Hong Kong

This picture was taken from my youth hostel by this gentleman.


I'm currently in Hong Kong renewing my visa so that I can go back to the Motherland. This place is unlike any city I've ever seen. Certain areas of HK are so DENSE with people and buildings that it makes Beijing seem like suburbia.

I'm going to write a lengthy post to reflect on everything after I leave. For now, I will leave you with some pictures that I harvested off of Flickr. Unfortunately, I don't have a camera of my own. Follow the links.

Lots and lots of signs.

Lots and lots and lots of buildings.

More to come.

Old-School

Last week I did something I've been meaning to do for a while--I got myself some slick new wheels. The bicycle is older than I am, so it only cost me 80RMB (or $11.70). The previous owner was an elderly Chinese man who lives on the opposite side of town. His younger neighbor helped him put up a classified add on a popular Beijing expat website and I was happy to take it off his hands.


picture from this website


The bike is classic Beijing style, and looks similar to the one in the above picture, minus the basket in the front. The frame on mine also looks thicker and more worn. I really wanted to get an old bike though. It just seems so authentic. Also, an old bike is much less likely to be stolen (as Uncle Eric is always reminds me).

I picked up the bike on the south-east side and I live on the north-west side. I took the subway to get there, but taking the subway back was not an option since I couldn't bring the bike on with me. Equipped with only a single gear, I trekked across the city for nearly two hours before I got home. It was a really nice ride though. This city is as flat as a chessboard, and has bike lanes everywhere. Nightfall came before I reached T-Square and the Forbidden City, so it was beautifully lit up as I pedaled past. Beijing really is an interesting place to live.

Three Paragraphs

The only Olympic events that you can watch without tickets are the cycling races. After church today I went with a few friends to stand by the road and watch the cyclists. They all passed in a matter of seconds, but I can officially say that I've attended an Olympic event. Cool.

I went to a very charismatic international church on Saturday night. The people were really nice and genuine. However, I was a little weirded out when the lady behind me kept blowing a conch shell during worship songs. Good times.

USA vs. China in basketball tonight. I'm gonna get together with some friends to watch the game on TV. I'm hoping for a close game instead of a complete smackdown.

Let the Madness Begin

KABLOOSH!

Click HERE to see some more pictures of the opening ceremony.

I went with Eric to watch the opening ceremony at University of Science & Technology Beijing a couple days ago. The city has set up a bunch of "Olympic Cultural Squares", which are basically outdoor areas outfitted with huge screens so that crowds can gather to watch live Olympic footage.

The field was full of people reclining on the grass, all watching a spectacular--but long--opening ceremony. It was cool to know that all the events we saw on the screen were happening just a couple miles away. We experienced the flash and the thunderous boom of the fireworks from Beijing National Stadium (aka Bird's Nest) as we watched the festivities.

When the athletes from each country were introduced, I took note of what teams received applause from the audience around me--besides team China and Hu Jintao of course.

They were Russia, Iraq, USA, Canada, North Korea, Pakistan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. An interesting combination. Japan was the only country that received some boos, which was disappointing but not surprising. The 'average Zhou' (linguistic pun alert!) in China doesn't have the nicest sentiments for the Japanese, but I think it's getting better.

Also, George Bush, Russian PM Vladimir Putin, and Kobe Bryant received quite a bit of applause. Chinese youth have an unhealthy obsession with Kobe Bryant.

Living in Beijing

Landscape:
-Plenty of nice parks and public places. I can sit on a park bench older than my country.
-Lot's of coffee shops, tea houses, bars, and other places to study and chill.
-I like the subway system.
-The worst air pollution I've seen in any Chinese city. Supposedly getting better.

People:
-Hundreds of thousands of university students live in Haidian District, where I live. Qinghua University and Beijing University--the Harvard and Yale of China--are a few minutes walk from my university.
-All of these students can speak English (at varying skill levels, of course). There are many foreigners in China who speak little or no Chinese and have lived here for years.
-Beijingers have a reputation for talking about politics. This makes for some really interesting conversations.

