textures | tones

So last week was the final week of rehearsals for the IFC before we performed on Saturday. The last week of rehearsals is always at the Children’s Palace (ShaoNianGong), right behind JingShan Park, less than 3km away from my apartment. Unfortunately, rehearsals are at 6:30PM, right when rush hour hits this wonderful city that I live in, and it is IMPOSSIBLE to get there. At worst, the last day of rehearsals that Friday, I spent 1 hour and 45 minutes sitting in the cab, 1 hour of which was below the minimum speed at which the cab is considered “stopped” and I get charged a different rate. I could have walked there and back in less time. This just sort of reinforces what I’ve always known to be true: there is absolutely no reason not to either walk, take the subway, or bike to where you need to go in this city. Obviously walking has its pitfalls; some places are just too far, and the subway doesn’t reach everywhere. So lo and behold, the perfect solution: bicycling.

Apparently bicycle theft is rampant in this city. I’ve heard stories of gangs of thieves who specialize in stealing one particular type of bicycle. Due to this, I decided to go the cheap route when purchasing my bicycle in case it ever got stolen. So I had one of my staff help me and we walked to one of the nearby bicycle shops and there it was, the most beautiful bike I’ve ever seen in my life, for just 170RMB (not really, but it was that cheap). Add a basket and a lock and I evened out at just about 30USD. Very excited to finally own a bicycle and the new possibilities it opens up for me, I decided to bike to my father’s home and visit him and my grandmother who’s out of the hospital now. It’s just about 5 miles each way, and I made it in just over half an hour each way. It was great! So much fun actually, sort of reminiscent of the times I spent biking in New York City.

But then the honeymoon ended, one 10 mile bike ride later: the seat was starting to break, to the point where it was being bent in a very “awkward” way if you know what I mean, with the front pushing precariously upwards…And I’d also noticed that the pedals weren’t spinning very smoothly either; they kind of had a jerky sort of feel to them. But I ignored these problems, since I only paid 30USD for the bike, and put it away for the night in the little courtyard in front of my apartment. I was actually a little bit paranoid, but then once again reminded myself that I only paid 30USD for it.

The next day, today that is, I decided to bike out to the Western Academy of Beijing, which is about 18km away, just over 11 miles. I wanted to see if it was doable and in how long because there’s at least a chance I might be working there doing IT work for them. I make it half way there, the long way incidentally because I got pretty lost on the way, and one of the pedals breaks! Thankfully there’s a bicycle repair guy just at the street corner where I broke down and he fixes it for me but the whole incident kind of spooked me and I decided to just bike home and forget trying to make it out to the school. I still got about 10 miles of biking in, which is good, but the bike quite properly breaking down at just over 15 miles of total riding is a little…pathetic. I talked to the bike repair guy and he said that if I’m doing long distances, the bike I had will not be adequate; it was only meant for short distances.

Well, you live and learn I guess! But that means I’m going to need to buy a new bike later! Next time I get that cheap, somebody slap me.

As far as other updates, as I mentioned I was in a concert this past weekend, one in Beijing and the other in Tianjin. This is the first time I’ve been to Tianjin also; pretty neat city, it’s only like an hour away by car and half an hour by high speed train. It’s also a port city, which Beijing unfortunately isn’t, and on the way out I could smell the sea breeze and that was very refreshing. Being a port city though means that there’s actually a lot of Western influences in the city, maybe even more so than Beijing, especially in the architecture. For instance the concert hall we sang in reminded me very much of a European opera house. All in all the concerts were good, despite how weird the music was, and Maria and her friends like it as well.

Speaking of whom, Maria left this past Monday for the States. She’s going to visit her family and friends and run her first marathon in Cincinnati! I’m really excited for her and wish I could be there, but I’ll be seeing her relatively soon on May 10th when I also go to the States and we both go to attend Miguel’s wedding in San Francisco. It’s pretty convenient because this also allows us to get on the next entry of our Visa, though this is hopefully the last time we have to do this whole Visa renewal thing because our work Visas will be ready by then, fingers crossed. I also hope I have a job waiting for me when I get back…

I’m also going to try out the Chinese Medical System this Sunday! Woot! Not? I don’t know what to expect really, but it’s been over two years since my last physical and I figure it’s time to get one again. I had called some US doctors about taking care of it when I was in the States, but they wanted to charge me 1000USD to do it! I guess I had no idea how expensive these things were because I’ve never done them without insurance before but that’s what happens if you pay out of pocket apparently. So I discussed it with my cousin Michael in China and he suggested this chain of clinics in Beijing called CiMing that specialize in nothing but physical examinations. The prices are great, beyond great. For less than half the price of the US exam I can get so many more procedures done, not that I’d want to. I’m hoping to not have to spend more than 100USD actually to get everything I would’ve gotten in the States and more and thus satisfy my own paranoia about not having had a physical in a while.

