Although it’s hard to say how many days we’ve been here, my LA clock says it’s almost 4:30 pm on Friday. I guess it’s Saturday morning, then. We’ve slept four nights in this apartment. I’m pleased to report that yesterday’s mosquito measures appear to have been successful. The vampires that have been biting us at night have been held at bay, although I hesitate to announce they’ve been conquered. After being eaten alive two night in a row, we woke at 3:30 the next night and waged a counter-offensive with toilet paper and a magazine. Battle lasted 45 minutes; the death toll was 15 or so, all enemy troops, although the human side had sustained plentiful injuries earlier. Still unsatisfied, yesterday we trekked via subway to Wal-Mart in search of citronella, bug-zappers, or Chinese remedies. We located, purchased, and triumphantly ported home a specimen of the latter, which consists of a plastic plug-in device and a supply of pressed-powder cards, all of it imprinted with characters we cannot read. Last night, I didn’t even have to wake up to swat (although I did have to reapply some hydrocortizone).

Good. One immediate issue resolved.

Another pressing concern had been the questionable comfort provided by our hard Chinese mattress. I think I’ve actually gotten used to it. (!!)

Yesterday also marked my first run in Beijing, a late-morning 5 miles around a nearby park. Sal tracked it, and I enjoyed examining its satellite map and record greatly. I walked to Yuyuantan Park, paid the 2 yuan admission price and entered without difficulty (it was also my first solo venture in China!). It was in the upper 60’s, a little humid, and overall very pleasant (and reassuring. I *can* run here!). The park was full of groups–some of them in the hundreds of people–practicing song, dance, and performance. I am guessing this is related to National Day, which is on Oct 1. Or maybe I’m wrong and this is just what people do on Friday mornings in Beijing parks. The park itself is beautiful, with bridges over lotus ponds and plentiful foliage. The run at first reminded me of the City of Angels half-marathon, with entertainment every quarter-mile or so; then it reminded me of Venice Beach, although some parts of the park are so stately and elegant I thought it might be like running in the Huntington in San Marino.

Until near the end of the run, I was prepared to evaluate the commentary as no worse than LA. Maybe as it got later or as I got sweatier it seemed more appropriate to old Chinese guys to talk to me. Sources were old and middle-aged men (incidentally, it appears that a tiny Speedo is considered adequate coverage for a male of any age for any purpose, including swimming, grunting calisthenics, or walking around talking to people…). Some old guys swimming in the lake all called “Hallo!” and waved, and laughed when I waved back. Some men clapped as I ran past and called out some words in Chinese, and I have no idea what they said and didn’t stop to try to find out. Some middle-aged guy followed me a bit as I left the park. I tried to be friendly but to indicate he should get lost. Perhaps he really was just trying to help me cross the street, but I found him creepy and took a detour on my way home so he wouldn’t know where I lived. By the time I made it back he was no longer in sight, so I think I succeeded.

The air seemed fine to me, although it did look hazy, and later when I blew my nose I produced some black dust. I wonder if this is the sort of thing that builds up and gets to you eventually. I am also somewhat self-conscious about my clothing: I wore my gray shorts with pockets (containing my passport, Sean’s cell phone, some money, and a hand-drawn map) and a dark FBI tank top, so more modest outfits could be imagined, but it was hardly indecent for US standards. Still, the only other girl I’ve seen running in Beijing so far wore long pants and a shirt with sleeves. Tank tops do not appear to be popular here. As Sean noted, however, the locals tend to wear far more clothing than we do and do not seem uncomfortable. We are always hot when we’re out and about. Perhaps we walk farther than they do? Perhaps they are just smaller people and therefore have more surface area to volume? Maybe they don’t care about being hot? I wore jeans on yesterday’s walking and subway tour, and by the time we got back they were moist, hot, and uncomfortable. Can I wear running shorts everywhere from now on? :D

I am worried that someone official will call after me, and I won’t understand it, and won’t know when I need to stop and listen to them. Sigh. Is there any answer for this? Better Chinese will help, but even Americans in America get taken in by false officials or merely assertive strangers in unfamiliar environments. My strategy of ignoring strangers who talk to me does have this vulnerability.

