However, with the start of a couple of new projects involving additional online content creation, my hope is that I can once again pick up where I’ve always left off, and give this blog the attention it deserves. There’s a lot of history here, and I wouldn’t want to lose it or devalue its importance. I have been pretty good about updating the Milestones though; that at least is up to date.

I also think my father came to visit at some point, most likely in June, though it’s confusing because they were originally supposed to come in May. I had even bought both he and our doctor round trip airplane tickets and hotel reservations, all at the very last minute, and had to cancel them, all at the very last minute again, only to be told a couple of weeks later, at the very last minute, that they need round trip airplane tickets and hotel reservations again, only to find out upon landing that the doctor ran off with his ex-wife, never to be seen again until the end of the trip, and the wonderful hotel room he found for them in Times Square needs to be canceled and replaced with the Yonkers Roadway Motel, because my father is just like that. Oh and did I mention, all a the very last minute. They also had a massive agenda of speaking with editors of Nature, CDC scientists, IP lawyers, and innumerable other matters relating to Maria and my ultimate self employment, non of which got addressed. Not that I’m bitter, or complaining, but there’s an unfortunate growing part of me that wonders why I keep giving these people additional chances to take advantage then disregard me.

But that is not the point of this post, nor is my grandfather’s funeral, which Maria and I went to. It was nice being back in China, to visit that is. I think we’ve both decided that China is best kept for the visitors, and that, even for long periods of time, it’s infinitely better to visit than live in that country. We accomplished a lot while we were there as well, including getting her refund from business school, something that involved a literal scavenger hunt for departmental seals. They had said to budget 3 or so hours for the entire process, because it required us to move from one department to another, handing them one thing after the other, getting their seals collected on a piece of paper to ultimately trade for another piece of paper that said she’d withdrawn. It’s like, in this day and age, hard to imagine that the MBA office’s computers weren’t connected to the library, IT, or student affairs. I’m sure I’ve ranted about this all before somewhere, but come on people. More on all of that later, again, that’s not the point of this post.

The point is, that we had a lovely long weekend in Ohio for the Fourth.

Perhaps for the last time, at least until we decide to keep a nocturnal schedule, and the thought of which has been sounding more and more appealing what with these very warm summer days in NYC, we drove through the night again. It was actually my last day at work, but I’d rather not get into any of that right now. Suffice it to say we were free to go where we wanted, for as long as we wanted, barring BAR study, the only limiting factor. Part ways through New Jersey, the car all of a sudden got really loud. We had noticed that it was running louder and louder ever since our trip up to Vermont, but this was out of hand. No check engine light though, no handling issues, so we just pressed one, because, well, what could we do? We could postpone our trip, but that’s no fun, and we had to be there by Friday afternoon (we left Thursday evening).

You see, we had gotten invited to Maria’s best friend’s 4th of July party, on the afternoon of the 1st, to view some fireworks, eat some good food, take in some good company. She had even invited me, something which for rather obscure reasons moved me an awful lot. It felt nice to have someone consider me in their plans, and I was touched that she thought of me. We got in, effectively slept all day, though in the middle of napping I went to get the car fixed at the local garage. It turns out the pipe connecting the engine to the muffler had rusted through, a quick cut, measure, and weld fixed it, quite cheaply I might add. Then there was the actual party, at which they had an above ground pool, which we didn’t use that day but the next, after playing cards and board games. There was breakfast with the family at Panera, dinner at home, driving around town and the countryside. We saw a movie. I always like it when I visit Maria’s home town. I might like it enough to live there. The people are so nice, the community as well, and it makes me wish for a more stable, permanent lifestyle, one in which I can actually be a part of a community, know the people around me. I’ve rented all my life, and briefly at that, so I’ve never felt that kind of connection, and SLC is know for not having a “community,” even going so far as to have open forums on why there is no “community” at SLC. So may it’s this sense of being out of place, out of sync with the people around me, that makes me envious of the lives of those who have that connection. Maria’s best friend has her husband, their beautiful daughter, and their entire family around them and all their friends. They have a beautiful house and yard, and a garden with vegetables that hopefully this next time we visit, we’d be able to partake from. They’re renovating their garage. There’s a lot that’s enviable about all of that.

