and broke and school still tedious. I found it very easy to jump back into my life here, which gave me a sense that I’ve grown a lot since I first came, linguistically and psychologically. One of the results of my return has been a recent obsession with the Chinese phrase 北京欢迎你 (Beijing huanying ni). This was used as the theme for the 2008 Olympics and translates into, “Beijing welcomes you.” Perhaps it’s the “hometown” feeling I have associated with Beijing or just the fact that this slogan is plastered on the walls of any building under construction (which is many). But I truly feel that Beijing is a very welcoming place, which, as a result of the Olympics, has been readied to show the world the incredible things China has to offer. This obsession even drove me to consider getting a tattoo of the slogan. Which was quickly shot down by Marta, e’er the mother figure, who convinced me how tacky tattoos are, particularly ones in Chinese.
On returning to China there were many plans that had to be made. I might have told some of you that over the break for Chinese New Year I was planning on going to Hainan, the supposed Hawaii of China. Well, upon arriving my friends changed there plans and we are now going to Harbin. This city is a highly Russian influenced locale in Manchuria; famous for being the home to Qing dynasty rulers, traditional Russian architecture and cuisine, as well as home to world famous Snow and Ice Festival. The festival is one of the birthplaces of “snow culture” boasting some of the most magnificent snow and ice sculptures in the world (Google it or some shit). And to accommodate these snow sculptures the climate graciously provides us with average sub-zero temperatures. Yes, instead of going to the Hawaii of China, I’m heading to Alaska. But it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity and there’s no Sarah Palin there so I’m looking forward to the trip.
Before I make my journey to the great north however, I will be spending the holiday out in the countryside for a traditional celebration with the Wu’s. Chinese New Year is an extremely important holiday to the Chinese, of equal importance to our Christmas. The correct term for the holiday is 春节 (Chunjie) or Spring Festival (I know it’s not spring but bare with me). The holiday celebrates the beginning of the new lunar year and everyone in the country catches trains back to their hometown to be with their family. One of the great traditions of Chunjie is scaring away the monster of the New Year with fireworks. All over China there the ban on fireworks is lifted for one week for the purpose of the holiday. In the countryside though, there is no time restrictions to setting off fireworks, so I plan to spend the holiday sipping on Baijiu and setting off the greatest, loudest fireworks this side of the Yangtze. There is an expression in Chinese called 热闹 (renao); it has no literal English translation but basically means an excessively loud and chaotic event. This is the word what the Chinese use to describe Chunjie. Loud and wild, this oughta be fun.
Well in this New Year I have created three resolutions for the duration of my stay here. First, to update this blog with relative frequency. I know several people when I was home who chastised my lack of updating but I want to do it not only to keep all you readers out there updated but also for me. I want to be able to look back on these updates and re-live my emotions and memories through my own words. Secondly, to take as many pictures as possible. When I came back I found I had forgotten the little quirky things that I love about China. The way the people look on the subway, how they dress their dogs in cloths, the way my friends look between classes. I was talking to Marta about how it’s going to be when we all leave and the thought physically frightened me. At this point I can’t possibly imagine leaving these places and these people for an indefinite amount of time. So I want to be able to have hundreds of moments captured in time and save them for the day when I can return here. Thirdly and finally to try as many new and foreign things as possible. I will scarcely have the chance again to see the Harbin ice festival or sleep in a Mongolian Hut. My friends and I already have tentative plans to travel to Sichuan and Lhasa on our other breaks. China has so much subtle wonder that I have yet to discover and I want to juice this journey for all its worth.

...And I’ve already got a head start on the trying new things front. A couple of days ago I got a traditional Chinese medicinal procedure which I only know as “ba huo guar”. The technician puts a lighter underneath a glass bulb and quickly puts it on your back. As the air cools it sucks your skin into the bulb. It was trendy with celebrities at some point. According to the Chinese it is suppose to suck all the negative energy out of your body and is said to alleviate stress and assorted aches and pains. It does however leave wicked bruises (picture below). It’s honestly not as bad as it looks, and I did feel better afterwards. And at 30元, why not?
The picture sufficiently shocked my mother, which was reason enough to get it and it’s always good to try new things.
Enjoy the brand new bright Obama day!
邓雍煌

