Life in the new Wild West...

It's snowing up in here! Actually it's a half snow half rain type thing, but I'm going to count it because the ground is turning white...


How can I even begin to describe the past week of my life. Living in Beijing is like something out of a surreal dream. This place is the Wild West right now and everyone is coming here to make a life for themselves. It’s hard to believe that just a month ago I was in the safe, familiar environment of Austin, chillin’ every night with my homies, and not having a care in sight. Beijing life is certainly different…

My dorm is pretty interesting. The building houses all my classes as well as all the international students that attend CNU. On my floor alone there are Americans, Brits, Japanese, and Iraqis. There are also some Koreans and sexy Italians up on the 8th (love those Italians…). It seems like every elevator ride is a chance to meet someone from a different world. It’s a pretty rare opportunity to have such an amalgamation of characters under one giant roof.

My first week of classes was pretty intense. I feel like I’m doing more work here than I ever was at UT. Basically it’s Chinese in the morning and other classes in the afternoon. I feel like I’ve had to play catch up since I forgot a good amount stuff in the two years since I’ve taken a Chinese class.

Greater Beijing is certainly a new way of life. Most of my meals are purchased on the side of the road for less than 8 kuai (that’s about $1). If I pay anything more, I feel like I’ve been ripped off. There’s this tiny little dumpling store about 10 minutes away from campus where I can get 20 dumplings for 6 kuai. Sure it’s not exactly up to US FDA health standards, but the shit is delicious! We call the owner the jiao zi man (dumpling man). Our Chinese roommates tell us he’s ripping us off by charging that much, but he’s such a jolly guy I feel like I’m ripping him off paying so little.

We’ve been trying to go out to different bars every night. You can usually get shots for about a $1 and beers for less than 75 cents anywhere you go. Wednesday nights are all you can drink night and Club Propaganda. We brought some cute Japanese girls that had just got into town this week as well (love those J-girls…). Instead of going to Best Wurst after a night out on 6th Street, you can get things like lamb skewers from guys cooking and selling them on makeshift grills mounted to the back of there bicycles. I’m sure if you don’t have an ample amount of alcohol in your system when eating them, the bacteria living on those skewers will certainly kill you. But it is some amazing drunk food…

Paul Van Dyk (who is apparently the best DJ in the world, though I wonder how that ranking was determined) was spinning in Beijing last night. I didn’t quite care to go, but since everyone else was, I decided to see what this was about. It was a pretty cool scene. The place was crazy packed and the lower dance floor was suspended under hundreds of springs so it was bouncing along with the beat. I’m glad I was able to experience the night, but just not my scene.

Random picture highlights of the week:




Left: Literally a hole in the wall, located on a street affectionately dubbed "Jiao Zi Alley" (Dumpling Alley)
Center: Jiao Zi Man!
Right: This man epitomizes all that is Chinese street food. No need for a smoke break when you can just lit up while cooking.



Left: Babies in China don't really have diapers, but they do have little poop chutes for easy pooping. If I could just find some in my size I'd be set...
Right: Engrish at its most confusing.






A before, during, and after of Bai Jiu. It's a hard Chinese alcohol that's less than a $1 a bottle. It smells like turpentine, tastes like shit, but has a pleasantly sweet aftertaste...