Winner of December cute car award

New apartment (finally)

No more roommates 8-)

Dropping the kid off at school

At 7am in the morning on week days when I'm scurrying off to the gym
it's comon to see many parent-child duos on bike as in this photo.
Admirable since it's also below freezing here and not all the bikes
have puffy handwarmers like this one does!

commuting on motorbike

Last two weeks early snow during commute hours caused many folks to converge on taxis for morning commute, to the point where it was quicker for me to hop on a modi (moe-dee 摩的). This is a passenger box set on a 3-wheeled motorcycle. Passenger sits in the back of the box facing backwards. Cost about same as taxi, but I think that's because there was such demand from overflow from taxis. It's warm inside, if not a little stuffy. And it beats walking through the slush.

Team-building Day

Catching up on updates. Last weekend (Fri) went on a team-building trip to climb Fragrant Hill (香山) in the outskirts of BJ and then a little karoake. It was c-o-l-d. We started the day eating some Old Beijing eats at a place called 那家(Najia) near the Hills, which happens to be a branch of the restaurant nr our office. Not sure how that got picked, but at least you know what you'll get.


Picture is us at peak. Note that while I'm taller than my coworkers, it's an optical illusion that I'm that tall - I think I'm standing a little closer to the camera. It's not an optical illusion that nearly all the people in my immediate group are female. Quite a difference from the rest of Amazon. They work very hard and don't take themselves too seriously. I like them a lot.



One observation I made on way up was that Chinese haven't quite learned about sports fashion, which I believe started in the US. There were many women walking with heels up the mountain (it's something between a hill and mountain), obviously out of vanity. But if they only knew that a pair of addidas and some sleek sweats, or a Nike running vest and pants set are quite fashionable, and a lot more comfortable. The young people get it, but the over 30's i think are still learning. Anyway, they will learn quickly and Addidas and Nike will profit handsomely, despite the knock-offs.


Fragrant Hills actually won out over another proposed team-building activity: hot springs (or warm springs which is the literal translation of the chinese 温泉, the Chinese equivalent of the Japanese onsen). At first I thought hot springs sounded fun, but then the thought of being in bathing suits with coworkers changed my mind. Luckily the idea was scuttled at some point.



In the evening we bussed down to the Cashbox for some karaoke - or, kaah-laa-OK, as they pronounce it here. And actually they're probably right, since it started in Taiwan, or Japan, or someplace here.


Note that I am the male on the left. The other male is my office mate, CK, who is a Taiwanese McKinsey alum who spent significant time in the US, and some time in JP. I note that you might confuse the two of us, because I myself have trouble differentiating Asians sometimes. I have always had some difficulty recognizing faces, but being here in China accentuates this. I think it may be because I was raised in the States with very few contacts with Asians (outside of immediate family) early on. I don't have much talent for kaah-la-OK, but my coworkers were quite talented. I think it may be part of the standardized college entrance exam, which means that they were required to master it.


From there I went straight to Stephanie Parry's non-Halloween Halloween get-together at she and her husband Warren's pad. Stephanie is a friend of Elaine and Gavin, who I also had dins with when I first got to BJ. Coincidentally Warren, a Microsoftie, had been on a team-building exercise on Fragrant Hills that day as well. Of course, since they are Microsoft they have to do something over the top, which was playing laser tag on Fragrant Hills. However, Warren and Stephanie were fun to hang out with, and Stephanie's classmates from her exec mba program here in BJ were the expat stereotype. Enjoyed the conversation - I hadn't hung out with expats much at all before this evening in order to "go native". But I should do it more.

on the need to brush one's teeth ... regularly

Recently been very busy so haven't been able to update. Last night had dinner with Amy Celico who was on her second business trip to BJ in the almost 3 months I've been here. She had a client with her from ETS - the company that runs the GRE/SAT/LSAT etc battery of college/grad school entrance exams. I was surprised to learn that they are a non-profit, with a mission of making higher education at elite schools accessible to the general public. I've never been a fan of ETS, so I was amused to learn that that for-profit businesses are taking their market share, and China is the next promising battleground. [location: Cafe Simbal at 旧鼓楼大街豆腐池胡同４３号]



This weekend Chloe, a new friend I met through my housemate Andy (housemate in chinese is shiyou - literally room friend) took Andy and me out for eats at a Kejia restaurant near Houhai - a pleasant bar strip that runs along the Houhai lake. However and was only able to eat some rice and tofu due to a very painful toothache that began last night. [Kejia is a minority group in Southern China, and we think that my Chinese ancestors were Kejia people.]



