One of these days in Beijing

Oh, well it was one of these days in Beijing: Since I went to bed quite late, I had kind of a hard time convincing myself in the morning to get my butt out of the cosy, warm bed so as to rush through the chilly floor into the hot shower. I consequently left my (actually quite neat) apartment pretty late and, yes of course, was "punished" for it right away: I hit the infamous Beijing rush hour and got stuck in a bus moving at the pace of a snail with a broken leg (well, use your imagination..;) Fortunately I had my lonely planet with me so that I could at least entertain myself while being squashed like a sardine in a tin (well, I might exaggerate a bit, as my bus (976) is one of the least frequented ones..).. I read that the temperature in Beijing can drop as low as -20C during winter... jolly, isn't it..? Oh boy, I'll definitely reconsider buying some of these incredibly unsexy, itchy long johns..

Finally arrived at Exowebs gorgeous office I had just about enough time to prepare the interview with an Indian guy that I was to have in the afternoon and some other stuff, before heading to the welcome lunch of a new employee. Today’s “shockers” were cooked duck feet that came on a Masabi (not sure if I spell it correctly) dressing and some jelly fish, plain. While the jelly fish was strange in its consistency but definitely edible, I keep on having serious doubts about the value duck feet add to my culinary horizon.. Guess I’ll try to avoid chewing on them again when and wherever I can… ;) What ever: apart from these two somewhat exotic dishes, numerous others passed on the “lazy Susan” (merry go round kind of thingy to be found on every table in Chinese restaurants).. As every day, I happily joined the feast...

At 7 pm, once work (some quite interesting interviews, invitation for the Exoweb Christmas bash,..) done, Keeshav and I, as every Monday (oh, yes, we build up and cultivate some traditions here.. ;) went to the Xinjiang restaurant (well, it’s basically a room of about 20m2) down the road to eat. The waitress already knows us and always has a smile to share (this may be connected to the fact, that last time, when we tried to order some of the gorgeous bred you get at this place (Naan type of bread with lots of spices on the top) received some kind of lettuce in stead… guess we have to seriously work on our pronunciation..;)

At 7.30pm our (Keeshavs’, Sumits’, Troys’ and my) Chinese teacher then awaited us for our weekly Chinese class. Today we tested a new teacher and might want to stick to him. He set out his method, and I can tell you, my Swiss eyes blinked: what a structured guy he is.. ;) I enjoy classes with these three great nerds a lot as we learn some Chinese while having quite a bit of fun.

Subsequently we passed at, what is probably the dream of every extreme-shopper in China: the 2 kuai store. All the crap you can think off, for a lousy 20 Euro cents the piece. We couldn’t hold our horses and bought - as silly foreigners probably do. I’m actually pretty happy with what I go:

- 4 mugs (the latest Hello-Kitty line..)

- 4 wine glasses (guess they are actually going to be transparent once I washed them..)

- A bottle opener in the shape of a real bottle (100% plastic, indigo, semi transparent.. a real beauty.. ;)

- 3 shiny note books for my Chinese words

- And, last but certainly not least, two little figures: chubby Chinese grandparents, both wearing glasses and having a cute smile on their face. The fun stuff is: the head and the body are connected at the help of a spring only. So: if you shake them, they nod.. and they keep on doing it for a while…. Ahhh, looking at them I spontaneously think: Capitalism truly works; you can produce all the crap imaginable and people actually buy it… yeah ;)

Keeshav and Troy: Shopping with you guys is a blast!

Well then, I finally reached home by cab (as my bus runs only until 8pm..) and was pretty proud of myself since I managed to guide the driver in Chinese right to the street that I life in. I won’t tell you that all I required for this was even less than what Arnold “Terminator” Schwarzenegger needed to earn Millions of bucks, meaning about 5 words.. ;)

Big Hug! Dom ;)

beijing, daily life