Back in California

Do you see the ocean in the background? Oh yes, on Sunday I went for a hike with nice views and lots of fresh air. It was wonderful!

Beijing was an adventure alright. I had an incredible time and enjoyed the four weeks tremendously. Now it's back to work. And while the air is fresh and the sky is blue, I miss the carefree feeling of being on vacation, exploring my new surroundings, and spending hours on end in a coffee shop trying to pound more and more Chinese characters into my head. I want to continue to xuexi hanyu and plan to return to China in due time.

Let me breathe

Never in my life have I longed for fresh air as much as I have this week. I already day dream about going for a walk along the beach or on a hike this weekend when I am back in California. My lungs ache for oxygyn and I am so tired of breathing in dirt.

Karaoke aka KTV

For a true Beijing experience, we went out for Karaoke on Monday night. It's REALLY popular here.
Different from what I knew before, you do not sing in public in a bar here, though. You book your own separate room in a Karaoke place just with your group of friends. We were 20+ people from our language school and had a lot more fun than I ever thought we would. In a glitzy state of the art Karaoke establishment called Melody, we had three screens, a large selection of English and Chinese songs, two microphones, a small stage, room to dance, and couches. We even had Schellenkraenze and Rasseln. No idea what those are called in English. My pictures don't show it, but I sang a lot.... ;-) No worries, I didn't embarrass myself. It was all good fun. We stayed for over three hours and ended the evening with some multi-lingual acapella performances.

Mai donxi

Shopping was not that bad. Turns out I am pretty good at bargaining. It's intense though - I had to take a break after an hour and a half and just go outside the buiding for a little while. You pass the different vendors and they all shout at you "looka looka" or "lady, you want watch?" Once you show the slightest interest, they want to push all kinds of things on you. Some even start pulling your sleeve when you try to leave. Sigh. Well, I tried to always talk to them in Chinese and say that I only want to look around a little. One guy wanted to lure me into his store and I asked him in Chinese if it was okay that I just want to have a look. He said dangran - of course and laughed. I think he saw on my face that I was tired of being pressured. What's great, though, is that once people realize you are not just a regular tourist but studying Chinese, they go easier on you. After we were done bargaining over some chop sticks, one vendor even said to me bu cuo - not bad. ;-) The end of the story is that I will probably go back to shop some more this week, now that I know what's available and for what prices.

3 weeks

It's Friday and I have finished my third week of classes. People around me are already talking about arranging the airport transfer for next Saturday. Time has surely flown by fast.
This afternoon, I will spend a couple of hours at SPR, a cafe close to my school that I have adopted as my usual study and work spot. I like it because it is NOT Starbuck's (always supporting the underdog), the staff is nice and they have comfortable chairs, and play nice music. It's kind of funny, they have two CDs which they play over and over and over again, and when I have listened to the same Norah Jones song for the third time, I know it's time to leave...
Another reason I like the place is that they have free wireless internet access, which is convenient for blogging and working on the days I have my laptop with me. To be honest, my desire to work from here is very limited, though. I guess that's good. ;-)

This weekend I want to do some more sight seeing - I still have not walked around Tianamen Square and checked out Mao's mausoleum, for example, - and I finally have to go shopping. I am not really excited about the latter, but I kind of feel that I have to take advantage of the bargains that I can get here. Of course, I also want to find some things to bring back home, maybe even some Christmas gifts. Still, the prospect of having to bargain for every item I want to buy, to have to be careful that I am not buying inferior quality or being totally ripped off makes me tired just thinking about it. Even in Germany or the U.S., I don't like it when sales people want to talk me into buying something. There I can tell them to leave me alone and browse on my own. Here that's not really possible, because the shopping "malls" consist of rows of many small booths that each belong to one person who keeps talking to you non-stop. Oh well, I will get over it. ;-)

Olaf, herzlichen Glueckwunsch zum Geburtstag!
Eine Mitschuelerin hier hat heute auch Geburtstag und deshalb gab's schon Kuchen. Ich hab den dann insgeheim auch auf dein Wohl gegessen und werde auch bei einem Bier heute abend an dich denken. Feiere schoen!

Mein letztes Wochenende in Beijing hat angebrochen und morgen frueh mache ich nochmal eine von der Schule organisierte Tour mit. Diesmal geht's durch ein paar alte traditionelle Stadtteile Beijings, die sogenannten Hutongs. Ich glaube wir fahren Rikscha und bekommen erzaehlt wie man "frueher" in Beijing lebte. Mal sehen.
Weil ich jetzt schon weiss, dass ich unter der Woche wieder genug zu tun habe, will ich ausserdem versuchen, meine Mitbringsel (schoenes deutsches Wort) dieses Wochenende zu kaufen. Ich find's zwar etwas anstrengend, dass man hier immer feilschen muss, aber eigentlich sollte ich mich natuerlich darueber freuen, dass dadurch vieles sehr billig sein kann. Und feilschen habe ich gelernt. Auf chinesisch, meine ich.

Gestern hat mir meine Gastmama wieder vier Schuesseln zum Abendessen aufgetischt. Gekochte Tomaten mit Ei, geduensteten Chinakohl, Knoedel mit Fleischfuellung (baozi) und Reis. Irgendwann bemerkte sie dann, ich aesse immer nur so wenig. Ha! Keine Spur. Nur halt nicht vier Schuesseln. Ich habe ihr dann in meinem besten Chinesisch erstmal erklaert, dass es einfach zuviel ist. Dass das Essen fuer zwei Personen ist und ich nunmal nur eine Person bin. Da musste sie schon auch lachen.

