No VPN...

The last week before you move is always frantic.  Finish working and teaching, get your host family a teaching plan for the next 2 months, have dinner and/or lunch with 4 people and tell 12 others that you're going to do your best to meet them, even though you know it is physically impossible.  Get a suit from Yaxiu clothing market, where I paid about $200 for a three piece, which might have been a little high but in my defense I didn’t have much time to bargain, “I chose a good material,” and the suit surprisingly came out great.  Get one more $3 haircut. Don’t forget gifts for everyone you have encountered in your time in China.  Don’t forget gifts for everyone back home.  Exchange your currency to that lovely green American paper that we all love, but beware, I found out the day before I left that China only lets foreigners exchange $500 worth of RMB per day.  How 麻烦 (inconvenient) is that? Pack your stuff, lose that bloody VPN, cancel your phone, and finally don’t sleep the night before you get on the plane to accelerate your superhuman ability to adjust to new times zones in 48 hours.

So what have I learned in China?  I have realized that what my boss told me on the first day at USCBC was absolutely correct.  He said, before you come to China, you could write a 100 pages about it, after arriving you can only write a few dozen, after a few months only a page or two, and by the time you leave you can't write anything.  He says this because of how quickly China is churning and also due to the complicated nature of its development.  There are regional and cultural differences within China, different laws and exceptions to rules all over the place, things that would impress you and things that would make you shake your head. But regardless of what new things you discover in China, it is all changing at the speed of sound.  And as much as I appreciate the openness and transparency of Western news media, it does not do a particularly good job of capturing the essence of China's development and new trends.  It tends to focus more on hot button issues such as currency manipulation, which really is only one small piece to the puzzle here.

It has become tradition in the Bejing Office of the USCBC to ask their interns what they have learned while working there.  So over lunch, my manager asked me and told me that I could respond in Chinese or English.  She gave me a moment to collect my thoughts and I was surprisingly able to respond in Chinese by saying that working with the USCBC has given me a firsthand look at the structure of the Chinese government and how it influences all American business interests.  I have gotten a glimpse of the business culture here in China, what challenges American firms face, and what best practices are for conducting business.  I have had the chance to continue using my Chinese both orally and through my research projects.  I have gained so many other noteworthy experiences while here at the USCBC, but it will likely be years before I fully realize all that I have learned or how it will all help me.

I have grown personally.  Navigating another country using a foreign language is no easy task, and doing that while living on your own makes it even more challenging.  This summer, for the first time in my life, I only spent the money that I had earned from working and truly began to understand what it means to "be on your own." It's a critical experience for many of us and I'm glad that I was able to discover it before I graduated college.  I feel like I have strengthened my survival skills and become a more responsible young adult.  In fact, when you finally come to the realization that you have to face fierce competition from every country in the world and that you and only you are responsible for your success within that scope, it is very stimulating.  Before coming to China, I was aware of this notion in theory, but in reality, I had not felt the effects of globalization or the real-life challenges of supporting yourself.

Sitting here at gate E08 of Beijing International Airport, looking at the plane I am about to board stirs up a lot of emotion. It has been a fantastic time in China, and I owe a lot of that to being surrounded by good people, namely a great roommate and his family in Shanghai, great classmates, a generous host family in Beijing, and the diligent staff at the USCBC.  I miss China already and while I don't know how it will play into my long-term personal and professional goals, I do know that it already holds a very, very special place in my heart.  Until next time, China, farewell.

I Still Have One Trip Left in Me

^Zhang Ning and me at the Great Wall at Badaling.  I finally made it!

I made two final trips while in Beijing, which have brought my time in China to a nice closing.  I finally made it the Great Wall, which I was really beginning to worry about with so little time left.  Fortunately, my Chinese teacher, Zhang Ning, gladly accepted my invitation to go because she had never been either!  So I thought of my classmates from last semester, Ally, David, and Rebecca as I went to go buy the tickets. While we were in Tibet we always joked about the stereotypical Chinese tour groups with the screaming tour guide trailed by a pack of bumbling Chinese people.  Well, I finally joined one of those groups to see what the hype was all about and we went to the Great Wall at Badaling.  The tour guide was actually pretty funny and I had a nice day, even with all the tourists.

