Happy New Year!

After two years, I finally escaped!  The blog has not been updated in ages, because much of the news has been on Facebook or has not been worthy of blogging.  

So here is the latest in my Travels and Adventures!  


I arrived in Beijing on October 29 (an auspicious day), and hit the ground running.  The first month was spent living in a hotel, working full time, searching for an apartment, learning my way around, meeting new colleagues, and catching up with old friends.  As the most urgent issue, finding a new home involved contacting several realtors, trying to stay within a specific area near the subway, keeping to a budget, and prioritizing my list of “needs vs. wants” in an apartment.  I ended up with a nice place in a local neighbourhood and very near the subway, but without gym facilities.  It’s about 100 square meters (no, I cannot do the math), two bedrooms, sparsely furnished in IKEA style, on the 6^th floor overlooking nothing interesting.  Most importantly, it’s very quiet.  

Living room - looks like the IKEA showrooms!

The park across the street from my apartment is peaceful,
with a lake in the middle that has been frozen this winter.

Home gym:  a few weights and a yoga mat.
The real workouts are at hotel fitness centers
while I am travelling. 

Decorations at my apartment complex include
a fake tree covered with xmas lights,
pictures of Santa and dancing snowmen,
and Lunar New Year decorations.
Yes, all at the same time.



My office is an easy half-hour commute by subway, and hopefully it will also be an easy bike ride one day.  (My Trek has just barely braved the Beijing streets!)  It’s a nice office, with four walls and a real desk -- no cubicle for me!  J  It is also a very welcoming place, with lots of plants, coffee and tea, plenty of office supplies, and windows.  My colleagues at IIE are great, and they have been very supportive, helping me set up my phone and bank account, showing me around the area, offering advice and tips, and even inviting me home to dinner.  I am learning a lot from this group!

Oh yuck - Beijing air at 445!
Anything over 25 is unhealthy.

You can't stop me, Beijing pollution!
I am ready with my superhero mask!

The job is interesting so far.  I am a regional coordinator for an educational advising program that helps local students learn about U.S. higher education and then navigate the process of applying to colleges and universities in the U.S.  My job is to work with all of the offices in the China & Mongolia region, making sure the programs are running smoothly, educational advisors have what they need to do their jobs well, and discussing ways to improve outreach in each of the regional areas.  I am still figuring it out, and spending a lot of time meeting people and having conversations.  I think that is a lot of the work, developing a large network of contacts to be able to reach out to coordinate or to put people in touch when necessary.  I spend a lot of time on email (and who doesn’t) and am starting to spend more and more time travelling. 

My office, in Haidian university area. 

The travel is probably the best part of the job.  In early December I went to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.  It was my first trip, and quite successful I think.  My colleagues there set up a full schedule of events for me and kept me busy all week. (Of course I managed a little time for being a tourist too!)  I hope other trips are as productive as that one.  The next three months are already planned out with eight more trips.  (Ask me in April how the job is going!)

Downtown Ulaanbaatar -
the hills at the edge of the city
are behind the smog.

At a Buddhist monastery in Mongolia,
ffffrrreeeezzzing cold!!

Ooh, I feel so important!
This is the announcement for my presentation
at the American Corner in Ulaanbaatar.

This young man played
Mongolian horsehead fiddle
for a student ceremony
at the American Corner in Ulaanbaatar.

Young students at an awards ceremony
with the American Ambassador,
holding signs that say "Access is..."
to describe their Access English program.

Hanging out with Genghis Khan
in the city square

This visit was in early December, before the bitter cold of winter, but still with temps well below freezing every day.  The city also suffers from pollution like Beijing, but it seems to clear up more quickly.  I found the people to be very nice, and the city easy to get around. I also found it to be a weird mix of structure (thank you Soviet Union) and chaos (thank you China), which was rather amusing.

Making friends with Mongol invaders...

Prayer wheels at a monastery

Sukhbaatar Square -
with Sukhbaatar on his horse
with xmas tree behind him
and Dubai-style hotel in the background

Inside the monastery -

This statue is about 80 ft tall!

Beijing has changed a lot since the last time I lived here in 2005.  There is so much new development!  Many people ask me how Beijing has changed since the last time – my answer is always the same:  it is cleaner, and it is dirtier.  The ground is cleaner, with much less trash and icky stuff on the ground, thanks to trash and recycling bins everywhere.  The skies however are much dirtier, and the pollution is noticeable.  

The subway is very new to me – when I was here last, there were only two lines, and it was not very well used.  Now, there are billions of people on all 14 or 15 lines, all the time.  It’s quite efficient and clean.  People are still a bit crazy, jamming into every last space of the train car, pushing and shoving to get onto the escalator first, staring at the tall foreigner packed in there with them.  (Maybe one day I’ll get used to that.) 

I have no idea
what this really is -
there are two in my subway station!

Some things never change, however:  the strange and funny things I see every day in the city, as well as the adventures both frustrating and laughable. 

Not sure if Santa Claus was

being lynched or just decorating

the tree - yet another Beijing weirdity.

Yes, a giant duck
in a chef's hat!

 

Oh look, I have arrived!  

"Holiland" is a bakery chain here :-)

I still have weird friends, even here.

And I still think this is dinner!

For the past month it has been incredibly festive here, with lots of pictures of Santa Claus, trees decorated with lights, endless holiday songs playing (apparently George Michael paid off the radio stations in Mongolia to loop every version of “Last Christmas”!) and lots of Christmas / New Year greetings.  Next, all of the stores geared up for Chinese New Year (the Lunar New Year at the end of January) with red and gold decorations and Chinese lanterns galore. 

There have been random fireworks shows here (some safe, some not really), such as these outside my window: 

 

I hope you enjoy the photos here.  I’ll try to keep up with blogging every month or two, in between travels and adventures!  Happy New Year to everyone!