Economic:
-DVDs for $0.50-$3.00
-hipster shoes, jeans, or tailor made pants for $10.00
-subway ticket to anywhere in the city for $0.30
-Really fantastic food. Ranging anywhere from $1-$20 per meal.
-No need to own a car. No need to pay for gas, insurance, and maintenance.
-In my opinion, China is a great place to make money doing creative or artistic jobs. ie: writing, making music, art & design, being the token white guy in a Chinese TV commercial or soap opera.
-Of course, work as an English teacher or tutor is widely available. The pay is quite good, even by American standards.

Other stuff:
-A jammin' music and arts scene.
-An absolutely fascinating political environment.
-Weird TV shows and news broadcasts, courtesy of the CCP.
-Suprisingly thriving churches.
-Much more.


I really enjoy living in Beijing. However, I know that my experience would be much drastically different if I was a working class Beijinger. My paycheck would be lower, I'd work longer hours, probably have to commute several hours a day to work, etc, etc, etc. For a young white male, life in China is extremely laidback and worry free. There is never a shortage of people wanting to be your friend (girlfriend). There are constant temptations to waste time, waste money, and think of yourself as the center of the universe.

But these temptations are not unique to my current living situation, they follow me around the globe. So how do I avoid living a wasted life? It starts with a force that many find irrelevant, imaginary, or plain insulting. The Grace of God. May I not take it for granted.

Anyway, the Olympics start tomorrow. Watch the opening ceremony, it will surely be amazing. There will be plenty of interesting news stories on Beijing in the coming days. Also, today I was sitting in a cafe next to members of the US Swim Team. Cool!

Basketball Camp

Studying at Beijing Language & Culture University (BLCU) kinda feels like a summer camp. Each day has its structered list of activities including learning, recreation time, and eating cafeteria food. You also hang out with a bunch of people that you don't know very well.

I have Chinese class for 4 hours in the morning, eat lunch, teach English for 2 hours, and then come back to campus to play basketball until dinner. The time after dinner is reserved for doing homework and vegging out. Rinse and repeat, Monday through Friday.

One thing that has surprised me is how much I've been playing basketball. It seems to be the default activity around campus. Even some of the younger Chinese teachers come out and play. We've had some intense games too. A couple days ago I injured my eye when going for a rebound. I got a small cut and a black eye, but it's not too bad. My glasses pretty much cover up the bruise.

Today I was playing some 4-on-4 for several hours. Among the 8 people on the court, I counted 7 nationalities! Guys from Turkey, Nigeria, Vietnam, France, USA, Argentina, and China. Speaking of international sporting events, the Olympics start in 9 days. The anticipation is building...

Skadoosh!

Somehow blogging isn't as fun when you've lost your digital camera and your computer is broken, but I'll try to keep updating every once in a while.

I'm definitely moving out of the hobo-living-out-of-a-backpack phase of my trip. This week marks the start of school and work for me. I'll be studying Chinese Monday through Friday at Beijing Language and Culture University from 8am to Noon.

I also got a job teaching conversational English from 1.30pm to 3.30pm Monday through Friday. I've only worked for 3 days, but I think I'm gonna like this job. Basically, I hang out with 4 Korean kids, asking them questions and telling them stories (in English, of course) for 2 hours a day. The language school is on the 9th floor of a building that is a short walk from my university dormitory. There is a sizable Korean community in my neighborhood, and this language school is run by Koreans, hence the reason all my students are Korean. The kids are all between 12 and 15-- not the easiest age to work with-- but none of them are punks and their attention span is about as long as mine.

After teaching, I am free to hang out in cafes and internet bars, do my Chinese homework, and feed my Wikipedia, YouTube, and blog reading addictions. I've also been playing some basketball on campus. I feel so tall in this country.

On Sundays, I attend Haidian Church which has the best English-preaching I've ever heard in this country. I've heard some pretty wacky sermons at other state-controlled churches, but the pastor here is the real deal. He is an excellent preacher, speaks perfect English, and is not afraid to use the words "sinner" and "Jesus" at least 2 dozen times in every sermon. It seems churches are getting more and more freedom these days, at least in Beijing, praise God. I'm looking for ways to get more involved at this church.

So, I guess this is my life right now, and I must say I'm really liking it. I'm surprised that the romance of living abroad hasn't started to wear off yet, but I'm expecting it will start after a few weeks of school and work. Anyway, the Olympics will come soon, which is going to be crazy. I'll definitely have some related-posts. I'm interested to see how the Olympic coverage on TV will portray this fascinating city. More later. Peace.