Well, I was busy, so, no updates for anyone still reading this over the last 2 months. I will try my best to recap it.
Upon arrival to China, I got a really sweet setup thanks to Tian Laoshi. Rather than my own apartment or dorms, I had a homestay with a very nice old couple who has spent a fair amount of time abroad in Germany working at the embassy there. My rent was $210 USD a month; this got me my own floor with a large bedroom, heating, a TV, wireless broadband, a bathroom, 2 balconies, a lounge, a minifridge, and access to the kitchen and washing machine. This was a very very very good setup. My place was on 巴沟村 in 万泉新新家园, 五号楼. I have been to the only Papa John’s Pizza in Beijing, and it was actually rather decent. I also found a Tex-mex restaurant called “Nina’s” on Wudaokou. It is authentic, and decently priced. More than a chinese restaurant, but not as bad as it would be in the states. It is the ONLY good tex-mex restaurant in Beijing, and it is within walking distance from Beida East Gate.
The major difference this time was that in the summer, I went to have classes and learn in a formal or semi-formal environment. This time, I went to learn how to live, expand my horizons, and apply at Beiwai. More or less, just have fun. I came at the end of the semester, so this meant that Yanan, Quishi, and Yangfei had no classes. However, this was also the run-up to 春节. In China, this means that everyone is heading back home. We all had some meals together at various times, then Yangfei went home, followed by Yanan a little later. I went to Baoding to see Yangfei and meet her family for a few days.
保定 is a “small” city of 800,000+ about an hour or so by train from Beijing. Somehow, I was the only foreigner in the city from what I could tell. Her house was rather nice and comfortable, but, there was no extra bed, so I stayed at a hotel. The first hotel was a 1-night only experience. It smelled of a gas leak to say the least. It was rustic, but it was fun. Baoding still requires foreigners to stay in foreigner-approved hotels. I can accept this, even though they like to charge more. This hotel’s staff had apparently never had a foreigner, and they had no idea what the information on my passport meant. It was fun either way. The next day, I changed to a 3-star hotel closer to Yangfei’s house that is the 2nd best hotel in Baoding (she got me a discount rate). It wasn’t anything special, but I really don’t care anymore about pointless comforts. After changing hotels, we went to get me a haircut for 6kuai. I apologize to my barbers in DG and StC, but this was by far the best haircut I have ever had. Other than that, I used this time to more or less just hang out and get to know her and her family better. It was a fun time. We ate, cooked, watched movies, etc. I introduced her to some western cooking, and she introduced me to good chinese movies. I am going to have to visit again when I get the chance. Baoding is a nice city, it is “Milwaukee-sized” except that there is stuff to do. Yangfei also introduced me to the joys of 驴肉 and Cultural Revolution-era Chinese movies. I also learned the joys of making Jiaozi from her dad one night. The whole thing was all over far too soon, and I had to go back to Beijing. 
In Beijing, I basically got very bored. My hostfamily had relatives over from time to time who I talked with some. However, with all of my friends somewhere other than Beijing, it was pretty boring. I passed the time by just chatting with Chinese people, guards, and I bought a convection oven at Carrefour on sale for 189kuai. I perfected my own methods and preferences for pizza, pretzels, cookies, etc. I also learned another important thing about cooking western foods in China. You find out fast exactly what ingredients you need to make basic foods, because those ingredients are nowhere to be found. My parents sent me goodies like Basil, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and Vanilla. I was able to track down Oregano after some searching, and also found halfway decent cheese and cheap tomato sauce. I wasted 2 weeks or so just cooking, exploring the city on foot, watching DVDs and sleeping. It was a good waste of time, and in retrospect, it’s this kind of thing that I enjoy the most.. nothing to do really, just enjoying life. I am reaching an age when time like this is rare to find, so I treasure it when I get it.