Later yesterday, we visited Sean’s mother’s apartment (sans mother, and itself a minor adventure) and his dad’s bar and grill. At the latter, I met another of his cousins, a business partner of his dad’s, and had a draft Beijing beer. I love beer on tap and enjoyed the chance to sit, visit, and chill. These landmarks help me get my sense of direction, if nothing else.

Sean and I had been going to do some tourist stuff today with one of his cousins, but the cousin is sick, so that’s off. My revised agenda for today includes setting up some trades and further researching language programs. I’m finding the idea of an intensive language program with extras appealing. I found one that includes culture and martial arts classes. Neat! Locations are still difficult for me to evaluate, however. This city is very, very big.

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Posted by maria j. g. on September 26th, 2009 - 8:12 am
Filed Under :: china
Tags :: beijing, bugs, china, comfort, running

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So I think I covered everything that happened during the trip to China and that very first day we were here. We slept decently well, were obviously exhausted, but it was painfully obvious why my father at one point or another made the comment that Chinese mattresses are bad.

In the morning, Maria managed to find some “bread” and “butter” in the fridge. Read what you’d like into the quotes. We also got some eggs from the maid who helps my grandparents out. Impressively enough, I remembered that there was this park next to my grandparents building. I had gone there as a kid before I left for the United States and wouldn’t you know it, initial inspection via Google maps indicated that it may be a good place for the Maria to run. So we went to inspect further.

From my best guess, the park is called “Jade Park Altar” or something like that. There are walking paths all along the perimeter and bisecting it in a figure eight with a bridge, bridge indicating multiple bodies of water. There were lots of people swimming what looked to be the entire length of the lake, right next to the sign that said “No Swimming.” Same with fishing.

Lunch was taken care of by my grandparents. They’re quite insistent that we eat some meal with them. I don’t think we’ve gotten out of one yet and are even currently committed to lunch with them yet again tomorrow. Although today they did tell a lovely story about my Grand Uncle and his wife. More on that at some point, maybe.

After lunch we thought we’d tackle the Beijing subway, this being my first time ever on it as well, but we figured, subways are subways, how hard can it be. The system is more in line with a cross between the London Tube and NYC than LA. We had decided the night before that we would pay my cousin a visit at his office and at the same time check out the apartment to see if we would be interested in living there. We also got to see the Walmart, and I had lots of fun spotting the foreigners. I wanted to say “hi,” but thought better about it.

Michael (my cousin)’s apartment was quite nice actually. But what I’ve come to realize, though I’ve always sort of known it but had given it very little actual thought due to the temporary nature of my visits to this country, of which this does not count, is that the Chinese bathrooms and kitchens are terribly sub-par. They just don’t feel “clean” to me, no matter how clean I know they are. This can be said about my father’s current apartment, and Michael’s office. My mother had indicated that this may be so, and so had my father; they had said that no matter what, we’d probably have to renovate the bathroom.

So after touring with Michael, we figured on taking the long, scenic way home and started walking in the general direction of South and lo and behold, found a furniture “store,” quotes indicative of the fact that it was more akin to an Ikea but with everything provided by different brands and vendors. We looked specifically at mattresses (see above) and to my general dismay, found that even the most expensive mattress, costing in excess of 7000 dollars, could barely hold a candle to some of the worst mattresses in the US. I’m inclined to just ship one over now.

We also looked at bathroom and kitchen renovation stuff, which surprisingly may cost even less than the crappy “best” mattress.

We continued walking, failed to get Boba from a little corner stall type store that had no English whatsoever, got lost a bit, ended up back on the subway at rush hour no less, got tea when we first exited the subway thinking we could walk back from there, checked out a Coach store, having failed to walk back from there we then got back in the subway, again at rush hour no less, and ended up back where we had originally gotten on in the morning, safe in the knowledge that we knew how to get back.

I wasn’t feeling particularly adventurous enough to attempt trying to order food from a restaurant, so we went back to the super market, bought some instant noodles and beer, bought a “Golden Brick” from the bread bakery next to it, and returned to consume at “home.”

To Maria’s delight, she found out that there was hot water still in the thermos that the maid had brought in that morning; finally, she had leaned how to make tea without use of the microwave. There are also no tea pots, no tea bags, and no tea balls. And there was no thermos today.

