China Strikes Again - The good, and the bad

I've done it.
I bit the bullet.
I have succumbed.

In Beijing, you're no one, a nobody, not popular, uncool, a lame-o looser if you don't have a QQ. Or at least a Weixin. And now, friends, family, strangers, I have both. Now you may count me among the cool, the elite, the creme de la creme if you will... Or, among the over 700million others that have them. Either way, they are considered essential modes of communication here in China, and now I am looped in.
If you would like to be a cool kid too, you can download QQ (more or less China's AOL instant messenger) for your phone from iTunes, the android market, or I believe, the blackberry app store (whatever it may be called)... You can also download it for your desktop here. Weixin also goes by WeChat, and can be downloaded in the same places that QQ can.
I must take a moment to say that I love, adore, am in love with, would marry if it didn't involve bigamy,  WeChat. For those of you familiar with the app Whatsapp, it's a similar concept. But better.
So, here's the lowdown. WeChat allows you to use the internet (either wifi, or your "3G" on your phone) to send individual and group messages, drop a pin on a map to show your friends where you are, send photos, video chat with individuals, and even though it's a little creepy, you can even "look around" to see people using WeChat near you (you can turn this feature off so that people can't see you, too). But my personal favorite, and the reason that I'm shamelessly plugging the FREE app is that you can use it like a walkie-talkie.
That's right folks. In addition to all the really cool stuff I just mentioned it is a walkie-talkie. Actually, an improved walkie-talkie, because you can seamlessly switch back and forth between voice and text on the same screen, it saves your voice messages so that you can listen to them later, and it's just plain awesome, really.
So, basically friends and family that are equipped with "smart phones" should download this app, and then add me, so I can hear your lovely voices on a regular basis.

In other news, Chinese New Year approaches. YAY, a month off work, right? WRONG. In the way of things going wrong when you're over seas, this has been either completely miscommunicated, or mishandled, or someone is being really mean.
Backstory? Here: When I first looked into this job in particular I was told that we would get somewhere close to one whole month off for Chinese New Year, and that that is a standard vacation for English teachers in China. What I failed to do was get this in writing, or make it part of my contract. I foolishly took it for granted that standard policy would be upheld. It will not be.
This year, for whatever reason, we are being given the bare minimum that the company must give us according to Chinese law: Three days.
Now, this wouldn't even be a huge problem except that when we first asked what our vacation days might be, so that we could plan fun trips and adventures, we were told that they didn't have dates set yet, but that we would get two weeks. We hemmed and hawed a little, because two weeks does not one month make, but fine, no problem. The issue now is how did two weeks turn into three days? When, and why did this happen?
Last year the English teachers at the school had the ENTIRE month of January off. They were handed a bag of money with their January salary in it, and told to make merry and enjoy the holiday season. I have been handed nothing, except a belligerent e-mail from my agent reiterating that we're only getting three days. She failed to answer my questions as to why we're getting less than one month, why it took her so long to tell us the dates if they were only going to give us the government holiday bare minimum, and why they told us it would be two weeks when clearly it is not.
 Let this be a lesson to you... and me. Get everything in writing. You'd think I'd know that by now, but apparently I needed to learn that one again. I'm pretty sure it'll stick this time.


Please excuse this rant. It is, for obvious reasons, at the forefront of my thoughts recently.

Now Super Husband and I are off to dinner.

Just One Small Update

It's snowing today.

If you look at the right hand side of your screen you'll see that I've added a "Follow By E-mail" gadget. This should make it really easy for everyone to know when things have been updated because the newest of the new will be e-mailed right to you! (Does that sound a little Seussian to anyone else?)

And possibly most importantly:
Photos have been added to the Family Visit to Beijing and Xi'an page, taken by people that are not Super Husband, or Wonder Wife, so go check those out!

And Now, a Word From Our ... Sponsors?

Having been publicly chastised by the daughter for not posting post-haste, we now sit ourselves down at the keyboard(s) back in the clean and sun-warmed air of a large-ish metropolitan area in the American South-by-Southwest.  (We’re not sure how far “WonderWife” would have us go with all this web-anonymity business.)

