Most certainly, the smog in Beijing can be a problem. In Manila, though, the exhaust fumes and blue haze from the traffic congestion was choking. Even the worst AQI days here in Beijing have not slowed me down. I've survived a cold and sinus infection already, and I was able to get what I needed at the pharmacy (thank you, Google translate). All in all, I am making it just fine here in Beijing. In fact, there are many things I have come to really like and appreciate :)
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| Let's begin with the reason I was brought here- to teach AP Psychology to Chinese National kids. A fifteen hour work load? With incredibly smart and academically disciplined kids? Let's be real; it is a DREAM job... and I haven't included the ridiculous salary they are paying me and the incredibly cheap cost of living here. I AM SO BLESSED :) |
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| Before coming to China, I thought I would have all noodles and rice, and my beloved carb addiction for all things bread and pastry would suffer without an oven or a culture that does not have bread. I WAS MISINFORMED! There's a bakery on nearly every corner, and I AM IN HEAVEN.... french baguettes, blueberry egg custard tarts, croissants, mango pastries... Need I say more?! In fact, I have put on weight here :/ Seriously, how is it that the Chinese women are so freakin' tiny??? |
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| I love the commitment Chinese people have to the idea that 'strong bodies help create strong minds.' Every morning on my way to school, every afternoon on my way home from school, I pass people of all ages out running, doing stretching exercises, aerobics, playing badminton... |
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| ...or a rousing game of ping pong.... |
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| ...or gathering outside a busy shopping mall for an impromptu ballroom dancing lesson. Though they are a quiet, reserved people by nature, they dance with reckless abandon in public places, and not a care in the world about who may be watching....I LOVE IT. Last night, I saw couples disco dancing outside of Wanda Plaza :) |
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| Passing the preschool every morning and every afternoon on my walk to and from school always brings a smile to my face. They play Western children's songs over the loud speaker as all the children arrive to school. Yesterday I sang and danced to "If You're Happy and You Know It, Clap You Hands!" Today, I sang and did the hand motions with a little girl and her grandma to "Itsy Bitsy Spider." :))) Seeing little Chinese girls in pigtails makes me smile. Every. single. time. |
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| In fact, seeing any little Chinese boy or girl makes me smile. I think the children here are beautiful... Until they pop a squat in the street. Meh. :/ |
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| Being able to find a decent margarita in Beijing has been a pleasant surprise! A good margarita, shared with new friends, will also make me smile. Every. single. time. |
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| Discovering these garlicky, spicy green beans also makes me happy :) It's one of my faves here, for sure. |
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| Wandering through an old hutong neighborhood is one of my favorite things to do, too. Finding this little gem was a glorious moment for me... the place is full of imported CHEESE!!! Cheese is very hard to come by in China; it is not a part of their cuisine. I love cheese just as much, if not more, than bread :) Imported cheese on a fresh baguette?! It's pure heaven, y'all!!! |
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| Hutongs are very narrow pedestrian streets that have tiny little specialty stores, boutiques, bars, coffee shops, hostels, and interesting local wares. Why there was a giant dinosaur (?) saying MF on it, in a storefront window... I. have. no. earthly. idea. It wasn't a head shop; they sold sports wear. Beats the heck outta me! |
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| I am always running across 'Chinglish' signs that make me giggle. Sometimes they make no sense whatsoever. The same is true of the funny screen print T's I see the Chinese wearing. Some of the shirts are downright hysterical. Clearly, something gets seriously lost in translation, lol. I went to a squatty potty at a restaurant, and the yellow sign above was on the inside of the stall door. While I am squatting there in my private moment, thinking about how stall doors open to the inside I can't help but chuckle. What other person could possibly be in the stall with me that I might accidentally strike?! Oh. my. life. |
I have to say, though, as least this potty had a stall door. A few weeks ago, I found myself in a public squatty potty in an old hutong. For the record, ladies, you must always carry tissues or baby wipes with you if you need a 'private moment' in a public restroom here in China. Toilet paper is almost never provided. The public squatty potties in the old hutong neighborhoods are the worst. They are beyond filthy dirty and disgusting, and you had better hold your breath when you enter. What makes the whole experience even more disturbing is there are NO stall doors...just imagine four holes in the sticky, dirty, disgusting tile floor. One evening, down in a cool hutong by Lama Temple, I was about to wet my tights. I went scrambling into the dirty, smelling public squatty potty with baby wipes in hand and holding my breath. To my dismay, three of the four open holes were occupied. It was a disturbing sight, that nearly took my breath away, except I was holding my breath already.
Hole #1 had an old toothless Chinese woman (I mean OLD), squatting, doing her business, and smoking a cigarette. Hole # 3 had a middle aged woman hovering high over the hole and talking on her cell phone. Hole # 4 had a twenty something girl squatting and playing a video game on her cell phone. I was about to seriously wet my tights, so I had no choice but to elbow my way in to Hole #2 and sandwich myself, bare a**ed between toothless and the hovering one, who was splashing everywhere. I wanted to puke. and die. right there. It sent my need for cleanliness into HIGH GEAR. So incredibly gross, y'all. Geesh.
