Seattle for the Summer

A last-minute trip decision now has me in Seattle for the summer.  It's nice to escape the hot and humid Beijing weather and I'm probably more helpful to my aunt and grandmother than I am in Beijing.  I'll still be working on my English lessons only more remotely and I'll get to spend some time with family and friends.  Our friend Jen has been in Seattle for work and I've been able to catch up with her before she returns to California.  We took a drive out to the Olympic Peninsula, but didn't go as far as Forks, which has become a popular destination amongst Twilight fans.  We did however have dinner at Bella Italia where the characters Edward and Bella had their first date (or so I've been told).

Escape to Taipei

After almost saying for two years I'll visit Taipei, I finally did.  Unfortunately Scott couldn't go, but that's because he had his only travel plans to Singapore and the Land Down Under for work so no need to feel bad for him.  He took my point-and-shoot camera and his assignment was to take pictures too, so we'll see what he takes and I'll share.  

The main reason for the trip was my good friend Emily and her husband Adam were visiting Adam's brother and family in Taipei for a last-minute trip.  I hadn't seen Emily since my wedding 2 years ago and my trips back to the US didn't line up with hers as she and Adam had been in Ecuador during the majority of that time working for the Peace Corps.  Now they're done and Adam will starting grad school this coming fall so it was perhaps the best chance for us to meet up in a while.  It was wonderful to see both of them.

Taipei was a nice break from China.  People are polite and the city is clean.  It brought back some old memories of Tokyo especially with all the cute shops and restaurants it had, so maybe you can call it a less expensive version of Tokyo where everyone spoke Mandarin instead of Japanese.  Everyday I took advantage of two things I don't get a lot of in Beijing - boba and donuts!  Yes, we have donut shops here, but Beijing doesn't have Mr. Donut's pon-de-rings or Dunkin' Donut's mochi donuts that Scott and I fell in love with during our mini tour through Japan eight years ago.

We visited Taipei 101, Shilin Night Market, a flower market, the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial, and National Palace Museum; rode the Maokong gondolas; and ate at a toilet-themed restaurant where the chairs were toilets and the food was served in mini-toilets.  It was a short 4-day trip, perhaps long enough to see the main sights and short enough to want to go back.

I'll post the rest of the pictures shortly...

Spring Travelling

What do I do when Scott goes on a two-week business trip without me?  Go on a trip of my own!  While Scott heads to Singapore, Perth, and then Sydney, this week I'll get to spend a few days in Taiwan with my good friend Emily and her husband Adam.  Taiwan has always been on our list of places to go but with the timing of Scott's trip and Emily's it's a great time to go.  Scott will just have to go on his own sometime (or I can tag along for a second trip...hehe).  Spring has brought a good many trips for us.  First we went to Xi'an with Scott's sister and then Sichuan for our anniversary and now these next trips.  On that note, perhaps it's a good time I post some entries and photos from those trips...

Sarah's visit

<-- Sarah was frequently stopped by people who wanted to take a picture with her.  It was like I was with a celebrity!

It was nice to have someone to finally take around Beijing.  It's almost been a year since my brothers were here and since then I've found other cool parts in the city I've wanted to show someone.  While Scott worked we girls played around Peking University, Old Summer Palace, Olympic Park, Hutong Cooking Class, we got manicures and pedicures, had wings at Hooters, danced away at Ladies' Night at Club Vics, Ming Tombs, Mutianyu Great Wall, and Lama Temple.  We still had plenty to do with Scott: foot massages, drink an erguotou, Tienanmen Square, Maliandao Tea Market, Houhai and of course Xi'an.

Scott has been to Xi'an before but with the Olympics and other international events hosted in China, Xi'an has made itself more tourist-friendly since Scott last visited almost 10 years ago.  It isn't a trip to Xi'an without seeing the Terracotta Warriors.  Seeing row after row of uncovered statues over 2000 years old is amazing and luckily they haven't uncovered all of them.  There's still more to reveal once they develop the technology to preserve the statues' paint that currently fades shortly after it's exposed to the air.