……..

As we expected from the general good-naturedness of her blogs and our occasional FaceTime/Skype encounters, WonderDaughter seems to have acclimated well to life in the Northern Capital (bei = north; jing = capital).  As parents, we pat ourselves on the back for this, believing that we laid the ground for this ease of acculturation by taking the girl on several international trips and by relocating her to Southeast Asia for a couple of her high-school years.  SuperSon-in-Law was even more of a wildcard in this regard (maybe sons-in-law are always a bit of a wildcard), but he, too, seems to have adapted quite readily.

One thing we might not have predicted is WonderDaughter’s transition from somewhat of a spendthrift, just a few short years ago, to that of a far thriftier individual (dare we say, “tight-wad”).  Indeed, the woman now knows the value of a [unit of currency], although we’ll stop short of calling her a jiao-pincher.  (1 jiao = about 1.5 U.S. pennies)  But perhaps we mischaracterize her here; her skill as a bargainer at the markets in Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, and elsewhere is the stuff of legends.

Our arrival in Beijing coincided with the departure of 2012, but, as has been written elsewhere on this site, we were not very spirited New Year’s Eve companions.  Despite intentions and pledges by some, the newcomers were all semi-conscious or less at 00:00 that first night.  It turns out that the bulk of Beijing shared our unenthusiastic welcome of the new page on the calendar.  They’re saving up for February 10 – Chinese or Lunar New Year.

We won’t recount our entire visit, but we will say that our first truly touristic stop was the Temple of Heaven.  Most will agree that this site is a masterpiece of architecture and landscape design that simply and graphically illustrates a cosmogony of great importance for the evolution of one of the world’s great civilizations.  And anyone who was there with us on that day would also agree that it was frikken cold.  The “cosmogony of great importance” line was admittedly swiped from the UNESCO literature, but the business about being cold is a sincere first-hand – nay… frozen-hand – observation.  Aside from the obvious highlight of the site itself, other points of interest included the one-armed man with his karaoke microphone, singing ballads for passing change, and SuperSon-in-Law’s attempts to brush away and then successfully haggle with the persistent peddlers.  Unfortunately, after his purchase of a neat wooden model of theImperial Vault of Heaven, he made mistake Number 1 in the bargaining game: he continued to ask others about the price for this same model.  Once a price is settled on and paid, we’re pretty sure you don’t want to know at what price you might have gotten elsewhere.
**WonderWife here, making a note, defending SuperHusband's honor as a bargainer -- He didn't ask for the prices of other models, they were thrust at him. "Hey, how much you pay? Mine's cheaper!"**

But our intention here is not to provide a travelogue, but to give our impressions of how the happy couple is faring at the possible halfway point in this particular International Adventure. They are clearly quite comfortable with their transportation options.  We’re glad to see that WonderDaughter is with bike, once again, but we were duly impressed by their knowledge and nimbleness with the Beijing Subway system. It must be noted that we used the subway often and found it to be accessible, clean, punctual, and very cheap.  But the mark of their time in the city was evident in discussions like:

“We should take the Number 5 line and change at Yonghegong.”

“It makes better sense to take the Number 10 from Huixinxijie Nankou down to Jintaixizhao.”

“But you’re forgetting that the station at Fangzhuangdonglu is having construction delays….”

(It was sometimes at this point in the conversation that we vacationers, on less of a shoestring budget, might ask, “Wouldn’t it cost about $2.50 for us just to all hop in a cab?”  As it happens, though, we seldom took taxis, unless we were out past the surprisingly early subway system closing time of 10:30pm.)

Although we never made time to visit the dorm accommodations of SuperYerno / SuperSon-in-Law, we did all meet up in WonderDaughter’s apartment on several occasions.  We were able to convince ourselves that it was the pollution/cold/jetlag that was slowing us down on the fourth, fifth, and sixth flights of stairs.  Although not well-suited to entertaining parties of five – with our various shopping and camera bags and bulky winter wear – the apartment seems quite adequate for their purposes.  It was fortunate that only two of us ever wanted anything to drink at a time, as her cupboards were bare of all but a pair of mugs.  She made a charming hostess, nonetheless.  Try her Lemon-Ginger Tea.