糟糕

Bad Luck. My wallet got stolen Friday night. I lost my bank car, driver’s license, Beijing transportation card as well as my ticket from “HAIR” which I carried around with me as a good luck token. It really sucks. Currently I have about 4 元 to my name which is enough to get me to school tomorrow. I have 19 USDs that I’m going to get exchanged as well as a $10 Canadian bill from my trip there in 5th grade that is so destroyed that I doubt they will take it. But that’s life you know. I’m honestly just surprised this is the first time I’ve ever lost my wallet.
Well, I haven’t updated in a long while. I wrote an entry about Obama and china but I never polished it up, but if any of you want to read it just hit me up and ill send you the rough draft.
Since I last posted I took a trip to Qing Dao (青岛) which was amazing. I went with Marta and Graxi who also accompanied on the Inner Mongolia trip. They’re basically my travel posse and I theirs. Unfortunately Graxi transferred to Shanghai until Christmas but will return to Beijing in February. If anyone plans on traveling to China I highly suggest making a pit stop in Qingdao. It’s on the beach, its warm(ish) and positively beautiful. It is also the beer capital of Asia. We took a boat ride, climbed a mountain that was excessively tall and got to see the beer factory. The nifty part about Qingdao is that it was originally under the German Sphere of Influence (hence the beer factory) and some parts of the city look fresh out of Europe. But their accent annoyed me.
Also, my friend Deb Chesser from Albany visited me! She is living in Shanghai and her group made a trip to Beijing to do...something. She ended up sneaking me into the US Embassy’s Election Party, which was wicked sweet. That night we partied hardy for Obama at “Propaganda” the best nightclub on line 13. It was also wicked cool to see someone from home. It was totally surreal to be sitting in my noodle house across from someone I’ve known since I was eight.
When we walked into to the noodle house and Deb ordered her dish the first thing the guy said to her was, “Your from Shanghai”. People sound and talk completely differently in different regions of China. Beijing is popular for using excessive 儿 (er) sounds. For example saying Zher meaning here instead of Zheli. But they also apply it to other words that don’t need it, like my favorite bar district Sanlitun becomes “Sanliturn” It actually penetrates all phrases; there are “er”s everywhere. It first confused me because my teacher learned in Taibei which does not use the “er” sound. But now it’s common, it’s comforting. You know when talking with a Beijinger.
I’ve got less than a month now before I go home for Christmas. I’m really glad that I made the decision to come back for a little break from China. I feel slightly depressed that I am missing Thanksgiving. I had a plan to have my friends over to Marta’s house, make an apple pie and force them to celebrate an American holiday. These plans were complicated when I discovered Marta doesn’t have a stove. These plans were obliterated when I lost my wallet and now have no way to get the things necessary to make a pie.
Being here is a mixed bag. There are some days that I am so in love with what I’m doing that I can never imagine leaving this place. There are others when I just want to get out of this crazy backward country. But I know that Beijing will always be a part of my life, its inescapable now. I am a Beijinger. And there is something so powerful about that.
There are times when I’ll be coming home from a bar late at night, sitting in a taxi hoping the driver isn’t trying to cheat me out of money. And then you realize where you are; the cabbie will drive right past Tian’anmen. To my left, the vastness of Tian’anmen Square with all of its historical significance. And to my right, Tian’an Gate, then entrance to The Forbidden City, with the immense portrait of Chairman Mao staring right down at me. China was shaped within those walls. At the epicenter of the city, it is Beijing. It’s so majestic and surreal. It makes being here make sense. There’s a magnetism here and I don’t want to pull away.
Stay up
邓雍煌

