Autumn

Weather forcast: dropping temperatures with a sure bet on rain.  Look out for falling leaves.  

As a native Florida girl who experienced seasons for the first time at age 26, when I moved to Beijing, it's hard for me to get over the feeling of dread that comes with the first sign of a chill in the air.  I am trying to learn to adjust to enjoying Autumn without sucumbing to complete terror for the season that lies around the corner: WINTER.  As I tear the pages of my calendar and add layer upon layer of clothing, as my hands become more numb on the bike to work and my feet take longer to thaw upon my arrival, I know winter is coming soon.

This is a big deal in Beijing.  One of my favorite things about the city are the signs of life all around taking place in the street.  Since people's living spaces are so small, especially in the traditional housing which wind down long alleyways - called hutongs, they spend a lot of time outside.  

I love seeing:

Elderly women sitting on low stools playing mahjong and old men playing cards with a crowd of spectators surrounding them.  

A crowd at a self-imposed recycling center on the side of the road where people from all over sell their recyclable finds to some guy with a truck.

Restaurants with makeshift outdoor eating at low tables with stools, and guys marking their manliness by the number of beer bottles and kebab skewers that litter the ground.

Couples, young and old, taking a walk (called a sanbu) in their pajamas after dinner.

Migrant workers at payphones making calls to the wives and children they get to see once a year.

A woman on the corner wearing a lab coat and giving 50 cent haircuts to a patron sitting on a stool.

Kids playing badmitton and babies running around in crotchless pants and peeing on the street.

Groups of people doing Tai Chi to music in any open space large enough to get organized.

A 90-year-old man who sits on a chair everyday and watches the world go by perhaps living vicariously through the busyness he sees in other people's lives.

It's not that all of these things will stop once winter rolls around, but the people will rush and become more hunched over in an obvious effort to conserve warmth.  And I won't be able to enjoy them as much as I hurry by to whatever warm indoor place I'm on my way to.  But that's life with seasons, I suppose, and when people start peeking their heads out next spring to enjoy the warm weather again, I'll be with them.

Lao Beijing (Sort of)

So, tonight was Girl's Night, which I was invited to by my friend Heather who has lived in Beijing for about two months.  The other girls who came were her friends, or friends of friends, most of whom had been in Beijing for even less time.

Having always lived in fairly Western apartments, worked for international companies, and spent time around an overwelhmingly expatriate crowd, I have never felt like much of an expert on Beijing.  However, as the girls brought up various topics tonight ranging from restaurants to bargaining to tailoring to lighting fixtures and apartment redecoration to wine glasses, I realized that I knew all the answers.  It was a very weird, but good, feeling.  After 2 1/2 years I can finally refer to "old" friends in Beijing and understand bottom prices and know the best way to get many things done.

In some ways being the expert for the night felt like a rite of passage, but as I made my way home and thought about the many errands I need to run tomorrow (and don't know how to say the words) and negotiating my lease for next year with my Chinese landlord, I also realized I have a long way to go.  Oh well...just keep pushing forward on the uphill climb.

Mid-Autumn Festival

Mid-Autumn Festival (also called Moon Festival) is a traditional Chinese holiday which is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Lunar Calendar.  It originated in China but is celebrated in other Asian countries.  

This is the first year that the Chinese government has given a day off work for Mid-Autumn Festival, and a number of other traditional Chinese holidays.  During this festival people eat mooncakes (hard cakes with various fillings), re-unite with their families and watch the moon, which is at its fullest point of the year.

I have, for 3 years now, tried to get someone to tell me the origin of the Mid-Autumn festival, to no avail.  The stories are so confusing and seem to have so m

any discrepancies, that I have never been able to crack the code on the real meaning.  So this year, I finally decided to look it up, and luckily for me, Wikipedia is not censored today.  

What I found explained a lot.  The reason the story seems so confusing is because there are actually at least six variations of it.  The most popular one is this (quoted from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Autumn_Festival):

Houyi was an immortal, while Chang'e was a beautiful young girl, working in the Jade Emperor's (Emperor of Heaven) (玉帝 pinyin:yùdì) Palace as the attendant to the Queen Mother of the West (wife of the Jade Emperor), just before her marriage. One day, Houyi aroused the jealousy of the other immortals, who then slandered him before the Jade Emperor. Houyi and his wife, Chang'e, were subsequently banished from heaven, and forced to live by hunting on earth. He became a famous archer.

