If I haven't fully described Beijing to you, here it is. The first thing you notice is the smog. It's the air you have to breathe. Some wear masks and most don't. When the wind blows from the north the smog and clouds go away at the cost of the warmer weather. Otherwise sometimes you can't even see the sun through the clouds. The next thing you see is that the city is really spread out. The city planning committee is not able to build a central "skyscraper district" because of the ancient hutong - ancient residential neighborhoods - randomly placed throughout the city. You'll see tall buildings randomly placed because that's the only place they could build them. The people are friendly, when you interact with them. On the street, ever car will honk at you and the pedestrians walk anywhere on the sidewalk (cars get parked on sidewalks too). When you talk to someone in their own language they will immediately light up and speak really fast to you, so fast you can't keep up! Crime is extremely low because of the policed-state condition. There are cameras EVERYWHERE. The streets are dirty and the farther off the tourist traps you get, the more trash lines the street.
Food is super cheap. I can buy two very delicious apples for just under a dollar and a tray of 9 steamed buns for even less. Tiny restaurants are everywhere and before you eat you'll want to sanitize your hands as well as the [reusable] chopsticks the restaurant provides. If it's not a mainstream restaurant then this is the case, otherwise follow procedure. Squatting toilets are everywhere and don't forget to bring your own toilet paper because none is provided for you - except in the airport. Oh and because the plumbing infrastructure is not modern, don't toss used TP in the toilet but rather in the small garbage provided. The water quality is unsafe too, so drink filtered or boiled water always. Although China is still a developing country, so much of its goods outweigh the not-so-goods. Tradition is everywhere. People love to talk about the ancient city and the beauty of their culture. For a nation only 60ish years young, a 7000 year-old history gives everyone something to talk about. Beijing's parks are beautiful and the architecture of the old sites remain breathtaking. In summation, I love the people and their history. The food is great and the lack of 'luxuries' can be overlooked. Leaving here will definitely be hard.
Breakfast today was this tofu soup, a giant fried pancake thing, and a spicy dish from dinner (I think it's giving me bad gas). I got to school only to find out that class was cancelled. Apparently Jeremiah had his hands full with the new long-term students that he decided to turn us loose on the city. I did another set of observations on the subway with my partner. Even now the traffic on our line was insane! People push their way in with their suitcases and you're constantly breathing in someone else's face. They need to get home for Spring Festival and nothing will stop them. My partner and I got separated at the transfer station because she got pushed aside as the doors were closing on my train.
I went on ahead to meet Adam for lunch again. This time, he came over to my side of town so I could give him a taste of the non-tourist Beijing. First, I had to exchange money at the Postal Bank of China because I didn't have any cash. It took about 45 minutes but I got enough to hopefully last me the rest of my stay here. We were turned away from one restaurant because they were shutting down for Spring Festival. Eventually, we ate at a sit down doughnut place whose specialty is fish of all things. We had these spicy dishes that he had a hard time eating. I ended up ordering a egg fried rice dish to help him out. We also drank this fruit chunked-milk juice that was really good. Once we got done eating we walked around the back alleys behind East BeiWai. We got some egg tarts from this street vendor to satisfy our sweet tooth. Once we walked back through the East campus, we shared our pictures in the student lounge. We discovered that we both visited the Forbidden City on the same day at the same time! I'm sure that he's in at least one of the pictures I took.
I walked Adam back to the subway when it was time for me to go to my family dinner. I had to run back because I was going to be late, and this was my last supper at my home stay. I returned and Baba finished his cigarette outside the 7th story window and began to cook in the kitchen. We ate a steamed chicken, that spicy dish (sorry I don't know what's in it except for thin slices of a starchy vegetable and small sliced peppers), rice and corn soup, sweet potatoes, 'sauteed' onions, a bowl of this really fatty meat, practically only fat, and of course I ate all the huajuan they provided.
Once dinner ended, we exchanged emails and addresses. Also, I got Mom and Dad on Skype so they could meet Baba and Mama themselves. It was hard because of the language barrier but there are somethings that can be expressed without words, and enough was said in that manner. They said their goodbyes and let me talk with my parents for a while. It was fun to catch up and see them again. The ~14 hour time difference really messes with me. We watched some more television then I was too tired to stay up any longer.
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