My 15 minutes?

Fame-not sure if this is my 15 minutes or I'm gonna live forever, but it's funny.  In the lobby of our apartment building are several advertising screens.  One of the advertisements is for our building's involvement with Shepherd's Field, the orphanage I visited.

Now, while we were there a woman was taking pictures of everyone and they were emailed to me and I thought it was very nice.  But, lo and behold, there I am, having a quiet breakfast in the cafe, and I glance up at the screen to see "me" smiling right back in a brand new ad.  I almost spit out my coffee.

So now I get to see myself while eating breakfast, standing at reception and waiting for the elevator  every day.  It promotes the orphanage program, so it's awesome, but it does make me feel weird while waiting for the elevator with a group of people. Although, no one has gasped and turned to me to say "Are YOU that woman?", so maybe I'm just disappointed?  Anyway...good stuff.

Guest Blogging

Coming soon!  I will be doing some guest blogging in October for www.themiddlekingdom.org, so keep your eyes open!  This blog was a font of information and solace for me before moving to Beijing. I'm so glad I get to be a part of it!

Mooncakes, protests & harem pants

The Chinese Mid-Autumn festival is upon us, and that means moon cakes!  The festival is on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese calendar, which this year is September 30th.  A moon cake is a fruit/seed filled round pastry.  Every day you see people walking home from work with beautifully decorated packages of moon cakes.  Even Starbucks gets in on it.

Mooncake display at a Starbucks

There seem to be varying levels of craftsmanship in these moon cakes, from the individually packaged ones in a Wal-Mart bin to ones made in one of the many awesome French bakeries around the Guamao.  Steve thinks that he got the shaft and got the moon cakes at the office that no one wanted.  I think they are sort of tasty, but not a pretty as some I have seen.

Our box of moon cakes

Onto more serious subjects.  You may have heard of the protests in Mainland China regarding the Japanese trying to take ownership of the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea.  The bad feelings between the Chinese & the Japanese is a long story, but things are really heating up here.  Today was particularly bad as September 18th is the anniversary of the Japanese invasion of China in 1931 and the occupation that lasted 14 years.  Friends that have Japanese people working the front desks at their embassies have had to move them behind the scenes for their safety.  People have looted Japanese stores and major car manufacturers have shut down (Nissan, Mazda, etc..) in other parts of China. Its all very government encouraged and controlled so far here in Beijing.  Trying to get to Mandarin class today, my subway stop was jammed (more than normal) and I came out onto Liangmaqiao which is near the Japanese embassy and which the government had closed, right into the middle of a protest.

What you can't see is the sides of the streets smashed with people covered in the Chinese flag and police everywhere.  The military helicopters circling overhead.  It seemed pretty tame on the way to class, but as I approached Liangmaqiao on my way home, there was definitely a different energy. Lots of young men, in their early 20s or so were running down the sidewalks with home made protest t shirts waving the Chinese flag.  They were really amped.  This is obviously all government sanctioned & controlled (it wouldn't happen otherwise), but you could feel that the line between chaos and control was growing thinner and could be crossed by some accidental incident.  I felt perhaps, if the right thing happened, this crowd of pumped up young men could have mob mentality take over.  But, thankfully, I just had to fight my way into the subway past thousands of sweaty armpits and ride home.  I just spoke to one of the other parents at the bus stop about how I ran smack into the protests today and he (a New Zealander), mentioned that I should be a bit more cautious as there is some anti-American sentiment laced in there because the Chinese feel we are supporting the Japanese.  My fault for choosing September 18th to get off at the subway stop on a closed street near the Japanese embassy. On Thursday, I will go one stop further and walk back.

On to MUCH lighter subjects.

Funny thing- I went to get Oleg off the late bus today because he had "iPad games" after school.  This was the first session and he loved it so much he got off the bus playing air guitar.  Cute.

WTH?  I don't know about Cleveland, but MC Hammer -style harem pants have invaded Beijing.  Seriously?  I'm expected to wear these to look fashionable?  They are in every shop I go in, Zara, French Connection, etc... I'm seeing them on the streets among the fashionistas as well. They look cute on the right woman, but on my American arse?  Not so sure....

