What can I say? All your subtle hints got through:
When are you going to update that stupid thing?
Umm…still alive over there?
Can you please stop sending out stupid forwards for a minute and update the blog?
I personally blame my long silence on having a bedroom with no windows. Not quite true, I do have one window and it gives me a great view of the…drum roll…kitchen. Yep, no lie. In fact this is probably the worst designed apartment in history. I could take the existing rooms, change the function (switch what is the bathroom, kitchen, etc.) and come up with an infinitely better apartment. Needless to say, no window means no sunlight. Which in my language means go to sleep right now.
Couple of changes I plan on making.
1) I may include Chinese characters in my stories. So you probably should make sure your computer can display the characters. Not sure? Well if the title of this entry is a bunch of squares then you’ve got some updating to do. It is actually pretty easy to fix so let me know if you have problems.
2) What takes so long are the pictures. So instead of monthly updates I plan on doing more common but smaller posts, some without any pictures at all. Not this one of course but the next ones.
Ok, now on to the update.
In China. Back at school, probably for a year. Studying at 清华大学 (which is Tsinghua University for those who are hanzi impaired).
- Side note: The method by which Chinese Characters or Hanzi is translated into the Roman alphabet is called the PinYin system. The current system was changed sometime around 1920. What this means is that way you spell was changed. However, proper names tended to keep the old spelling. As a result you have a strange miss-match in how you sound out Chinese names. For example: if Tsinghau was spelled using today’s version of PinYin it would be spelled: Qinghua. The same is true for the word Tao which would now be spelled Dao. Now you know why you pronounce Taoism –> Daoism. So sound smart in the bookstore and order the Dao of Pooh not the Tao of Pooh. Of course the person behind the counter might not know this and you’ll come off like an idiot. But don’t worry just bring up the old “Did you know the new millennium starts on Jan. 1st 3001 not Jan. 1st 3000?” conversation. You’ll have a date in no time.
Ok, thanks Professor Reid or 瑞德. More on language in another post.
Anyway, new school so new classmates. Once again they are from all over the world. Although since Tsinghau teaches only in Chinese there are more Koreans than last semester. Note that this is a good thing and deserves a post of its own.
Let’s introduce some of the characters:
Eun Ju (Korean), Qing Qin (Korean), me
This was from the night my class all went out to dinner and then to a bar. Soon after my arrival in Beijing (don’t worry you’ll soon learn to tell time by watching my hair change). Everyone in class has a Chinese name but I find these very difficult to remember so I often use real names. With the Koreans it can be pretty hard either way and for some I use their real names and sometimes nicknames. So Qing Qin is better known as “Chucky” or “Crack Baby”. I find it funny that she actually prefers “Crack Baby” - somehow I think something isn’t translating correctly.
Eun, Chucky, me, and Dan (American)
Note the “V” sign. This is a Korean/HK/Taiwan disease. When asked what it means I always get the same answer, “Victory”. But I just get a strange look what I say, “I know, but why do you do it in all your pictures?” Sun, who lived in Canada for a while answered, “Why do you say cheese?” Good point.
Ralf (German), Alex (French), Du Hyun Hoon (Korean)
I’m pretty sure I spelled one of those wrong but that’s how they sound.
Richie (Teacher), Eun Ju, Crack Baby
Dan, Sean (Japanese), Sun (Korean), tiny Korean girl you can’t really see but who I think Dan is going out with, and Hyun Hoon.
Rena (Korean) and Ralf
Rena is the only other person in class (other than me) who has a phonetic spelling of her name into Chinese. This makes it pretty easy since you get to use your own name as your Chinese name but also means that people know it is made up. Not that I was really going to be fooling anyone.
Also soon after arriving one of my new 好朋友 (good friends) had a birthday dinner:
Paola (Peru), Meylin (Peru), me, Miram’s ex-boyfriend - but not yet as of this picture (German), Miriam (German), Micah (German)
It is Miriam’s birthday. She is my crazy German friend so she stars in many of the stories I’ll tell over the next couple of months. It was her birthday and I actually convinced her that on birthdays in China the birthday person pays for the meal. She wasn’t too happy when she found out I made it up. However, later, when the Deloitte partners came to visit they bought her enough tequila to make up for it (another story for another post - but it involves a tequila race).
Also note that the picture has 2/3 of the Peru Girls. They also feature in many stories.
Miriam and her soon to be ex. Temporally, the soon refers to the past when using today as a reference date.
I’ve also been meeting up with lots of friends from last semester but I’ll stick to introducing the new people in this post. I brought both groups together by introducing the Peru Girls to my other friends. Not sure how to describe them. Kind of like a valley girl Barbie? Meg probably understands.
I’ll try to show you want I mean:
So we’re all sitting around a table talking and what are they doing? Text messaging and working on eyelashes. That folks, is why we love’em.
Lily (Peru) the other 1/3
Ok, enough of this. Time for some random pictures.
Window washing Chinese style.
This has always been one of my favorite signs. At the entrance to the Beijing subway. Apparently no barrels, explosions, skulls (or is that pirates?), chemistry equipment (specifically beakers and test tubes) allowed. Oh, yeah and no guns or knives either.
One of the first nights in my apartment my roommate tells me that she is going to order take-out and asks if I want anything.
I went to Subway.
Speaking of scary food I’ve decided to add a new feature - scary food:
100 Year Eggs. Actually just a couple of weeks but still….
This is actually pretty normal; the fish is served whole so you know what you’re getting but my western sensibilities still find it strange.
Not really sure either. Bird flu still a surprise?
Well, at least they have a cooler. Now just need to work on getting the ice. The scary thing is that I eat this stuff every weekend.
Out of corndogs? Ok, I guess I’ll have a starfish.
Wait, on second thought I’ll try the…tentacles?…worms?
South Africa’s food suddenly seems pretty tame after all Mopani worms don’t come 4 to a stick.
Wait, forget the worms, you didn’t tell me you had scorpions!
Wilbur.
Ok, time to wrap up with a classic. My hair.
First change:
Second change:
Currently:
That’s it for now.
再见
