Tourism At It's Finest

2012 January 18, Wednesday

I tried to keep the streak of eating huajuan for breakfast today. I bought two late last night at the supermarket but I knew they’d not be as good as Baba’s. I also had to awkwardly gerry-rig my own steamer out of two different pots and a strainer. They didn’t turn out super well, however, they satisfied my craving. I’ll miss huajuan back home. It’s also weird living in a dorm again, I got used to being in a home. I keep saying that about my home stay but it is with sincerity and I honestly miss it already. 

Ito-sensei (our St. Olaf professor) returned from Japan last night! She spent a week with the Japanese-studying people in our class. Now, Ito-sensei is here to teach our class for the last week and will take us to Tokyo on Monday. The class today was very simple: What happened in the last week? We got into a heated discussion about Chines lifestyle at the provocation of one student. Other than that, class was full of our own stories and hearing of our classmates’ adventures in Japan. 

For lunch Andy, Erik, Vinh and I headed over to food alley. It’s a 15 minutes walk from our dorm to the different places to eat behind East BeiWai. We ended up at a TINY baozi shop that fit eight people comfortably. I got a tray of 9 veggie baozis while the others got jiaozi - dumplings - or meat baozis. It’s funny how so many of these ‘restaurants’ are in this area and still manage to stay in business. 

We watched some TV in our room as other students drifted in and out. We watched this silly children’s cartoon that was actually Japanese in origin. My roommate asked a Chinese person in the dorm about it and said it was dubbed. I got ahold of Adam then decided to meet around 1300 (military time is used in China) to visit the Olympic Park. I began my long trek to the subway station when my phone ran out of minutes. One of the requirements for IES is that we have a cell phone. Luckily they’re really cheap and recharging their minutes is as simple as buying a card at any store and punching in a number. Unfortunately, I went to about 3 stores that pointed me in 3 different directions. I found my way to Chaoshifa, the supermarket, where I met some Austin College that let me use their cell phone quickly. I called my RA to ask for help. She pointed me to a news stand where I could find one, China Unicom specifically. They didn’t have my provider so I went into Chaoshifa. They had it, but only 50 元 worth (I only needed like 10 or 20 元 to get me through the rest of my stay). 

It took me about 45 minutes to get back on track and had to call Adam to let him know why I was late. I met him at Wangfujing station then we continued onto two other railway lines before getting to the park. Let me say again how cool it is to see another Spud on the other side of the world! The first thing we observed when we stepped out of the subway was the smog. This was by-far the worst day since we arrived. Visibility was down to about half a mile. The next thing we noticed was how expansive it was. It was all flat and empty until giant light poles or athletic complexes shot up from the ground. We took our pictures in front of the Birds Nest and Water Cube like the tourists we were. Currently, the Birds Nest has a snow park in it. We needed tickets to enter but I saw a brochure with the different exhibits that we could find almost anywhere in wintery Minnesota. Additionally the Water Cube was transformed into an indoor water park - and a big one. We didn’t spend the rest of the day together as I needed to return for a class dinner. Adam got off the subway at his stop and I continued to mine over the period of an hour. It’s so funny to see foreigners here. Especially the ones who don’t speak Chinese. I saw three adults stumble their way around the station and get separated on the train and almost break into tears (the easiest thing to do is get out at the next station and wait for them). 

I started to get an awful headache from, I think, the smog because my breathing was a little painful as well. The feeling in my lungs was like when you release your breath after holding it for as long as you can, that burning sensation. Or when you just get finished running a mile race on an indoor track although much more mild. How I wish I could be running. Of course if I did, I’d end up breathing the equivalent of 2 packs of cigarettes. Adam told me that the air pollution here is 30% better than it was in 1980. How’s that for a wakeup call, knowing how bad it is now and how much worse it was back then. I definitely have more free time not being in a home stay and not sitting in front of a TV watching dumb soap operas. 

Dinner for tonight was a bowl of instant ramen noodles. It was not filling and definitely did not compare with Baba’s fine cooking. After a while Addy and I played hacky sack under the nearest streetlight then met up with a crew going to Helen’s. Helen’s is definitely surpassing my expectations set by PBD Pizza. I bought a burger that tasted so amazing! Having ketchup again brought me back to the States. I think part of why we come here to hang out is for that reason: getting that feeling of America while we’re in China. It’s definitely not something I or the others look for, but it is the only real hang out setting we’ve been able to find - and a hang out joint is not culturally Chinese. 

I found out today that we will have the opportunity to eat with Chinese families for the first night of Spring Festival! I am very excited about this for a lot of reasons. First, home cooked food. Second, it’s our last night in China. Third, celebrating with people who know what we will be celebrating. A full cultural experience!