The weather at this time in Beijing is more or less like Chicago winter. As much as I bitch about it, like all good Chicagoans do, I love it. Japan didn’t get nearly this cold, and it felt great. Not nearly enough snow, but we did get some. And the cold was a damp cold that seeps through your coat like a knife. In Baoding, I finally gave in to the cold and Yangfei’s mom gave me a sweater that is rather warm. A year ago, it probably would not have fit me. Now, it fits rather well 
地道战和地雷战
This is the movie that started it all for me. Propaganda movies from the days of Mao are great in my opinion. There are also a whole lot of them floating around. Yangfei told me how they all more or less grew up watching these movies in school. This gave me the notion that to understand a little more about Chinese culture, it couldn’t hurt to expose myself to the same genre as much as possible. The Party Line is rather vague in print, and hard to get reasoning for the stances. These movies spell it out rather clearly, in a language that anyone can understand, and the movies are rather well made on top of it. I grabbed up a rather large number of these movies, and I still need to watch about half of what I bought.
是春节还是春罢工？
Everything shuts down, there are fireworks, TV specials, and special foods. Oh, and everything shuts down. All of my friends were busy in this time, I met relatives of my hostfamily and baked food when I didn’t feel like eating out. I am worry to say it, but, Chinese bread and bread-containing foods are just “off”, and by “off”, I mean “not good”. It is far cheaper to buy an oven, flour, yeast, sugar, salt, and cook it yourself than it is to attempt to find one place that didn’t screw it up somehow. The annoying thing in Beijing is that firework sales are banned. Everyone has them, but you have to go outside the city to get them. I didn’t go out of the city to buy them, simply because the very notion of traveling in this time of the year is insane. Some people sold them on the streets anyways, but they ignored foreigners, I can understand that reasoning. My Spring Festival was henbucuode.
罢工完了！
At last, everyone is back in town, but they are all busy because the semester is starting. It was around this time that I decided I needed to expand my horizons past Beida. Oddly, I did this at Beida. I was just coming back from the CIEE office and I met up with a guy named Pete. Older than me, but he had connections. He had been in Beijing for about 3 months and came without being able to speak. He taught English at 新东方 and introduced me to his boss. I now have a phone number and a job offer for August when I come back. Pay is very good, the hours are good, and I can do it at the same time as school. I only found out this because of 婉盈, who wanted to know about a certain class being open still for the summer. I also applied at 北京外国语大学 for next semester as a Chinese Major. Yea, I am changing schools again. This time it is not because of grades though, it is because of money and happiness. UWM is trying to gut me for a massive amount and Beiwai is a top university and very cheap comparatively. Tack on 2 more years to my graduation date I guess.
Pete:
This is a guy with connections, he knows people and leads a good life, something that I would not mind doing myself. It was random chance that I bumped into him, and for some reason, in my life, random chance is what sparks greatness for me. We went drinking, shopping, to a few restaurants together, in all, just had fun. His girlfriend is hot, and I see him as incredibly lucky for his lot in life. I introduced him to the Tex-Mex place mentioned earlier. Nina’s is/was run and owned by an American who had lived in China for about 6 years, and for some reason spoke no Chinese. All the food, apart from the cheese, was purchased in China, and the atmosphere was pretty good too. Eating a REAL burrito for the first time in 7 months is impossible to describe. The owner also ran a small store upstairs, stocked with imports of American goodies that are either impossible or hard to find in China. I got Mac n’ Cheese, Jello, Syrup, Granola bars, and oregano off of him. He refuses to sell cheese though He finally sold out his half of the restaurant to the co-manager’s daughter and went back to the states before I left. I am hoping that it keeps the same foods and style, this place makes Beijing perfect to me.
