Three Months in the Middle Kingdom!

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Since my last entry life has settled in. I wake up later than most, but work till 9 or so in the evening. My hosts and friends, Sujie and Fuhui Zhang, would gladly drive me to work each day, but I prefer to walk. It is better for the exercise and I get to see the rythm of the city each day as I go. First I pass the mall. It is 5 stories tall and two city blocks long.
It has almost been a month and I now take for granted what was new a short time ago. First I pass the mall. I went there tonight at it is huge! It has every store imaginable including some designer European lables that are very expenseive 4,000 Yuan (500+ dollars) for a pair of shoes. It also has affordable items like the little remote control motor boat I just bought Shui Zhang (their son). The apartment has a fountain pond in the community area and I decided to make him the envy of the neighborhood.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Resources_Mall

After that I cross over a pedestrian bridge past illegal vendors selling everything from wrist bands to electronics and hot dogs. The smell of old oil and I am not sure what is not pleasant at times. There are bus stops and tens and twenties of people loading onto the state of the art vehicles. I walk on the south side of Yunda Road heading east crossing the bridge over the river/canal that leads to the summer palace. On the east side of the bridge and the north side of the street I see the Haidian Province Governance Building. All places in the city, major and minor, have security posts around them with similar looking rolling baracades. The guards are young guys and are very friendly. I plan to go out for a beer with a couple of them on Friday since they don't speak much English and I need to have better immersion in Chinese.

Service people are everywhere. Cute young women stand outside beauty salons and spas ready to escort you in. If you go to the mall or any of the shops along the street 2 - 5 people rush up to you asking how they can help. I made the family cheese burgers the other day. At the grocery store 5 attendants kept pointing out items I did not wish for not allowing me one instant to look for the item I was seeking. It serves two purposes I believe: 1 it helps them sell products, 2 it keeps people moving along.
So I have passed the government building to the north and a new highrise being built to the south (they use arc welders without face masks or shielding for the public). It is a city and dirty, but it is also very well covered in grass, rose bushes, and flowers of all types. Along the road a mass of gardners tend to the plants hand weeding. You will see 5 people mowing a patch of ground suitable for one to cover in Iowa.

Almost to the school. I hang a right headding south on Changwa Middle Road the road is lined with beautiful beds of flowers, it also has a garbage collection site at the corner of Changua North Road which can get smelly. At the same corner there is a large hotel, very upclass with red traditionally clad baggage handlers in pill hats.

Walking east I reach the corner of Huangyuan street and turn south again. This street has a number of local restuaurants none of which I have been brave enough to try out yet. There is a lot of garbage in the area and the air always has a pungent smell of it. On the next corner, which arrives quickly, you find a couple of vegetable markets. Here I see wonderful fruit, and I see babies with slitty panties pooping and peeing on the sidewalk next to them. If you think of the numbers, it would be an environmental disaster if the people of China decided they needed to use Huggies so it is for the best.

Turning east on an alley street lined with convienence stores and restaurants I walk along avoiding taxis and motorists watching locals dine on kabobs of different meats dipped in boiling troughs of either oil or water which also release a rather unappetising scent until I reach the access to 3rd Ring Road, take a right and walk south a couple of meters to the Xin Ying Da Training School.

The school is on the upper story of a larger building that houses retail stores and coffee houses. There are about 7 classrooms and from early in the morning till 9 at night 7 days a week it bustles with the sounds of students and teachers busily working to improve their language skills.

Sunday began with a trip to Shuai's school to see him perform in a Children's Day recital. The production was amazing in its chorography and size with hundreds of children participating.

Pround Parents Taping the World Children's Day performance.

Distant shot of World Children's Day Performance

Sujie and Shuai

After the performance, I returned to the apartment for a quick lunch and a bit of exploring. I traveled along the northern loop of 3rd ring street hoping to reach the center of the city and then hike upwards towards the Olympic Park. In two hours travel I had not yet reached my desitination so I turned back. In the meantime I discovered Renmin University, which sits on the subway line.

Sunday, we started the advanced English course.

In the evening on Sunday Sujie and I took a walk around Zizhuyan park. It is beautiful and in many ways reminded me of Gray's Lake in Des Moines.