So we had originally been planning to take all our stuff with us on this move back. When we first made the move over some year and a half ago, we managed to fit into 8 suitcases, including carry-ons. We had a little trouble with getting one of our carry-ons to count as a carry-on due to size constraints, but since we were all coming to the same city we left whatever suitcases we couldn’t bring with my father to bring over for us like a week or so later when he went to China as well. Now he offerred to do the same, but since we’re going to NYC it wouldn’t have worked out quite as conveniently. And obviously, given the length of time, we’ve acquired some new things. So as I said, we had been planning to take all of our stuff with us on this move back, as in on the plane, and just pay the 150USD per luggage fee to check in more than 2 pieces per person. Well, little did we know how much stuff we actually had it turns out we have 10 pieces of luggage, NOT including carry-ons. At 6 pieces over that’s 900USD, plus 60USD because one of them was over-weight also (the one with the books). Pricey.

So began the entire process of figuring out how to ship everything, as slowly and cheaply as possible. We did some research online, and there were some forum posts about how to do this, but I found them to be rather uninformative actually, though they did provide the basic framework necessary for us to figure out the rest as we did. I will post everything we now know about shipping boxes from China to the US to save you all the research in the future.

1. The company you use is China’s normal Postal Service, called like China Post EMS or something like that. You see locations for them all over the place. Their hours seem to be pretty normal, no break in the middle of the day for lunch, and I think open 7 days a week. Don’t bother trying to call their telephone number unless you speak very good Chinese or have someone to translate for you (I’m not even bothering to put the number here as it was useless for us, I got a translator; it’s a massive phone tree that I couldn’t navigate to save my life).
2. You do NOT need to go to any special location (it was hinted at in the other forums that you need to go to the fancy international one out in the East part of town but we just picked the closest one to us right next to the Drum and Bell Towers).
3. There is no pick up service for your boxes, gotta get them to the post office yourself. There are also no dollies at the post office to use. We managed everything in 2 cabs with 3 people riding as well, so figure 4 large boxes per cab.
4. You DO need to use their special shipping boxes. They come in 3 sizes, but we just got the largest, which cost 12RMB each. The box construction is good if excessive (all the flaps overlap instead of fitting together), but it felt very sturdy and strong. They’re oddly shaped though, kind of thin and tall, but overall probably as big as the large sized UPS boxes in the states. You can buy them before hand so you can pack at home but you CANNOT seal them as they need to be inspected, however cursorily, by the post office staff.
5. The cost to ship is about 5RMB for a shipping label (more on that later), about 85RMB for the first Kg, then 20RMB per Kg up to a MAX of 30KG. Most of our boxes fell within the 10 to 20Kg range, though the box of books was actually 30Kg. This meant our cheapest box was just about 200RMB and our most expensive was just over 600RMB.
6. The shipping label they make you use is in septuplicate, if that’s even a word, meaning there are 7 CARBON COPIES. I suggest you write down AS HARD AS POSSIBLE so you make it through (we didn’t, and had to retrace all of them). They want the shipper’s address (return address) in Chinese and the shipping address in English, though it’ll need the words 美国 (US, “MeiGuo,” in Chinese) written as well.
7. You also need to have written on the box the Chinese shipper’s address and English shipping address with the Chinese for US. For those of you who are like me, you’d want to make this as clear as possible and probably even print them from the computer. DO NOT TAPE THEM ON BEFORE HAND, as these labels need to be on the side where they put 3 Chinese seals and it seems to be random which side of the box that will be. Plus, they do the fancy thing where they wrap the boxes in that thick plastic band in a criss-cross pattern that makes it really strong, but if you label your box first, these might cover up vital points. We didn’t know this, and ended up writing on the box where we could the relevant addresses in ball point pen. This on top of the re-traced 7 carbon copied shipping label means our addresses are probably not as clear as they can be, but ya do what ya can…
8. They don’t really examine the contents, just kind of quickly glance over everything. The shipping label (the 7 carbon copy one) also needs you to do a customs declaration on it of items in the boxes. Feel free to generalize (the post office staff wrote “clothes” and “books” for all of ours, and either “30″ or “20″ for the quantities of each).
9. Once everything’s labeled and sealed and wrapped and ready, you pay at the counter, they hand you a copy of the receipt, seal the rest of the label onto the box, put them in large cloth bags for the mail carriers to handle, and you’re done!
10. In total we paid just under 3100RMB, which amounts to just over 50USD. We’re still over one piece of luggage because we just wanted that much stuff with us (we shipped non-important things that we both don’t need immediately or will mind too much if we lose permanently), so add in 150USD we’re still only at 650USD as compared to the 960USD we’d have had to pay if we wanted it all with us, plus the added hassel of having 10 pieces of luggage to get to and from the airport and cart around (remember you need to claim everything when you land in the States if you have a connection, then re-check for the connection). In short, well worth it, and if you can ship everything, meaning minus the extra luggage like we have, even more worth it.
11. Apparently you can track these by box label number online (there’s a barcode on the receipt), but I haven’t tried that yet. That will be next and I’ll update this post accordingly. Also, it will take just about 2 months the guy said. I will also update then when we receive everything (I hope).