^Jessi and me making her first sandcastle on the beach at Beidaihe.

^The result!

The second trip was just as much spontaneous as it was appreciated.  Friday afternoon, Jessi, my English student, told me that at 7am the next day we were going to Beidaihe for the weekend.  Not only is Beidaihe the place where people claim the Chinese government hosts corrupt meetings, but it also happens to be essentially the only beach on China's northern coast.  Interesting, eh? I told a colleague where I was going and how excited I was to go to the beach and she gave me a heads up that it probably wasn't the kind of beach I had in mind from America.  She was right; it was almost like the Beijing metro, but with beach chairs and less clothing.  I still had a good time swimming and helping Jessi make her first sand castle (this always makes me think, what do these kids do when they're growing up).

^In Chinese, I jokingly said to my host father, "are those the private beaches?" meaning only government officials can use them, because that is how we would say it in English and the irony of his response was that they are not private, but rather public beaches because they are controlled by the government.  #ItsForThePeople

Back to Beijing for the last time, on this trip at least, for one final week of wrapping things up.

American Food?

Beijing's cuisine isn't bad if you stick to the well-travelled path. The Kro's Nest in Sanlitun is serving monstrous pizzas with topping options that could satisfy even the pickiest of New Yorkers.  We went here for a staff lunch last week and had a half-veggie and half-chicken and mushroom 20" pie.  There were 5 of us and we still couldn't finish the pie, but I should add that we ordered two good size salads for starters.

^ 20" Pie at the Kro's Nest.

If you are craving American food I have just the place for you. On a side note, once I say this my colleagues mockingly say, "after all, what is American food?" All you can do is smile and say that we have taken the best food from all other countries, added an American flair and marketing strategy to it, and sold it back to them with great returns.  So Steak and Eggs is an American style diner with the classics: omelettes, corned beef hash, waffles (extra maple syrup no doubt), B.L.T.s and even an awesome Chicken Cordon Bleu, which has an awesome white sauce that reminds me of the stuff my dad used to make with breakfast when I was a kid.  Top it all off with real A&W root beer, or better yet, a root beer float and you're all set, craving satisfied.

^Root beer float at Steak and Eggs.

Best spots for beer would include El Nido and Passby Bar, which both claim to have over a hundred varieties of imported beer, but actually back that statement up when you order something from a European micro brewery that no one has ever heard of.    Maomao Chong was voted best Hutong bar by the Beijinger last year or the year before, but I couldn't quite figure out why.  It seemed very run of the mill, but sometimes when you're in China, a little blandness and the security of knowing that they're using real Captain Morgan is all that you're looking for.

Recently, a few of the Middlebury students got together for dinner at another must-go place called Dali Courtyard.  When our friend led us through the tiny dingy alleyway before the restaurant we were all thinking, "wow, this guy really knows his stuff." So when we finally walked through the "whole in the wall" and into a courtyard with plenty of Western faces, we realized it must be a top pick by travel guides.  If you want to impress a group of friends or family visits Beijing, take them here though!  The menus is set, meaning you sit down, they count how many people you have, and delicious food comes, without having to go through the normal 30-minute ringamarole of ordering at a Chinese restaurant.

I wish I could give everyone a review, but the best I can do is toss a few more names out there!  Bar Blu is featuring great live music with my buddies Mike and Tony, always entertaining the crowd.  The Tree is serving up some noteworthy pizzas. Element Fresh in Sanlitun is always a safe bet for any crowd, Chinese or foreign.  The Bookworm is a great café scene.  Vineyard Café is a lovely brunch stop, with a fun Hutong to walk down after eating.

^The Dice Game at Bar Blu.

