China

So just experienced my first Chinese New Year. Its like Christmas, New Years and ANZAC all thrown together on crack. Its hard to convey the amount of fireworks that have gone off in the last week, esp the last 3 days. It has effectively been a urban warzone for the last 3 days. We have seldom had 30minutes without hearing some type of firework going off. The streets are littered with red paper from the casings of the fireworks. Car alarms are almost constantly going off from fire crackers on the ground. At least I looked at fireworks with the same excitment that i would in NZ but the novelty wears off super quick. And they start at 5.30am. And they are professional strength fireworks sold to anyone. I cant even imagine how many fires start this time of the year.

On Friday a bunch of friends came around and we had a dumpling making party. Which actually turned out pretty good and I now know how to make them from stratch. Not that I am capable of it, but I know how its done! On Sat night (last night) we haeded into the center of town to a the People’s Square to watch the fireworks going off. We waited for the works to start at 12 in a nearby bar, which somewhat ironically was the only place in Dalian soundproofed enoguh to escape the sound of the fireworks. But around 10 we headed out to see the sky just light up in all directions. The whole city was just setting out fire works for hours. It was a pretty unbelieveable site. Thoghu I got video of it Im sure it wont do it justice. After watchign the fireworks for a good hour we headed back to the bar to celebrate in the great Western tradition of the drunken sing along. Still was a crazy experience, definitely glad I stayed for it.  Only regret was that I was warned off attending the celebrations in another square, Xinghai Square, where apparently over a million people congregate to bring in the New Year. Would be surreal to attend a party with a quarter of my country’s population attending!

On a sidenote have received my visa and am all sorted in my paper work for China so am definitely here til my flight home!

After a month of passport and visa troubles I am now just waiting on the police who hold visa applications for 5 days, before I am definitely able to stay in China. Exciting times! The visa application was interesting. My passport from NZ arrived no probs thanks to the magnificent crew at the NZ embassy in Beijing. Then I went to my school to sort my medical test and found I was legally required to get my visa switched over as soon as possible, within 10 days. So my planned trip to visit Taiyuan in Shaanxi Province was quickly canned.

My medical test was amazingly uninvasive, defying my fears of probes and conveyor belts. All done in 1 hour, still drained almost 100 nz bucks! Then a short 5 hour wait in the public security bureau and my visa was out of my hands!

Heading out again now but will hopefully come back on to post about the Chinese New Year celebrations happenings!

Having finished the semester at Dawai (my University), my prepaid dormitory had also expired, so rather than pay for another 6 months there I opted to move out. Which was stressful. I needed to get my landlord to come to the police station with me but she didn’t know the other guy had moved out, and she speak no English, and even her Chinese was a very strong version of the local dialect. And she wanted the six months rent I had been told was sorted. But all of that was overcome and now I have moved out.

I am sharing my new apartment with an American guy and its HUGE compared to my dormitory room and cheaper. It also has a 42 inch tv. I now have two months of holidays til I restart in March so am just gonig to try study, work and do stuff I have been putting off for a while. Also may do some travelling but am waiting on a new passport from NZ too apply for my new visa so am constricted somewhat. So all in all, nothing is really happening. Most of the people at Dawai have left now, returned home. Boring really.

After almost a month of slacking off, its exam time again so I thought I talk about my Christmas rather than study.

With low expectations based on the build up to Christmas, I wasn’t expecting too much, however my Chrsitmas was okay. The University threw a ‘Christmas Party’ sadly it was dry and more of a Christmas talent show with Russian break dancers and Japanese Santa. It was exactly like how it sounds. On Christmas Eve I ate and drank with French people and practiced my French cursing. After drinking in the hostel, poor decisions were made regarding going to a Chinese club. Presented with the drinks menu and a heavily obligation to ‘not let the party end’, we made the poor decision of ‘splitting’ a further bottle of vodka. Stories of the end of the night can only be found by piecing together everyone elses’ stories. Apparently they kicked us out when we finished the vodka, which is rude but I guess if you are a barstaff you don’t want to be serving rude Westerners at 4am on Christmas. Christmas Day wasn’t very special, everyone just seemed hungover. However exchanged presents with French friends. Oh wait but it did snow on Christmas! With a first white Christmas under my belt I would be happy to move back to the summery Christmas’s of NZ. Highlight of Christmas day was prob talking with family back in NZ on Skype and my brother’s haunting description of the lunch I missed.