All in all not the worst process I’ve ever been through, they were all very helpful, but it took a couple of hours mostly because we had so much that couldn’t be done until you got to the post office. And not that we’ll hopefully ever need to ship things by mail anymore, but at least I’m now pretty well versed in how. The big hope is that everything gets there, but I’ll update this post accordingly when I know more.

As the rest of the post says though, we only have 2 days left, and my sleeping schedule is completely whacked. Yesterday was spent taking care of all this shipping stuff, and the day before was packing it all and the rest of our suitcases. We are actually basically completely ready to go, just some very minor small stuff to put into carry-ons left. We’re going to the Great Wall in just over an hour (yes, I should maybe sleep?). We’ve managed to delay going until now, but well, we’re leaving, so I guess we should. We’re going with a tour group leaving out of one of the local hostels. Tonight when we get back we’re going to take care of some last minute purchases, then tomorrow, on our last day, we can hopefully hit up the 798 Arts District, some place I’ve really wanted to go, then it’s Adios China! We’ve been trying to also get in the last of the Chinese food we’d want to eat. Last night was Indian food :P

I’ve switched themes again, to more properly reflect the colors of Fall that are all around me here in Beijing. Thankfully though I caught it; it’s already basically Winter and a brisk cold and wind have settled in. For a while though the leaves on the trees were a bright and deep red and yellow, falling with every gust of wind. I had thought that if I had the time to pick together the necessary photos and color palettes I’d code the site to automatically switch depending on the season, to reflect the seasons, or perhaps if I had the proper photos to depict all the different moods of someone’s weather, then those. But that feels like a chore, and more effort than I’d want to expend at the moment.

We’ve been taking some lovely photos though of the season, though most of them are on Maria’s phone. I hope to find the time to get them off and onto here soon.

Let’s see, my other sites are all up and running now: photos, music, blog, portfolio. I should add a proper link to all of them from here. And though our server in China has somehow stopped serving up sites, there’s lots of work on there that I’ve been working on. Hopefully that technical issue will get resolved soon, though it’s actually beyond my abilities to diagnose at the moment.

The point of this post though, despite general updates about whatever and anything that’s been going on, I still need to find a new project to focus on. We’ve taken delivery of my grandmother’s old piano and I’ve been able to practice playing more and that’s been quite fulfilling. Though last night for the first time one of the neighbors came up and knocked on our door, saying that it was too late and too loud to play. I suppose it was quite late, but there’s a part of me that still prefers a later schedule in general over an earlier one. But the days have been very pretty, and I’ve taken some nice long walks with Maria. So despite not having gotten much sleep in general, I’m staying up all these days so that I wouldn’t be on a different schedule from her. Her school’s been quite busy, the first semester almost coming to an end, her midterms finishing up soon. I spend my days spending as much time as I can with her, travelling to and from her school, then during the times when she’s in class working on my little “projects,” such as they are. Again, I need to find a new one.