Settled in

^Hired by Uncle Sam's English on July 4th.  #'Merica.  The morning of the grand opening ceremony, they 'informed' me that I would be giving a brief speech.. once in English and the second time in Chinese.  I love the way things are done in China.  #WhyDidYouTrustMeToDoThat?

I think I haven't written in a while because I've gotten pretty used to living in China. My barber says, "same as last time?" when he sees me.  The lady I buy my fruits and vegetables from stopped complimenting me on my Chinese.  I go to work, I teach English, I study Chinese, in fact, I have gotten so efficient at handling things back home that I don't even think about time differences now; my meetings are always sometime between 9-11AM EST.  The only thing that hasn't normalized is riding the metro, which comes in varying degrees of excruciating.  It poured here today (and on a side note, I didn’t realize how serious the storm was until people in America started asking me if I was ok, read here) and no matter what time of day you get on the metro, it’s always packed and you're skin will be touching someone else's.  Add the smell of wet dog on top of that, and you've really got a hot mess on your hands.

^Tough work out here at the USCBC.

I do miss Shanghai for several reasons, maybe the first one being that you could always get a cab and the second one being that at least in the afternoons you could get a seat on the metro.  Beyond the superficial, I do miss my roommate Jeff, who just arrived in Minnesota for school, along with the chance to speak Chinese everyday.  It’s kind of ironic that when I left Shanghai, my Chinese was pretty good and I pledged to myself that I'd find an awesome group of new Chinese friends in Beijing. On top of that, I'd have to find Chinese girlfriend who could put up with awkwardly phrased Chinese text messages for a few months.

^The 12 year-old girl memorized a brief speech on the effects of technology on eduction. Wow.

Well, things don’t always work out as planned, but sometimes that’s for the better.  I have been teaching my host family’s daughter English about 5 times a week and if I have the chance, I have dinner with them in the evening.  So her father, who is a pretty high level manager in a bank here in China, is a brilliant guy, with English skills that far exceed my Chinese!  Well fortunately, he’s both smart and patient enough to work through our economically and politically charged conversations in Chinese, so I find myself talking with him for hours after dinner and learning so much about Chinese modern history and current events from a Chinese person’s perspective.  On top of that, I’m seeing first hand the struggles that the millions of young Chinese students face to get into competitive middle schools, just so they can get into a good high school that can prepare them for the Gaokao (the Chinese SAT, but on steroids).  The 12 year-old girl’s parents give her a lot of pressure and it really is out of hope for her to have a promising future.  Although its summer vacation, she tells me in perfect English that everyday from morning until night, her whole day is a series of blocks, starting with math lessons in the morning, two English lessons, piano practice, along with any of her other extracurriculars that she does. Living here in China has given me such a better inside look at what’s really happening in China, at least more so than what most Western media outlets can offer.

It is Good to be in Beijing

^The launch of the Boao Review, with Secretary-General Zhouwenzhong giving a speech

Man it is good to be in Beijing!  My work at the US-China Business Council has offered me unthinkable opportunities, such as attending a CEO-Dialogue between top American and Chinese business leaders.  I got to see the launch of a new magazine called the Boao Review, published by the Boao Forum, the leading organization that facilitates high-level exchanges between government leaders, business leaders, and academia in Asia.  My Chinese friends have introduced me to politicians, business leaders, and highly influential people in the Chinese community.  I’ve been to grand openings, such as the opening of the restaurant Q-Mex in Sanlitun, which even has a Mexican staff in the kitchen cranking out awesome guacamole.  While in Beijing, I’ve also had the chance to meet with a few teachers and fellow classmates from last summer’s Middlebury program.  Seeing them brings back great memories.  Plus I have one more friend there right now who has been sending me messages and updates on the Twilight Zone, better know as 明德大学 (Middlebury).

^Meet-up with Jin Ha in Beijing.  My friend Fran in the middle made a pig by blowing caramel.

It all seems sort of surreal.  When I think of all of the people that I’ve been introduced to in China, I ask myself, could I offer the same caliber of introductions to people back in the US?  To answer honestly, I still have some work to do.