We had class on the days between Christmas and New Years, and I had work on Sat and Sun so lacked the festive break of NZ. New Years quickly approached. Again got obscenely drunk with French and American people then headed to Dave’s Bar, a local bar (I am not on first name terms with Dave, just the name of the bar). It was packed with people and turned out to be a good night, apart from the brief minutes when a oldish guy man dressed (though I fear not in costume) as Kid Rock spilt his drink all over me and took exception to my request that he go rapidly service himself with something sharp, and a slight detour from Dave’s bar when I was convinced to go somewhere else that turned out to be deserted, resulting in a desperate jog back to Dave’s in order to can the midnight.

All in all not a bad holiday season thoguh strange to be away from family and friends for the first time. Still desperately trying to sort out what is happening this year with my imminent removal from the hostel and passport on route from Beijing. Still keeps me on my toes.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Jeremy

Looks like I am good to stay in China for another 6 months at least. Still working out exactly how I am going to do it though. However I can get my student exchange extended for sure so worse case I can stay here on a student visa, though I will need to get part time work. Still hoping to get a full time job though if I can so I am not just adding to my student loan.

I haven’t really done much interesting stuff recently as I have been trying to sort out my next 6 months. However two nights ago I did go play Mahjong for the first time. Suprisingly fun, especially with refreshments in abundance. Still got to work on my game face before I can beat my grandmother though.

The word Christmas is starting to get bandied around, with sort of half assed Christmas celebrations been thrown in the near future. No definite plans as of yet, but a whole bunch of the Europeans and Americans seem pretty keen on celebrating it as well as we can. My parents generously offered to place a webcam at the dinner table for Christmas lunch, so I could feel involved and watch them eat nice food. Such kind people. I am still not sure how much Chinese people get into Christmas, but judging by the sad shake of the head I get from all foreigners who have been in China for a while, it’s best not to get my hopes too high.

Okay I know it a bit late, but here goes. Day two (Sat) dawned with only a mild hangover and focus was fully on the All Whites game starting at 3pm. Confident in the bar advised by the NZ Embassy, and after making the desk repeatedly give me further instructions in English and Chinese, I tried to distract myself with a wander. I decided to visit Jingshan Park again. It was one of the highlights of my first trip to Beijing and also conveniently cheap as, like a 40c entry fee.

True to form it took my around 3 times as long as it should have to get to Jingshan park because I walked around both Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City before finding the entrance. Its quite a nice sort of park by itself, but the best thing about Jingshan is its around a mountain/hill (shan means mountain in Chinese). As its at the North end of the Forbidden City it gives this amazing view over it, so you actually get a real idea of the scope. I will try to add a picture, but it won’t do the view justice.

After marveling for a while/ recovering from the climb (which takes a long time now because of my current state of uber fitness), I returned to the hotel. Just had time to grab some lunch and a ‘pregame’ beer from a dodgey place with a new found Aussie friend, before heading to Sanlitun (I think) street. Home of many a lost memory for Westerners, this was only my second visit. We got to the bar an hour before kick off to be squarely told they weren’t showing it. I tihnk they saw vthe desperate madness in our eyes though, and directed us to an office where they said “if oyu can find it on the net, we can play it”. So by 5 minutes into the game we had found a reliable stream, though the quality was so bad you couldn’t really see the ball. Still was satisfying.

Discovered the people sitting behind us in the bar were New Zealanders too, a middle aged man and wife and friend. They saw us getting excited about the game, and asked if I was from Bahrain. I am pretty sure they were mildly retarded. I said yes because I thought they were joking. They were not. I don’t think people like that should be let out of the country. Or the South Island.

The game continued (and those “NZers” left at half time, to my disbelief) with the amazing save. Only problem was the feed keep cutting out at the end, and I ended up in the office with my beer hitting refresh every minute. The drinking continued post game back at the hostel, before again heading to Sanlitun again, only this time horrendously drunk. Then I woke up in my bed fully clothed with hazy recollection of walking the streets sans jacket (temp ard 0 degrees this itme of year if you lucky) and underpaying a taxi driver. Miraciously I still had my passport, wallet, credit card and room key. But no cash or power in my phone, just vague plans to meet classmates from NZ who are studying in Tianjin (just out of Beijing).