My visa woes have finally come to a head. I have 8 days until I need to actually leave the country again, unable to get another extension, the only reasonable recourse to finally get my working visa so that I wouldn’t have to worry about leaving the country again for at least a year. Those prospects are a little bit spotty, but they should work out. The only difficulty is that I need to actually return to the US, which is something I’m not looking forward to. I’m thinking maybe of heading to NYC instead of LA, see some friends, get in some sights. We had thought that maybe it’ll be possible to just go to Hong Kong instead but according to their website, you need to go to your country of residence to process this new visa. And the worst of it is that as soon as I get this new work visa, pay for it and all and bring it all back into China, I’ll have to turn it in for a residency permit thus canceling my work visa. It’s a really pointless process actually, but one that you nevertheless have to follow. Sigh, we’ll know soon though. I think I’m going to make the executive decision that today is the last day I’m going to fret on this. I doubt I can go anywhere but the States, I’m decently sure I can go to NYC, so I guess I’m going to NYC.

I’d forgotten my mother’s birthday also, the 5th, which means that soon it’ll be the 15th.

But, like the title says, it means we’re off to Seoul, again, tomorrow, for even less time than last; we leave Thursday, come back Friday. The tightness of the travel schedule had originally been to accommodate an activity the IFC was going to participate in. They had been asked to perform on Beijing TV, nationally broadcast no less, but the BTV people wanted a large showing of foreigners, and what with it being the holiday season and all the IFC just couldn’t scrounge up enough singers, though of course I signed up since I have no life and no reason to leave, though I kind of do actually; it’ll be nice to get to go to Bangkok. Either way, they cancelled on me last week, after I’d already gotten our airplane tickets, so what can you do.

Since we’ve been there before though, we’re kind of nixing the whole “tourist in Korea” thing and opted to stay in a hotel real close to the airport and will just camp there. It should be fine; Maria managed to find a very nice looking place for a good price. Hopefully we won’t have to run this whole gamut again, and the only thing we’ll have to do is leave the country so we can enter on our working visas. Though that in and of itself may be difficult as the process seems to be, as mentioned before, much more difficult than before, and we will most likely need to return to the States of all places to get it.

So it used to be easy, very easy. There’s a whole long list of things you need to apply for one, ranging from a translated resume, a translated offer letter, and the offer letter needs to be for a “fancy” position signed by a “fancy” executive of the company inviting you. Oh, your resume needs to be “fancy” too so it seems justified that your skills are needed. All these things in the past used to just be for show but apparently someone actually looks at it nowadays. They want our ORIGINAL college degrees (pain in the ass), and they need actual signed work verification letters from EVERY employer on your resume. Can’t be emailed, can’t be faxed, can’t be copied; needs to be the actual damned thing. So we’re left in the position where ok, I’ve a lot of employers on my resume so that it can be “fancy,” but I don’t want to track down all of them and ask them for this silly work verification letter. Sigh. On top of all this there’s a health inspection that we needed to have done, and have; thankfully that was relatively painless, and it’s convenient to know we’re healthy, though it was expensive for just a sheet of paper. And they really go over board with the health inspection! They took lots of blood, did an EKG, did an ultrasound, took an x-ray, checked your hearing, vision, general physical health. Sigh, again. It’s in process is the point. A long process.

Ugh and it’s gonna be so expensive to have to leave the country this many times! There’s Miguel’s wedding, there’s Kelly’s wedding, and some time between the two there’s the last time we have to leave the country back to the States to get our working visas. It’s actually I just don’t want to go to the States heh. And I’m sick again damnit. This city has been very cold lately, so business also sucks. Heh and I haven’t had time to blog so I’m doing it now.

Business is actually alright. It’s surprising but for a restaurant in China to be profitable it just needs to make 1500RMB a day. That’s just over 200$. It sounds small, but when you’re only charging 30RMB per dish, you’d need to serve 50 people at least, per day, which given how cold it is, is no mean feat. Ah either way.

Shortly after arriving in Beijing, I responded to an ad seeking teachers of legal English. “LegalCo” promised a light schedule and a few bucks, and I thought it might be interesting. LegalCo deals in teaching professional skills, law firm p.r., translation, and lawyer placement; I toured their office; I discussed with them my suitability for their available position (they had me penciled into their schedule before I even showed up, as it turns out) and I started doing things with them. They asked me to give a short talk on a topic of my choice within the field of Legal English to a promised audience of 100 students at one of China’s most prestigious universities, and I agreed. Thereafter they asked me if I’d like to tag along to a visit to one of China’s leading domestic law firms and dinner. Sounds good!