It's interesting that many of Andy's friends are not desperate to work. Chloe just quit her job as the head editor for an cellphone news service. It was a hectic job, as I'm finding many jobs in the big city are. Now she's taking 3 weeks to study English and figure out what to do next. Andy also quit his job a while ago, because he didn't like his boss. It's interesting that with all the competition to find work (5MM college graduates this year!) and global economic slowdown, China seems to be doing OK. Of course, Chloe comes from a family of means, and Andy does piece-work PR projects now.


As Andy winced with every bite, conversation turned to my exemplary dental habits. People at work also note that I'm the only person in the company to brush his teeth after lunch. I told Chloe and Andy that I was a bit anal about that. (I had to translate the figurative meaning of "anal" to them - I probably should have chosen something a little less potty-esque for a brunch conversation.) In fact, many Chinese comment on how good my skin is, how young I look, how tall I am, how I look like I come from a rich country. This is interesting since in the US I quite average. Benefits of growing up in a country with a well-organized, wealthy government and society (that accepted fluoridation). I'm a beneficiary of the genetic lottery, as Buffet would say.


On the way back the three of us stopped at one of those very fragrant Chinese medicine places that one sees in any Chinatown in the states. They asked the pharmacists there for a recommendation and got some topical stuff and some pills - none of which were effective. I was amused to find they had a section for foreign drugs including Bufferin and Tylenol. But most of the place had the smelly Chinese stuff!

Afterwards we took him to the health clinic in our apartment complex. An indication of the quality of health care here was that earlier in the day he had contemplated going, but wanted to call his dad to be sure he wouldn't get ripped off. They couldn't treat his absess until tomorrow, but they sold him more drugs - which again turned out not to be very effective. I ended up giving him one of my sleeping pills so he could at least get a few winks.


Makes me glad I pushed to have my package include a global health plan, so I can stick with Western clinics. Chinese hospitals are notorious for long waits and so-so conditions.


Was going to swim this evening, but my back is bothering me for some reason so will rest - and update the blog!

Taxi ride to work

Subways quite modern, comparable to the US in younger cities (not the decrepit systems in NYC and Boston) but usually mobbed in commute hours. Luckily taxis are cheap: about usd 1.50 one way to work- or 30 minute walk, which was great in the summer time (for walkin chats with Kari) but less attractive in winter!

Line in front of our apartment

Since we are in a shared residential and business complex, mornings are hectic as people pile into their day jobs. Luckily I'm going against traffic.

Skype connection to Kari

Chatting with kari (eating pork). Other than communicating with Kari, I'm not sure why else I'd use Skype. And it's a free video call. Ebay just sold this company for $2-3B? Well, even if they screwed up the first time, judging from valuation they did about as well as they could to minimize the investment loss. $2-3B is a lot of IDD calls (at $0.02/minute!)

Winner: Cute Car Award

Pandemonium at marathon warm ups

转发: Spam in china

Hormel saw the opportunity early

Olympic Park packet pick-up

Picked up half-marathon registration packet at Olympic Park today - took off early from work to avoid Saturday crowds.



Note dancing panda looking a bit dusty. Most of the park looked that way. I guess there's not much else to do with an Olymic park after the event. Much like Seattle Center.

Learned they don't give out timing chips for half-marathon - only for full marathon. What a gip, especially since I paid expat registration fee (4x local rate). What a racket.

The apartment (for next 3 months or so)

Kitchen
Living room dining area (we never use this dining table)

Living room area (light from windows caused camera to increase shutter speed so it's a bit dark)

Closets in my bedroom

Bedroom view from door

morning missles

国庆节：Picture is of missle carrier passing our apartment this morning - part of the parade that eventually went past Forbidden City. If you look very carefully in the center you can see the missle carrier on the road that runs horizontal in pic - it has ten wheels. Later saw on TV that they had a big float honoring Mao - so some things will never change. In morning tried going on a run to our office near 4th ring road, which I thought would be away from hubbub. Nope. I found all roads blocked on the way due to throngs of tanks and military things filling the streets.