Tsingtao Beer Festival

After many years of talking about attending the "Oktoberfest" of China, this year we finally made it down to the city of Qingdao for their Beer Festival. Stacey, Derek, Justin and I headed down in September for a long weekend of eating and drinking.

One of the most interesting, and famous, parts of Qingdao is the method in which people actually consume the beer: in a plastic bag. This proved to be true, not only as a "to-go" method, but also when bringing beer back to your home. We watched as a local man ordered five litres of beer from a roadside stand. It was pulled from the keg straight into a plastic bag, weighed and tied off for the man to carry home.

We visited the Tsingtao Beer Factory and Museum, which was quite interesting, showing the history of Qingdao Beer advertisement and company structure as well as a functioning factory. We also got to taste both the raw and filtered beer.

One fun part was a "tipsy" ride, which must be trying to simulate how you'd walk if you stayed in the tasting portion of the museum too long. Stacey loved it...and went through twice.

The final room is a large cafeteria style place where you can order cheap Qingdao by the pitcher and buy gifts. The men-folk left us for one second to buy some beer, which proved to be totally unnecessary when Stacey and I were left like sitting ducks and bombarded with every other Chinese tourist wanting to "Gambei" (like "Cheers", but literally means - and used in practice as - finish the glass). We finished our glass with countless people until the guys came back to rescue us, by which time we needed to take a seat. Saying no in China, especially involving drinking in social situations, is not an option.

The beer festival itself was enormous, with tent after tent of entertainment and beer from around the world. Again the "foreigners" were the spectacle, and person after person came up to try and "Gambei" the guys under the table.

The next day we headed to the beach. Which was surprisingly nice. There were pretty nice public restrooms, restaurants with tables out in the sand, and the option to order a keg to drink as you have a beach party. We sat down at a table and ate fresh barbecued seafood while we drank cold beer. Absolutely no complaints.

Engaged!

Justin's parents' visit was a very exciting time for all of us. Just as they were getting out of the customs gate and we were finishing hugging and saying hello, Justin pulled us into a huddle and began to expound on our relationship and the journey we had taken over the past three years - moving to China, growing as a couple, etc. He then got down on one knee in the middle of Beijing Capital Airport's Terminal Three and proposed, much to all of our surprise. Here are some pictures from immediately following. What fun!

Parents in Beijing!

For the next two weeks Justin's parents will be visiting us in China.  For the first week they'll be checking out Beijing and then we'll be hitting Xi'an and Shanghai together.  It's so fun to have people you care about see where you are and (hopefully) begin to understand why.  Yesterday was VERY polluted and windy, but it's clear today and the sun is shining, so they'll get a great first day.  I'll be sure to post pictures of our adventures!

Wiggin' Out

It's no secret that Beijing is a fun place to live because of how cheap the shopping is, but few realize the potential this holds for very fun costume parties.  At least 50% of parties we attend have some sort of theme which usually involves running around town in ridiculous outfits.  

This is fun for two reasons: a) it's so cheap that you can go all out b) many local people assume it's normal, thus less embarrassing and less chance of getting kicked out of respected establishments.  

This past weekend was our friend Peikwen's birthday and his celebration was no exception: wigs and costumes mandatory.  Peikwen is an amazing photographer and had fun documenting his party, which led to some fun pictures for the rest of us to enjoy.  Pei's wife, Shanti, is also amazingly creative and had a "birthday suit" custom made for her husband.  We love them and loved celebrating such a great guy's birth!

The Big 8-0!

I love living in China, except for times like these.  I missed my Grandmother's 80th birthday celebration recently.  I should have been in this picture, but was wholeheartedly there in spirit!  My Grandma is definitely something special and has had a powerful impact on the woman I am today.  I couldn't love her more, or miss her more.  Have a great 80th year, Grandma.

Windy City

Wind is howling throuh Beijing and making it virtually impossible for me to bike to work which can only mean one thing: SPRING!  Whoever named Chicago "The Windy City" should have at least considered Beijing.  Thanks to deforestation, in the spring winds blow down from the Gobi Desert and straight into the city.  On good days it's just a strong wind, on bad days the wind picks up sand and brings it along for the ride too.  The worst sandstorm in a long time (hundred years?) happened my first spring in Beijing.  I awoke to find cars covered in a layer of what looked like orange snow...it turned out to be sand.  Oh well, temperatures are rising and people are coming out of hiding and taking to the streets again, so I will stop complaining!  Who cares if I have to walk around with a scarf over my face?

Mr. Mao

I got in a taxi yesterday and, like countless other drivers, the man had Mao's face on a trinket hanging from the rearview mirror.  This always perplexes me.

There are many wonderful things Mao did for China as a nation: abolished polygomy and concubines, got rid of foot binding, promoted the role of women in society and generally eradicated many other archaic customs.  However, in the West, he is most well-known for other, more detrimental, actions: The Great Leap Forward (estimates say up to 30 million people died, mostly from Mao's policies bringing pointless starvation - to put this into perspective, Holocaust estimates are around 11 million) and The Cultural Revolution (politically motivated punishment/executions) spring to mind.  

In China however, even with increased access to Internet and sites like Wikipedia, Mao continues to be revered almost as a god.  He, of course, embraced and perpetuated Communism in China - the materialistic side of which has since been overturned.  Current China embraces a bit of Mao's authoritarianism combined with Deng Xiaoping's introduction of capitalism.  

As a result of Mao's staunch Communistic views, I always find humor in seeing his face used as a marketing tool or trinket to be sold.  If he had a grave (and wasn't immortalized in his Tiananmen Square viewing center), he'd surely be rolling in it.

Thinking about this, I started the following conversation with the taxi driver:

April: "That's Mao Zedong?"

Driver: "Yes."

April: "Do you think Mao Zedong would recognize China today?"

Driver: "What?"

April: "I don't know, in China today people have money, they can go where they want to go and do what they want to do, they can study abroad and use the internet, do you think Mao would recognize China now?"

Driver: - - - Silent and thinking- - -

a minute passes....

April: "I mean, I know Deng Xiaoping would recognize it because a lot of this was his idea, but what about Mao?"

Driver: "Deng Xiaoping would definitely recognize China....(long pause for consideration)....Mao would too...."

At this point in the conversation the old man rattled on for about 5 minutes at a very loud volume explaining why Mao would recognize our version of China.  He got really fired up about it and I'm sure had a lot of interesting things to say.  But, to my dismay, he was speaking too fast and using vocabulary I didn't understand.  

I start Chinese classes again next week and conversations like this are the main reason why.  There's so much more to learn.