Further demonstrating their adaptation to this densely urban life, our hosts find no need to heavily stock the cabinets and pantry (okay… she doesn’t really have anything that might be called a pantry).  Their walk from the subway or the main street takes them past a number of food stalls, neighborhood eateries, and at least one micro-market.  The latter is the size of a generous walk-in closet, not including the small selection of produce and wares on a few shelves outside the door.  It was clear that they have almost daily interactions with this vendor — I won’t call them conversations because WonderDaughter’s exchanges mostly seem to involve pointing and saying, “jega” (this one).

She employs this same term liberally when in restaurants.  It comes in most handy when picture menus are provided. The photo quality of these menus is often quite good, but not always high-resolution enough to establish that, rather than beef, this is a liver dish, or that the thin white slices are not cabbage but are instead tripe (if not, as the little sister conjectured, cat tongue).  That said, those were the only two dishes we left undevoured in nearly ten days of pointing and “jega”-ing.

We conclude this report by saying that we’ve substantiated most of the claims made in prior entries of this blog and yes, these two are getting on just fine.  We urged them to eat their vegetables and, according to a very recent posting, they are doing just that.  We urged them to cover up better in the sub-zero days ahead and, with the hats and long undies and gloves we left them, we expect they’ll do just that.  We urged them to temper their desire to save money for their return to the U.S. against the opportunity to spend relatively little money on exotic exploration.  We’ll stay tuned to see about that.

At least two readers of this blog are expected to visit Beijing later this year.  We commend the two of you for choosing something other than the coldest and most-polluted days of the year.  We also expect from you further updates on these two characters.   Plus, we’ll want to know what you ate at the Chinese Muslim restaurant.  (We went twice.)  And if you’re going over there any time soon, can you take them a couple of face masks?

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming….

AQI, and Kitchen Stuff

I had been waiting for my parents to compose and post their Guest Post before updating again, but they're taking their sweet time with it.
As most of the world was made aware, Beijing's pollution spiked to crazy proportions on Saturday and Sunday, with an AQI of over 800.

This is a screen shot of the app I use to monitor the pollution, 699 isn't the highest recorded,
it's just when I stopped checking.  

Today, Thursday, it had cleared off to a pleasant, moderately healthy 75. The blue skies were a marked difference from the brown-grey fog that swathed the city over the weekend. I've mentioned before on days when the pollution gets bad I have a hard time seeing the apartments across the main road, this weekend I couldn't even see the main road. 

Super Husband, who ventured out into it to procure vitals for us, and to help a friend get to the airport, said that at first he thought his glasses were filthy, but soon realized that no, the air is filthy. 

I didn't leave the apartment at all. 

And while we had been scoffing at the idea of procuring face masks these events did bring to light the necessity to at least own some that we can use on days that it does get truly nasty. I've been researching the different ratings and brands, but have yet to find any one product that stands above the others, and I can't figure out how to get any of the good ones here in Beijing. One website I was looking at said that they can be found on a Beijing home delivery website, when I followed the link that particular service was no more. It's rather disappointing. But we will prevail. 

On a less dingy note, though, today Super Husband met me at WuMart during my lunch hour and we procured two things:  a toaster oven, and a bicycle. And yesterday I bought a rice cooker. 

Yes, mother, I am heeding your advice and we are cooking for ourselves. Two dinners in a row, in fact.  We won't be buying our vegetables at Ito Yokado anymore though, because they're hugely marked up, and the only difference I can see between them and those available from the store where we buy all of our fruit is that the ones in Ito Yokado are washed and wrapped in plastic wrap. Since I re-wash all my vegetables anyway it doesn't make sense to pay for it to be done beforehand.

