The Fishing Expedition

The Forbidden City

Or The Palace Museum. I don't really know the difference. Anyway, I spent my last day in downtown Beijing going to The Forbidden City (or again, it could have been the Palace Museum. Please don't think I'm very very stupid). It was huge, as expected. I got lost. It rained. I got soaked to my skin. Oh well. It was fun too.

Pearl Market "Penthouse"

It is almost inconceivable that on top of the busy Pearl Market is this deserted place.

Blue Zoo Beijing

Troy and I went to Blue Zoo Beijing on my last Sunday in downtown Beijing. I took loads of pictures. Here are the better ones...

Looking for Achi Janice's Cheongsam

I went back to the Pearl Market to buy another cheongsam. This time, for Achi Janice. I hadn't even been able to get to the bargaining part when the camera already ran out of memory.

I tried to get it down to 40RMB this time but wasn't successful. Instead, they gave me a plastic compass so that I'd agree to 45RMB.

Notice how there was silence after I asked how much it was. The reason being there were other customers and it just so happened that these customers were Caucasians. Caucasians, of course, are almost always ripped off.

And Achi Janice, I hope it fits. I tried my best. One other thing. I realized after watching the video that the reason for the minor confusion was that we were not thinking about the same unit of length while we were talking about the size. I was thinking in inches. She was thinking in... I don't know. A Chinese unit of measurement, perhaps.

It's Been a Year!

Today marks my first year anniversary in China. One whole year. I wish I could list down all the changes in my life within my one year here, but I know it'll be futile. Where do I start and how do I explain? Some of my friends are wondering what's so great about China that I refuse to go home yet. I don't know. I can't pinpoint it exactly. The best I could come up with is that it's more exciting. I wake up each morning and look forward to new adventures. Every little thing is an adventure, from taking the subway and managing not to get lost, to having lunch alone in a restaurant that I've never been to and trying to make myself understood. Being in a foreign country heightens my senses. I look at everything and try to find logical explanations to otherwise ordinary circumstances. It's like even the most familiar things have a weird slant to them that needs careful observation.

I wish I could explain it better. Perhaps I need one more year to find which words can describe my experiences fully. For now, this will have to do.


**For an update on the Harlequin Theater Festival 2006, click here. Go watch! Go go go! And tell me all about it. Take pictures! Take videos!

Piled Higher and Deeper

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/aboutcomics.html
Constant googling of my name has led me to this site. PhD, or Piled High and Deeper (a grad student comic strip), is maintained by Jorge Cham who got his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University. It pokes fun at grad school life and everything that goes with it. Me, I just want to graduate. But then so do all grad students...

Some of my favorite strips are:
http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=3
http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=13
http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=19

These date back to 1997 (that was the year I started college!). Thus, I have almost 10 years of comic strips to read at leisure.

Mostly Brushes

I can't remember exactly what the big shopping place is called. In Chinese, it's something like PanJiaYuan. I don't know what it means. Troy just calls it "the place to buy antiques." Of course most often, they're not real antiques. This is where he bought his "antique" box, by the way.

My Room in Troy's House

Troy surprised me with the real Yakult one night. Yummy!

My room was the messiest place in Troy's house. Which now brings me to say how very nice Troy is to let a complete stranger live in his house, feed on his food and just disrupt his peace.

Bum No More

It's now time to reveal what my mysterious job is all about. I'm teaching English to the Chinese National Shooting Team. Yes, the top Chinese athletes in the field. Yes, some are Olympians. Yes, some have even won gold medals in the past Olympics. Although you can shoot me if I can remember who has won what. I can't even get their names straight at this point. Oh no, please don't shoot me, I just remembered how good they are at shooting...

I'll start living with them on Tuesday although I've already taught them for two nights. I felt that I needed more time to pack my stuff and once again, tie loose ends, before I isolate myself from the rest of civilization. I am, of course, exaggerating. But living with them means living in a training camp of about two hours from downtown Beijing. There isn't even any bus that directly goes there from downtown so I have to finish all that I need to do before I get into voluntary hermitdom.

I am actually under a non-profit organization that provides teachers to national teams, called Chinese Athletes Educational Foundation. As most national athletes never had the chance to a proper education, the foundation aims to provide them with some of what they missed. Thus, I have a job.

I am given complete control on the curriculum. I do, however, have to send daily reports to my boss for the first two weeks. I think she's a little afraid that I might slack off since there won't be anyone to watch my every move. I said, no problem. I'll be having those shooters talking in English in no time.

The main perk of this job is the travelling opportunities. I get to accompany the team to competitions all over China... and all over the world! Aside from that, I could also tell you what a three-time Olympic gold medalist had for breakfast... In fact I could even describe how it tastes like because I'll be eating the same meals! :p

Bargaining at the Pearl Market

The Pearl Market is one of the famous shopping places in Beijing. I found it by accident. I was on my way to my job interview when I passed by it in a cab. I made a mental note to go back and look around after the interview. So, dysmenorrhea notwithstanding, I went ahead and explored the place. Here is a video when I was bargaining for a cheongsam.

