798

The other day, a few friends and I decided to venture off to 798, the art district here in Beijing. Only a 45 minute walk from Wangjing and well worth it! We stepped into the gates and what felt like outside of China. I didn't quite know what to expect out of an art district in a country like China. I mean, anywhere else in the world you can expect to find extremely avant-garde work in a gallery, but would it really be the same here in China? I was pleasantly surprised with what we discovered. We walked  down the narrow pedestrian filled streets past art galleries, cafes, quaint shops, and bars and stumbled upon a contemporary art gallery that we decided to check out. We payed the well worth it 10 rmb and wondered in. What we saw was not what I expected from Beijing at all. The first corridor featured a variety of pieces about human impact on our society which was pretty neat. The large gallery  that included my favourite piece, a copy of the fake New York Times that was released by The Yes Men in New York City, was full of a variety of artwork that exposed topics that I didn't think would be allowed to be put on display in a communist society like China. The entire time we were there, I couldn't help but be amazed by everything. I couldn't believe my eyes and I didn't feel like I was in China at all. It make me think that art is one thing that links everyone in the world together. It doesn't matter what kind of country you live in or where in the world you are, art is something that we can all relate to and use to express how we feel about the world around us, no matter how suppressed we may be. I was really forced to re think every impression that the Western world has put into my head about China and see it through an unbiased set of eyes, and man what I saw was beautiful and ironically quite liberal! Another neat thing we saw our the first street musician. He was playing guitar and singing in the street and since this seems to be a rare occurrence here, we stopped to watch for a while. We soon realized that street musicians here in China are a little bit different than back home. Typically back home, people will busk on the street and you walk by and freely drop money into their case. Well this man had his guitar case open and had cds for sale for 20 rmb. A friend of mine wanted to encourage the man by giving him some money, but wasn't keen on having a cd so walked up and dropped a few rmb into the case. The man stopped playing and started speaking to him in Chinese, motioning for him to buy a cd. My friend then dropped some more money into the case and took a CD and walked away and yet again, the man stopped playing and ran up to my friend and gave him his change because he overpaid for the CD. This was hilarious to see but also very interesting to wrap my head around the fact that the man would not take his money without him having something for it and would not allow him to overpay..he only wanted what he thought his music was worth. The man didn't understand that simply just hearing him play was worth the money. Seeing the art district here in Beijing was a beautiful and an eye opening experience and I hope to make it back there again before I leave the city.

THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA

A few days ago, our TTC group had another fun filled tour day that included a stop at the Great Wall. We hopped on the bus early in the morning and took the nearly 2 hour drive out of the city and into the mountains to the Great Wall. As soon as we got off the bus, I could not believe my eyes..I stood face to face with one of the greatest wonders of the world. Looking at it, it seemed as if it wouldn't be much of a challenge to climb up the hundreds of steep steps to the top but I soon found out how wrong I was. The section that we were at stretched straight up the mountain face and there wasn't really much of a flat spot to get a bit of a break. We climbed up past watch towers and looked over the walls at beautiful mountains littered with bright green shrubbery. I was so out of breath from the steep gradient and the polluted air, but it felt amazing to finally get some exercise! We stopped up at the top to catch our breaths and take it the great view of the wall we just climbed which stretched across the mountain side and into the valley then started to head back down. I think that for the first time ever, getting down was the harder part. My legs were shaking and some steps were extremely steep. When we got to the bottom, a lady with her little boy in arms came running towards me and handed me her son (a little startling) so that she could get a picture of him with me. It was a pretty special moment to have, especially when still feeling the adrenaline of climbing the Great Wall. A few of us broke down and purchased  an oh so touristy "I climbed the Great Wall" t-shirt (in my defence, it's a pretty cool accomplishment) and then headed back to the bus to continue on into the city.

The next cool stop of the day was to Hou Hai lake and the Hutongs. The Hutongs is a section of small old houses that were the standard back in the day. The homes had communal bathrooms and kitchens shared by all of the residents. Today, some of the buildings look to be still inhabited but others have been converted into small shops, restaurants, and bars. We got the joy of riding around this area with rickshaws, which was definitely the way to do it. Cycling down the narrow streets was a great way to take in the sights, especially when we made it to Hou Hai lake, a beautiful lake littered with paddle boats and shops, cafes, and bars all around. It was a great atmosphere and neat to see these traditional Chinese buildings.

We finished the night off by heading back to the hotel and drinking lots of pijiu before going out to Mix, a Chinese club to dance the night away. It was a great end to yet another amazing day in Beijing!
Cheers!

