Happy Place :)

Would you take a look at that...glorious Starbucks! My happy place. Many of you may dislike Starbucks, but just get over it, they're awesome and you know it. Starbucks, like a good friend, has been there at every move I've made (with the exception of Florence)...Washington, San Francisco, New York and now Beijing! Oh sure their coffee is over priced and burned, and most of the time they're out of half and half but hey, no one is perfect. There are so many beautiful things about Starbucks (I could hardly count the ways)....their menu is in English, 4 people don't bombard you with menus as soon as you walk through the door and every employee speaks English! Astounding, simply astounding.

(Sumita: yes I have been to the Book Worm and yes I like it there too)

mmmmmmmm good....

As some of you may know, the food here, on more than one occasion, has made me sick. Here is a picture of some of the food I get to eat. Now you understand why I love turkey sandwiches as I do and why Chinese food makes me sick! In case you do not recognize it, that is the scull of a baby pigeon. The Chinese eat baby pigeons, but then again they eat anything. But let's be fair, in a country of over 1.3 BILLION people, they sort of need to eat whatever they can find. Personally, I think I'll stick to rice. Thanks.

Slave Labor....I'm being victimized!

China is often criticized for blatantly exploiting its work force, particularly those who work in manufacturing plants producing the shit we buy at Wal Mart. But little does the world realize that this exploitation bleeds into other industries as well. I have been in China one month now and know it all too well. After some careful and depressing calculations, I discovered that I make roughly $1.75/hr USD, which is roughly 14RMB/hr. Ummm that's super poor even by Chinese standards! If that ain't exploitation, I just don't know what is. And I should mention that sum is based on a 40 hour work week, which at my office is a joke. Tonight I worked til 11pm. Hahaha what have I gotten myself into? I should have gone into law! The good news though is that I can drink all the free diet cokes my little heart desires :) Somehow that doesn't quite make up for the lack of compensation, but it's a good start.

WOW... I found my turkey sandwich!

It was a beautiful moment and one of the best sandwiches of my life (and rest assured there have been many). I love you America! I love you and your delis!

10 Truths about the Chinese

I'm just going to say it, out right and frank... China is weird!

Here are some observations I've made in the last 2 weeks I've lived here:

1. If a man on the subway doesn't have a seat, it is common for him to just squat. Men typically squat in a circle so that they can easily converse with one another.

2. In the states we have ramps at sidewalks for people in wheel chairs. In Chiiiiiina they have ramps on sidewalks only so they can easily ride their bike from the street up on to the sidewalk.

3. There is a hierarchy of modes of transportation as you walk down the street. It goes as follows, from most important to least important:

Buses
Cars
Mopeds
Bikes
Dogs
Pedestrians

That's right, while in the US pedestrians have the right of way, they most certainly do NOT here in China. It's not a game of chicken, it's a game of "get the hell out of the way or the vehicle will, without hesitation, run you over". Fun game, I must admit. And as Beijing has virtually no pedestrian walk signals, it's a game played all the time.

4. Chinese people LOVE KFC. Chinese people LOVE 711 even more than KFC.

5. I have not seen one paper towel since I moved here. They use cloth towels... so old fashioned of them (shocker).

6. It seems the more thunderous a noise you make right before spitting, the better. Everyone not only spits, they do anywhere and everywhere. In fact, today I saw a man in the subway car (right next to the circle of men squatting) spit on the floor of the subway car then take his shoe and rub it over his spit. Interesting.... cause that'll really clean it up.

7. Chinese men, when it's hot outside or they just ate a big meal, will roll up their shirt to expose their stomach and go about the rest of their day looking as such. I see this everywhere! Women, in case you were curious, do not exercise the same post lunch/ coolant tactics.

8. Believe it or not, the Chinese people do not all look the same. There are massive facial feature differences among them, so the notion that if you've seen one, you've seen 'em all can be tossed right out the window.

9. The Chinese are very very hard working people. Next to my house is a construction site that also includes a garden. When I first arrived the garden was mere dirt, yesterday it opened.... grass, trees, flowers, little walk ways.... the works. Oh and this is no small garden either! Impressive, very impressive.

10. China, as it is such a big country, have lots and lots and lots of rules, all of which have corresponding paper work. Despite such a massive bureaucracy, they some how manage to cross their T's and dot their I's. Just the other day I went to the police station to register my address and name and it turns out I was 8 days late....oops! Not only did they notice and care, they gave me a little "official written warning" just to make clear that I am a rule breaker!. I don't get it, I'm here on a travel visa. How do these people have the organization to keep track of me, a TOURIST. Astounding, just astounding. Can't wait for the po po to come a knockin' on my front door and ask for my paper work and see my "warning"! Good time, good times.

Oh CHiiiiiiNA, gotta love it. Got to!

