Beijing's Series of Unfortunate Events (Sort of)
After Mao Zedong kicked the bucket in the mid-70s, the moderate Deng Xiaoping took over as the Premiere of the country. Deng allowed more freedom--socially, not politically (e.g. Tiananmen Square Massacre in '89). This social freedom has created a semi-capitalist society that is giving citizens a real reason to work hard. The economy is expanding 10% annually, and some cities, especially Beijing, are beginning to Westernize. The picture to the left is a "men", which means "gate" or "door". It is an entrance to a hutong which is a Chinese alley. These are one of the most historic parts of Beijing. They are home to families, police stations (very small), local family owned restaurants, beggars, and people trying to sell you anything and everything. The other night I was bargaining in Chinese with a street vendor for some Mao Zedong propaganda. It's pretty hard to bargain in a language you're not that good at. But, the best bargaining tactic is just "walk away". Prices start dropping. After getting the product at a steep discount, I was pretty pleased with myself until I walked past another vendor selling the same exact thing for a lower price. The street vendors are very aggressive, especially with foreigners. Instead of a face they just see a big dollar sign, or in their case, a yuan sign. In fact, on multiple occasions I've had a seller grab me by the wrist and pull me over to their stall. I've got the "I'm just looking" phrase down pretty well. Back to my main point. These cultural alleys are being torn down for poorly built skyscrapers and Western fast food restaurants. I was pretty appalled. However, a few of the teachers who have been teaching for a year at the school I am staying at tell me that the locals don't really mind (at least not the ones living in the hutongs). They say that the plumbing is just horrendous and the companies that move into this extremely valuable property pay pretty well for the space. Still, I just can't imagine Beijing without them, and the disapearance is just one of the costs of economic growth. But while the loss of the hutongs is significant, this growth Beijing is seeing is raising the standard of living for many Chinese. It will be interesting to see how the Communist Chinese officials balance Beijing's economic growth and preserving its cultural identity, similar to the situation in my hometown. I just hope they don't screw it up like our city commissioners did.

Wo de zhoumo (My Weekend)
So this past weekend was similar to the one before, minus the ping pong. Every weekend I go with Helen to stay at her house, and then return Sunday evening. After getting picked up from the school, we picked up her son Daniel (pictured) from boarding school. He is such a nice kid, and he loves yo-yos. Helen told me that Daniel had told her that he wanted me to stay for good. I think it might have to do with the fact that he is an only child. In China, there is now a law that if you have more than one child, you must pay penalties to the government. Also, it might have to do with the fact that his parents work so much. I finally met Helen's workaholic husband, Wang Changtian. (I know what you're thinking, and you pronounce it "Wong", and it is his surname, not first name) What an inspiring guy. As President of Enlight Media, he has over 400 employees working for him across China in a private media company (competing against the semi-monopoly CCTV), and is worth $62 million at the age of 40. And to think, they only have a washing machine! They just hang the clothes on these lines in the garage! Kind of funny. Anyways, when we were talking, he had just finished running, and was still sweating pretty badly. So he starts to wipe his sweat with these tissues (they don't have napkins, even for dinner, just tissues for all purposes). Then he starts fanning himself with my piano practice book that was right next to him, not that I cared. The entire time I was thinking, "Why don't they have air conditioning?" This guy's making millions, it's 90 degrees outside, and you feel sticky just walking around this inferno of a house. Luckily, my room has a personal AC unit. Believe me, that room is so cold it takes your breath away when you walk in. I guess they are just used to no AC. We talked some about work possibilities for myself in Beijing, and I am pretty confident he will be a good reference to have. Other than hanging out at Helen's, at the mall I saw Ice Age 2 in Chinese. Ice Age 2 is a bad movie, I'll give it that, but in Chinese, it's horrible! At Chinese movie theatres, at least this one, you buy your tickets a few hours in advance and reserve certain seats. It really was nice, because we wandered around the mall and didn't have to get to the theatre early just to stare at a blank screen. While we were wandering around, we decided to do rock climbing. And by "we" I mean "I". I got two feet from the very top, but this wall was much harder and taller than the Shrimp Festival one I used to scramble up. The Chinese guy running the thing said he was impressed because my enormous feet make it more difficult. The looks I got when I got down were basically blank stares of disbelief. Disbelief of what, I don't know. What I do know is that they were very similar to the ones I get when I'm running around Beijing, a skinny white boy drenched in sweat, wearing only a pair of blue short shorts. It really is hilarious: Just today, the passenger and driver of a car going down the street stuck both their heads out the passenger window--blank faces just staring, not even trying to hide it. So now whenever I see something like this, like the 15 old guys playing checkers who stopped their games just to watch me run by, I speak some Chinese. Maybe I'll comment on the weather, or tell him how far I'm running. That really baffles them, but at least then they're smiling.