We ventured out of the city and found a tour to Huashan (Mount Hua/Flower).  Huashan is sometimes known for its dangerous walking paths and there were a few spots I can see why it developed this reputation.  I can't imagine climbing the mountain during the winter.  We took a cable car up to the top and had great views of the mountain.  There's also the option of walking up but not many people choose this route.  Luckily the cherry blossoms were in bloom and I got some great shots of the blossoms with the background of the mountain.



Sichuan

We took a tour to the region of Sichuan with the China Culture Center.  We've taken day tours with them before and this was our first outside of Beijing tour we took with them.  CCC didn't disappoint.  The majority of the meals they picked for us were great and the tour was run smoothly.  The people in our tour group came from a variety of backgrounds with a good number living in Beijing because they work for their respective embassies.  The highlight was of course seeing the pandas.  The panda reserve in Ya'an is like the San Diego zoo except the only animal there was the panda.  We lucked out with some cool weather so the pandas were awake and active.  The cutest pandas were the toddlers in their panda kindergarten.  For a donation, I even got to take a picture next to a panda.  He was much bigger than I had expected so I was somewhat happy he was occupied with the carrot they gave him.  The only negative was that I only got 30 seconds to sit with the panda and I'm pretty sure my actual time with it was less than that.

Scott's taking a camera with him on his trip and I'm taking my new SLR to Taiwan so we'll have more stories and pictures after we get back...

The Search for Internet

So my latest excuse for not posting is the difficulty we've had over the past weeks accessing the internet.  Coincidentally our internet at our foreigner-filled apartment complex started going in and out (mostly out) shortly after the government announced a new office that manages Internet information.

This week I had my final for an accounting class and I needed to find a reliable connection.  I tried taking a test last week and half-way through I lost my connection and the class website wouldn't let me log back in because it only allows students to log-in once to an exam.  

My search for the Internet took me across the city - 

From our apartment on the northwest part of the city, I thought I'd first try going to a small street in the middle of Beijing that has some cafés I've been intending on trying.  Unfortunately when I arrived at 10am I found out that nothing on that street opened until 11.  So I walked 20 minutes to another pedestrian street and finally found a café with free Wi-fi.  Unfortunately they didn't have food so at this point of day I am running on a peach and an iced hazelnut mocha that ended up being a disappointment.  

Feeling hungry I thought I'd go to Fat Burger which is in the northeast part of Beijing, but by the time I walked to the nearest bus station, waited 15 minutes for the bus not to show, and ride a taxi, I didn't have enough time to really eat if I wanted to arrive to my photography class on time (more on that later).  So I caught a bus and then transferred to another bus to arrive at my photography class located in southeast Beijing.  Still not having anything to eat, I got another iced mocha before class began.  This iced mocha was no better than the first so at 2pm my food intake is 1 peach and two bad tasting iced mochas.

After class I headed toward Sanlitun (east Beijing) which has three Starbucks with a block of each other.  I figured at least one will have a table next to a power outlet for my laptop and a reliable Internet connection.  One of my classmates so happens to live in Sanlitun and so we traveled there via subway together.  When we arrived, she kindly invited me to her house for some espresso and I figured why not since I was half curious to know what types of apartment other foreigners lived.  Her place is very nice and spacious, but this would be expected I guess for a diplomat's family with three small children.  After an hour I thought I should get going to find my Internet.  My classmate then told me about this bookstore that she goes to for studying, and when I arrived I found a big table next to a power strip and thought I was set, I have found my spot.  I ordered some food for dinner and maybe 40 minutes later, I was told to move out because they need to set up for an event that was supposed to happen on the roof but was moved because of the rain.  Not finding a good spot I decided to walk out in the rain and walk to the Starbucks close to the subway station.  I figured if it was crowded (and it was) I can just continue on to the subway to go home.  Since the Starbucks was crowded I got onto the subway because with the rain it was near impossible to find an available cab.  By this time it's 6:30pm, right in the middle of rush hour so it was an uncomfortable, hot ride home reminiscent of the days in a squished train in Tokyo.  Needless to say I was very happy to arrive home, crank up the air conditioner and watch the season finales of America's Next Top Model and Smallville.  I figured I deserved a break and left my search for Internet to continue the following day.