I probably spent too much time preparing for the lecture. I’ll return at some later date to the “Chinese people don’t take a schedule seriously” idea, but suffice to say that although they wanted to make sure I could fill 40 minutes, they still had to tell me to stop talking. Dude, I was on a roll, I had (legal writing!) powerpoint slides left, and I was enjoying listening to myself talk. :) I am a grammar fanatic, after all.

The day itself took forever, though. I was promised 250 yuan for a 30-40 minutes talk. The campus itself must have taken over an hour to drive to (in one of the LegalCo’s vehicles). Not to mention that it was pouring rain…anyway, the day began with me subwaying across town, walking to the car of the main employee I deal with at LegalCo (whom I’ll call S), and driving around trying to find this Australian tax lawyer, R, who was to give the talk at the Chinese law firm (on negotiation skills). We eventually found R, made it to the firm, found an elevator that would take us to the right floor– after some false starts, and got set up for his talk. The room filled with Chinese lawyers, most apparently no older than myself (although maybe the Asian gift of enduring youth affected my perception of their age). Many of the girls were dressed like American high school students. Sparkly dresses, tiered skirts, novelty shoes. What? The guys mostly wore jeans and dress shirts. I was wearing full formal suit-skirt and pumps, R was in a decently formal suit, and S at least wore wrinkled khakis. Even though I wasn’t on the schedule, a few people had questions for me too. I really wish I could understand the introduction that people give for me (in this case, by S). The law firm presented me with a neat little gift, formally presented, which turned out to contain a chunk of lucite with a dragon seal –functionally, a business card holder. Pret-tay nifty! Chinese paperweight!

Next step: after dropping off R, we drove to the University. The U has two campuses, one quite close to where I live. This was at the other campus. S admits he is not a great driver, and traffic was horrible, and the weather was also quite bad. We had picked up C, a Chinese law firm partner, at the law firm, so S and C and I drove first to the wrong town by accident and then to the right town, and to a fancy restaurant near the U. We had good food, a somewhat … inelegant meal, in terms of conversation, as I speak only English and C speaks only Chinese. S did some interpreting, but mostly went back and forth between speaking to his two guests. It was a neat place, we took pictures, and entertainment was just starting as we were leaving. I expect it was quite expensive, although of course I didn’t see the menu or the bill. Our event was supposed to start at 7, and at 645 we were still at the restaurant. Sigh. People just aren’t concerned with schedules? They also didn’t let me know when the bill came, and didn’t let me contribute. Apparently I’m the invitee, and it’s the inviter who pays. Plus they don’t let people who are just starting out, which apparently includes me, pay. Okay, for now! I only owe a thousand people already …

By the time we made it to the U, we were several minutes late and the room looked restless. It was packed, though, and no one looked like they were ready to give up their seat. A few people were standing against the back wall, too. We had some technical issues–resolved, and one of the speakers didn’t show (a guy from the British consulate supposedly was on a business trip). Whatever. Regardless, C and I got a million questions, and we didn’t end up leaving until 3 hours after we got there. Can I please go home now?

We packed S’s car with two more people, who we then dropped off (they have something to do with LegalCo…I think…they were never properly introduced). I got home so freaking late. So…30-40 minutes, eh? I returned home more than 11 hours after I left.

S is an interesting fellow, and he and his colleague D have explained to me their views on the Chinese legal system at some length. It is clear that China is in a transitional period, as western ideas of the rule of law and the desirability of avoiding corruption are gaining some ground, but the old ways prevail. Sounds like bribery is the way it is.

S also mentioned that he didn’t think it’d be hard for me to get a job in a domestic or international law firm. I told him: no hurry. For now, I’ve accepted a job as a “legal associate”–a very loose, part-time gig for Sean’s dad’s co. Still, I’m doing some legal work, and it’s very interesting. It is *not* California litigation (read: I have no experience in this area). So I am happy, but I am not actually content. I wasn’t planning to work here. I am supposed to be studying. As things are going, I think it unlikely that I will be happy with my GMAT score if I take it on the day currently scheduled. (Ignore, also, the fact that I don’t currently feel like going to business school.) The plan was to study, do my apps, learn Chinese. These things have *not* been my focus since showing up in this fancy city. I need to re-think, prioritize, and maybe even buckle down and work hard or some shit. Most unpalatable.