And by the way, if I see one more willow-thin, gorgeous Chinese woman on the street eating french pastry or ice cream I'm gonna scream.

Well, that's all for today. Zai jian (Goodbye)

Random stuff....

This post is going to be a bunch of random thoughts since it's been awhile.  I'll try and keep it brief and readable, even though every time someone says that it never is (brief nor readable).  Enjoy!

The reason for the absence is that I've been really busy and this past week has been full of...hmmm...let's call them "challenges".  Won't go into detail except for this one... I was"sick" from the horrendous, choking pollution last week.  It manifested as a scratchy throat, but other cold- like symptoms are common.  Oleg has a bit of a cough.  Last week was stiflingly hot & humid and you literally could see & taste the air. My northern European DNA was begging for some relief. All the Chinese women never broke a sheen of sweat, while I dragged myself from place to place, raccoon eyes from melting mascara and frighteningly frizzy hair. Thankfully, storms swept through over the weekend and the air is soooooo much better, the skies are clear, and the weather is fantastic.

Oleg had his first playdate last week.  His new friend Max, from New Zealand, invited him over.  I'm hoping this will boost his confidence and spur on some more friend-making.  He's been having a hard time and feels like no one understands him.  We keep reassuring him that friends will come with time.

Last week I visited a special needs orphanage outside Beijing, Shepherd's Field.  Awesome experience!  We got to spend a lot of time playing with the kids, which is so important for their development.  Here are some orphanage pics-for my adoptive parents that have seen Russian orphanages, the Chinese orphanage was very similar.

Donation from Millennium Residences

Wall of tiny adopted hands

Mangy orphanage dog-I just like his expression of pure boredom

Cribs

HOT POT!
What is hot pot you ask???? Why, only one of the most delicious, ingenious foodstuffs on this planet! Picture this-if you dare!  Scorchingly hot "pots" of spicy broth over open flames on your table, raw beef, lamb, shrimp paste (sounds gross-seriously good) noodles, & veggies just waiting to be dipped into your boiling cauldron.  Delicious dipping sauce of your own making.  Giant jugs of ice-cold Chinese beer.  Sigh.....I could eat this stuff 2-3 times a week.

Enjoying hot pot

I warned you this would be random.

Beijing has the most awesome public transportation system ever.  Not only can you get a taxi at virtually any point in the city, the subway can take you anywhere.  I'm new to the subway and had been spending an average of 15-20 RMB ($3-4) per taxi ride and was feeling badly about it.  You know you are more than a tourist when a $4 taxi ride starts to sound expensive.  Plus Steve & Oleg take the subway all the time and I can't have them "out-beijinging" me. So, today I ventured onto the subway which cost 2 RMB ($.30!).  Why I didn't do this before I don't know.  If you can get over the idea of personal space as well as having to throw an elbow here & there it is the best.  I also love it because I can just go where I want to without talking to anyone.

 The city of Beijing, like any city with nasty water and 20 million plus people generally smells like some sort of burning rubber, dirty butt and vomit combo-EXCEPT during lunchtime when all the food vendors are out hocking their spicy, fried street food.  Then it smells delicious.

Here are some pics of my organic farm delivery hauls & one random pic of my dog, Schnitzel.  Normally the vegetable delivery is bigger, but I only needed a few things this time.

Big white bag is sea salt.  Salt is really hard to find here.  MSG is not. The potted rosemary is the start to my window herb garden.  I can never find anything except for cilantro in the market.  The organic farm has every organic potted herb under the sun.

Yeah, Wondermilk! This isn't my regular delivery amount (usually more). I just pulled a few representative items from my fridge.  The purple box is drinkable yogurt with purple rice in it-sounds weird again, but really yummy.  The little jars are the reason I'm so fat.  Creamy creme brûlée type puddings with a flan kind of caramel-ly liquid in the bottom.  

This is Schnitzel's tiny face photographed up-close to look huge