Reach and Flap

So the first two days I went to work this week, I took a cab because clearly I'm in China so clearly I'm lost and clearly I can't ask for directions because clearly I'm a mute (as previously established) = cabs are awesome (and did I mention it costs only $1.60?). At any rate, the other day I went to hail a cab to go to work and I discovered that the Chinese have their own unique method of hailing cabs. It's not all that different here, Taxis, much like in Manhattan, have a number that when illuminated indicates their availability. The only problem is that one cannot see through the pollution haze to tell if the light is actually on. So everyone stands there hailing every cab that comes in their direction. Here's the thing, New York is a very serious place. It has a serious grid with serious buildings that serious people in serious attire occupy. And when these serious people go to their serious jobs in the serious buildings, they do so by reaching their arm straight out and looking quite serious. As a result, they get their cab and go about their serious day. In Chiiiiiina, people are not so serious. They are humble in their humble homes and humble clothes and their circular humble streets. Hailing a cab here is therefore not such a serious task. So I stopped on the corner, arm out looking serious and waited as cab after cab passed me by. Then as I looked around I noticed how the Chinese do it. Their method of cab hailing is much more engaging and noticeable. While I was just sticking my arm out (boooooring) they were reaching out and flapping their hands. No no, not waving, flapping. Sooooo I tried the reach and flap and woudln't ya know it, I got a cab and got to work. How 'bout it!

Nose to the Grind Stone

It's been a year since I had a full work day. And back in those days, I had a cushy office, lots of great little projects and co-workers to mess with. Ummmmm but now I'm an intern (Jesus, not again!) and not only do I not have an office, I don't even have a computer. I'm really roughing it. Though to be fair, that'll change soon. The good news however is that everyone in the office is nice and MOST IMPORTANTLY THERE IS COFFEE....actual hot coffee. That's huge.

Chopiddy Chop Chop

Brace yourself, this is going to shock you.... the girl who hates Asian food is actually rather skilled with chop sticks. Random, I admit, but handy given my current state of affairs. I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't use chopsticks as I haven't seen a fork in a week! However this does of course mean I don't eat breakfast. Cereal = spoon. Eggs = Fork. Toast = hands. Since the Chinese don't have spoons, forks or (what I consider) bread = breakfast is clearly off the table!

Hell Hath Frozen Over....

Folks....especially Dean and Josh, the day that was never to have come, has in fact arrived. Defying destiny, defying nature and defying my own principles.... I have become a VEGETARIAN! WOW. Ok, don't get too excited, it's just for while I'm in China. And I'm one of those "fake veggies" who eat meat if it comes from the sea. It's not that I suddenly woke up disliking meat. No no no meat is juicy and delicious in the states, but it leaves something to be desired here. The Chinese add starchy sticky gooey stuff, over cook it and no doubt serve you the worst cut ever. Yeah ummmm it's not so good. But back to fish for a moment. Just the other day I had fish for lunch and fish for dinner. Not just any fish, mind you. No no no, the ENTIRE FISH. They serve it on a plate with the skin, the head, the eyes and the tail. They fry it, through something salty stuff on it (they LOOOOOOVE salt) and then have us use our chopsticks and poke away at it til we reach the bone. Not going to lie though, it's actually rather good. Once you get past the presentation that is.

I'm a MUTE!

Ok, so clearly no one hears me when I speak, if they did wouldn't you think they'd respond, as eloquent as I am? Nope, it's really as though the words are not actually coming out of my mouth. Raise my voice, lower it, it makes no difference, blank stares are all I get. I'm trying Chinese people, I really am! Furthermore when they speak to me, though their lips move, I comprehend roughly.... NOTHING of their meaning. Oh sure I was something of a chatty Kathy at home, but here I'm seriously a mute.

One Giant Leap for Anne-Kind!

Note to self..... It takes a HELLA long time to get to China from New York! No joke, I traveled for roughly 26 hours before actually landing in Beijing. THEN they lost my luggage. Amazing, simply amazing. I think my favorite part of the trip though was when they discovered a half hour into the flight from Hong Kong to Beijing that the plane was broken.....such a bummer!

In other news, all is well. My apartment is twice the size I imagined it to be. Everything is stupid cheap. The people at the office I work at are super nice. I'm finally adjusting to the 12 hour time difference which is HUGE! My first cab driver fell in love with me and the cab only cost $2. Sweet! 

A note about the language....it's true, the Chinese definitely do not speak English. I don't think I've ever flailed my arms in public as much as I have in the past 3 days. No joke. The best is when, despite seeing my blank face when the Chinese people speak to me, they keep speaking in Mandarin, just repeating themselves. Not to worry, I am a girl on a mission. I carry with me two dictionaries at all time. One for just word translation and one with phrases. The only problem is, I can't pronounce a lick of it. I directly translate words (for example when I tried to tell the cabbie the other morning who fell in love with me, that he sang good) they have no clue what I'm saying. People, I'm trying. Good news though, help is on the way, tonight I meet with Jiadong my "language partner". Perhaps he can set me straight, but probably not. 

BIG NEWS! Today I took the subway home. Oooooooo Ahhhhhhhhh! I looked and felt like an idiot as I tried to figure out how and where you put your ticket in to validate that it is in fact legitimate. Honestly, I don't think you do, I don't think anyone actually pays. They just walk on through, hop on the train and go go go. I will tell you this however, the train (I rode on two to get home) was nothing compared to the mayhem of the 4, 5, 6 train in New York. Not kidding on that one folks, the 4, 5, 6 trains are officially worse than Chinese rush hour and that friends, is saying something. Bloomberg, get on it already!

Tomorrow's big news will be opening up a Chinese bank account (a girl's gotta get paid) and perhaps even buying a cell phone. WOW moving up in the world.