Weight:
Kilograms govern most weight measurements, and to get kilograms (kg) to pounds (lbs), just double the kg, basically.

“Jin,” otherwise known as a “Chinese pound,” is what foodstuff’s weight is measured in, and is basically the same as a “normal” pound.

Length:
Metric again…
1 meter basically equals 3 feet.
1 kilometer basically equals half a mile.
Otherwise there are actual “Chinese” units of measuring length, but I’d like to leave them out as it just confuses things, like the “Chinese foot”…….

Area:
This is easy, 1 square meter is basically 10 square feet.

Currency:
Yuan and RMB or sometimes “Kuai” mean the same thing, Chinese money, and last I checked, it’s about 6.8 Yuan/RMB/Kuai to one dollar. So just take whatever amount of money I’m telling you, and divide by 7.

1 Yuan = 1 RMB = 1 Kuai = 10 mao (the Chinese dime) = 100 fen (Chinese penny)

Nutrition:
Things are in kJ over here, kilojoules…divide by 4 to get normal US calories.

I think that about covers all the day to day…..

We’ve now secured an apartment–well, secured, at least in some sense. The rent is already high and we’ve sort-of been warned that the landlady may increase it. The place is quite nice, however, and I can’t wait to have my own collection of points in the 3-d coordinate plane. Everyone here has been wonderful, and at least Sean’s grandmother will be sad that we won’t be around as much, but I will be happier once I have my own desk, tea paraphernalia, and place to put my stinky running clothes. We will hopefully be moving on Sunday.

I registered for the GMAT and have only a few weeks to study. I am also working on getting the recommendation letter templates out. Chinese schools are *so* not on a schedule–except, apparently, as regards receiving my completed application. One has posted the 2010 app; the other, not so much. As National Holiday draws to a close, however, I’m hoping they’ll be more responsive.

I have also lately learned that the picture on the outside of the package does not necessarily reflect the contents. I bought a package of tasty dried fruits (labeled plums…maybe). Although I am in no way dissatisfied with the contents, I was mildly surprised by them.� These photos are the outside and the inside. I am likely to pursue a new package of these, as I’ve eaten almost all of them.

Package

Contents. Tasty, but not as advertised.

The weather has been intermittently astonishingly beautiful, but it is getting cold. I anticipate that we will need to use a heater soon. I understand that it doesn’t get as cold here as, say, Boston, but that it will approach freezing. I am also becoming impatient to explore more, especially on my own, and am finding my lack of language skills quite limiting. This is not surprising, and I believe that as the National Holiday finishes up–and I have my own apartment — I can get the language-learning show on the road. *Can’t wait to unpack.*

I signed up for my first race in Beijing, or outside it–only a 10k, but since registration for the Beijing Half-Marathon is closed, I’ll take what I can get. I also posted on the Beijinger website, asking for gym recommendations and info on running clubs. I’m not optimistic anyone will have anything useful to say, but let’s see what fish this net ensnares.

One of our primary concerns especially this early on, though we’ve been here for just about ten days now already, is to find an apartment. We would like to be in the North part of town, in the district called Haidian, which is where Maria’s possible MBA schools are. It’s actually where all the universities are, so it makes for a nice pseudo-collegiate atmosphere. Plus, Maria’s friend B., more on him at a later point I’m sure, lives there and would be nice to have friends around.

Our search has taken us onto all the usual internet sites, places like Craigslist, and lesser known expat sites like Beijinger, CityWeekend, etc. (look, I’m using links!) My step mother has been gracious and kind enough to help us with making the all important phone call to follow up on the ads we’ve found.

So the other day, we did a bunch of research online, got a bunch of phone numbers written down, made the necessary calls, then headed out. We ended up seeing four different places that day.