Now at this time, there were 10 suns, in the form of Three-legged birds, residing in a mulberrytree in the eastern sea; each day one of the sun birds would have to travel around the world on acarriage, driven by Xihe (deity) the 'mother' of the suns. One day, all 10 of the suns circled together, causing the earth to burn. Emperor Yao, the Emperor of China, commanded Houyi to shoot down all but one of the suns. Upon the completion of his task, the Emperor rewarded Houyi with a pill that granted eternal life, and advised him: "Make no haste to swallow this pill; first prepare yourself with prayer and fasting for a year".^[5] Houyi took the pill home and hid it under a rafter, while he began healing his spirit. While Houyi was healing his spirit, Houyi was summoned again by the emperor. Chang'e, noticing a white beam of light beckoning from the rafters, discovered the pill, which she swallowed. Immediately, she found that she could fly. At that moment, Houyi returned home, and, realizing what had happened, began to reprimand her. Chang'e flew out the window into the sky.^[5]

With a bow in hand, Houyi sped after her, and the pursuit continued halfway across the heavens. Finally, Houyi had to return to the Earth because of the force of the wind. Chang'e reached the moon, and breathless, she coughed. Part of the pill fell out from her mouth.^[5] Now, thehare was already on the moon, and Chang'e commanded the animal to make another pill from it, so that she could return to earth to her husband.

As of today, the hare is still pounding herbs, trying to make the pill. As for Houyi, he built himself a palace in the sun as "Yang" (the male principle), with Chang'e as "Yin" (the female principle). Once a year, on the 15th day of the full moon, Houyi visits his wife. That is why, that night, the moon is full and beautiful.^[5]

This description appears in written form in two Western Han dynasty (206 BCE-24 CE) collections; Shan Hai Jing, the Classic of the Mountains and Seas and Huainanzi, a philosophical classic.^[6]

I, now, feel satisfied that I may know more than my students about this topic.  Thanks Wikipedia!

Happy Birthday Danny!

Since one of my best friends in Beijing, Ali, moved back to New York a few weeks ago things just haven't been the same.  Ali was the Planner Extrodinaire of our group and, thanks to her, for 1 1/2 years I didn't give a single thought to my social life.  I just followed her directions on when and where to go.  She planned at least three vacations for 15 of us, knew about the lastest restaurant/bar openings and remembered everyone's birthdays.  Before she left however, she passed this torch, in some form, on to me by asking me to organize our friend Danny's birthday.  

Danny is one of the funniest people I have ever met.  He wanted everyone to be there for his birthday, but did not want any surprises.  He comes off as crazy, and is, but also has a sensitive layer hidden inside.  

In talking with him about his birthday the options we discussed included: a house party (hosted by friends of ours that never volunteered their place), go-karting, hiring a clown, and renting out an Olympic venue and having wrestling competitions between our friends, just to name a few.  We finally agreed on an all-you-can eat/drink Japanese restaurant.

Needless to say he enjoyed himself, and the cake and cupcakes I made.  So, thanksfully, my planning debut went off pretty successfully, but it sure made me appreciate Ali all the more.

Closing Ceremony (8/24)

I got a ticket to the Closing Ceremony through the lottery the Beijing Organizing Committee provided for residents of China.  However, on the day of I was feeling sick and decided to let Justin have the ticket.  There was supposed to be a very strict system in place for linking people's identity with the ticket.  I had to turn in passport photos, copies of my documentation, etc. when I went to pick the ticket up.  However, we had heard from friends "in the know" that the system had not worked and that it was just a way to try and control dissenters and protesters from getting a ticket.  When Justin got to the security area and they scanned his ticket, however, a picture of my face came up.  He ended up talking his way in and really enjoying the ceremony.  Here are his pictures:

Let's play "Where's Yao Ming?"

Taekwondo (8/23)

I wasn't using very good foresight when I scheduled Taekwondo as our last Olympic sporting event.  The venue was an hour away, and we had spent all morning/early afternoon in the sun at Baseball.  Additionally, the Taekwondo event was scheduled to last 7 hours.  We hadn't heard great things from friends that had already attended the sport due to the fact that bouts last 2 minutes each, but they only make two attempts or so at scoring.  They basically just jump around for awhile and then finally go for it.  

We ate a long lunch and then began the trek up to the venue.  We walked in, never found our seats, watched for about 20 minutes, were bored out of our minds and left.  

Oh well, we had been to over 15 events in 13 days.  Sometimes you have to know when to quit!

  

Having fun in the parking lot - my most Chinese pose.

Back to Beijing life!

Baseball (8/23)

Our last day of Olympic events started with Baseball.  2008 was the last year that Baseball and Softball were included in the Olympics so we were happy to have the chance to witness both American teams play their last Olympic hoorah.We were fortunate enough to be able to attend with Chris, Derek, Ian and Heather.  We all got together for breakfast before the event, where we had a few mimosas.  Thanks to Beijing keeping concession prices at rock bottom, the guys decided to take advantage of 60 cent beers early in the game.  By the end of the game I think they had purchased 38 beers and distributed them to Americans (and one Canadian) throughout our section.  No one complained about this generosity.  ;-)

America played Japan for the bronze medal and it was quite an interesting game.  Though the game wasn't even close, you would never have known by watching the Japanese fans.  They have cheers for every player and team cheers and flags and noise makers and they never sat down.  We were happy that by some stroke of luck we ended up on the US side.  It was exhausting just to watch them. 