Sunset at Zizhuyan Park

I spent Monday studying Chinese writing in the Foreign Language University's campus. I also had the honor of being able to sample a Chinese Delicacy, the 100 year Egg:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_egg

Tuesday morning I awoke and prepared for the journey to the Crown Plaza Hotel to see Shawn, an old friend I haven't seen in about 13 years. He is in Beijing on business and had Tuesday free. It was great to catch up.

While waiting for Shawn to arrive, I learned how to prepare traditional Chinese tea.

Today, May 27th, marks one week's stay in Beijing. As with any travel, jet lag has a great influence on the first few days of the trip. Ususally being one who stays up until 2 in the morning then sleeps until 9 or 10 when left without an alarm clock, I have been going to sleep at 8 in the evening and waking up at 5:30 or so in the morning. Finally I am going to bed around 10 and waking up around 7:30. Hopefully this pattern will remain the rest of the journey.

I am embarassed to admit this, but I am writing my current entry from the Starbucks next to my apartment. There is so much about this city that is familiar to me. The mall near my apartment reminds me of Sued Park in Klagenfurt Austria or Jordan Creek in Des Moines.

Friday May 28th:

What is different? Well the food culture is different. Those of us from the Midwest worry about the exotic items such as turtle and fish with the head still attached or the sterotype of dog being a delicacy. I asked my students and they had never tried it, nor could think of anyone close to them who had. If Sam's account is correct, and I am sure he is, this meat is a delicacy of the Hunan Province. I will keep my eye out for the chance to try it, but it appears our obsession with it in the West is just that.

So far I have eaten with the family and with family in restaurants. We have had beef, pork, and lamb; fish and shrimp; more types of leafy green vegetables than I have ever seen and of course rice. It has all be delicious. I had the chance to sample raw musscles this afternoon and passed. I might try them another day.

Making Lunch!

For breakfast Sujie and Fuhui's Mom prepares steamed bread, sometimes filled with beans, rice porrage called "Zhoe" sing it with a flat tone and you have pronounced it correctly, hard boiled duck, goose, and chicken eggs. The duck eggs are oily and salty. I loved them for the first 6 days, then withdrew from them on the 7th. I look forward to liking them again.

The Zhang family has been very kind and thoughtful! From the moment I arrived at the airport the family has sought to make me as at home!

Below are photos taken of the Temple of Heaven. Included are two from My Grandpa's journey 60 years ago showing two places I have now also without question stood.

Grandpa Uhlman at Temple of Heaven 1945 or 1946

Emperor's Stone

Grandpa Uhlman at Temple of Heaven 1945 or 1946 number 2

Temple of Heaven (as seen from the East)

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60 Years ago, my Grandpa Uhlman lived in "Peping" as a Marine from 1945 to 1946. The stories of his trip to the Great Wall and the coal mining regions to the north of Beijing served at the basis of my knowledge of this once distnant place.

In the 80's stri-fry cooking became the rage as well as eating in Chinese restaurants which sprung up around Des Moines. Also in the 80's I learned from Mrs. Clevenger, my 6th grade geography teacher, about the dynasties and how to eat a traditional Chinese meal using chop sticks.

Years later I found myself in the University of Northern Iowa's international dormatory Bartlett Hall. There, I met students from around the world which kindled my desire to to travel. In the spring of 1994 I left the US for the first time to live abroad in Klagnefurt Austria. The language and the culture of Austria remains a part of me to this day.

The experiences in Austria both as a student in 1994 and a teacher's assistant in 2001/2002 led me to teach for Drake University which in turn led me to teach a talented and gifted course for the Belin Blank Center in the summer of 2008. There I met Annie Zhang and her parents Judy and Sam. Sam, as it turned out, owned 3 schools in China and after seeing his Daughter's progress asked if I would be interested in helping at his schools...

Three years later, on Thursday I met the Zhang family! Their son Shuai, and Fuhui and Sujie. They have been gracious hosts and I look forward to getting to know them better over the next 3 months.

I am here, in Beijing, at Landianchang Unit 7 near the 3rd Ring Street of the city ready for my first day of helping at their langauge school!

You never know where the road will lead!

Summer Palace

Summer Palace from the west side of lake.