The first one was the most expensive, 4500 RMB for a 2 bd./2 ba. It was on the campus of the Geosciences University, where incidentally B. had lived before and had told us horror stories about frozen winters. It was, “nice,” in a way; a 6th story walk up. It came “furnished,” read into that whatever you’d like, and I think from now on, whenever quotes are employed, feel free to read into them whatever you feel is appropriate. These “furniture,” especially the “bed,” made me realize that hard though my father’s be, there are worse, shudder though I at that realization. It was, otherwise, modest for what it was, and obviously expensive for what it was.

And Maria just read this and said it was in no way “nice,” which, as I pointed out after correcting it, was why it was in quotes.

The next place was a decent walk away, and was next to the Forestry University. It’s entrance can be best characterized as a dungeon, overhanging detritus and all. As a general description, all these places appeared “Soviet” to me, no offense intended. Sort of, winter and/or nuclear wasteland type. This was a 1 bd./ 1 ba. for 3300 RMB. The funniest thing about this one was that it had been occupied previously by English speaking students, and probably a young girl who liked K-Pop stars judging by the stickers on the dresser mirror. This also meant there was a neat little printout guide on “How-to” do this and that, like pay for the water bill, pay the electric bill, etc., with cute-sy type remarks like “Good boy, you just paid your electric bill!” I should point out that I actually liked NONE of these. They all had their flaws, the most specific of which is “I don’t like them.” They’re too, “Chinese,” for lack of a better term, and again, no offense intended.

The third one wasn’t bad. It was in a suburby feeling kind of area, three story tall buildings in rows with vegetation and actual vegetables growing between them, kind of like English row houses actually. It was tiny, but we could’ve gotten it for 1800 RMB. No kitchen, per se, but it had a space where we could set up an electric stove. The bedroom was also up some steep stairs in what I could only imagine was the attic with low enough hanging ceilings that you actually couldn’t use half the available space. But at least it was, clean, less “Chinese” in some ways, almost like a dorm room.

Moving on the fourth one was just bad. It was still a little further away, 1 bd./ 1 ba. for 2200 RMB, very “Chinese,” and so I don’t sound like a broken record, just not right, yet again.

Then we went and looked at guitars for me :) Then we went to my father’s restaurant, Connections Bar and Grill and I actually bought a guitar. This was a whole interesting evening in and of itself but that will have to wait until another post. Back to apartments.

I think what we learned is that our standards are higher than “Chinese.” We’ve said that we want to live here, but we don’t want to become “locals” or “natives” per se. Reading what I just wrote I think that makes me sound like a horrible person, but the facts are that I’ve gotten used to some standard of living in the US and I’m not entirely comfortable shedding it. It’s like the needs we’ve developed in the States; no reason to leave them behind, plus we shouldn’t.

But it was still good to see these because I think it’s given us perspective on what it is we do and do not want in an apartment. Going forward, we should be much better prepared to identify what it is we do or do not like. As it stands, I think I can sum it up a little:

1) It needs to be in a “complex,” one with a guard, for safety reasons.
2) It needs to be a “high rise,” meaning something build relatively recently, probably within the past ten years or so, at most.
3) It needs to be near you want to be, and sometimes that may mean not near any other forms of public transportation. It’s OK to commute and travel a little when you want to go out, but if you’re going to school, save the travel time as best as possible.
4) Do stick to your standards. Just because you’re living in another country, doesn’t mean you need to change who you are. You are neither in that dire of straits or that constrained of time to have to settle for anything less than you are comfortable with.
5) Get an agent, or at least have one show you around, and if you can, get a “seller’s” agent, one that you won’t have to pay a fee to. They know the area, what’s available, have all the required phone numbers, and can get you better deal. We had an agent, a lovely Chinese girl who accompanied us on bicycle.
6) The higher up you are, the less likely it is you’ll have bugs, and the more control you will have on your ambient temperature; during the winter, the heat accumulates up high so you can at least open your windows to regulate instead of freezing down below (Thanks B. for the tip! He lives in quite a nice place by the way, in BLCU).

Whew! I’m exhausted! We’ve had so many late nights, all of them fun, so I’m going to stop now. I think I’ll exercise some form of mental discipline and try to at least update this once a night going forward until we are caught up.

Some things to look forward to:

1) Our time spent with B.
2) National Day (Happy Birthday New China!)
3) Additional business schemes
4) Job hunting news

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.

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!

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.