Today, we did very little. Lots and lots of research online, including me managing to update my Facebook status. More, or less actually, on this, at some point. We had a lovely lunch again with my grandparents, and basically just arranged for things to happen either tomorrow or over the weekend. So more on that when it happens!

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Posted by sean x. l. on September 24th, 2009 - 7:20 pm
Filed Under :: china
Tags :: apartment, beijing, china, family

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We’re finally here! And there’s so much to talk about but so little time and really energy on my part to write it. We left Sunday night/Monday morning, one of those effective vs. actual thingies. We had a little trouble getting our carry ons approved by the airline. Apparently, there’s a 7 kg weight limit, which is just over 15 lbs. Now my thinking is, my laptop probably weights 7 lbs, Maria’s laptop weights probably 5 lbs, and then there’s the actual bag itself and we’re pretty much at 15 lbs now aren’t we? So I’m thinking, this is entirely, and completely, unreasonable. Thankfully they didn’t ask to weigh my laptop bag, but our two actual pieces of carry on, as in none personal item, had to be weighed. After a good bit of complaining, I managed to convince them to let me take one of them; we had to leave one behind with my father to bring over. It’s a little unfortunate because we had planned on having the contents of that bag with us, so we’ve been a little under stuffed while we were here.

At the gate, some kind of middle management looking official for the airline with too much time on his hand gave me a similar amount of hassle for the one bag that I was able to bring on. He said it’s too heavy, I said if it’s too heavy, how come I was approved by the lady at the terminal to bring it? (I neglected to inform him that I had wheeled and dealed my way into that one…) I think my logic was overwhelming enough that even though he threatened to get his supervisor to come look at the bag, as I passed him on my way up the plane we simply exchanged polite nods and smiles. So we were on our way, properly!

The flight was uneventful. Taipei was hot and humid, like mid 80s at 6 in the morning. It took us forever to find our terminal because their flight information TV screens scrolls really slowly, and Maria wandered around and got us some drinks while we waited. The flight to Beijing was uneventful as well. And I think they must have made some kind of policy changes at the Beijing airport but immigration was VERY easy to get through. It’s like they’re trying to make sure they do everything quickly. We got through the health inspection with no problems, although I found the infrared fever sensors neat, got through immigration with no problems and faster than I’ve ever done so before, got our bags (the bright green ribbon really helped, I’m glad we chose that color to adorn them with), and waltzed through customs with nothing to declare without any issue.

We met my cousin at the airport, got two taxis, filled them both with our suitcases, and left the airport. Having surpassed all necessary gate keepers, we had made it to China.

The taxi ride was, again, uneventful. I couldn’t help noticing all the young trees that they had planted, all the construction projects going on, and just how different the skyline really looked. Apparently, and it may be wrong, but there are 40 million people all trying to live here, so I can understand the need for more and more apartment complexes. But it’s perpetually building, and not like in the States where there’s some foreman wearing an orange vest talking on a phone not really doing anything; work is actually being done. It’s also the 60 anniversary of some National Holiday for the Communist Party? So everything’s being adorned with very pretty flowers and there’s been lots of military exercises apparently. There’ll be 8 days off work for these people come early October.

That first night we dropped our stuff off at my father’s apartment, then walked over to the local grocery store to purchase some supplies, notably shampoo and conditioner. My cousin went with us and he gave us the general feel for the neighborhood. Obviously, we had no good idea which one was the conditioner, but there were lots of very nice Chinese women working for the grocery store who tried to help. We also got soap, toothpaste, and Diet Coke, or more precisely Coke Light. My grandparents had been napping when we arrived, but were awake now and were able to instruct us on how to get our temporary residency cards.

We went down to the local police station, a monument to bureaucracy with shelves and shelves of exactly the same colored and shaped binders. The lady who helped us was very nice, though we had to wait a little bit because she was dealing with some other people before us who had a whole slew of issues to complain about. Again, and I think this is new, but like at the airport and immigration, there were these little buttons with cartoon faces on it, from very happy looking to very sad, meant for us to use to rate their performance. Since this was our first time registering, we needed photos so we walked half a block to a photo store where a very decently Photoshop savvy Chinese woman took our photos, cropped them down to the appropriate size, adjusted all the levels manually, straightened, and duplicated into a grid of fours to print for us. By this point, our temporary residency cards were ready, and we headed back to my father’s apartment to chat with my grandparents.

