Hello from Beijing.
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
I am interrupting the b-day picture complilation and resizing project for a few quick congratulatory announcements:
1) Congrats to Tad, who got engaged this weekend, in the great city of New York, to Becky. Yay for you both! Of course, we've been in on it for awhile, because Tad sends us pics like this:
hee, hee. he's very tricky.
2) And then, congrats to Tad again. He's a new uncle (and to Tommy and Jocelyn as well). You know how I cannot resist baby pictures. Here's little Sebastian:
is this kid cute or what?
3) And finally, happy early birthday to John, who gets a little older tomorrow. He makes this site possible, you know. And for that, we repay him with a birthday picture:
with camera, as it should be
Sunday, June 20, 2004
on the field of the worker's stadium
So Friday was my birthday. I'm a little bit older, but not too much wiser. Or mature for that matter, judging by my birthday party of choice: a city-wide scavenger hunt with 20 of my closest (and scavenging) friends. It was great. (Seriously great. I highly recommend.) The Planning Committee of Mike and Duncan (finally completed this week with a slightly-laid-up Megan) really outdid themselves: They had us running about the city, trying on fur coats and driving taxis and eating scorpions and sneaking on to the field at the the city's main stadium -- capturing everything with digital cameras for proof. (And don't worry mom, no one was arrested and no one was hurt.) Though the hunt itself was just 5 hours, the whole thing turned into a 14-hour extravaganza. Many picture highlights to come. In the meantime, enjoy these.
the cabbie did not even put up any protest when we asked if we could sit in the driver's seat
had to be in the public pool -- so in pallavi went
ben was our most fearless competitor, eating the weird food and borrowing used hard hats
Monday, June 14, 2004
Whew. So my previous euphoric posting gave way (of course) to a week of deadlines, revisions, stress and extreme crankiness. (Plus -- in case I haven't mentioned this enough -- it is way hot here. Like mid-90s every day, walk outside and start sweating, want to wear a bathing suit all the time hot.)
The good news is, looks like we've gotten in on a summer share (it's no Hamptons, but I'm enjoying the idea of running around in the countryside, sleeping on a Kang bed, and breathing non-polluted air for a change.) Apparently, there are some "issues" with the "plumbing" (but hey! It has plumbing!) but we hope to get those worked out soon. I need a rest.
Friday, June 4, 2004
So, yesterday, I had my first, real, longer-than-two-minutes conversation in Chinese. With a real Chinese person! (And not my teacher, who is a real Chinese person but who humors me and speaks very slowly.) It didn't even really fall apart in a flurry of "ting bu dong"s ("I don't understand") like they normally do. I am a Chinese-speaking genius! Okay, not really, and I have a long way to go before I'll be able to competently grocery shop, but still. Baby steps. Yay!
Here is how the weather has been this week: Hot. The bike and I are up early these days, heading over to my new school where I take Chinese classes every morning. I am on my fourth round of taking extrememly basic Chinese, so it's finally sinking in (hence the conversation). Then we usually bike around a bit and meet friends for lunch, or visit a park, or head home to do work and hit the pool (because it really is getting to be that hot). I can't complain. I can't really pay bills (yet), but I can't complain.
OK, all you Urban Outfitters lovers out there: you really have no excuse not to come to China anymore. This weekend, I sought out (and found) what has been (so far) the coolest, hippest market/mall in Beijing: Stalls and stalls of funky graphic tees, cute purses, amazing shoes -- that all look they fell off the back of the hipster truck. It was overwhelming. Luckily, I was able to expand my collection of funny English translated T-shirts for mere dollars, and that was pretty cool. Come! Visit! Shop!
Off to school and lunch and tennis and surprise parties: See you -- with some pictures -- very soon.
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