Friday 3pm was the deadline to finish my accounting exam (we had a 24 hour window) so when my cleaning lady was a little late than usual, I got nervous.  As soon as she arrived, I left to jump into a cab and return to Sanlitun.  I decided to go to the newest Starbucks, which is spacious and usually empty.  I arrive and I find the perfect table next to a power outlet.  I order my Iced Venti Vanilla Americano and a sandwich, sit on my table only to have a staff member kindly tell me that there's going to be an event in the section I sat in.  Luckily there was another table available (although smaller) where I could start my test.  During my test, their event began (I think it was a orientation for new hires) and they were a bit noisy so the staff apologized and gave me a coupon for a free tall drink.  Luckily the internet held and I was able to finish my test. 

So as I mentioned earlier I'm taking a photography class with the Beijing Center of Photography.  Scott gave me a nice SLR camera for our anniversary so I figured the least I can do is take a class to learn how to use it properly.  Hopefully this means more interesting and quality photos in the future.  Here are some pictures I took from Jingshan Hill which has a nice view into the Forbidden City.

(above) view facing into the Forbidden City
(below) view facing North Beijing

Our New (4-month old) Apartment

Here are some pictures of our new apartment.  Scott was tired of working and living within 5 minutes walking distance so we moved one subway stop away to the university-student-filled Wudaokou.  Given the location, for the same rent we were paying (roughly $1000/mo) we had to get something smaller, but that's okay because it's only the two of us.  When we were looking for our apartments, we came across a few two-bedrooms that somehow managed to squeeze 6-8 people in it.

Anyway, back to our apartment.  It's a two bedroom, one bathroom maybe 800(?) square feet.  Aside from the location, my favorite thing about our new place is the kitchen because it's part of the apartment and insulated from the outside elements, so this winter I wasn't cooking in a 50 degree kitchen.  One thing I'm still trying to work out is our hot water.  One day it works great and another not so much.  I'm not sure if it's because our water heater isn't working or I'm not patient enough.

Sarah enjoyed the hard bed otherwise she can vouch that our couch is quite comfortable in case anyone wants to drop by.  =)

Update on our old place: There was a fire in the floor below the one we lived on.  From what we can see on the outside of the building, the fire wouldn't have gotten our place but we definitely would've had some major smoke.

Front entrance that goes into our dining room; kitchen on right.  The kitchen has sliding glass doors around it, which I don't know what to use for.

Living room that you see when you walk in through the front door.  The area between the yellow curtains is like a sun room that looks into the complex's central courtyard.

Bathroom that has also serves as our laundry room.  So in the left corner when you walk into the bathroom there's our washer/dryer, in the next corner is a shower with a Jerry-rigged shower curtain, next to that is the toilet, and in the right corner as you enter the bathroom is the sink.  This is more like a typical Chinese bathroom.

Master bedroom - the picture is a bit strange because I used a stitching software to piece the pictures I took, but I people can get the basic idea. 

Guest Bedroom / Scott's office.  Scott's computer set-up (one desktop and two laptops) is at the foot of this bed. 

Spring is Here (and halfway over)!

I can't believe winter has already come and went and I've been doing such a "wonderful" job keeping this blog up-to-date.  Oh well…. real quickly on what has happened these last couple months in the 'Jing:

Chinese New Year was relatively low-key for us.  No fireworks blowing up at us like last year.  We had a relatively successful batch of jiaozi thanks to the cooking class I took and lots of fireworks to keep us awake at night.  Our new apartment faces into a courtyard so all the fireworks were amplified as they echoed between the buildings.  They're always cool to watch though and since our new apartment is on the 12th floor, the fireworks exploded right in front of our living room window.  As tradition we went to one of the city's many temple fairs.  I posted some pictures of what we saw.  We went to a smaller temple fair this year so it wasn't as crowded and plus it had a stage for some performances.