三个星期

Well, I’ve been living here for over three weeks now (that makes it sound so short) and I think that I’m pretty well adjusted. I can go to school at home again without getting lost or getting on the wrong train. My sleep schedule has finally normalized (even though my class schedule is killing it). And I’ve found a steady routine of things to do and places to be that helps me stay active and having a good time.
I think that the novelty of being in Beijing has worn off， which is a good thing. It means that I’ve become accustomed to the idea that this is what I’m doing and this is where I’m going to be for the next eight months.
Every morning I don’t wake up and say, “O, brave new world with such possibilities in it” like I did on some of my first days. Now it’s more “Waa, I don’t wanna go to school.” Or “Damn, my head hurts” or “Why is there an alarm going off?”
Regardless of the fact that I’m on a proper sleeping schedule, I’m definitely not getting a very high quality rest. This is probably due to the fact that my bed is rock hard and I sleep on a rice pillow. You heard right, a rice pillow. As in, if I was hungry I could cut open my pillow and cook it for lunch. Not the best for my neck. I think I’m gunna go to an acupuncturist.
School has started and I already dislike it, which must mean I’m learning something. After four months of not doing any kind of mental work going to an hour and a half class is like pulling teeth. Plus classes alternating from starting at 9am and 130pm means im always tired (it takes me an hour to get to school by subway).
I was originally put into level Three Chinese. Or equivalent to a 301 college course. It was wicked difficult and what made it worse was a teacher who could not speak English. Although it was quite funny explaining the word “cafeteria” to her. So I dropped down to level two which is easier but not too easy. Its better for me and my brain. Plus the teacher’s really nice.
The great part about this school though is that there are no mandatory classes on Friday (TGIThursday). This gives us the opportunity to go to the clubs on their discount nights and drink for cheep. Everyday at school all the EF kids go to the same restaurant on campus and order usually the same things. The place is a little more expensive then the canteen but the food is way better and I’ve never had to pay more than 25 元.
So, basically, I’m doing pretty good right now. School fine, my host family’s great and I get out and about as much as possible.
Last weekend Aunt Pixie hooked me up with some of her co-workers at GE’s Beijing branch. They took me out to rural north Beijing, by the Great Wall, for a company picnic and cycle ride. GE sponsors Trek’s Marco Polo racing team so they put us all on trusty Trek bikes and I got to take a ride for the first time since I’ve been here. It felt really good being on a bike again. I was riding a 1000 Sport, which I’ve worked on many times at the Downtube, so it felt just like home. On the ride you could see the Great Wall, which was great, and it was a beautiful smog free day, perfect for riding. Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures.
This weekend I’m going to an amusement park with the Wu’s then to a Hot Spring resort with Mr. Wu’s well-off entrepreneur friend. All on his dime so I can help his friend’s son practice his English before some exam...or something. Details are kinda sketchy, will inform once I get back.
And the weekend after that, I’m considering taking a trip to Qing Dao (Tsingdao for you beer drinkers) with some of my friends from school. Still working out the plans on that one though. But there’s no way it could be worse than Mongolia.
In other news I got a haircut. Mr. Wu decided that my hair was too long so he took me to one of his friend’s barbershops. “I’m going to make you beautiful” The hairdresser told me. On two separate occasions people have told me I look like David Beckham, but you know what they say. All white people look the same.
me in paris!
Stay up ya’ll
邓雍煌

