On Becoming a Resident of Beijing

The last few days I have been exploring the city in fairly small groups. On Tuesday night, Rio, Lily, and I went to Wudaokou and scoped out some bars, looking for pool tables. We settled on one near a club we had gone to the week prior. There was only one table, and a 10RMB fee per game, but it was a nice table, and we wanted to play pool.

So we played pool. I ordered a burger that tasted pretty good. It was a nightly special: 10RMB burgers from 11PM-3AM. We talked to some of the others at the bar that night. For our last game we played partners. The fourth player was a local Chinese girl who absolutely could not play pool. She was cool, though, and we gave her our numbers.

Last Thursday, Lily and I went to the Beijing Zoo. It was much like a zoo in the United States. Animals were in cages, and grouped into themes. Pheasants were together. Large cats were together. African animals were together. The pens even looked similar to those you would find in America. But it is amazing how a little local spice can completely change the atmosphere.

People in China do not take the same precautions as Americans do. For example, windows in tall buildings do not have screens or any sort of safety against defenestration. Cars weave in and out of traffic, coming within inches of other cars - and pedestrians. And children walk around with holes in the back of their pants so they can take a crap no matter where they are at the time.

So, naturally, Chinese do not tend to follow regulations about animal-patron interaction. The black bears sat on their rumps and begged for the little bits of sausage that people were throwing them. A golden Yunnan monkey stuck its arm out of its cage to catch a bag of chips that a child had thrown to it. It shuffled off and picked at the bag in a corner. A child nearly had his fingers bitten off by an ostrich and I got to pet a zebra. They feel just like regular horses.

Yesterday Ben, Donghwan, and I went to Wudaokou and got pizza. It was a nice place. The employees spoke Chinese almost exclusively, but they had an actual stone oven in the corner of the place. We watched the cooks make the pizza from scratch. We then went to this DVD store that sold pretty much any recent movie and TV show (and plenty of not-so-recent DVDs. They had the complete series of Ally McBeal). We then shopped around the area. I bought a (faux) leather jacket. It looks quite nice and will hopefully keep me warm throughout my stay here.

I think I'm starting to get - if not comfortable - accustomed to life here. I still complain about parts on a daily basis. But what coalesced all these events together into a wider picture was something that happened this morning. I usually eat breakfast around 9AM. Today I got a fried egg, baozi, and a chunk of fried bread. I was thirsty after so I got myself a drink. The normal drink station is closed in the morning, and they usually only sell a soy milk drink and a yogurt drink. Given that I did not want to deal with chunky yogurt in a straw, I got the soy milk, as I usually do for breakfast.

On my way back to my bike I started sipping my drink. It was tepid, neither hot nor cold. What I said did not immediately strike me as odd, but when I realized what I had said, I was quite taken aback. To myself, I wondered: why is this milk so cold? I wish it were warmer; I like it better that way.