The Job Search Continues...

Come tomorrow, I'll be in Beijing for a full week. I'm still nowhere near finding a job and it's starting to worry me. A lot more than usual.

I cannot decide whether to like or not like Beijing. It's big. It's modern. It has its comforts. I had cereals for breakfast after craving for it for a year. Its malls would definitely rival the ones that are in Manila. We were in a really high-end mall last Sunday and I was just looking at the pricetags and saying, I won't even buy this even if they were in pesos! In a way I felt like this country girl who's been let loose in the big city and I was amazed by all the flashing lights and fancy cars. But I also keep thinking what are all these for? I did not realize until that very moment how Tieling has changed me so much.

And still I feel that I haven't given it that much of a chance to be liked yet. But another thing that despairs me is its sheer size! Yesterday, I thought I'd be more adventurous and take the subway by myself. Look around. Explore beyond the neighborhood. I had taken the subway with Troy at least a couple of times before and it wasn't as confusing as I feared. I made a plan. I would get off at wherever seemed interesting then just explore galore! Armed with my map and my dictionary, as well as all the other essentials, I set out for the subway station. Except I couldn't find it. I walked around. And around. And around. I gave up and walked back to the complex.

While I do not want to totally give up on Beijing yet, I'm beginning to think that things aren't exactly looking great. I've gotten in touch with my high school principal who sends people to China to teach and he's offering me a job in Fujian. I won't really be teaching there as much as training middle school English teachers to teach. I know how I've always said that I want to visit Fujian one day but I didn't think it was going to be this soon. But then maybe it's the universe's way of saying that it's time. Everything is still under negotiation. Nothing final yet but if things do push through, I'll be leaving Beijing by the end of the month and flying to the land of my ancestors.

I do not know exactly how to feel. There's a bit of anticipation, perhaps. No, not just a bit. I am now wondering how it would feel like to hear thousands of people talking in a language that I've always associated with my lost past. My first few months in China had me in a daze as certain parts of my braincells awaken to the sound of Putonghua. And I taste both the rawness and familiarity of it in my tongue as I struggle to form words and sentences in it. It was like being in a dream where I could understand what they were saying but I couldn't make myself be understood. I can just imagine how Minnanhua will shake the very core of me. I have always felt that languages define my reality, no matter how limiting they are. I had not heard Minnanhua for a really long time and I would suddenly be submerged into it again. Just like the time, I imagine, when I was in the womb.

The Waiting Game (A Fastfood Fiction)

She was happy to find someone to talk to. Sure he was miles and miles away but he was nice and sweet and smart and he made her laugh. They'd been chatting at about the same time everyday until one day when he didn't show up. She waited and waited. She waited until she felt stupid for waiting. She then decided not to wait anymore. So the next day, she pretended not to wait. She was on invisible mode. She watched a movie while not waiting and laughed on the funny parts. She thought of how he would also enjoy that movie and how they could laugh together. Just before the movie ended, there was a notice that he had gotten offline. Then she regretted pretending not to wait.

Crashed Eggs on the Street

That pretty much explains everything. I was doing my usual exploration of the neighborhood when I came upon a sudden yellow on the street. I whisked my camera and started shooting as curious Beijingers looked on. I regret not taking more pictures....

Exploring Beijing Alone

I started exploring on my own yesterday. I was able to go to a big appliance store and nothing else. It rained so hard that I had to go back home dripping wet. I tried again today. These are the products of my aimless stroll.

Catholic Churches in China

I started taking pictures of Catholic churches in China because I didn't think there would be any at all. The three pictures from TieLing are of the same one.

Beijing. Day 2

a charming little place that serves Malaysian cuisine

We first had lunch in Cafe Sambal, a charming little place that serves Malaysian cuisine. Then, we went to a huge bookstore that actually have books in English! Finally! They also have books in other foreign languages as well. We then went to a huge shopping mall that I described to Troy as 'extravagant'. There are no shopping malls of this calibre in Tieling!

It was very smoggy (which is normal Beijing weather because of the pollution) humid so Forbidden City was reserved for another day. We did go to Tian'anmen Square for a walk. I couldn't take good clear pictures because of the smog so these are the best I could do.

Is Beijing Ready for Me?

No seat! But a nice man gave me one. He had to fight an evil woman to let me have it. It was a long and loud argument on why I should be given the seat and not her son (she was already sitting. She beat me to HER seat). In the end, I got the seat.

I survived the 7-hour train ride. Beijing doesn't have a choice. It'll have to be ready for me.

More Farewell Dinners and Some Farewell Gifts

Thursday night. Time was running out. I first had dinner with my headmaster, Wendy and Jason in the restaurant where I had my first dinner when I came to TieLing. Talk about going full circle.

I had to rush to my next dinner with Rain, Ivy, Bill and Helen (Jason came later).