内蒙古

[Editors Note: This is a very long post. ADD readers need not apply, pics are at the bottom. Also, when you leave comments (and please do, it makes me feel special) please leave your name so i know who you are]
Inner Mongolia
So, I had this entire week off from classes because it was a holiday for the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Beijing was filled with damn tourist and it was impossible to do anything in the city. So some of my friends and I decided that it would be a great opportunity to get out of Beijing and do some traveling.
ON Wednesday my friends Marta (Spain) and Graxi (Mexico) went down to the train station to get some tickets for the next day. The ticket lines were enormous so Marta and I took a spot in line while Graxi went to the front to see some of the places we could go to. About three minutes later Graxi comes back and hands me a slip of paper, a one way train ticket to Baotou, Inner Mongolia. There are two sets of rules in China, the rules for natives and the rules for foreigners. Plus, you don’t wait in line when you’re with Graxi. The ticket cost about 55元 or about $9. And the only reason it was that expensive was because it’s a holiday.
So the next day fully equipped with a couple hundred 元 and two packs of communal cigarettes we boarded fifteen hour train to Baotou. But when got onto the train and found out seats we saw that the tickets we had bought were hard seats, thinly padded sitting tickets. Fifteen hours sitting across from a crazy Chinese lady who spat sunflower seeds on the table between us. This wasn’t going to work. Graxi went to go scope out the rest of the train while Marta and I broke into some hysterical laughter. You had to laugh, what else could you do? Luckily Graxi went and upgraded our tickets for an extra 65元 to the sleeping car. Thank god, the hard seat car was boiling hot and I was sure that Chinese woman was going to take a bite out of me at any moment.
The Soft sleeper gave us plenty of room to stretch out and relax for the trip. Marta had a huge guide of all of China that gave us suggestions for things to do in Mongolia and places to stay. Along the way we made a couple of friends with a young married couple and a some policemen who told us that it would be a better idea to go to Hohhot instead of Baotou. And that meant we got off the train three hours earlier so we were totally fine with that.
At 2:30 Friday morning we go off the train in Hohhot without a place to stay or any kind of plan for the weekend. Thankfully right outside the train station there was a nice hotel and we decided to splurge on a 100 元 a night room. The next morning we got up, bathed and went to make a plan for the day. There was a travel agent in our hotel, so we went down and arranged for an overnight stay out in the Mongolian plains. Mongolia is famous for miles of barren plains where you can go horseback riding. For 230元 a person we would get four meals and get to stay overnight in a traditional Mongolian hut. We took the offer and got a private car to drive us two hours out of Hohhot, through the mountains and out to the plains.
On the drive out Graxi introduced me to the Spanish term “mongolito” which basically means retarded, a joke that never got old, no matter how many times we used it. The drive out was mostly uneventful except for the style of driving. I thought driving in Beijing was scary, but it has nothing on Mongolian driving. At one point I leaned over to Marta and said “I didn’t realize this was a two lane road.”
“It isn’t” she replied “We’re just driving on the wrong side of the road” These people would pass a motorcycle who was passing a semi-truck while there was another car coming toward us. All on blind mountainous curves. People would drive in both lanes or drive on the wrong side of the road on a turn because they thought it was easier on their tires.
We were all glad to be out of the car and get to our compound. We ate lunch and watched them carve up some famous Mongolian lamb which was going to be served at dinner.
After some intense negations we got some horses to go for a two-hour ride. Unfortunately, Marta and Graxi had run out of RBM so I had to front them the money for the horses, which I didn’t mind but we were running dangerously low on money.
I demanded on a white horse, which made me look like a badass, and we started our journey through the plains. It was amazingly beautiful. Riding through the eternal desolate plains of Mongolia on horseback. Just miles and miles of rolling fields where nothing lives but domesticated horses and sheep. At several points we stopped and locals tried to sell us photos with sheep that they carried on motorcycles. At one point we went to a hut and had some hot milk. The others refused due to fear of melamine of poisoning but I’ve given up that fear a while ago. My host family insists I have a bowl of milk every morning for “nouriss” (aka nourishment). We learned how to say thank you in Mongolhua (hallahalla) and made our journey back. It was then that I started getting the pain, the shooting pain in my upper thighs that ran up my to my butt. Horse riding is painful. Our guide insisted that we galloped to get back in time that only exacerbated the pain. But it was still visually breathtaking and I could have ridden for hours more if I had the chance. But I was happy to get to back to camp.
It was starting to get cold and we were getting hungry. We sat down at dinner ready to fill ourselves on lamb. They brought down some not so appetizing dishes and we asked for lamb and the waiter told us a rack of lamb cost 430 元 (about $70), money we didn’t have. We were pissed, hungry and pissed. We spent the rest of the meal staring at other peoples lamb, just staring in lust. There were only two dishes that we considered edible and we ate them with horrific table manners. Marta reffered to it as our Stockholm Syndrome, eventually you start eating like a Chinese. Our table mates just looked at us vacantly during the meal. Graxi taught them a little bit of Spanish “Yo soy mongolito.”
It was the first time I ever left a meal in China not stuffed to capacity. All I wanted to do was go to the bathroom and go to bed. The toilets however were open squatter toilets. I couldn’t get myself to BM and decided to hold it until I got to a real toilet, or at least one with a stall. As I was walking back from the toilet a lone mare galloped right in front of me and I knew this trip was worth it. I have a special place in my heart for horses because I was born in the year in the horse. They are powerful and majestic and you can’t help but feel empowered when you ride one (no matter how much it hurts your ass).
Our hut was freezing. We slept on a concrete floor covered in cardboard and a sheet. Even with the three sheets they provided us with, I shivered all night. We stayed up telling stories and eating a whole bag of trail mix which saved us from starvation (thank you Aunt Pixie and Aunt Colleen). Probably one of the worst nights of sleep I ever had that was interspersed with some unusual and not pleasant dreams. One where Sirius was sick and one where I was in a Lindsay Lohan movie, not a good night. It was at about six in the morning that I first heard it. “pat-pitta-pitta-pit-pat”. It was starting to rain, and hard. When the others woke up we discussed all of our dreams and we concluded that Mongolia gave you fucked up dreams.
We sprinted to the food hut and ate on the scraps of last nights lamb. They were mocking us with that lamb. Then our waiter told us that the trip to another part of the plains was canceled due to rain. But our bus back to Hohhot wasn’t coming until three. We asked if we could go earlier but they told us “no, I think you should stay.”
Frustrated beyond belief we ran back to our sleeping hut in an attempt to get some more rest. I couldn’t. I listened to Madame Butterfly and played sodoku. I was cold and wet and miserable. I missed Hohhot, I missed Beijing but most of all I missed Albany. I wanted to hug my dog and sleep in my warm padded bed beneath my Turandot poster.
Three o’clock couldn’t have some soon enough and was loaded into a minivan with the family we sat with the night before who still insisted on staring at us the whole trip. On our way back we ran into this amazing fog as we went through the mountains. The fog went from beautiful to dangerous as it became so thick that we couldn’t see the barrier on the side of the road. I had never seen anything like it before. The only you could see in any direction was a think layer of moisture that couldn’t have given less visibility if it had been snowing. The driver still continued to pass on the blind turns no matter how much we pleaded that he not. We all light up. If we were going to down, we were going down with a cigarette.
We got back to Hohhot shaking but safe. All we wanted was a meal and a lift back to Beijing. WE found a McDonald, and let me preface this by saying that I refuse to eat at McDonalds in the US, but I have never been so happy to see the Golden Arches in my life. I got a Big Mac and a milkshake and was in bliss. It was like our embassy, we were home. “Is this heaven?”
“No, its McDonalds”
We went and bought a bus ticket back to Beijing for seven that night. We would get back around 2am in just enough to go to a club until closing to complete our epic journey. Eventually I manned up and used the squatter toilet in the bus station. I was proud of myself
We boarded the bus and I sat down next to a smelly mongolito who leaned on me the whole trip. I popped two Benadryl to get some shut eye and drifted into unconsciousness with “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” ringing in my ears.
I woke up with a start at around 11 and saw the bus had stopped and Marta and Graxi were gone. I was still groggy and was having trouble walking but I eventually found them. They were talking to the driver. We were about 150 kilometers from Beijing and the traffic was so bad that we it would be more gas efficient to stop. I didn’t understand, was this traffic all the way to Beijing? When would we get back? No one seemed to know. We got back on the bus and drove for about a kilometer and then we would stall for about five minutes, turn off the bus for about two minutes and then drive for another kilometer or so. This went on for about an hour before I got back to sleep again. Another night with terrible sleep we arrived in Beijing about six in the morning.
Without even saying goodbye to Graxi and Marta I caught a cab home and took a five hour nap.
All in all I spent about 800元, a little over $100. A bit more then I would have liked to spend but cheep nonetheless. It was terrible and wet and cold but we had a great time and I wouldn’t take it back if I could.
School starts tomorrow.
Here are some of my pictures from the trip