Chongyang and Sanlitun
We went shopping together here over 2 days, and if you don’t speak Chinese well in this area, you are going to get ripped off really fast and for a lot of money. 老外不知道真的价格, and fork over way too much, most without bargaining at all. This practice has virtually RUINED these markets for anyone looking for a good deal. If you know what you are doing, it is possible to get the regular price, but it takes work. This is where I met up with a girl who I met online for the first time in Beijing. She is the same age as me and really cute. Her English is rather good as well, far better than average I think. She has more knowledge about American music than I do for some reason… scary ;;
We all met up for lunch at Sanlitun Yaxiu. This is definitely a tourist spot. The food prices were about double what they should have been, and the “Chinese food” was closer to what you would expect to get in the US at a “Chinese restaurant”. We shopped some more, wandered in and out of other shops in the area, and then made out way back to 五道口站 for dinner. We just wanted 火锅. For some reason, I think we walked into the worst huoguo on Chengfu. They had nothing that we ordered, and brought us maybe 4 dishes total instead of the 10 we wanted. At this point, it was too late to just leave though. We made the best of the horrible service and just ate it. At the end of the meal, they wanted 108kuai for it all. They miscalculated, the real total was 96! We only got one of the 3 plates of beef we wanted because the other 2 were rancid on top of the bad service. 因为他们什么都没有我们点的菜，所以我们说�没有钱！�。我们只要吃好吃的火锅，但是这个饭馆儿不让我们高兴。而且，他们要骗我们！ We caused a scene, and hid all large bills. In the end, we paid 54.31 and left. This was a fun Woman’s Day
在夏天我没用了北京地铁是因为我的老师们没教了我。而且，那时我很忙，为什么我应该去很远的地方？但是，这个冬天我学到了怎么用。我们要去三里屯的时候，上车在五道口站到西直门。在西直门我们换车上北京二线到东四十条。车票是五块。其实我觉得怎么用北京地铁很容易的。又便宜又方便的。The next day, Pete left for America and I met up with another friend at 建国门 who I had been waiting to meet for a long time. She is graduating this year and is looking for a job. I treated her to a lunch and a dinner and we just talked, it was fun. I also FINALLY learned how to get good prices from 黑车. This had been a goal of mine since getting ripped off this summer for 490块 from the airport. In reality, this is possibly the best way to go if you want to get somewhere fast. Normal taxi drivers will go the longest route and sit in traffic to run up the meter. With 黑车 you negotiate the fare before hand and they take all the shortcuts to get you there as fast as possible. If you know what you are doing, you can get really good rates, if you are a FOB foreigner and speak no Chinese, you are going to get horribly ripped off. I also learned about 7 or 8 bus routes, where they go, where to transfer, and all that jazz. This winter was a learning experience for how to live in Beijing, not just study there. I feel prepared now to settle in Beijing and I know the 海淀 and 朝阳 areas well enough that I am confident in where I am going.
I also met up with “Walter” in Beijing. He is going to 南山大学 in 名古屋, and we first met at one of the cross-cultural things last semester. He was also in Beijing, so, we met up again. I am enjoying this networking of friends all over China, it feels good to know that there is someone I can meet up with that I know where ever I happen to be. Thanks Grandpa for giving me that trait
Picking up stuff for friends
Friends at 中部大学 needed stuff. They are all homesick and I can understand why better now than ever before. Wanying needed new shoes and books, Zhenzhuo needed me to meet some of her friends to pickup gifts for her, and of course, everyone wanted food and movies to watch. I still feel guilty that I was able to go back and they still have to wait here, so, I was more than happy to oblige. Foodwise, I smuggled in 芝麻酱, 10 bags of 火锅 mix, 两个火龙果, 两公里羊肉, and some other stuff along with around 140 dvds. The customs inspector at 北京首都机场 saw it all, and he liked my taste in movies enough that we chatted a while and then he let me through. Customs at Japan didn’t even bother to look in my bags, just verified that I was a student asked me a few questions, and let me through. This was good, because I had it all in a duffel bag, and it was much more than I could pass off as an innocent mistake.
Farewell dinner
The night before I left, I was able to get together with Wang Laoshi, Yanan, Quishi, and Yangfei at Nina’s. I had treated Yanan and Quishi here before, but this was everyone all together. The total price was maybe $30, but that was ok. I just wanted to do something nice and take them to a restaurant that I want to support (it keeps me sane). As to be expected, it was really good food, although the American had already left. I really hope it stays in business, the only other tex-mex place is all the way in 朝阳, and it is expensive and horrible.
Saying goodbye to my hostparents
These people were incredibly kind, and helped me whenever I really needed it, and when I just wanted to be left alone, they did that too. I lived in their house for 2 months, and my mom even made a quilt (and wrote a 3-page letter that I had to translate) for them. I was never able to get them to eat my food, no matter how hard I tried, but it was all good. If they are still in Beijing when I come back in August, I might live with them again. It depends on the price I get for the dorm, but, I would have no regrets staying there again.