Temple Time
I've seen so many Buddhas and multi-armed goddesses in the past few days that I'm starting to get a thing for that one named Guanyin, the Taoist goddess of mercy. The first temple I visited, called Baiyun Guan, which means "White Cloud" temple in Chinese, is a Taoist temple. I have a picture that is supposed to be me at a Taoist alter, but it wouldn't load. I saw other people; the process seemed to be: Kneel down, hands together for a second, mutter something, then stand up and put your hands in the air and mutter something else. Repeat multiple times, and move onto the next Buddha/God(dess). Seems to be the routine, but I couldn't be sure. Very interesting to see people praise a completely different god. It made me recall a question I've wondered for some time, "Why do we believe the religion we believe?" The vast majority of religious America is Christian; the vast majority of religious China is Buddhist. I feel our beliefs are probably based more on how we were raised, rather than which religion is actually the best for each individual. I for one can say I'm not a true Christian. I haven't made that dedication, that change in my life. Maybe I'm not ready. Perhaps I, and others--American, Chinese, etc.--should look into other religions and see what they're about. Make a decision based on what you think is right, not just on where your parents brought you on Sunday mornings. I'm not trying to steer anyone from Christianity--maybe I'm even trying to steer my Muslim or Buddhist readers to Christianity (don't think I have any). All I'm saying is that it's just something to consider. With that said, I had a great time at Baiyun Guan, except that I failed to find a certain big statue. Man, I argued with that monk for quite some time about whether it existed. Because we were talking in Chinese, my argument was pretty elementary, but he was adament that it was there. Needless to say, I left the temple without a picture of myself and the 10 ft statue of Wen Cheng, the deity of scholars. Rubbing his belly is supposed to give good luck on tests! This picture is with the Eight Immortals (4 Immortals not pictured). I figured it was good to get some tips from these guys, but they weren't talking much. Two days later I went to Yonghe Gong, which means "Peace and Harmony" temple. This was a Buddhist temple, Tibetan style. Disapponitingly it was much more touristy. They didn't allow pictures in the rooms, which was a bummer because they had the most amazing Buddha. This badboy was 54 ft tall, 20 ft wide, and carved from a single sandalwood tree trunk. It made the Guinness Book as the biggest carving from a single piece of wood. I think now I will go watch "Hitch", which I bought off the street for 80 cents.

World Cup Fever
First off, I want to thank everyone for reading and commenting on my blog. I can't post back, due to Chinese censorship, but I can still read them. As the first round of the World Cup comes to close, people here in China are getting even more into it. And their team isn't even in it! Around 9:00 at night, when the games start, they'll even bring their TVs right out onto the street. They pretty much root for whoever is against Japan. Man, do they dislike Japan, mostly because of all the wars between the two countries. My classmate Jennifer (in picture) says she doesn't watch a lot of soccer, but she loves David Beckham. When we saw this giant Adidas advertisement in Wangfujing, a popular shopping district, she had to have her picture with him. She just thinks he is gorgeous. This comment made me recall a time when I was with Helen after watching "Sahara" in Chinese. She noted that Penelope Cruz was beautiful, but that perception is hardly the norm. She explained that Chinese people, as I'm sure people of most other countries, see beauty in different ways. This is evident nearly every time I get on the subway, and women are forced to hold onto the hanging handles. Armpit hair, I guess, isn't that big of a deal in China. (Granted, this isn't everyone, and is more prevalent in younger ladies or teenagers) Spending time with classmates like Jennifer or Koukia has made me think about the goals I set out before I came. My main purpose of coming to Beijing was to improve my speaking abilities, and it still is. However, I am reconsidering the best way to go about it. Because I am in classes with teens studying in the English language, I find myself in a constant battle with them about what language dominates the conversation. Usually, I start the conversation of in Chinese, but soon find it difficult to fully express myself in Chinese, so I throw in a little English. This is all well and good, as I can ask them how to say certain words, but I come upon so many new words, that I soon forget them. I think I learn faster when I just jump on a subway and go to some random temple. Then I look up words in my dictionary, and try to piece together sentences, rather than using one of my Chinese friends as a crutch. However, I still find it very valuable to spend plenty of time with my classmates. Just yesterday, Koukia gave me some Chinese music videos. Most were pretty bad, but it was a nice gesture. I did particularly like the Chinese cover of Disney's "Under the Sea". Definitely ask me to see it when I get back.