Ich find's ueberhaupt klasse, wenn Chinesen ueber meine Sprachversuche lachen. Das heisst wenigstens, dass sie mich verstanden haben. Ich habe neulich abends auch meinen Taxifahrer sehr amuesiert mit meinen Versuchen, Konversation zu treiben. Ich sage dann so spannende Saetze wie "diese Strasse kenne ich" und "Ich finde ihr Auto gut." Als der Taxifahrer auf halbem Weg verkuendetet "es ist 22 Uhr", da wurde mit klar, dass er sich auf mein Niveau eingestellt hatte. Die Aussage war voellig unwichtig, aber den Satz konnte ich verstehen. Ich habe dann nur erwiedert: "Das stimmt" und wir haben herzlich gelacht. So geht das mit dem Chinesisch lernen.

Yóuyông

Swimming is my 'back to the roots' sport. While I go to the gym these days, lift weights, kick box, and lately even got into a running routine, I still feel most "at home" when I dive into a pool. The smell of chlorine is so familiar. I love the cold water against my skin. The feeling of pulling through it with steady strokes, realizing that all surrounding sounds are muffled. Swimming relaxes my mind. In fact, it almost has a soothing effect on me, even though it's a workout.

Here in Beijing, I joined a gym with a nice 25m pool (see picture) two days after I arrived. It's across the street from my language school, so it's really convenient. I swim at least twice a week and also run on the treadmill and lift a couple of times a week. Before I leave, I really should take a Yoga, Pilates or Spinning class in Chinese, just for the experience, but there is only so much time in the day.

During yesterday's swim workout, I tried to think back to all pools in which I have swum through the years, well, decades now. It's impossible, of course, but it brought back a lot of good memories. It also made me think of many good friends and fellow Kachelzaehler from different times (Kachelzaehler is German for someone who counts tiles - most German pools are tiled). For many years, I never left home for a weekend trip or vacation without my swim suit, cap and goggles. You can always find a pool. Even if it's a rainy March in Mississippi and Gudrun, Edith and I are staying in this random motel in the middle of nowhere. Swim in the unheated outdoor pool in the rain at 7:30 in the morning and everybody knows who you are when you enter the breakfast room at 9.

Swimming is also really easy to explain in foreign languages. I remember wanting to swim in Florence, in Paris, somewhere in Greece, in Prague, and now here in Beijing. All it takes is to tell people the word for "swimming pool" and there are no more questions. If I ask for a gym, it gets complicated. Do I want to lift weights, play basketball, do an aerobics class, run on the indoor track? Okay, you probably have no idea why I am writing about this, but the bottom line is that swimming is great and simple and universal. And I love it. And this is my blog, so I can write whatever I want. Actually, I only meant to show you the below sign that is posted at my pool, but then I got a little off track. After all, traveling abroad is also about reflecting on one's own life, values and passions, right?


So, here it is for those of you who are concerned about my health. Rest assured! As you can see from this sign, my gym does not allow any patients with epidemic diseases to use the pool. Thus, I am safe. :-)

The Great Wall

On Saturday, I hiked on the Great Wall! It was amazing. Can you see it on the top of the mountain range in the first picture? Luckily, our guide took us far away from any touristy spot. We hiked up to the wall in less than half an hour, covering a few hundreds feet in elevation change. Not too bad. Once on the wall, we hiked from tower to tower for a good couple of hours, stopping frequently for the views and for others to catch up - we had some not so fast hikers in our group of ten, but it did not matter much, I was so in awe of my surroundings that I didn't mind covering only a short distance. It was actually kind of difficult terrain at times, not your wide cobblestone path, but lots of loose rubble and parts where we had to climb up or down to get around a tower structure. I really wanted to stay and hike some more when the guide told us it was time to descend at 3pm. I would like to go back some day and do a real hike. A recent edition of National Geographic Adventure Magazine had a story of two guys who backpacked on the wall for several days - that sounded like fun!



Da war sie also, die chinesische Mauer. Alles Quatsch, dass man sie angeblich vom Mond aus sehen kann, aber trotzdem sehr beeindruckend. Ich hatte am Samstag mit neun anderen Leuten von meiner Sprachschule eine kleine Tour gebucht und unser Fahrer kannte einen Abschnitt der Mauer fernab aller Touristen, was klasse war. Es war ein bisschen diesig, aber die Blicke waren trotzdem toll. Wir mussten so etwa eine halbe Stunde von der Strasse zur Mauer heraufwandern und dann sind wir gut zwei Stunden auf der Mauer selbst gegangen. Es was mitunter gar nicht so einfach, weil sie nicht etwa ein breiter gepflasterter Weg ist. Dort wo wir waren mussten wir richtig ein bisschen um die Tuerme herumklettern, wenn's nicht weiter ging. Oft war der Weg voller Geroell und man musste aufpassen, dass man nicht abrutscht. Es hat aber - oder gerade deshalb - sehr viel Spass gemacht und ich moechte unbedingt nochmal zurueck kommen, um eine laengere Wanderung zu machen.

Job and Zen

In China hat jeder 'nen Job - siehe Bilder (das war ja in der DDR auch so). Die Menschen scheinen auch sehr zufrieden zu sein und selten in Eile. Das strahlt zwar eine gewisse angenehme Ruhe aus, ist aber auch gewoehnungsbeduerftig. Besonders in den Ubahngaengen oder beim Strasse ueberqueren faellt es mir auf, wie langsam sich die Menschen bewegen. Vielleicht kommt das daher, dass ich es gewohnt bin, grosse Menschenmassen mit Eiligkeit zu assoziieren.

In China, everybody has a job - see pictures. Overall, people seem very content and not very stressed. It's especially apparant to me in the speed - or slowness, respectively - of pedestrians, be it in the subway or crossing the street. It's not bad, just different from what I would expect from large crowds, I guess. Food for thought.