Beiwai
I have made reference to this for a while in this post. Beijing Foreign Studies University http://www.bfsu.edu.cn is a top school in China, and it is cheap compared to the US. I was considering transferring here for my second semester under IES, but in the end, decided against it. Japan needs a second chance before I give it up, and my Chinese friends here are all homesick and I care for them, no matter how shitty Chubu is, they are worth being here for. I went to apply the week after the strike/holiday ended, which was the second day they were open for accepting applications. I will be getting my response sometime next month from them, and I should be able to take the entrance exam in September when the semester starts. If I do well on this, I will have 2 years left until I graduate. I gave UWM a chance to have me back, but that fell through. After Japan, I will have 117 credits total. They say that it takes 120 to graduate, and if you still have not graduated by then, they double the rate. I am still required to take the GER classes, which are all low level and pointless, as well as finish my last 30 credits before graduation in residence. I requested politely that either they nix the GER and let me take grad level classes instead, or give me instate tuition. The GER request was flat out denied, and for the tuition, I had to talk to financial services. This is where I found out about the 120-credit policy. The best I could get out of them was reviewing my case to keep my out of state tuition rate as it is. So, basically, I love UWM, but fuck that shit. Hello Beiwai! University #7. This will be my second official change of major as well. CE to Linguistics, now, I have to change to Chinese Language and Literature if I want a shot at Linguistics later. To me, this is acceptable for now.
Misc
There is so much that happened this trip, and I wish that I had time to blog it all when it happened, but that just didn’t happen. I found a street food that is like gyros. I sat in on a “girl-talk” conversation between my teachers who thought that I wouldn’t understand anything they said, but I did. My Chinese improved to a level where I get a little more respect from the locals and am not treated like a tourist anymore. I met up with a Baoan friend, who in the summer was one of my best friends on campus. I reported a hash dealer to the cops. I found a bowling alley in Beijing. I ate 驴肉 in 保定 for the first time. I accidently started a fight between the little girls selling flowers on the street (word to the wise: if you want to give them food, open it and make sure they share it… 18-kuai Dove bars will only start fights). I found a reliable way to bypass the firewall for anything I want, and in a way that is secure and does not rely on hunting for proxies every day. More or less, I did everything in this trip that I wanted to do, and more. I opened my horizons and found my place in Beijing, I am ready to live there on my own without relying on others to to things for me.
Return to Japan
My flight was at 8:25am at Capital Airport. This meant that I had to be there about 2 hours early, and that I had to leave an hour before that at the latest. I came back from my farewell dinner, cleaned and packed a little more, and decided that I wanted to sleep at about 1am. I was dead tired at this point and didn’t want to go. I made a resolution. I would take a nap. If I woke up with time to finish packing and get to the airport, I would do so, if I woke up late, I would just stay and worry about consequences later. I woke up at 3:30am
IES didn’t have anyone waiting for me at Chubu International ($300 cab ride away…cheaper to go back to Beijing), and the excuse was that they forgot the time… fuckers. So, I got the pleasure of blowing 1640 yen on 2 buses and a train to campus with 2 suitcases, a backpack, and a duffelbag full of thawing meat. It took 3+ hours to get to campus… fun. I hope that the new airport sinks like the one in Osaka. I got the tadaima crap when I got back and was told that my room has been “cleaned” a little and to keep it as it is. The only “cleaning” I could see was that they took down my flags, folded them up and put them on the floor. Needless to say, Japan’s “second chance” is not off to a good start. Tomorrow we are going to 广岛 for the standard guilt trip, and then I am taking a trip up to 北九州市 to see a friend. Tonight, we had our first 火锅, and it was everything I hoped it would be
There will be a pictures post following this one as soon as my phone is recharged, which will happen as soon as I find the power adapter.
edit: I also realized that I could have written this entire post in Chinese, but I am too lazy to rewrite it now… my English-only readers are lucky… this time.