America pulled away with the Bronze medal and we headed our happy that we had medalled in the final Olympic baseball event ever.

Athletics (8/22)

Our second trip to the Bird's Nest for Athletics proved almost as eventful as the first.  The night of events included the Men's and Women's 4x100m Relay Final, which we had initially hoped would include medals for the USA, however, both the men and women managed to get disqualified in the qualifing rounds for dropping the baton.  Fundamentals people.

We did get to see Usain Bolt and his fellow Jamaican teamates pull off yet anther world record, which was, again, very exciting.  This time he had friends to ham it up with on his victory lap around the stadium.  They had fun dancing and posing for the crowd.

Usain Bolt dancing

We also got our one (and only) chance to hear the American National Anthem played thanks to Bryan Clay, the winner of the Men's Decathlon.  Clay was so far ahead in points, that he actually lost the final event (1500m) by an embarrassing amount.  It was funny to hear the announcer say "And here comes our Gold Medalist" as he crossed the finish line a full 10 seconds after the other runners.  After he recovered from collapsing on the ground, he was pretty excited about his victory and we were extremely pround to see our flag waving and hear our song.

The final event of the evening was the Men's Pole Vault.  An Australian, Steve Hooker, ended up winning the event and then had a chance to beat the Olympic Record.  On his first attemt (of three) he didn't make it over.  In his five minutes of rest time, he layed on the ground with his eyes closed while 90,000 people in the stadium watched.  He let his opportunity for a second attempt go without trying.  On his third opportunity he nailed the Olympic Record.  It was an incredibly exciting moment.  

American Derek Miles sailing over the bar earlier in the night

 

Wrestling (8/21)

In order to distribute Olympic tickets domestically, China held a lottery.  This sounds like a simple idea, however, navigating the ticketing website required hours worth of studying and many trial and error episodes.  Each person could apply for 10 events, however you could then choose a back-up option as well as cascading price points, etc.  Justin and I finally combined our powers (actually I just used both of our accounts - he can't stand doing stuff like this) to enter the lottery and maximize our chances for success.  The hard work paid off and we got face value tickets for a number of events, including Wrestling.  Initially not looking forward to wrestling, how enjoyable it was really took me by surprise.  As wrestling is not a huge sport in South Florida, I was not familiar with the rules, but thanks to the information pamphlet provided was able to pick up on them quickly.  The venue was rather small, and we had great seats.  

Again, it was fun to see die-hard fans from many small countries around the world go crazy when their competitor won.  The Olympics is such a special time for unity around the world.  Russia and Georgia were at war during this Olympics, yet athletes from the two countries stood together on the Wrestling medal platform.  I could not help but be reminded that they are normal people, despite the political stances taken by their governments.

Here's Georgia wrestling Cuba.  

96kg Medal Ceremony

Here's the Russian gold medalist (for 96kg) being interviewed.  Notice the medal around his neck.

My favorite athlete at this event was the 120kg Gold Medalist, Artur Taymazov from Uzbekistan.  When he won he was so excited he picked his coach up like a ragdoll and hugged him.  Here he is right before the coach attack and then during the medal ceremony.

Olympic spirit took interesting forms all around Beijing, most commonly through flags and temporary tattoos, however, one small fan at Wrestling made his Olympic statement a bit more dramatically.

For the Olympics, China released a special edition of the 10 yuan note.  It was a momentus occasion as (to my knowledge, for the first time ever) Mao's face was replaced by a picture of the Bird's Nest.  People stood in line for hours at the banks to get a copy of it and it was a huge joke around Beijing that Mao had finally been replaced by something representing openness and Capitalism.  Here are this venue, however, he still stood proud so we decided to take a picture with him.

Beach Volleyball (8/20)

Beach Volleyball brought another beautiful day and a chance to watch America play against Georgia.  We were quite impressed at the atmosphere of the beach volleyball event.  It felt very different from the other events in that it was actually entertaining.  There were two live DJ's (one Chinese and one English speaking) playing a different music clip between each play.  Between games they came out and actually taught the crowd how to cheer along to another of songs including "We Will Rock You" and "Hip-Hop Hooray".  They also had a very sexy cheerleading/dance team which was a little racy even for us used to NBA dancers, and definitely a shock for many of the Chinese families.  The whole thing seemed to go over well though, and the time flew by much more quickly than at many other events.

There were some very cute little fans in the crowd, which I couldn't help snapping a few pictures of.