This leads me to the next thing that I’ve given a lot of thought to and has been sort of the result of the previous situations.  My Chinese is good, but when I go to dinner with the Chief Representative of the Economist Magazine for China and the Head of International Programs at Qinghua University, and they discuss in-vitro fertilization, I’m sort of at a loss for words.  I’ve already invested so much in China, but I think every language learner will have days that they feel that they will never catch up on a lifetime’s worth of interactions and speaking.  So where will I be after graduation?

^The Beijing Office of the US-China Business Council.  We are one big family.

I flip back to my aspirations of becoming a consultant in China, and the necessity of speaking fluent Chinese, and it sort of complicates my first move.  I’m not sure if I’ll be able to discuss all of China’s intricacies at length by the time I graduate from undergrad, in which case, that makes me far less employable by a consulting firm in China.  However, my resolve is still strong.  In fact, Chinese has posed a challenge since day one.  But I have always looked at this seemingly impossible feat of learning Chinese with a sort of delusional Steve Job’s distortion field and surprisingly I’ve come a long way in a year and a half of learning Chinese.  When you start looking at the impossible as realities waiting to be pursued, a lot of opportunities become very clear.  As Deng Xiaoping famously said at the start of China’s Economic Reforms, “There is no turning back now.” (不走回头路)

"So which city is better?"

^Now this is just too much haha, traditional right?  Taken at the Forbidden City.

^Don't know how well you can see it, but if you double click this picture and open it, you will see there is an oval-shaped, silver building in the background, which is the National Center for the Performing Arts.  Picture taken from the top of Jingshan Hill at the back of the Forbidden City.  Seeing these two scenes together makes me wonder what Beijing's really is.

“So which city is better?” It’s the question that I’m asked every day by Beijingers comparing their city to Shanghai. Their really is some sort of rivalry between these two cities.  Well, when it really comes down to it, they’re both great and I think its up to the person.  Personally, I think Shanghai claims to be one thing, and only thing only, a bustling business city with some of the flashiest new money I have ever seen.  While at the same time, Beijing tries to take on a more traditional Chinese atmosphere accompanied by “older money.”  But I mean, come on what really is traditional Chinese anymore?  And hasn’t everyone really made their money in the last 20 years?  Sorry to be a cynic, but I feel that Beijing sort of has identity crisis.  One thing is for sure, when you drive past, 中南海 (Zhongnanhai – central government’s compound) or 天安门 (Tiananmen – yes, that one), you get the sense that you are in the capital of a very powerful nation.

^Tiananmen at night is even better than the daytime.

So apart from the regular stops, 天坛 (Tiantan – Temple of Heaven, also 5 minutes from where I live), 故宫 (Gugong – The Forbidden City), and 颐和园 (Yiheyuan – The Summer Palace), I have been on a mission to see the entire city.  I’ve been from Fortune Plaza in Guomao to Apple in Sanlitun(er) village, from Chinese classes at Dawanglu to teaching English at a public school in Anzhenmen, from interning in Jianguomen to a 发改委(Fagaiwei – National Development and Reform Commission) meeting in Xidan, from my apartment in Ciqikou to the house of the family that offered me this place in Nanlishilu, but don’t forget the 30,000 English teaching interviews that I have had everywhere from Suzhoujie to Zhongguancun to Xizhimen, but without fail they tell me every time that they wish I had more time and are not sure if there are enough part time students (thanks for making me ride the metro for an hour and half, its 100 degrees today, you couldn’t have told me that on Skype?)

^This gets me every time.  On every sign, they made sure to point out that all of these things had been savagely destroyed by Anglo-French Forces in the 1800's and then rebuilt, but I don't think I've ever seen a sign at a traditional Chinese site that said, "Savagely destroyed by Maozedong's Cultural Revolution in 1966 and then rebuilt."