ATMOSPHERE BAR

The other night, a few friends and I decided that we wanted to do something exciting so we hopped on the subway and went into the city and about 40 minutes later found ourselves staring up in awe at the tallest building in China (the CCTV building). The main attraction of this building is a nice little place called Atmosphere, probably one of the most expensive bars in Beijing, on the 80th floor. For people who have the money, it is a great way to sit and enjoy a drink while soaking in the marvelous view of Beijing. To give you an idea in Chinese standards, a cocktail here costs 85 rmb and typically in a normal bar beer costs 8-15 rmb. It is definitely worth it to go up for one drink, but we figured to stay there all night might be a little bit of a stretch. At first, we couldn't get a table in the bar, so we went down to the 79th floor to have a drink and soak in the view while we waited for a table to open up. We sat down at a table facing right up to the window and drank a delicious cocktail while we waited for a table. A little while after we went back upstairs and were escorted to a table in the bar right in front of a jazz band that was playing. After a few songs we decided to get up and dance, which was so much fun! A little while later a group of Chinese men came and sat down behind us at a table by the window. They turned around and started talking to us, asking us where we were from and why we were in Beijing. They ended up inviting us to sit at their table and talk English with them and offered us a few glasses of their 700rmb bottle of wine! They also decided that they would be picking up the rest of the tab! Basically the gist of the story is that I went to the most expensive bar in Beijing and didn't have to pay a single cent simply because I was white and spoke English. This kind of thing is something I have a hard time wrapping my head around. Anywhere else in the world, your social class is typically determined by your wealth and status, but here I am in China sitting and chatting with a group of Chinese lawyers and a judge and the only reason they paid any sort of attention to me was because of my skin colour and my native language. Back in Canada, someone of that kind of 'prestige' would not invite some poor starving university student to join their table. Yet everywhere you go here, people stop and stare and want to take your picture like you are some sort of celebrity and want to take you out for drinks or a meal. It is a very strange concept, one that I'm not sure if I am fully comfortable with yet, but hey afterall this is China! Regardless of that, it was a great evening soaking in a view of a beautiful city, a great band, laughter with friends, and learning new Chinese words. Definitely a once in a lifetime experience!
Gan bei!

TOUR DAY

A few days back, our TTC group had the opportunity to take in a few of many sights that Beijing has to offer. We had a very long day, hopping on the bus at half past seven and making it back to our accomodation around 10pm. The first stop on the list was Tiananmen Square, which is famous here in China and abroad for a few different reasons. First off, the square is absolutely massive, measuring around 440,00 square meters and is home to the Chairman Mao Museum and is also the gateway to the Forbidden city. Many Chinese visit the Chairman Mao museum to pay their respects to Mao, who founded the People's Republic of China and ruled with an iron fist (his story is very interesting and I would encourage you to google him..it will make you thankful for being Canadian). Mao's body is displayed in the museum in a glass coffin which is quite the sight to see. Another reason why Tiananmen Square is so marvellous is that it is considered to be the gateway to the Forbidden City. The reason for this is that the Chinese very deeply believe in the concept of Feng Shui which states that buildings facing North and South are to have good fortune. Tiananmen translates to English as Gate of Heavenly Peace. I had a hard time wrapping my mind around this concept of peace here in the square because it was also home to a large scale massacre due to protest back in the 80s (another interesting thing to google if you want to feel grateful about where you come from). Nonetheless it was an absolutely gorgeous place to visit.

Next stop was the Summer Palace...what a wonder! I didn't know what to expect from the Summer Palace and man, was I shocked by the size and beauty of it! I will post pictures of it soon, pictures that of course don't do it justice! The Summer Palace was used by emperors in the summer months because it was a lot cooler in temperature than the forbidden city. We walked up to a set of large doors and stepped through the gate and into a little treasure of Beijing. The first courtyard that we visited was pretty exquisite. It contained the bronze Qilin statue and some temples. After exploring around this area, we walked on further and came upon the most beautiful lake with temples and buildings all around it! There was also a hill off in the distance with a large temple on top. Words and pictures cannot really describe how marvellous it all was..this was pretty much when I had my aha moment and realized I was in China. This motivated us to keep venturing around and we walked along the lake side, past many beautiful buildings and tons of Chinese tourists to the section of the Summer Palace known as the long corridor. This corridor follows along the lake and is the worlds longest corridor that contains 14,000 paintings. We continued around the area walking past temples, bridges, paintings, buildings with meticulously crafted woodwork and sadly onto the exit. What a wondrous place, even thinking back on what I saw there, it honestly just feels like a dream.