Day 3. With a muddled mind, I somehow convinced (in Chinese) the lady at the desk to charge my phone for me, then point me to the nearest bank. After a very cold walk (despite wearing all the clothes I had brought) I eventually returned to the hotel with money, to find my phone charged, and life looking up somewhat. Headed off to meet the NZers at Tiananmen Square, again freezing my ass off, no longer appreciating the beauty of the snow. After playing hide nad seek for a while I managed to sneak up behind the classmates, and attempt to invite to come see my art exhibition, which they rudely declined until they recognised me.

After lunch we parted ways as I went to meet my chinese friend Tommy. I had earlier text him requesting we go find osmewhere ot purchase a jacket. This was lost in translation, so we went to check out a old big hutong (hutong are these little/big walking streets that are meant to be where real Beijing people live, personally not a huge fan).  After getting sick of walking we headed back to my hotel to have a quick chat about a web idea of mine, before saying farewell. I then indulged in an offensively Western hamburger at the hotel. They also had a mean called “Chargrilled New Zealand”, worried for my safety, I enquired, apparently a steak. Would have tried it but didn’t want to pay 20NZ$ for a shit steak.

Safely got to my train. All along the way to the entrance they are people saying “fapiao” which i ithnk means they were scalping train tickets. It was very strange. Still got home safe, and didnt go to my classes the next day. Success all round.

Last weekend I headed off to Beijing on Thurs night, taking the overnight sleeper train (NZ$50 each way) leaving at 9pm and arriving in Beijing 12 hours later. The train itself was much better than my expectations, with comfortable bunk beds 3 high with 6 to each alcove. More life a comfortable airplane really, which really defied my expectations. Thoguh to be fair my expectations were based almost totally on scenes from Indian trains in movies.

As the train arrived in Beijing, it was to the sight of snow decorating all the buildings, a stark contrast to the heat and sweat of my arrival 2 months ago. After gasping at my first breath of cold after a night on the heated train, I powered through the masses to escape Beijing train station. I headed off first to a visit at the NZ Embassy. Despite being given detailed simple instructions I managed to get nicely lost. After asking the soldiers conveniently located outside each Embassy, I finally found my way, arriving just in time to join the farewell morning tea for a driver. After getting lots of introductions, I left my gracious guide, the Education Councillor Guergana, so she could attend a meeting.

Now off to the hotel. Deciding I was now meant to be an old Chinese hand, I decided a taxi was not for me. Rather the subway and then a short walk. I did get to the right station, however due to my outstanding directional ability headed in the completely wrong way for about an hour. Finally I ended up taking another subway to a differnet station, then finally got to my hotel, two hours after I left the Embassy.

My hostel/hotel was the Beijing Jade International Youth Hostel, where you can stay in a 4 bed hostel room for 70yuan (NZ$15 per night). Second time here, and don’t think I will ever stay anywhere else in Beijing. Cheap and the girls at the desk will happily help you with anything you ask (my phone died at one point and they sorted me out with a charger-phone charger in Chinese -chuandianqi). After settling in the hostel I ran into an Aussie in the foyer and we headed out to have lunch. After wandering around checking out the snowcapped old buildings around Tiananmen Square all afternoon, I headed off to meet my Chinese friend for dinner.

After a great catch up dinner with Tommy I headed back to the hostel via the subway. I was standing beside two Chinese girls openly discussing me, my nationality and age. After about twenty minutes one turned looking innocent and asked,

“Where are you from?”

I replied “Xinxilan (NZ)”. Her eyes widened.

“Nitingdedong (You understand)?”

“Yidian (a little)” I don’t think I have ever seen a girl more embarrassed, they really don’t expeect foreigners to understand you in Beijing, makes for a lot of fun.

This was only my first day out of 3 in Beijing but its already too long so I might add the rest another day.