In short, they’re old. 93 my grandmother and 95 my grandfather. We wanted showers, and to spread things out a bit. We all agreed to get dinner along with my cousin and his wife.

I think I’ll end it there for now. I just got called by my grandmother to go and get lunch. I still need to write all about our adventures yesterday, but I’ll leave that for another time, NOT another day, and hopefully this blog will be all up to date.

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Posted by sean x. l. on September 23rd, 2009 - 8:42 pm
Filed Under :: china
Tags :: beijing, china, family, travel

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So this time next week, we’ll be in China! Ah! It’s a little overwhelming actually. Exactly three days time left since it just became Friday. And what a Friday it’ll be. We have lots of last minute finalizing we need to do, plus packing. There’s lots of logistics and telephone related errands to run before we’re ready. The plus note is that the reason there were no posts this week is because we were on vacation! Our last one in the States. We went up to Carmel, where Maria had never gone, Monday morning, taking the scenic route up, and just got back this evening. Without going into it too much, it was a lovely time. It’s nice getting reassurance that we travel and vacation so well together. I’ll keep this brief because I want to upload some photos, but there’ll be more to say tomorrow.

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Posted by sean x. l. on September 18th, 2009 - 12:19 am
Filed Under :: photo albums
Tags :: vacation

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Most arrangements have been made, and we head off to Carmel in a couple of hours. (Long-awaited!) I have heard such wonderful things about our destination, and nothing sounds better to me than a long car ride. I’ve also been advocating for a bagel breakfast as our first stop on our route. We made a special effort to charge the camera batteries, so I am ready to go camera-happy.

Sean is sleeping still; maybe I’ll go for a jog before finishing packing. This morning so far I’ve done some research on language schools in Beijing, some random Beijing-adjustment blog reading, and bagel-place research.

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Posted by maria j. g. on September 14th, 2009 - 8:20 am
Filed Under :: Uncategorized

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And it was 10 Days, and I wanted to post, but I was very busy yesterday, by which I actually mean Friday the 11th. That was my last day of work, and we all went out to Panda Express for lunch and Craig got my lunch which was nice. I didn’t actually want to make a big deal out of it all, said my goodbyes, etc., in a very masculine way I’d like to think: handshakes. I got home and Maria was waiting for me, we had dinner at home, and I was just tired. We got dessert, watched some Star Trek, and the day passed into memory mostly like any other, its import probably not entirely recognized yet by my brain.

Today, as in Saturday the 12th, was our going away party at Craig and Becky’s. I got us catered food from Rubio’s, good fish tacos. We drank a lot, watched the USC vs. OSU game, played Partini (think Cranium but with an alcoholic drink theme, no actual alcohol consumption), watched Wipeout, which I think Maria very adequately described as an audience participation show, had cake, and that was that as well. We took a couple of photos, swapped personal email addresses, exchanged girl and man hugs, and were on our way yet again.

I really don’t think it’s hit yet. I think it will, and soon, and I might freak out a bit, but it’ll be a good kind of freak out. We’re exceptionally glad we did not wait for my father to return to China with us because it looks like he’ll be going back a full week after we had originally wanted to. Our priorities the first bit or so in China will be to find a way to watch the USC games, get an apartment, find a way to workout consistently, find a Chinese school, and get jobs. I don’t expect it’ll be too difficult. But if we had stayed and waited, I think I might have gone stir crazy. Much better this way; I can focus on being…focused.

Saw Niki today for brunch at Urth Cafe. Sorry you got a parking ticket… She seemed well and happy, so I’m happy for her. At this point the best I can hope for for any of the good friends I’m leaving behind is due diligence on my part to keep and stay in touch. It’ll be important.

Ah and most importantly, Maria successfully sold her car today!

Tomorrow will be a fairly lazy day, thankfully. Not much on the agenda, though there’s some digital shuffling that we’ll want to do, some football to watch, and maybe getting together with Kelly and Sarah.