Marta with very friendly police officer















Horseback through the plains















Us in the plains














inside our hut

The freezing cold hut as we left.

Keep it real US
邓雍煌

北京

I’ve been living in Beijing for a week now and after much persuasion from my parents, have decided to start a blog. I cant make any guarantees as to how often I will update it but if you are legitimately interested in what im up to just shoot me an email and I’ll either send one back or consider updating.
its about 630 in the morning here and there is this alarm going off that no one else will turn off and i dont know how. the same thing happened yesterday. but its really okay because i went to bed t like nine last night. and had a nap at about 530
Well, where to start? I’ve been studying Chinese in the US for about three years and instead of going to college after high school I decided to take a year off and go to China in an attempt to master mandarin. I am studying here in Beijing at the University of International Business and Economics through a program called Education First (EF) for the next eight months. EF sponsors international language training in many countries on all six continents (Antarctica is not a continent I’ve decided). I have met students from all over the world including Mexico, Norway, Hungary and Thailand just to name a few.
EF has also set me up with a family to live with here. The Wu family is very nice and has accommodated me well. Mr. Wu is an English teacher, which has made my transition here a lot easier. Mrs. Wu and their son Xintong however speak no English, which forces me to speak Chinese to communicate. It’s a good balance. They are all very nice and have helped me get adjusted to life here.
there goes that damn alarm again
After a few days here, my sleep cycle is mostly adjusted (12 hour time difference... terrible) and I am over most of the initial culture shock. Some things how ever are taking a little longer to get use to (smells and table manners mostly). I’ve picked up a lot of the Chinese that I had forgotten over the summer and I have to say I’m quite proud of my progress.
Classes don’t start until next Monday though because everyone has this week off to celebrate the People’s Holiday for the founding of the People’s Republic of China. It’s nice because it gives me time to sight-see and become more familiar with the city. But a lot of people have come here for their holiday so Beijing is busting at its seams with people. Today on the subway back from the Temple of Heaven the car train was so packed that people were sleeping standing up because they couldn’t fall over. Just crazy.
So far I have been to Summer Palace, Tiananmen Square, the Great Wall and the Temple of Heaven. I would upload some pictures but im a dumbass and forgot the connect for my camera. I suppose I have more to write but I am just exhausted right now which accounts for why this entry sounds so fragmented. i need to get ready for today. we're going to go see the pandas!
Hope all of you back State-side are well
邓雍煌