A Day with Andy1

I had to go to Shenyang one last time before I leave TieLing because I had to get my HSK certificate. Last Wednesday, as promised, Andy accompanied me to LiaoNing University.

We agreed to meet at the train station at 8:40am, and as usual, he was late. I called him up at 8:20 because I had a funny feeling that he was still in dreamland. I was right. I got to the station at around 9 and took pictures of the TieLing train station while waiting for him.

Because we were late for the 9am train, we took the 11am one and arrived at a little past 12. We first had lunch in a resturant called Nuba where we hung out for almost three hours before going to get the certificate because we liked it so much. The food was great and very cheap, and most especially, it had a drink-all-you-can promo that comes with the meals.

We did some window-shopping before going back to TieLing. Once we got back, we met Tide for a farewell dinner of sorts. All in all, it was a great day.

Despedida with Friends from New Hope

I've been to farewell dinners and/or HSK celebratory dinners for a few nights in a row. This is one of them.

Bee Buddies

I've been meaning to post these pictures for a long time. These are my friends from The Bee House Club. Valla, the Russian dancer (of course she's the blonde), was the first to leave followed about a month after by the Pinoy couple Marvin and Joy. Now it's my turn.

Why do I look huge beside them? It's the jacket!

Packing and Jason's Goodbye Message

I really just wanted to try out the video feature of my camera. For lack of anything to shoot, I made a video of my things as I was in the middle of packing my stuff. I caught Jason on his way out and he was forced to give me a farewell message of sorts. So this is what this "movie" is all about.

Oh, and I "edited" it using Windows Movie Maker. I feel so tech-savvy!

These made me smile...

Leaving

I am now officially unemployed. Jobless. A bum. I had my last class yesterday morning. At noon, my friend and I went to the train
station and tried to buy a ticket to Beijing. We were asked to come back on Wednesday because there were no more tickets for seats available. The woman said there might be some on Wednesday. And there I thought the earlier I went to buy one, the better.

Today, I will start packing. I will try and put a year's worth of memories in boxes and suitcases. Must try and make them all fit into what little space I could spare. But then ultimately, I will be weighing one against the other: the little stuffed elephant given at the end of a date or the paperweight birthday gift? 

I'm leaving on Friday, possibly never to return. That is what makes this leaving a particularly hard one. Whenever I tell people that I'm leaving, their first question was almost always "When are you coming back?" I stare at the person for maybe three seconds, searching for words. "You're never coming back?" I look down and mumble, "Maybe only for a visit."

I don't know how to do it. I never know what to say.

Ivy (from the time when I first wanted to go): You're so selfish. Who will I talk to about Chinese stars?

Andy1: On Friday? That's too fast. Aiya, that's too fast. Are you coming back?

Tide: If I introduce a good boy to you, will you stay here forever?

Sandra (our baby in class, the youngest at 9): Why why why why, teacher? I will cry.

Linda (another student): Why don't you want to teach me? You're bad.

Maggie (a student at the college): Why go to Beijing? Just stay in my hometown in HunNan. Let's go together.

Vivian (my weekend assistant who has become a very good friend): Now I wish you were Chinese so you won't have to leave.

Rain: Holy shit! I need to get you drunk before you leave.


When I first came, one of the things that I told myself is not to get too attached. It's just a year. No use making it unnecessarily hard for myself as well as the people around me when it's time to go. I had always been aware of the transient nature of my life here. I failed miserably. I know now how impossible that is.

Maybe that's what I'll be good at: living, loving then leaving.

In the meantime, I'll enjoy being a bum.

Narcissism Overdrive

Because I'm narcissistic, I google my name from time to time just to see how I'm presented in the cyberworld. Of course the same results come out most of the time because, come on, it's not as if people would actually make fansites for me.

Imagine my delight when I came across this. Or copy and paste this URL: http://www.dlsu.edu.ph/offices/sps/cao/calendar.asp

Not a fansite but almost as good. Just in case you're lazy and do not want to open another window, here is the reason for my happiness:

Aug 3 & 9, 2006
Harlequin Theatre Guild Festival 2006: Malate Literary Folio
                            Time: 7:30 – 9:00p.m.
                            Venue:
William Shaw Little Theatre
                            Ticket price: P80.00


Witness a feast of Lasallian artistry as the Harlequin Theatre Guild
gives tribute to the best works in Malate Literary Folio such as The
Test by Althea Ricardo, Eyeball by Cynthia Diangson, Kawil by Joni
Cham, and Kwentong Butchero by Johannes Chua, staged for the very first
time by the newest members of the guild.

*girlish giggle*

Wa... wait... P80.00 ticket price? They're going to make money out of my short story? Shouldn't I get paid royalty or something? How come nobody asked for my permission? Oh no, wait a sec! People are actually going to pay to listen to my short story read aloud? WOW!

Of course I'm sure 90% of the audience will be students forced by their Lit profs to attend. But it doesn't matter!!! I'm going to be read aloud. Heck, I'm being paid tribute to! Heehee, I'm happy!