It is hard to believe that just over two weeks ago I was in was living in sleepy, suburban town outside New York City and now we are trying to settle into a bustling metropolis of over 10 million people. I haven’t lived in a city in over 30 years!
Our apartment is very comfortable; a living room/dining room combination, 3 bedrooms, 3 baths and a modern kitchen. Located near Chaoyang Park, it is pretty central to most things we have attempted to do so far. It is about a 15-20 minute commute to work for Steve, which makes his work day quite a bit shorter than in New York. Our area is more western than most and nearby are a number of foreign embassies. In addition, it supports a variety of ethnic restaurants, some western style grocery stores and several several malls. The Apple Store, where I have attended One-to-One tutorials, is just a 15 minute walk away in Sanlitun. Settling in, therefore, has not been too difficult especially when we can travel to places on our own, guided by English language maps. The difficult part is communicating with non-English speaking taxi drivers who seem so convincing when they assure you that they know where they are going, but you wind up on the wrong part of town! We begin language lessons this week, but I am sure it will be quite a while before we can converse and understand what people are telling us.
A fun place we have discovered
is called The Bookworm. It is a combination pub, coffee shop, English language book store and library reading room. They have nice food, great coffee and all kinds of books to read. I think I might become a regular there. You hear a variety of western languages spoken as you move throughout the shop.I have met a number of Steve’s colleagues here and they have been very helpful. Also, I have connected with former Croton resident Carter Mailk and she has introduced me to a couple of groups for expats. Everyone has been terrific.
The weather here has been pretty cold and windy although we have had a few days above freezing with no wind. Dust storms appear from time to time (from the Gobi Desert) and create a haze about the city. Lots of the manufacturing plants have move out of the city we have been told so that the pollution problem has been minimized.
Crossing the street here can be an experience. Like in many parts
of the US, vehicles here can make a right hand turn on red. The difference is that in Beijing vehicles, both cars, bike, peddle carts, etc., approach the intersection to make a right turn as if they have the right of way. While I’m sure this helps with congestion by keeping the traffic flowing, it also causes almost a war between cars and pedestrians (who has the right of way?) when crossing the street with a green light. We try to stay with the packs of people when crossing--safety in numbers! But you must always be looking over your shoulder. The funniest thing we have seen here so far is McDonald’s delivery cyclists. A new meaning for fast food.To my rug hooking friends: I have begun the friends rug: Amy’s Indian Head square and Ching’s lantern square next to it. Seems a fitting parallel right now. Decorations are starting to go up for the Chinese New Year (Spring Festival). I will try to post some photos of that soon.
Keep in touch. I would love to hear from you. My email is drskalak@optonline.net.