Last night we had a second wanhui (class party) again an interesting cultural experience. We started off at one of the strangest restaurants I have ever been in. Its Germany themed as it is a self proclaimed ‘beer club’, and they brew their own beer. My teacher insisted this meant it was good beer. So all the waiters and waiteresses are dressed in hilarious German cliche outfits, and they provide giant German style beer mugs. They also bring these giant cylinders of beer with taps so you have to pour your own. Apart from the German theme, all the beer posters on the wall were in Russian. And all the music was in English. And Tom and Jerry was playing on the tv. It was sort of a buffet restaurant but they bring around roasted meat on giant skewers fairly regularly, nearly stabbing you in the face every time they serve you.

Once the olds in the class got tired, I somehow ended up heading off with 3 Korean classmates to drink further. Turns out we went to a Korean restaurant where we had a whole other meal. Because it was a Korean restaurant we sort of sat on these cushions on the floor, and I attempted to tangle my frame into some sort of comfort. I was quickly taught the technique for pouring the Korean Baijiu (kinda like vodka), and tasted some foods I never expected to. The only food I said no to was the still squirming octopus, however I did later try a bit that hadnt moved for a while.

After this meal, and a lot more Baijiu and beer the decision was made to go to KTV. KTV are big karoake bars where you rent a room ($30/hour), crank the volume and hurt your friends’ ears. I am still not sure if it is a franchise called KTV or just all karaoke places are called this. To be honest, as a first visit, it was disapointing. That being said, everyone else I was with was Korean, so I didnt understand any of the words. Then again because everyone was singing I got the lion’s share of the beer. Quickly tiring of this I bid the Koreans farewell, and headed to bed. Not a bad effort for a class party I thought.

Exams are in two days time, so I thought now would be a good time to make a post about the weather. The weather has well and truly buggered out already. If you include windchill factors I think we are casually dancing around the zero mark, and still waiting on the old heating to start. My teacher confirmed a few weeks ago that they turn it on on the 15th of Nov, so hoping it doesnt get too much worese before then.

Still definitely beginning to notice differences around the place. Everyone now is constantly hidden behind layers of coats, even inside it seems. The athletics track is empty apart from those few stalwart heroes who are out playing football in the freezing wind. Even less people wandering the hallways, though that may be because of the imminent exams. The open BBQ restaurants up the road from the hostel have all but dissapeared. Suddenly all doors are kept closed, with curtains of plastic draped on the insides of the doors to add to the insulation. I really am curious to see how they ward off the temperatures I am told are coming in real winter, as zero degrees pales in comparision with the casual estimates offered by the locals of somewhere around -18.

I should I should mention my exams. I have 3, one each for oral, listening and written/grammar. However they are only worth 20% of the final paper marks so its really hard to motivate oneself, especially with all the distractions available. Working on plans for a another trip to Beijing to see my Chinese friend Tommy. But have to survive these exams first.

Yesterday went to visit the Dalian Swimming pool (or at least one of them). After an epic walking and taxiing mission which involved a few false starts, we finally arrived the correct place. We walked in the door through the haze of smoke greeted enthusiastically with a loud “Hello” before handing over NZ$8 each for a swim. We were then told it was compulsory to purchase a cute swimming cap (I say cute, I really mean a hat designed with the sole aim of stripping your dignity). We then proceeded through the changing rooms.

I must say, up until this point I have done a great job of avoiding seeing naked Chinese gentlemen, but after the pool I think my record has gone down the drain. The first room was your standard NZ changing room, and having cunningly put my togs on before arrival, I proceeded to the next room after securing my locker. The next room appeared to be a maze of naked men though, a serious case of not knowing where to look. After passing the sitting show area, where people sit on stools and wash themselves, and passing the norm shower area, then the old naked massage area, we emerged into an area where everyone was wearing pants and breathed a sigh of relief.

The pool itself was Olympic sized, but with no lanes ropes. In some ways the pool resembled the roads of China, functional chaos, however to cap it all off, everyone was wearing stupid hats. Around 100 people crowded the pool proper, dispelling any hope/fear of swimming a proper lap. The pool was also a salt water pool though I could not guess the origin of the salt. True to form, Chinese gentlemen continued to spit left, right and center. Wanting to ease myself in the naked-chinese-man-watching, I neglected the offer of a sauna. As we were leaving I couldn’t resist the temptation of a showerhead that was actually above my head, so I stopped for a shower.