Ping Pong Nation
This weekend (I spend every weekend at Helen's house) I had nothing to do, so I set out on her bike. Man, if I'd been seen on this thing in my hometown, that'd be the end of me. This beach-cruiser style bike had not one but two baskets. People still stared, but I think it was more because of the fact that I was doing something so everydayish and routine as riding a beat up beach cruiser in the bike lane along with the masses. You don't see many foreigners doing that, much less foreigners in general. Here, adults riding bikes to work is a normal as driving a car. It's just as popular, and most times quicker. In this picture the row of bikes extends about 100 feet, and bike lots like this are all over the city. After about an hour of riding I found a park. Not your usual park. A ping pong park. The guy that I am playing in this picture spoke little English, so after talking in Chinese for a few minutes, he suggested we play. Even my shots that flew far wide of the table, he returned just to keep it interesting. Eventually, I told him I'd had enough embarrassment, and we ended the slaughter. Afterwards, I met his friend John (English name). John spoke a fair amount of English (all Chinese take English starting in 1st grade) but had a little trouble controlling his saliva and I received an unexpected gift at certain points in the conversation when he reached words ending in the letter "s". He suggested we play as a team against two teenage girls who were more on my playing level. The games went well enough, and John and I actually won most of the time. The girls, who play there every weekend, said they would call me next weekend to play. Now if only I could practice in the meantime.

A day after I arrived, I went to the college where I stay during the week. The bed is uncomfortable, there is no air conditioner (the weather is similar to home), and the traffic outside is loud, but it is free and I have my own refrigerator, living room, and bathroom. Also, I have my own TV which is full of World Cup channels, horrible public programming, and without any channels deemed offensive to the government. The college I am staying at is the Beijing-U.S.A. College of English. I have never seen anything like this. Hundreds of Chinese students, such as Koukia (pronounced similar to "Nokia") in the picture, all have decent English and are studying subjects such as economics, marketing strategies, and business statistics. How many Americans do you know even know how speak Chinese, much less are able to talk about supply and demand or inflation in it? And this doesn't just end here at the university. I've run into many Chinese with English speaking abilities just in the first week. Granted, English is the language of business, evidenced by the countless advertisements that are accompanied by English, but I'm finding that China is a much more globabally minded country. Everyone wants to know where I'm from. Not what country, but what state. Before I came, I could only name one province in China (there are 23). Usually when I tell them I am from Florida, they usually tell me that they've been watching the Heat play in the finals, and how they wish the Rockets and Yao Ming did better (Yao Ming is actually Mongolian born, but is from Shanghai). Also, here very few people like George Bush. Partly because we help Taiwan, which considers itself independent of of China. China, however, considers Taiwan part of China. Regardless, I haven't yet met a Chinese person that wasn't nice and I didn't like. They seem very receptive of foreigners.

"A revolution is not a dinner party" --Mao Zedong. What a great guy, short and to the point. Mao is extremely popular, with his "cult of personality" and Little Red Book" of Maoisms, so I was baffled when I read that he was responsible for the deaths of about 38 million Chinese through debunk agricultural and political policies. Nonetheless, he is still the symbol of the Chinese Communist Party and China itself, so I figured this was a fitting picture for my first post. This picture was taken in the famous Tian'anmen Square, which is the world's largest public square and home to Mao's preserved body. When I arrived in Beijing, with legs severely cramped by 16 hours of flying, I was picked up by Helen (her Chinese name is Yinglian) and taken in her $40,000 BMW. After reaching her beautiful house, which was in a gated community where the security guards salute you everytime you drive by, I got the feeling that she had a little money when I saw the 2006 Porsche and Audi in the garage. She is so nice, she basically gave me free reign while in Beijing. Early on, I went for a run out of her neighborhood, past the staring eyes of many Chinese who had never seen a skinny white boy with short shorts and no shirt gliding past them on their way to work. However, when I tried to reenter the gated neighborhood, the security guards would not allow me. They knew very little English so I had to use my Chinese to convince them that I did live in there. I think they were a little surprised with my speaking abilites, and even I was a little surprised.