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June 2004 - Posts

Going to the Bathroom in Tiananmen Square

Posted Saturday, June 19, 2004 5:59 AM by will
Well, not really in Tiananmen Square , but more on this later. I had a free Saturday, with no plans and no companions. My roommate, James, was on a school trip to Shanxi . My friend Sam was bogged down with work. I was on my own. This was just my second Read More...
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A Whole Can of Whup Ass

Posted Friday, June 18, 2004 5:30 AM by will
My apartment is on the sixth floor of the Hua Qing Jia Yuan ( Liesure Garden ) apartments. In general, Hua Qing is not a bad place to be. The staff is courteous and helpful. The residents are a mix of locals and foreign students (this is Haidian, after Read More...
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I Finally Understand

Posted Friday, June 18, 2004 2:51 AM by will
I now know why every Singaporean of my age looks back on their Mandarin classes with a mix of anger and smoldering resentment, and a dangerous, cold, homicidal gleam in their eye. For months my Singaporean friends have been asking me with amazement, “You Read More...
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More on the Weather

Posted Friday, June 18, 2004 2:32 AM by will
If NASA ever wants to test their next Venus probe, Beijing is just the place. It has an army of inexpensive, highly educated engineers and mathematicians, and Venusian surface conditions. Like Venus, Beijing is approximately hot enough to melt lead and Read More...
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An Evening Out

Posted Friday, June 18, 2004 2:31 AM by will
My language exchange partner, Wuning, wanted to invite me out the evening we met. But, like a coy girl who won’t let her eager boyfriend get to second base, I thought he was moving a little fast for me. So I postponed our evening out until this Read More...
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Hundreds of People Speaking English

Posted Saturday, June 12, 2004 8:12 AM by will
Last night my Language Exchange Partner, Wuning, gave me a tour of his university, the People's University of China. It was a fairly standard looking university campus: Grey concrete buildings, some leafy boulevards and quads, and lots and lots of students Read More...
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Spitting Champions of the World

Posted Saturday, June 12, 2004 8:11 AM by will
If spitting becomes an Olympic sport, the Chinese will clean up (figuratively) at the 2008 Olympic Games, due to be held here in Beijing. I will take this opportunity to say that Beijing seems like a crappy place to hold the summer Olympics. The city Read More...
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I Almost Embarrass Myself on the Bus

Posted Saturday, June 12, 2004 8:10 AM by will
Let's talk about a subject that everyone can relate to: Money. Money in China is called yuan. (Literally, "unit". Say it with a slight upward lilt, like you're asking a question, or you might be saying "distant".) More formally it is called Renminbi , Read More...
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Twenty-Five Channels of Guys in Funny Hats

Posted Saturday, June 12, 2004 8:08 AM by will
We have a big TV. Of course, everything is in Chinese, but this is no impediment to my appreciation of it. The TV is a valuable learning aid for students of the Chinese language. This is because, well, everything is in Chinese. This isn't a hotel, and Read More...
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Ordering Food by Sign Language

Posted Saturday, June 12, 2004 8:07 AM by will
The one set of vocabulary I haven't mastered is food. Yes, I know the words for beef, chicken, pork, duck and vegetables. I can ask for soup or dumplings. That's about it. When it comes to how things are cooked or what sauce they are in, I'm in the dark Read More...
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My Roommate

Posted Saturday, June 12, 2004 8:04 AM by will
However I am spending more time with one American college kid. This is my roommate, James, a Stanford Junior with three years of college Mandarin and a fair command of the language. James is bright, sociable and pleasant. He's also black. I remark on Read More...
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I am a Grandfather

Posted Saturday, June 12, 2004 8:03 AM by will
My fellow students at Worldlink Beijing come in two categories. The vast majority is college students, or kids fresh out of college. The average age seems to be 20 or 21. Many of them are Americans, with a smattering of Hong Kong, Europe and Southeast Read More...
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Listening Class Makes Me Cry

Posted Saturday, June 12, 2004 8:02 AM by will
At the school they gave us a placement test. The first part was pretty simple: Write the pinyin (Romanized pronunciation) for all the characters you know from this list. Circle all the characters you know from this second list. Read the following passage Read More...
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Where Bicycles and Busses Go To Die

Posted Saturday, June 12, 2004 8:00 AM by will
The classic image of Beijing is grandiose classical buildings fronting wide boulevards on which vast seas of bicyclists placidly make their way to…wherever. This image is bunk. The part about the vast seas of bicyclists is correct, but pretty much Read More...
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Beijing Has No Stray Cats and Dogs

Posted Saturday, June 12, 2004 7:58 AM by will
Coming from Singapore I am used to seeing a lot of feral cats and dogs. For a city with an (undeserved) reputation as a sterile, charmless Petri dish of commerce, Singapore has a vast, street level menagerie of well kept hawker-centre cats and feral neighborhood Read More...
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I Shop

Posted Saturday, June 12, 2004 7:56 AM by will
I have become the David Attenborough of shopping. I skulk in dark corners watching how people do things. This is important because shopping doesn't work the same in all countries. I discovered this in Singapore the first time I was upbraided for not weighing Read More...
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I Successfully Speak Chinese to People

Posted Saturday, June 12, 2004 7:50 AM by will
This is not necessarily a bad thing. I came to Beijing to be immersed in Chinese. Beijing has kindly agreed to help. The pressure to manage to small daily necessities of life forces you to use your language skills. This includes reading (which dumplings Read More...
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Nothing Here Is In English

Posted Saturday, June 12, 2004 7:38 AM by will
Aside from learning the native language, nothing prepares you for a country where nothing is in English, and nobody speaks English. OK, it's not fair to say nothing is in English. In the Haidian district, where I live, there are about 100 universities. Read More...
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