Ah, the Internet. I love it. It just makes things so easy. You can take up serious and worthy causes without making them serious or worthwhile, just to get some lulz. I’m going to need some lulz to make it through a whole year on the Chinese Internet.
This quick intro guide provides great tips on just one way to subvert the Chinese government. The operation is called Project Cntroll, as in, China troll.
Based on my fabulous reporting and editing work during my internship (I assume), China.org.cn offered me a job to work there full-time. I came back to the States to think about it and decided I should take this excellent opportunity to live in China and explore my beloved motherland more. What I make of it will determine whether it was worth my while or not, right?
I thought that by now I’d be ironing out the details and logistics of relocating to Beijing, getting a work visa and all that taken care of. Unfortunately, I discovered that just because a person is offered a job and he’s accepted said offer, there is still another hurdle to the hiring process. That is, the company needs to decide if it actually wants to hire him. I thought China.org.cn had already made that decision upon offering me the job, but I guess that would be uncharacteristic of Chinese people.
Alas, the job search continues.
This is the internship that never ends. I’m polishing company profiles on the Top 500 Enterprises in 2008 for China.org. A few observations:
I wasn’t planning on writing anything for work about my mini-holidays, but I had such an adventure in Datong that I thought it’d be a pity to leave it all out. It turned out to be a little info guide for would-be visitors to Hengshan and the Hanging Monastery.
OK, well, against my advice and wishes, work decided to put up my remaining hamburger stories without Chris’s video accompaniments.
Chris and I were not able to visit as many burger joints as we had hoped (trouble setting up interviews, etc.), but in the end, it may have been for the better. I mean, how many Calories did I consume? According to CalorieLab, each hamburger came with 531 Calories (single, regular patty; with condiments and special sauce). Even though we only visited four restaurants, we technically had five burgers each: 2,655 Calories! That doesn’t even including the fried onion rings on my Montana BBQ burger or the guacamole on my California burger or the cheeses on all of my burgers. Yummy!
Anyway, Chris and my burger quest continues: Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.
Well, I’ve been back in the States for a week now. China seems like it never happened.
Here are some funny expressions Chinese people use:
1223 Beijing time
Beijing Capital International Airport — Less than an hour until my flight. I think I might even be boarding soon! But I’m in a small cafe in the corner of the gate, which is tucked in the basement below all of the other terminals. My return to the U.S. has not begun well. Air China overbooked Flight 981, so I got stuck with an aisle seat. For 13 hours. Oy.
Then I had to walk probably a mile and half with all of my stuff (there’s a lot of it) to Gate E52, which ended up being in the basement. Now I’m sipping a latte, which is actually a cappuccino, and it’s really small, and I paid 29 kuai for it. I wanted to use the Internet, but it’s not working. I guess I already have spent 229 kuai today, charged to my debit card, which I hope won’t rack up huge conversion costs. Please, Wachovia, spare me.
This is my first coffee I’ve had since I left the States. I can’t believe I’m leaving still …
Goodbyes were short and sweet but otherwise anti-climactic, as goodbyes usually are. Shouldn’t there be something to mark my leave? I barely notice that I’m gone.
I miss Beijing already. My last picture of Beijing is one of my breakfast, a shao bing jia jidan.
Byebye, Beijing =(
1248 Beijing time
Aboard CA Flight 981 — It gets worse. After walking for a mile and half, I then had to be transported to the airplane via bus, a ride that lasted about five minutes. Then I had to climb stairs to the door of a Boeing 747-400 in the blazing Beijing heat that struck a couple of days ago, under a sun that isn’t being blocked by the usual Beijing smog. Just to be clear: I’m carrying the maximum-size carry-on suitcase, a large bookbag and a huge purse that weighs even more. Everything is stuffed full. Thanks, China Air, for being too cheap to rent a real terminal. Oh, and I’m also in heels, which I decided to wear because they took up more room in my suitcase than my flip-flops. I realize I am a bit excessive and have completely dressed and packed wrong for the occasion, but don’t they realize that some people have three months worth of luggage? I paid 200 RMB for my overweight luggage, which if it had been 2 kilograms more would be triple that price. Actually, it was 2 kilograms more. I had to repack my luggage and cram things into my carry-ons and other checked bag. Oy.
Please, please, Wachovia, do not make me pay a ridiculous amount for paying in a different currency.
Less than 10 minutes until scheduled takeoff. Half of the people aren’t even seated, yet, so we’ll see. Continue reading
Save for some toiletries, my bags are all packed. The apartment is tidied. I have to say goodbye to everyone at the office tomorrow morning and change my yuan into dollars, then it’s off to Beijing Capital.
Some friends took me out to dinner at a delicious Xinjiang restaurant, and then we went to our beer garden.
There may be Internet in the airport. If not, then the next time I write will be in the States. Signing off from 11 Qixiancun and 89 Xisanhuan.
I’m enjoying the Beijing night one last time from my balcony. I haven’t sat out here in forever, it seems, which makes me realize how long I’ve been here — long enough to undergo changes in behavior. Sitting on the balcony at night right before I went to bed was one of my favorite things about living here. It still is, but Beijing nights are no longer as cool as they used to be when I first got here. Plus we started staying out later, and I usually just went straight to bed after getting home and showering.
Today was actually probably the hottest day that I can recall. Tomorrow is supposed to be just as hot, around 35 degrees Celsius. But it feels nice right now, though not very much breeze. I’ve said this a gajillion times already, but I’m going to say it again: I can’t believe this is it and it’s over. Time flies. It feels like it’s been such a short time, but thinking back to the beginning — what did I know then? How did I imagine this would be? — it was so long ago and different.
After coming back from our big adventure to the Hanging Monastery, we rested for a bit at our hotel. We decided we weren’t very hungry but should eat anyway around 8 p.m., so we went to the hotel next door. It had a pretty nice restaurant (we had eaten there the night before). We ordered some vegetables, xiao chi and dao xiao mian (knife-cut noodleds), a regional specialty. It was very good and a lot of food. You may recall that we weren’t hungry. We stuffed ourselves silly. At the end of the meal, Catherine starts telling me about how southern Chinese people traditionally believe that there are compartments in our stomachs for each flavor and that her sweet compartment is still hungry. I told her mine was, too. It was bingqilin time. Continue reading