Our first snow finally came on February 10th, much later than the November snow we had in 2009.  I took the opportunity to go to the Summer Palace and take some pictures.  There's something beautiful about bright red buildings covered with snow.  It was during the week so I was surprised with the number of other people that were there but like me, they all had their cameras and snapped away.  The coolest part about the Summer Palace was the lake was completely frozen.  Despite the signs that said don't go on the lake, I did, and walked straight across.  There were many other Chinese people on the lake so I figured if I fell through, someone could rescue me.   

For Valentine's Day, Scott got me the biggest bouquet of roses I've ever seen with almost 100 stems.  The flower delivery service he used has their people deliver their in clown outfits.  When I first heard the doorbell I ignored it figuring it was someone trying to sell me something.  But after a few more knocks, I looked out the door and there was the clown!  100 roses is pretty heavy so I wonder how many the poor clown had to deliver that day.  In true Chinese style they make their deliveries on bike.  We saw a couple of them when we went out that night.

So that was pretty much our winter.  I've been staying in doors working on my lesson plans and Scott has been busy with work. 

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Sidenote: I had this story written up and intended to post it three weeks ago!  But since then we've had Scott's sister Sarah visit us so I'm now just putting this up.  I have pictures of Sarah's stay that I'll post soon as well as pictures of our new apartment…

Back in Beijing

In preparation for the Chinese New Year, where the traditional first meal should be jiaozi (dumplings), I took a cooking class in one of the hutong homes in Beijing (http://hutongcuisine.com).  The main cook was in Italy for vacation so her brother and sister took over her teaching duties.  Overall impression was I enjoyed learning the nuances of Chinese spices and the marketplace but their teaching techniques were sometimes brutal, although perhaps not as bad as the Tiger Mom.  Many times they would tell me and the other girl taking the class, "No, stop, you're doing it wrong! Do it like this!" and they quickly take over the task we were apparently not completing to their standards.  The other girl from the class said their sister was much nicer so I'll consider going back for a future lesson.  In the brother and sister's defense rolling out the perfect jiaozi wrapper is difficult and if not done properly can lead to filling pouring out and ruining the dish so it's not something that should be taken lightly; but a little patience would've been appreciated.  In any case, I now have a recipe in hand so I'll try my hand at my own batch this New Year's.

The girl I took the class with was nice.  She's a student from New Jersey and will be leaving Beijing in a couple of days after spending her holidays here for an internship.  The kicker though was a conversation we had on our way to the subway station after class.
Me: What year are you?
Girl: I'm a sophomore. Were you in college, like, years ago?
Me: Sure… I guess you can say it's been a few years. I graduated in 2004.
Girl: Okay yeah, because you look like you've been out of college for a while, I mean, you look the same age as my brother.
Sheesh, talking about feeling old!  The Beijing pollution must've really done a number on my skin. =P

Anyway, we're obviously back in Beijing after spending almost a month in the States.  I'm pretty sure I gained at least 10 pounds from all of the cooking my mom did and the great places we ate at while we visited Seattle. For those we didn't get to see here are some of the answers to some FAQs.
Q: When are you coming back?
A: Not sure, we're waiting for the economy to get better and wait for the right opportunity.  There's been a lot of growth and opportunities in China so it makes sense for us to be there right now.

Q: Maile, what are you doing to pass the time?
A: I found a part-time job providing voice recordings for an English school; they're sort of like sample lesson plans for non-native-English-speaking teachers to use.  I've been keeping myself busy with online accounting and Chinese classes.

Q: Maile, how is your Chinese?
A: Not very good but I think my listening skills have improved. I still rely on Scott to do the translating.