daily life
Alright. Now that I'm using Melanie's computer in Melanie's room, internet seems to work, my blogger seems to work (although I still can't view it) and I can write coherent emails, which is a relief to many people.
I realise I haven't really told you much about my daily life. So here goes.
I live in the foreign students' building, because the foreign teachers' building is being renovated, although it looks more like it's being completely re-built. I'm supposed to move in beginning of October. The National Holiday is October 1st and we have ten days holiday. One of my students has invited me to visit his place in Hunan Province and I'm still not sure whether I should accept or not. It's a great way to travel, but it's also kind of strange...
I live on the third floor, which means I climb two flights of stairs to get to my apartment. I live in a room for two people, so I have two beds, but because I'm a teacher, I'm the only one living in the room. I'm in wing B. Wing A is for single occupants, and wing C is for poor people who don't have their own bathroom or kitchen in their rooms (there are public bathrooms and kitchens on every floor in wing C). I haven't used my stove top since I arrived. I don't make any food. I buy Chinese croissants (not the best, but they're cheap) and sweet buns and peanut butter and fruit for breakfast and snacks, then I always go out for meals. I have some instant noodle cups handy for emergency meals.
In the first week I bought a kettle, an iron, a mop-type thing to clean the floor, and some hand towels. As well as plastic slippers. Everyone has them. They're cute.
There are a good range of restaurants in and around campus. There's a good restaurant on top of the swimming pool, where teachers usually go. There are also a whole row of Chinese and Western-style restaurants outside of the North Gate. The campus (as most Beijing university campuses) has four gates: North, South, East, and West. East and West are often closed. South gate leads to the subway station, about a ten-minute walk away. North Gate leads to a busy road full of restaurants (including McDonald's) and shops (including a 3-storey supermarket where I buy my groceries).
The campus is kind of outside the main city - it's not common to find a map of Beijing with my university on it. I'm out east and I have to transfer to get on the main east-west subway line to the centre of the city. Getting anywhere takes quite a while. Nevertheless, I go to the city quite frequently and am starting to get a good feel for it. The street from the North Gate leads straight to the north of Tiananmen Square, and the street from South Gate leads to the south of Tiananmen Square, so it's easy to hop on a bus that takes you to the centre of the city (takes around 40 minutes and buses are hot and crowded).
On Friday I bought a new bike with thee other foreigners and two of my students. For 145 kwai ($1 Cdn = 6 kwai) I got a new grey bike with a basket and a bell and a good lock (the bike comes with a free lock on the back wheel but I bought another lock for the front wheel and to attach it to poles and the like). It felt great to be on a bike as we rode back to the university.
Friday night I went clubbing with some Chinese girls that are friends of a French friend that's living in my dorm. There were ten of us in total. We crammed into a small van to get there, for 5 kwai each. The driving was scary, as always. The club had a cover charge of 10 kwai, and drinks (shots of tequila, vodka or whiskey) were on the house for the ladies from midnight to 2 AM. As you can imagine, I had my share of drinks. OJ was also free, and very refreshing inbetween shots. We danced a lot and I sweated a lot. There were many foreigners there. The place to meet people was at the toilet - I'm going to have to call it that rather than "bathroom" because it really is just a hole... It was upstairs and quieter and there was always a line-up so it was obvious you'd talk with everyone. One of the Chinese girls got especially drunk and couldn't walk...her chinese friends sent the six foreigners home in a taxi and took care of her. Clubbing is so much fun when the drinks are free. We got back to the university around 4:30 AM, I think. We went for jaoze - mini meat-filled dumplings - and dumpling soup. Delicious! We tried not to look too carefully at what the broth was made of...
On Saturday afternoon I went into the city with two of my students to buy a cell phone. Ended up buying Melanie's cell phone and she bought a new one. It's nice having a cell phone... Took the whole afternoon. We left the campus at 1:30 PM and we were finished around 6 PM. Separated from Melanie and my students at the subway and met up with Haflidi, Josh's Icelandic friend that I met when Josh was in town. Haflidi is studying Chinese at Beijing University (very prestigious). We went to three different places, all in the same international bar area called Sanlitun. We went to a Japanese restaurant for dinner. Apparently it used to be quite old-fashioned with stone floors, but now it's quite swanky and expensive: 120 kwai for the both of us ($20! and enormous sum in Beijing). But we also had drinks...
Today was relaxing. Stayed mostly in my room. Had lunch with Matt, a 23-year-old American that teaches English here, although he's never taught a day in his life. Interesting. He's the type that really watches what he eats and he's always talking about whether things are "good for him" or not (he says things like: "I should stop eating now, shouldn't I?" and "I won't get this drink again because it has so much sugar."). He really wants to find a gym to work out... A bit too healthy for me. :-)
Going to go back to work. Hopefully I can do this more often. Remember, I can't read my comments, so please email me if you have questions or comments.