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Posted by sean x. l. on September 13th, 2009 - 12:22 am
Filed Under :: pre-china
Tags :: china, friends, vs media

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Currently, I’m waiting for the woman who called me 50 min ago and told me she’d be here in 15 min to show up. I’m going to show her my car. I intend to sell it tomorrow, although as always events may dictate otherwise. One way or another, though, it needs to get sold soon. I had been about to leave to take care of some retirement-account errands when she called and asked if “now” were a good time to come. Pffffft.

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Posted by maria j. g. on September 11th, 2009 - 12:21 pm
Filed Under :: misc

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Don’t expect this post to be thrilling, dear reader. In fact, if you have an expectations of an interesting read, please dispose of them now, before continuing any further down this landmarkless road of an entry.

*Thank you.* Now…

I am mildly lactose intolerant. However, last night at the grocery store I felt the need to buy a gallon of milk. Today I not only had milk on cereal for breakfast, I was also struck by a desire to *drink* some of it this afternoon. This is all very strange. I was probably 10 when I last drank a glass of milk straight (i.e., unadulterated with Kahlua and Bailey’s or Ovaltine or anything else). It’s already upsetting my stomach. It was, however, very satisfying. Maybe my body was in dire need of calcium? Am I subconsciously aware that milk may not be readily available in China? Is it some unfathomable response to doing GMAT math problem sets?

In any event, I hope I will not regret the milk indulgence. There is reason for concern, as drinking milk is supposedly not a good idea before a run (clearly, I have never tested this bit of common knowledge, as I don’t drink milk…), and I haven’t gotten my run in yet today. Yesterday, I had a very enjoyable jaunt and even explored a bit of a neighboring town I hadn’t been to on foot before. This was not necessarily expected, as the air quality has been poor, the weather has been hot, and the need to adapt to a new environment have limited my distances and besmirched my times over the last six weeks. I have had few really enjoyable outdoor runs since July and I hope I have not destroyed an opportunity. We’ll find out soon enough, as it’s about half an hour before my schedule indicates its preference that I lace up.

In other news, I have worked through most of my GMAT book, which contains some truly puzzling misprints. I also flipped its pages in vain to find the answer key to a problem set I did, finally turning to Teh All-Noing Internets for the answers. I discovered that a veritable PDF volume, understatedly labeled “errata” and posted online, contains a re-issuance of the entire math practice chapter of my GMAT book. Nice of them to tell me, of course; still, I suppose I got some extra practice by reasoning why they could not possibly mean what they said in the practice book. (“You can use all the help you can get! Ingrate!! Cretin!!!”)

Oh, my stomach does not feel good. Not good at all.

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Posted by maria j. g. on September 9th, 2009 - 5:38 pm
Filed Under :: pre-china
Tags :: GMAT, running

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…and only three more days of work. This weekend is supposed to be the official “going away” party, and we’re seeing my friend Niki for brunch on Saturday, and maybe the Long Beach Lobster Festival on Sunday. Plus, there’s football to consider. Thursday is getting together time with my mother, next week is our last vacation up to Carmel, then my father is back in town, there’ll be some “hanging out” time penciled in for that as well, then it’s all over. Sounds pretty, busy.

Maria had a tough day trying to get her car sold today. More disheartening I guess actually, but I think the dealer is trying to con her out of the actual value of the car. She’s got a couple of people interested in third party sales, and at least a bottom line figure from one of the dealers, granted lower than both of us anticipated and lower than KBB suggested, so we shall see. Not much time left to get it done though, though, as pointed out, we could always just leave it at my father’s place.

And she needs to call the dentist tomorrow! This is my reminder to you Maria though you won’t actually read it I don’t think ;)

We bought our one way tickets to China on Sunday. Yes, one way. I had a short discussion about it at work today with a co-worker, and there’s something psychologically freeing about purchasing a one way anything; a one way train, bus, airplane, etc. ticket. It’s like, “getting out of dodge,” heading out on an adventure. A much firmer break from this particular era of my, our, lives, into the next. That’s what it’s always been, and always was, but to have actual “one way” tickets makes it that much almost physically meaningful.