Yesterday we had more new additions to my apartment. Not only did we carry a new rice cooker up the five flights of stairs, but we also brought a cage, and four sugar gliders. I'll be watching them for a friend of a friend while he's visiting family during the Chinese New Year season. I didn't think to ask for their names, so I'm calling the parents Ella and Fitzgerald, and the babies are Hugh and Laurie. 

During the day their cage is in my room, close to the heater. I had thought that they could stay there until their return to their owner, but as soon as I turned the light out to go to sleep last night they began crawling and climbing all over the cage. After four minutes of thinking "no, I could sleep through this" I moved them into the kitchen, also next to the heater. I then closed the kitchen door. I could still hear them when I woke up in the middle of the night, but I'm hugely glad that I didn't attempt to sleep through them in my room. So, this will be our routine until they're returned to their home. The kitchen isn't big enough to accommodate both their cage and me while I cook, so I'll move them back to my room in the morning as I wait for my coffee water to boil. 

We've used the new rice cooker twice now. Yesterday we boiled frozen dumplings in it, and ate those along side some steamed bok chow, mushrooms, carrots, and cabbage. Today I used the box of black beans and rice that was so thoughtfully brought to us from the America lands, and a huge bunch of broccoli, with some more mushrooms. Overall we're pretty happy with the purchase, and now that I see how lovely it is for making rice we'll probably even get one when we're back in Houston. No more burnt rice, or undercooked rice, or really anything but perfect rice for us!

I'm excited for the toaster, too. Toast, bagels, the occasional cookie, maybe even a pan of brownies. The box of Jiffy cornbread mix my mom brought all the way here will not have to be taken to someone else's house to be cooked. Oh, toaster oven, you make my kitchen complete. 

My new bicycle isn't as nice as my old one, but it's a bike all the same. It has a basket, and it means that I can reset my morning alarms to tell me to leave at 7:45 again, instead of 7:30. And, it is currently chained to the raining in the stairwell. So, knock on wood, this one'll be safe. Maybe I'll actually get around to taking pictures of this one... Maybe. 

The guard (who everyone calls Yeye, or Grandpa) was very surprised when I came through the gate with a different bike, and I had to try to explain that my first bike was stollen. But now I know how to say it, it sounds like the Duola, and it also means "lost". That bothers me slightly, that the word for stollen could also be the word for lost. It wasn't lost. I didn't loose it. Someone took it, and it wasn't theirs. 

Now it's 8pm, and I'm tired for no reason. This has been an emerging pattern this week. I'm tired, I go to sleep early, I wake up at 3, then again at 5, and then when my alarm goes off at 6:30, and I'm tired all day. 

So I'm going to start the winding down process. This involves eliminating the light emitted by computer screens. 

Good Night.  

New Years, Family, and a 13km Wall.

I would like to apologize profusely to anyone who has been anxiously awaiting an update... Or maybe I delude myself and all of y'all have been as busy as I have, and haven't even noticed a lack of updates.

My parents and little sister flew in on December 31st and rang in the New Year here in Beijing, albeit asleep. Not a single one of them made it to 2013 awake, but excuses must be made for them. That flight is pretty brutal.
Since then we have taken in the sights that Super Husband and I had neglected and put off until their arrival, like the Temple of Heaven and the Pearl Market (conveniently located just a block from the temple, making it easy to take in some culture and then shop, shop, shop) were among our first stops. Super Husband and I both thought that the Pearl Market was worth returning to, as was Ya Show market, (near the Workers' Stadium, and offering cheap foot massages and pedicures on the fourth floor).
Have I mentioned the absolutely lovely Christmas gift I received from one of my students? I don't think I have. It is a beautiful red agate bracelet. One of those that you have to grease your hand up and have your little sister apply some force to get on, and then you have it on until... well, forever. I love it.
Thank you, Ena and family!
I was planning to buy myself a jade one, but they not only saved me the trouble, but they got one that Super Husband likes better. Apparently he thinks the green jade wouldn't look as nice against my pale, pale skin. So, at the pearl market he bought me earrings to match my new bracelet, and at Ya Show my mom bought me a matching necklace.
We also took the night train to Xi'an, which was an experience. The train itself is just fine. We opted for the "soft sleeper" because it has four beds in one room. The hard sleeper has six, I believe, and we would have had to share our space with *gasp* strangers. Originally I was pushing to purchase the hard sleeper, because, well, I'm a cheapskate. But also because I thought it was only three beds in that room, just more cramped, and we could send my dad to go mingle with strange Chinese men. But my less tightfisted parents nixed that idea and we had a lovely, albeit overheated, sleep all together in one cabin. The train station here in Beijing though, was an interesting experience. Once you've shown your tickets and ID and put your luggage and bags through the X-ray you begin weaving through crowds of people carrying or sitting on large bags, rolls of bedding, and other things. It seemed a little like a hoard, and was rather daunting. The only food available inside the station is fast food, and as we hadn't eaten dinner we were forced to retreat to the relatively comfortable confines of the McDonald's upstairs lounge. After an adequate meal we returned to the fray, and found that we had timed everything perfectly. We got in a fast moving line, had our tickets punched, and got right on the train. Perfect.

