Six Weeks In China

I might be wrong about this, but the report from Facebook indicates that I'm missing summer. I guess this isn't a problem really, since i'm in China, but at the same time, I'm seeing that parties and shows and things are going on, some of which are going on at my house. My friends are celebrating birthdays and I'm missing out. I guess it's good that I keep getting invited to these things in spite of my obvious absence. I still feel frustrated that I'm not going to be around for this stuff, even if it means more work for me.

Though before I left, a number of people pointed out that I would come home with a distinct advantage. I won't be sick of summer in June -- in fact, I'll be so ready for it that I'll make everyone keep enjoying it. The party scene here in Beijing is okay by me for the most part. There are some good clubs, some great bands, and some fun people. But by and large I feel like I have been going out and doing things I would never enjoy at home. The kinds of places that expats frequent in this city are pretty hit-or-miss.

At the same time, Beijing wins at being a big international city, it wins at culture, it wins at food, it wins at beauty. What if I just imported everyone here? Pipe dream, yeah, but just think how fun it would be. We're not feeling the hops shortage over here, is all I'm trying to say.

Anyway I'm sure there will be plenty of summer for me when I return to the states. In fact there might well be too much of it. That's okay. I'll be ready.

So I decided I was sick of eating out all the time here. I bought some meat and veggies and instant noodles and eggs and sausage. There's a kitchen in the hostel but it turns out it consists of a sink, three rice cookers, a wok, and an induction heating plate. As these things go, woks are pretty useful -- you can make whatever you want in them, basically.

Turns out you can't make eggs over-easy in woks. I ended up burning my eggs somewhat. Then it turned out there were no forks, just chopsticks. Eating the eggs was awkward in itself, not to mention the fact that my destroyed cooking garnered the attention of everyone in the hostel. A bit chagrined, I worried down the less-burned parts and ate my spicy chicken sausage. It goes without saying I'll be scrambling them next time, and this experiment with cooking at the hostel might be nearly over, as soon as I finish eating the food I bought.

I really don't have a problem with just having a wok to cook in, but part of why I wanted to cook my own food was to feel a little like I live here and a little like I can import a little bit of home wherever I might go. Unfortunately, things are a lot more different, at least in this hostel, than they are anywhere else. That's fine, I guess, I just ended up pretty embarrassed as a result.

I don't know what you may have heard about Beijing's indie music scene. The influential club D-22 is just down the street from my hostel, and it's been instrumental in getting me to meet the people who are worth knowing in the city. The first night I went I met the owner of the club, Michael, who is a professor of finance at PKU. What a fascinating guy.

Justin's band, IDH, played tonight, and they were pretty great. Of course this necessitated some boozing, so I leave it up to you to imagine my current mental state. The sheer level of talent that Beijing is putting out these days is stunning. For a quick jaunt, check out Carsick Cars and Joyside.

I also met a great guy who teaches at the music school here in Beijing. Charlie teaches modern music history -- he teaches rock and experimental music, basically. We had a great conversation about the scene and about Michigan, where he spent some time as a kid. According to Charlie, Beijing is like Vice magazine before Gavin McInnes left -- Shanghai, which is also worth visiting, he tells me, is a little more like Nylon magazine.

It seems like an apt analogy, at least as far as Beijing goes. Things are very slapdash here. People can get away with whatever they dream up. The worthwhile local music here ranges from Sonic Youth on out into left field until you're not sure what you're listening to. Kids here can play the guitar, and their pent-up energy isn't from Montreal winters, it's from growing up in a Communist society -- one which still is paranoid about modern rock music. Charlie helped organize a music festival that got canceled thanks to the government's worries about image and the Olympics.

This city is fascinating, dynamic, downright bizarre. I feel like I'm ready to be repatriated here.

I'm having a hard time updating this blog. This could be for one of two reasons: either I am doing nothing lately, or doing everything lately. I can't tell. Part of it is, I've been sick and as a result too exhausted at the end of the day to even think, let alone write. Part of it is, I've been feeling a little restless here, counting my good days with my bad, thinking about getting home.

We've been doing less sightseeing and having more class, which I'm a fan of, since I've come down with my first cold since October. Usually when I'm sick I stay in bed for the duration of the illness, since it usually only lasts a day or so, and it happens so rarely I can afford to miss things. Unfortunately I really can't afford to miss a lot of Beijing. This city is huge and exciting and things are happening all the time.

Monday night Voni and I went to buy bikes. We had to cop out and go to Wal-mart, which I'm a little embarrassed about, but at the same time it turns out to be very very difficult for people who don't speak Chinese to find a used bike in this city. Not a decent used bike, but a used bike at all. We managed to swing brand new city cruisers for 250 kuai, which included a front basket, a lock, a bell, and a sharp but innocuous looking black bicycle. Everything in Beijing is flat so you only need one gear, and your bike can be as heavy as you can stand to ride because you never actually need to try. But even in rush hour traffic you're traveling twice as fast as pedestrians and frequently faster than cars. Last evening, on our way back from the Peking University campus, it was raining, and we beat some other kids who were taking a cab.

We've been seeing plenty of sights, too: Great Wall, Forbidden City, Beihai Park, a houtong tour by rickshaw, Jingshan Park, you name it. It's been interesting to see how much Beijingers use their public green space. In Jingshan Park, there were a bunch of older folks listening to music, dancing, and waving around these long ribbons of colored cloth. Some of my tripmates joined them, and they were overjoyed to have others get in on the fun. It's funny, in this city people tend to be pretty stoic, but when they're happy, they're ecstatic.

We had our first dialogues on Monday, as well. The Peking University students have been really receptive, excited, and talkative. I think it's going to be a good couple of weeks getting to know them.