We still need to purchase our health insurance, but that doesn’t seem to require too much hurry. And even with the best laid plans, I’ll be just a little bit short in my quest to be completely debt free. Not bad considering. I think I’ll re-consolidate the remainder and just leave it be. At least it’s no longer credit card debt. Feels like a good load off my shoulders, a good way to move to China.

We’ve also finished a bit of preliminary packing. We bought two big check-in style suitcases and managed to pack them full of Maria stuff. At our current estimate, there will be at least three more equally sized suitcases needed before we have all the Maria stuff packed. I will need one myself, making for a total of six check-ins, which we can’t actually do and so will take up my father on his offer to bring some luggage over for us when he returns to China on the 25th. We’ll also both have our laptops and carry-ons of course. I’m trying to wrap my mind around what to do with my desktop computer though. Granted, I’d like one in China, and if I don’t bring the one I have, I’ll have to purchase another. But it’s so a pain in the ass to try to bring over. My current thinking is that I might take it completely apart into its respective bits, pack said bits up well, and put it in my carry-on and purchase a new case in China; the case is the largest part…This will disappoint Craig a bit though as he’s been eying it from the moment our plans to leave the country leaked.

Ah and part of why I’m just a little bit short of successfully paying off ALL of my debt is that, and I didn’t know this, but my work’s payroll is actually on time, unlike all other companies I’ve worked for who operated a week late. I had been expecting my last paycheck, plus a week, but I guess that week’s gone and spent already. Minor wrinkle I’m sure.

I’ve been playing around with the concept of “legacy” in my head a bit lately, the most tangible form of which relates to work. I want to leave something behind, something meaningful. More than a stack of junk stuffed in the corner of my father’s garage, more than boxes of books at my mother’s, more than a chunk of programming code. I want it to actually all be meaningful, beneficial.

At this moment, I’d like to invite YOU ALL to come and visit :D

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Posted by sean x. l. on September 9th, 2009 - 12:38 am
Filed Under :: pre-china
Tags :: legacy, waiting

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Even though we’re eager to get out of here, I’m having a good time in these last weeks in the States.  Sean and I have been seeing so many more movies than we used to (“No more movies.”  “Yes more movies.  So many more movies!”  cf party cat)–and they’ve treated us well.  District 9, Gamer, (oo good movie!  Exceeds expectations!)…uh, Extract?  Pretty good.  Also more Star Trek.  Love it!!  Back in the day, Sean and I saw Wanted together–a good bad movie.  It set the tone for our willingness to tackle the, er, less classy options of the silver screen, and set the custom that we would enjoy what there was to enjoy in any film.

More widely, there’s more Sean-and-Maria time than during any previous point in our relationship.  He is still working right now, but I derived great enjoyment from giving three weeks’ notice, transitioning matters to unsuspecting younger colleagues, and leaving my job as a Suit in a (freezing) Office.  Result:  I get to ride public transit and spend my days at the library and the gym until Sean gets home, and then I get to spend time with him without even checking my lately-defunct Treo for work email.  Not a situation that can last forever, but– man does it feel like a win.  Like a really long, low-pressure vacation, with a mix of productivity thrown in.  (Most days I get a decent amount done, but no one’s demanding it too urgently.  Nice.)  I think another result of us having more time together is that he doesn’t feel pressured to spend every minute in which we’re both available with me in an active sense.  He is enjoying exercising his geekiness, in particular with respect to this blog.  Right now, he is sleeping next to me; when I woke up, I switched sides of the bed and he handed me Blankie while I got my computer.  He takes good care of his Maria.

Also since I’m no longer a suit, I get to wear running shoes about on my daily business.  This sets me up for that little run-across-the-street that feels good and turns into a jog of non-trivial length.  I’m considering bringing Sal with me everywhere so that in case of a spontaneous run she can record the event in appropriate detail for my records.  Her records are incomplete anyway, since I still do a good bit of my jogging at the gym, but I like having maps and stats of my runs outside.  Especially in exotic locations, like this charming little city in which I’m currently squatting.

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Posted by maria j. g. on September 6th, 2009 - 9:31 am
Filed Under :: pre-china
Tags :: movies, pre-china, running

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