We arrived in Xi'an at about 8am, and after a quick stop to leave our bags at the hotel, and another stop to procure morning caffeine (tea for mom and dad, coffee for me) we went to see the Terra Cotta Warriors. Warren, the driver that we ended up using for the entire day, suggested that we go to this factory where they make traditional replicas of the soldiers first, to learn a little about the process, so we did that. It's a pretty interesting little factory, but because of the cold weather we didn't get to see anyone actually carving away at any statues. Inside the factory was freezing. We all agreed that it was warmer outside than in. We ended up buying a couple things there. Mom and dad bought a smallish replica of a kneeling archer for themselves, and a Pixiu for me. Pixiu is one of Dragon's babies, and is said to bring wealth and luck to those who display him in their home or office. Plus, he's painted really pretty.
The Terra Cotta Warrior Museum is pretty interesting. It's a complex of buildings and museums, and in some of the areas you can see that they are actively excavating new areas, uncovering even more soldiers, horses, and carts.
What isn't specified though is why they're all there. Apparently there is no historical record of these "tombs" at all, so knowing what their purpose was is pure conjecture. There is speculation that it was either an army for the afterlife, a la Egyptian pyramids, or an army for when the emperor returns to our mortal plane and sets out to conquer the world. Either way, it's pretty amazing to look at rows upon rows of completely different faces and know that they were carved a couple thousand years ago.
After leaving the museum we decided to take the advice of a friend who had been to Xi'an before, and rent tandem bicycles on the city wall and bike the 13km around. That was fun, but I sat on the back seat and promptly discovered that I don't like not being able to control the brakes, or direction. It is something I'd definitely recommend doing if you're in Xi'an, though.
We took a bullet train back from Xi'an to Beijing on Tuesday. Two things were rather striking: From a train it's hard to tell the difference between 120km/hr and 300km/hr and the countryside between Xi'an and Beijing is ridiculously polluted. There were points where you couldn't even see half a mile. We took that train back, instead of opting for a second night train, because we thought we might see some countryside, some pastoral scenery. That was a no go. A thick blanket of brownish smoggy fog covered everything.
Yesterday, Wednesday, was my parents' and sister's last full day in Beijing, and they spent it going from market to market. They picked up some Chinese New Year decorations at the market I go to for my day to day stuff, a tea set at the Silk Market, and some doodads at the Pianjiyuan Antiques Market.
But the best find of all was the little market inside the subway, line 1 at Yong'an Li station exit A1. There are just a few stalls, but everything is already so reasonably priced that you didn't feel like you had to haggle. Everyone picked out the last of the things they needed to take back to the US, and I picked up some things that I'd wanted (pretty hair pins, and a compact mirror) but never found a good price on. I may well be going back, too.
But now it's Thursday and because my bike was stollen yesterday (major bummer that makes me really mad) I'm back to walking the 30 minutes to work. And since I took way too long to type all this I'm going to be late. Yay.