Name a metro stop and I’ve likely been there.  I’ve lived here for three weeks now and I feel like I lived here my whole life.  But what has made this all so much better is realizing that all of my Chinese classmates from GWU have come back to China, and one by one, I’ve had a chance to have dinner with them, or attend an event with their family, or eat at the street stands in the middle of the night in Sanlitun(er).  Then there’s Morgan, my Sigma Chi fraternity brother, who is interning here for the summer and at this point we see each several times each weekend without fail.

^Thank you for jumping in the picture. Morgan, some Chinese woman, and me.

And recently, I was having brunch at The Veggie Table (which is a must-have by the way, if you're looking for a change of pace, with organics and hummus that is to die for) with a friend visiting from Shanghai and her local Chinese friend.  Her local friend holds a law degree from Northeastern in Boston and is an absolute riot.  So she goes, “Hey Todd, have you heard that foreign guys are the kings of 7’s here in China?”  And I tell her no; I didn’t know what she was referring to.  So she goes on to explain that on a woman evaluation scale of 1-10, foreign guys can lock down up to 7 all day, but you rarely see a foreign guy with an 8, 9, or 10, which mind you is an amazing girl anywhere in the world.  And her reasoning is that foreign guys have enough of a reputation that precedes them that they can get 7’s, or the foreign guy has enough money that the girl is willing to brush off her Chinese values for a little while to enjoy a nice bottle of wine and dinner.  But when you consider 8, 9, and 10’s, they have a personality and the looks to go with it.  Plus they’re probably educated, speak Chinese and English, and expect you to have all of the above as well.  Well, I kind of thought to myself, jees, this girl’s theory is dead on, everywhere you go, you see a western guy (mid-level manager of course, no one above that would dare do this in public) with a 7 on his arm, obviously a Chinese fling.  And I thought to myself, I guess I had better keep studying Chinese if I really want to find my 8, 9, or 10..

^GWU classmate, Arisa Hu, and I watching some Mongolian performers.

To Beijing and Beyond

As we progressed trough the semester, many of us agreed that 4 months in Shanghai just wasn’t going to be enough.  I knew that for sure, so I began relentlessly looking for positions here in China, while at the same time looking for positions back in the States just to make sure I would have an internship for the summer.  Well, I got really lucky and heard back from the Washington, DC and Beijing office of the US-China Business Council.  It has been my dream to work at this company since I first arrived in Washington, DC and started studying Chinese.  So although it was a very difficult decision, I opted to stay in Beijing to continue using the language, learn more about China, and especially learn about another city.  Now how do I find a place to live?  What happens to my Visa?  Phone numbers, metro systems, train tickets, new relationships, the list goes on.  It isn't an easy task if the company isn’t planning your whole life for you.  And news flash, for many Westerners thinking they are going to get flown to China, put up in a place to stay, offered great compensation, just for speaking a few lines of a Chinese, think again, its getting very competitive out here and if you want all that, you’ll have to be indispensable.

So I figured the best mix of experience and cost-effectiveness would be a homestay with a Chinese family.  I mean, I loved living with my Chinese roommate, so I set out to find a family that could put me up for a reasonable price, and maybe I could teach their English as partial payment.  Well, I quickly started realizing, some families were offering free homestays in exchange for English teaching.  So that was that, I sent like 1,000 emails, and finally one family said they were interested in me, but because they have a daughter, they would need a woman to live with them.  Surgery is kind of expensive so what could I do besides tell them I’m a neat, respectful, young man?  So in response, they had a solution to this “problem.”  They had an extra apartment not too far from where I am working this summer and said if I could teacher their daughter English 7 hours a week, the place was mine. Well for an apartment with two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom, I could certainly teach 7 hours a week.  With my other time, I will teach English to make a little extra money.

^New place in Beijing.

So here I am in Beijing, just registered as a resident of the city, and continuing my journey in China.  If you’re also contemplating a spring abroad, try to stay on board through the summer.  4-6 months just isn’t enough to learn about a country.  And don’t always go for the conventional route, there a lot of opportunities out there and a free apartment in exchange for English lessons ain’t so bad.  Drop me a line if you’re ever in Beijing!

^Now a resident in Beijing!