Aside from missing Maria quite a bit and not having all too much to do these days, well, since I’ve not that much to do, that’s about all I have to write about for now. I have more I should write down but I’m feeling really lazy and probably a bit depressed, but that’s alright. Things will be better when they’re better.

Hard to believe it’s been a week since I last posted anything, and even longer since I last posted anything of any substantive meaning. The short and only answer you’re getting is that I’ve been feeling a little off, emotionally, and it’s made it difficult to muster up much if any excitement for anything. However, I believe this to be a temporary state of affairs, and I expect that it will soon make it over that proverbial hill and it will be smooth, clear, fine sailing from then on. Maria has been very supportive and for her sake, for our sake, for her support, I will write this entry, and a couple of extra, and introduce a brand new idea into my blogging repertoire as a reward.

The idea being I think I’ll start keeping track of my dreams. It’s really that I run out of or lose interest in the things I’m writing about rather quickly, so I find it best to have multiple things to write about. Of course I am not abandoning my trip down memory lane project, I am simply adding another parallel project, something to help me vent my writing steam so that it doesn’t pent up yet is less restricted in that I have other topics now. So dreams. Plus, many people have suggested I keep track of them, and my dreams are rather brilliant if I do say so myself, and Maria likes them a not, so hey, what the hell.

Also, as a general update, here goes:

1) Maria got in to both business schools she applied to! Yay! She now has a choice :)
2) The restaurant is sucking, business wise, and there are many things moving and shaking within that realm that I’m not currently at liberty to say, but suffice it to say that there are many exciting things about that hopefully just around the corner as well.
3) My concert is next Saturday; hard to believe I’ve only a week or so left to fully learn all the notes; just kidding.
4) Maria leaves for the states in just over ten days :( Booooooooo! Whatever am I supposed to do with myself for two weeks in Beijing, unemployed for the most part no less?
5) Lots and lots of web projects to do, though mostly for free. The Connections restaurant site is up, I’ve made a Document Management System for Maria and my father, and I will soon be revamping and redesigning literally all of my father’s company’s sites, for no pay; again, Boooooooooooo!
6) I’ve also gotten quite wrapped up in the inner machinations of the choir I’m in. At the moment, it’s all volunteer on my part, but I hope to be able to fully insert myself into their circle and ultimately be compensated for my efforts, which thus far has included taking on their ticket sales, to the point of actually going around to people’s homes and tracking them down to give them their ticket and take their money and agreeing to escort around the composers of the piece we’re singing. Not that I don’t do all of this out of the graciousness of my heart, I do enjoy doing it, but my finances are very tight at the moment; though I look forward to being compensated for working with the Youth choir in May, which apparently I will be; I wonder if I can get that to be a full time thing?

Otherwise, life trudges on, the adventure that it most definitely is; my father has become enamored with the iPad, and we’re wondering if we should get one. Both our power cords are dying, and my battery is as well. Hard to believe but my laptop is two and a half years old! Time sure does fly; I wonder if I should get a new laptop…maybe I’ll drool a bit at the new computers that are available, though, and hold your breath, I’m thinking of switching back to a PC!

Shameless self promotion time. So the choir I’m a member of, the International Festival Chorus (IFC) will be performing the African Sanctus by David Fanshawe at the Beijing Century Theater on April 24th, 2010 at 7:30PM. Tickets are available through the theater, Beijing Home Delivery, or me! I am actually the new ticket coordinator for the IFC so I’m handling all internal sales, but I can handle non-internal ones as well! I also hope to in the future play a greater role in the IFC, perform in more concerts, and promote more of our up coming events. :)

EVERYBODY COME!