Next on the agenda was a quick stop in the San Li Tun area, which contains a market quite similar to the silk market. Once again, we were able to practice my bartering skills, which I must say have improved a bit but I could still get a lot better. We also ventured off to an English bookstore and library which made many of us feel at home. We wondered around the sadly limited book selection and grabbed some books to satisfy everyone's bookworm cravings.

After enjoying some time at the market, it was back on the bus we went to enjoy a Peking Duck dinner! I have never had duck before and I must say I am spoiled to have my first experience of eating it in Beijing. For those of you who may not know much about this local Beijing dish, it is basically a thin pancake like bread and you spread out pieces of roast duck, duck skin, cucumber, and hoison sauce. Soooo delicious!! After diner, we continued on to Beijing ACrobatic World where we sat in awe of a Chinese acrobatic show. The show featured a ballet duet where the ballerina was on point..on top of her partners head and shoulders! There was also a chair balancing act, a really neat bicycle act, and the most nerve wrenching of all, the motor cycle act which featured about 7 motorcyclists all riding around in a very small circular cage.

It was such an amazing and fun day and I think it is one that I will keep in my memory bank for years to come! It was a great way to get out and explore the city and enjoy the day with new friends!

KARAOKE

Last night the entire group of us TTC trainees went out on the town to a popular karaoke bar. Karaoke is absolutely massive here in China and there are karaoke bars all over. Instead of it being just one big open bar, there are hundreds of small rooms you can rent out for the night to sing karaoke with your friends with bar service. Because there were so many of us, we had the full bar booked and it was so cool! There was a light up stage with a stripper pole in the center and a massive screen for the karaoke. It is a lot more fun than karaoke back home where you just stand there and sing, this was a full on performance when you sang! All of the Europeans (I am the only Canadian here) are very reserved when it comes to things like karaoke so they all needed a little liquid courage before they were willing to get up and sing so for the first hour or so it was a couple of aussies, a britt, and myself that were stealing the show. It was soooo much fun getting up and singing and dancing and just having a great time and by the end of the night, our entire group was up on stage! There was a lot of fun to be had by all and the beer was flowing all night long! I got to experience a british drinking technique called a torpedo where you stick a straw in your bottle of beer and bend it over the neck and hold it then chug your entire beer..let's just say it was inevitable to be absolutely wasted! We also tried some baijo, which is chinese "rice wine" i use the word wine lightly because it's more like a potent rice vodka because it is 60% alcohol! It honestly tastes like washer fluid or something its disgusting! After we shut down the karaoke bar, we all hopped into cabs and headed over to San Li Tun, which is a club district and went to a club and danced and drank some more. While we were there, one of the waiters could speak some English and asked me why I was in Beijing and I said to teach English. Well, ten minutes later he brang over a friend who was an engineer who was trying to learn English for his job who sat and talked with me to practice English which was very cool! This tends to happen a lot here because the people so desperately want to practice conversational English so you will constantly have Chinese people in the street running up to you and saying "Hello, how are you" in the most monotone and memorized voice possible. Finally at 3 am we stumbled out of the club and made our way back home and now here I am, nursing a hangover with hotpot noodles and lots of water...well worth it!

TAI CHI

Yesterday as part of our culture class, we learnt a thai chi routine. Tai Chi is very special in China, it is the way that most older people get their exercise and has distinct ties to their heritage many years back. Walking around the city, you will see groups of people gathered in parks, on street corners, and in front of buildings practicing tai chi and it is a very beautiful artform. I was very excited when I learnt that we would be learning some tai chi moves. Like yoga, it has a large focus on breathing and uses the same muscles. The difference between the two is that tai chi has more fluid movements that flow together. The lady that was teaching us must have been around 50 or 60 years old and man was she flexible and strong! The moves she was able to perform with such diligence was really quite something. She taught us a short routine and I quickly realized that it was much harder and required a lot more work than I originally thought. It's one of those things that is made to look very easy, when in fact it requires the performer to work very very hard to achieve fluidity and grace. That being said, wow what a workout and so much fun!! I will post pictures of our tai chi soon!