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| I am happy to be making some really good friends here. Jeanette, on the left, is an AP Biology teacher from St. Louis. She is my work out buddy, and at Christmas she is going to be my travel and scuba diving beach in Sanya, South China. Kathy, on the right, is an English teacher that hails from Canada. She is my office mate, and we both are mothers to grown children. We have lots to talk about during the day, and I really enjoy her friendship. How these two ladies ended up with matching outfits on the same day of school, I have no idea- It's a woman thing ;) |
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| Looking out my window, to my mountain view on the blue sky, clean air days, always makes me smile. I love my apartment. It's cozy. It's me. and I feel very comfortable in that space :) On the days I can't see the mountains, I still know they are there, and eventually they will reappear when the gray skies clear. It's kind of like God's promise in a rainbow after the storms (of life). I remain hopeful, and that's a good thing,since I am halfway around the world. |
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| Working in the field of psychology all my life, I am always intrigued by people. Observing people is a favorite past time of mine. Watching people, in a culture still so new to me, is just fascinating. I love that the older folks will gather on the stoop or stairs, outside their apartments, in a park, or in front of Walmart, (as they are here) to engage in a competitive game of playing cards in the sun. I have yet to figure out the game they play, but they get so animated when slamming down their cards and shouting. I can't help but smile watching them. |
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| All along the outside of the plaza, groups of men and women were playing card games board games, mahjong tiles and such. It seems to be a ritual for them on the weekend afternoons. They are serious about it, too! |
After being in Manila last week, there are many things I appreciate about Beijing (in spite of the smog problem). In Manila, there is no central mode of transportation- no subway (Ok, it's an island afterall), no organized public bus transport, no controlled or organized cab system. Beijing manages to move 21+ million people with relative ease. Even the morning and evening commute craziness on the streets or in the subways only lasts about two hours or less, and then it all clears up. Though there are scooters and bikes here in Beijing, they have dedicated lanes to drive in, and almost all of them are electric powered, or old fashioned pedal power. I have seen just one gas powered motorcycle here in three months. In Manila, all modes of transportation are crammed in the streets with no rhyme or reason. Jeepneys are the closest thing they have to busses, but there are no marked bus stops. You can only tell where some of them are going, if they have their stops painted on the side panels. With out a city map, or signage posted in the streets, God only knows where you might end up if you hop on one- in the middle of the traffic. Whether in a taxi, on a scooter, on foot, or sitting at an outdoor cafe, it is stressful to see and hear the chaos in the streets of Manila.
We don't have any of those issues here in Beijing. There is no bartering for cab fare here, unless you happen to get in a 'black market' cab. (Those are clearly marked, by the way.) Otherwise, the cab fare is metered, and it is ridiculously cheap. Get on a bus or in the subway, and there's dual signage in Mandarin and English. Recorded announcements at subway stops and on the buses are made in Mandarin and English as well. You can also watch the lighted map on subways and in buses to see when your stop is coming up. There's a system for getting on and off the subways and buses, and the people are really pretty good about following the painted lines on the floor or sidewalks. There's the occasional person pushing and shoving, but boorish behavior can happen anywhere in the world.
In China, everybody has a job, no matter how menial the task may be. Unlike Manila, you don't have hungry children begging in the streets. There are no hawkers on the sidewalks or in the streets trying to get you to buy something. I don't think I have seen a homeless person, yet. Given that everyone has a job here, the subways and streets, for the most part, are kept pretty clean. The subways are especially cleaner than any I have been in, including big cities in the US and throughout Europe. I don't know how they do it all, managing a city of this size, but it really seems to work.
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| Take for example, ordering things....whether it's merchandise from Amazon.cn., a Domino's Pizza, or McDonald's for lunch, anything and everything can be delivered to you in Beijing. These little pedal wagons are all over the city. I don't know how it all works, but stuff will magically appear on the sidewalk outside your apartment building within a matter of hours (or less, if it's food!) |
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| And as I have found with nearly every laborer here, whether its the cleaning lady in my apartment building, or the guy delivering packages, they almost all have a smile, a wave, and a friendly, "Ni hau!" |
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| We have trash pickers in Beijing, and these are not dumpster divers, as we'd think of in the states. For these folks, it is their job to sort through the trash that accumulates in the apartment complexes. Daily they sort through the trash, sorting recyclables from the rest. They receive mere pennies on the yuan, and it takes six yuan to make one US dollar. But again, they do their job with an element of dignity and pride. Their job is 'very important' to the overall environment of their housing complex. That point cannot be argued. What trash truly remains is then bagged and collected by the waste trucks. |
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| And again, each time I pass the trash pickers, I am greeted with a smile, and a wave and a "Zao shang hao!" (Good Morning!) They smile even brighter when I respond with "Zao shang hao!" in return. I love it. This man was loading up the cart to his bicycle with cardboard to deliver to the recycling plant. I don't think he makes more than a few yuan a day (18 yuan is the equivalent of $3.00 USD). Here's a link to an article explaining why Chinese trash pickers are typically the elderly. http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/china/140704/elderly-chinese-collecting-trash |
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| Even the old guy that sweeps the school grounds with his broom of tree branches always has a smile and a wave for me. I never pass by without telling him what a good job he does keeping our school look nice. He doesn't understand my English words, but a smile and a softness to your voice is universal. Besides, I always tell him thank you, "xie xie." |
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| So things seem to work here in China. People go to work; people seem relatively happy. Traffic moves, the city is clean, for the most part. Children play outdoors; and old folks gather to play games on the stoops. People of all ages are seen exercising, playing sports, or dancing in the parks or in the courtyards of their apartments. Even the dogs seem happy here; seldom do I even hear one bark, and dogs are everywhere! Now, one could argue about their political structure, the air quality, or that religion that is largely absent in their culture, but things do appear to work here. I also am settling in and feeling my place here. Soon I will have to decide if I want to renew my contract for next year. It is a decision that is weighing heavily on my heart. For now, though, when I look out my window at the beautiful setting sun, I feel my life coming together. This new life is working for me, and that has surprised me, for sure. I have so much to be thankful for; I am one incredibly blessed girl. |
G'nite y'all!
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