IFC African Sanctus 2010

(Sick)
So I’m sick, and have been for a few days. And I realize now that a good many of my blog posts begins with the word “So.” I wonder why that is…But I think it’s the weather.

(Weather)
It was like this when I was in New York; as the seasons noticeably change, I would get sick. This meant once when the summer months ended and winter began, and again when winter ends and it starts to warm. I probably got lucky the year and a half or so I was last in LA because there are no noticeable season changes there. But here, in Beijing, wow; it was quite warm when we first arrived, then all of a sudden, snow! Photos to follow incidentally. It’s been like that since the end of the month. It’s actually quite appropriate really, as November began, so did winter.

(Sick)
But I don’t like being sick. It throws off my sleeping schedule because I just sleep when I’m tired, and that happens at random intervals during the day. Other times I just can’t sleep because of the symptoms, like now. And in general, I’m just completely sapped of energy. I do think I’m getting better though. One of the good things about China is that most drugs are over the counter, including antibiotics. I’m taking those, and some other random Chinese medicine, to good general effect.

(Maria Runs)
Maria’s been getting more and more adventurous in her running lately. We’ve uploaded maps of her runs for anyone who’s interested.

(IFC)
I auditioned for and successfully got in to the Beijing International Festival Chorus! I was actually very nervous for some reason. I’m actually always nervous during auditions, never so during rehearsals or performances, but something about auditions rattles me. It looks pretty interesting, and the venue that they perform in is quite grand. They’re also very English which I find very amusing. The first rehearsal is tomorrow and though I am sick, I doubt I’m contagious, and I’d very much like to get back into the swing of things. Part of why I may have been nervous as Maria points out is that it’s been over a year and a half since I last sang. A pity really. I also hope to join their smaller group, the International Festival Chamber Choir. I don’t know much about hem yet though, but it seems like an added opportunity to sing and perform, which is always good.

(Updates)
As far as general updates go, I’ve been obviously a little bit absent from the renovation work going on at Connections Bar and Grill. Incidentally, the IFC people had heard of my restaurant! A testament to our current marketing scheme! I foresee great things in the future; this looks to be the start of a beautiful friendship! The schedule is still set though; we will open in one week. Next week will be the all important perfecting of our recipes, our new supply lines, and the hiring of new employees. As my father put it, I missed some of the craziness this week, but there’s plenty more next week, and it’ll all be mine. Yay. [insert sarcasm tag] I keep going over and over the operations of the restaurant in my mind, and it scares me.

You see, unlike in the States, where restaurant layouts make sense, apparently in China, regulations prohibit such things as a large open kitchen where one person can have easy access to all the supplies, utensils, plates, and cooking. You need a separate room, with its own wall separating it, for your dish washing and your produce preparation. This means that for one person to operate the kitchen in its entirety is for most intents and purposes impossible. That one cook will have to go to the “salad prep” room to get the produce ready, then go to the kitchen to cook everything, then go to the “dish washing” room to get the necessary plates before putting it all together. Apparently it’s a hygiene regulation.

So to get around this, I’m thinking we’ll keep the separate rooms because we have to, but just not use them. It just means there’s a lot of pressure on the cook, a.k.a. me, to make sure all the prep is done in the mornings and MOVED into the kitchen so that I won’t have to keep running back and forth between quite distant places…I’m thinking, down the line, once the restaurant is highly successful, a complete and utter overhaul of the kitchen will be needed. We’ll speak of this when the time is appropriate.

As far as renovations go at my apartment, I think we’ve hit a snag. Apparently it’s out of my hands, as it should since these are my mother’s renovations, but I think they’re doing it wrong. The plan was to rebuild the sun-room, this nice, enclosed patio type space on the second floor. There was some water damage because the roof was leaking, so they were supposed to tear it all apart, and redo it. Well the tearing apart went fine, but it looks like they’re walling up the windows! They’re just turning it into…a room. I doubt that’s what my mother had in mind. The problem with informing her is that this construction is already way behind schedule; they were supposed to be done by November 1st. And now if it looks like they’re doing it all wrong and will have to do it again but correctly, it’s just going to take even longer, and I just can’t wait for the day where I won’t have to worry about construction workers trampling through my home!

I think that’s all for now…I’m going to sort out some beautiful photos of Beijing in the snow and upload them next.