BEAUTIFUL BEIJING

Today I learnt a new word in Chinese.. piao liang which means beautiful. Now how, you may ask I learnt this word? Was it in my Mandarin class? Maybe I looked it up in an English-Chinese dictionary? Neither is the truth and what happened is an entirely beautiful story in itself. Today after class, a few friends and myself decided to hop onto the subway and go down to the Silk market. For those who don't know, this is basically a giant mall with the world's smallest shops that sell knock off designer purses, shoes, clothes, etc. We wandered around for a few hours and practiced our bartering skills and then decided to hop back onto the subway and stop off in a new neighbourhood to find a Peking duck restaurant. After searching around and finding a quaint restaurant and enjoying a delicious meal we decided that we would just walk to the next subway stop rather that take the subway there. On the way we stumbled upon what I have decided is one of Beijing's true gems. It was a park with traditional architectural buildings and a neat little pond. We wandered in and past elderly men and women performing tai chi, young couples enjoying the romantic setting, and young children laughing and playing and heard music coming from somewhere in the distance. Out of curiosity we followed the sound and stumbled upon the most wonderful sight! Hundreds of people dancing, some in a line dance (with a ballet style for slow songs and salsa like for fast ones) and others with partners freestyling. People young and old, some who knew the steps by heart and others who were learning as they went were sharing this joy and I instantly had to join in. I left my belongings with a friend and joined in beside an elderly women who looked like she was quite the veteran at the routine and followed her lead. I quickly picked up the steps and was dancing along with all these strangers while having a smile permanently glued to my face and my heart racing 90 miles a minute! It was the most amazing feeling I have ever felt, dancing and feeling so free and so connected to the people around me in a city of 20 million people! The elderly woman I was dancing along with was so beautiful and graceful as she moved and the moment that her and I shared dancing side by side, regardless of difference in age, language, and culture was really something special. After dancing with her for a few songs I went up and in Chinese said hello and thank you, and shook her hand. I also said beautiful in English because I didn't know the chinese equivalent. She looked at me smiling and replied "Yes, beautiful means piao liang" What a special moment to share with a complete stranger. I honestly couldn't thank this old woman enough. She didn't just teach me steps to a dance or a new word for my mandarin vocabulary, she gave me a sense of pure exhilaration. I haven't danced with that much heart in a very long time and it just felt so refreshing! Experiencing this today has just reminded me of why I came to China and made me very glad that I decided to take the plunge into the unknown, as I am already being greatly rewarded for doing so.

THE GREAT FIREWALL OF CHINA AND BEGINNING IN BEIJING

Sorry everyone to keep you anxiously waiting and wondering about me! You see, in China they like to block the internet so I wasn't able to access my blog until I purchased a VPN. Social media websites and any kind of website that might give the Chinese people a chance to see what is going on outside their country is blocked by the government and with using Chinese google, you have to be very careful what you type in because certain "sensitive" topics make the server mysteriously crash. But here I am now writing my very first post...oh so much to tell about already it's crazy. In preparing myself for China, I was ready for pretty much the extremes and to be shocked by something new around every corner but strangely I have seen and experienced things so different from home but it doesn't really disturb me the way everyone said it would. The culture here is insane compared to Canada, but it's so neat to witness the people. It's true what they say about white people in China. The people will stop and stare at you like you are some sort of exotic animal at the zoo. It's pretty humorous actually. A friend of mine and I just went to a coffee shop this afternoon and ordered some drinks and the young Chinese man working behind the counter handed us some pastries, smiled and said for free. One thing about Beijing that is interesting is the health and safety standards. It is a beautiful place but the pollution is insane. For instance, the Global Health Organization states that air quality at 50 is considered to be very bad for a person. Beijing at the moment is at 200 and at night (this is when factories are permitted to emit smoke and large trucks are allowed to enter the city) it is worse. Walking around the city, you will see tons of people spitting and just the other day I saw a young girl who literally just squatted and went pee in the middle of the sidewalk. There are construction zones everywhere (Beijing has 1 sky scraper built every week) and the workers are wearing sandals and shorts. All of this just seems absurd to the western eye, but here in Beijing it is considered normal and just the way it is. It's interesting to experience because it really makes you see a different perspective on the world. Despite all these things, Beijing and it's people are absolutely amazing and so fascinating. Their way of life is so intriguing to me and I am so excited that I will get to be a part of it. Going for a walk is crazy. Around every city block there is a new skyscraper to admire, another street peddler selling food or the paper, and more fascinating people. Everything that I have seen and done in China thus far has been so different from home and so beautiful in it's own way. Well, I've got things to do and places to see...as they say in Mandarin,
zài jiàn