I realise I haven't really told you much about my daily life. So here goes.
I live in the foreign students' building, because the foreign teachers' building is being renovated, although it looks more like it's being completely re-built. I'm supposed to move in beginning of October. The National Holiday is October 1st and we have ten days holiday. One of my students has invited me to visit his place in Hunan Province and I'm still not sure whether I should accept or not. It's a great way to travel, but it's also kind of strange...
I live on the third floor, which means I climb two flights of stairs to get to my apartment. I live in a room for two people, so I have two beds, but because I'm a teacher, I'm the only one living in the room. I'm in wing B. Wing A is for single occupants, and wing C is for poor people who don't have their own bathroom or kitchen in their rooms (there are public bathrooms and kitchens on every floor in wing C). I haven't used my stove top since I arrived. I don't make any food. I buy Chinese croissants (not the best, but they're cheap) and sweet buns and peanut butter and fruit for breakfast and snacks, then I always go out for meals. I have some instant noodle cups handy for emergency meals.
In the first week I bought a kettle, an iron, a mop-type thing to clean the floor, and some hand towels. As well as plastic slippers. Everyone has them. They're cute.
There are a good range of restaurants in and around campus. There's a good restaurant on top of the swimming pool, where teachers usually go. There are also a whole row of Chinese and Western-style restaurants outside of the North Gate. The campus (as most Beijing university campuses) has four gates: North, South, East, and West. East and West are often closed. South gate leads to the subway station, about a ten-minute walk away. North Gate leads to a busy road full of restaurants (including McDonald's) and shops (including a 3-storey supermarket where I buy my groceries).
The campus is kind of outside the main city - it's not common to find a map of Beijing with my university on it. I'm out east and I have to transfer to get on the main east-west subway line to the centre of the city. Getting anywhere takes quite a while. Nevertheless, I go to the city quite frequently and am starting to get a good feel for it. The street from the North Gate leads straight to the north of Tiananmen Square, and the street from South Gate leads to the south of Tiananmen Square, so it's easy to hop on a bus that takes you to the centre of the city (takes around 40 minutes and buses are hot and crowded).
On Friday I bought a new bike with thee other foreigners and two of my students. For 145 kwai ($1 Cdn = 6 kwai) I got a new grey bike with a basket and a bell and a good lock (the bike comes with a free lock on the back wheel but I bought another lock for the front wheel and to attach it to poles and the like). It felt great to be on a bike as we rode back to the university.
Friday night I went clubbing with some Chinese girls that are friends of a French friend that's living in my dorm. There were ten of us in total. We crammed into a small van to get there, for 5 kwai each. The driving was scary, as always. The club had a cover charge of 10 kwai, and drinks (shots of tequila, vodka or whiskey) were on the house for the ladies from midnight to 2 AM. As you can imagine, I had my share of drinks. OJ was also free, and very refreshing inbetween shots. We danced a lot and I sweated a lot. There were many foreigners there. The place to meet people was at the toilet - I'm going to have to call it that rather than "bathroom" because it really is just a hole... It was upstairs and quieter and there was always a line-up so it was obvious you'd talk with everyone. One of the Chinese girls got especially drunk and couldn't walk...her chinese friends sent the six foreigners home in a taxi and took care of her. Clubbing is so much fun when the drinks are free. We got back to the university around 4:30 AM, I think. We went for jaoze - mini meat-filled dumplings - and dumpling soup. Delicious! We tried not to look too carefully at what the broth was made of...
On Saturday afternoon I went into the city with two of my students to buy a cell phone. Ended up buying Melanie's cell phone and she bought a new one. It's nice having a cell phone... Took the whole afternoon. We left the campus at 1:30 PM and we were finished around 6 PM. Separated from Melanie and my students at the subway and met up with Haflidi, Josh's Icelandic friend that I met when Josh was in town. Haflidi is studying Chinese at Beijing University (very prestigious). We went to three different places, all in the same international bar area called Sanlitun. We went to a Japanese restaurant for dinner. Apparently it used to be quite old-fashioned with stone floors, but now it's quite swanky and expensive: 120 kwai for the both of us ($20! and enormous sum in Beijing). But we also had drinks...
Today was relaxing. Stayed mostly in my room. Had lunch with Matt, a 23-year-old American that teaches English here, although he's never taught a day in his life. Interesting. He's the type that really watches what he eats and he's always talking about whether things are "good for him" or not (he says things like: "I should stop eating now, shouldn't I?" and "I won't get this drink again because it has so much sugar."). He really wants to find a gym to work out... A bit too healthy for me. :-)
Going to go back to work. Hopefully I can do this more often. Remember, I can't read my comments, so please email me if you have questions or comments.
posted by Caro at 3:31 PM
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