As The New Year Begins

March came in like a lion in Beijing. Snow began falling Lantern Festival night (February 28) and continued until morning. Total accumulation 1/2 inch. Just enough to make cars and sidewalks white and streets wet and slushy. It was difficult, but the end of Spring Festival revelers managed to get off their fireworks, but to a lesser extent, I think, than they would have had the weather been more cooperative. When I think about our February here, it was jam packed with settling in, experiencing new things, and welcoming new opportunities.

Each day continues to be an adventure. Some are fun and interesting; others bring the realization that we are strangers and at the mercy of others. The biggest impact is the helpless feeling that accompanies the inability to communicate with people around you or the frustration that comes with being illiterate in the country in which you are living. It limits a full appreciation of what is going on around us and I continually wonder what I am missing. Ignorance should be bliss you say? Was the Chinese message on my cell phone an advertisement or is my service being canceled? I guess I’ll find out soon enough.

We are both enjoying our language classes. That being said, we can communicate very little with non-English speaking Chinese at this point. My big accomplishment today was ordering a cafe mocha in Starbucks in Mandarin. However, I didn’t listen to what the order taker was saying to the person who makes the coffee. It took an American behind me, who was paying attention to my order, to direct the clerk to make the coffee I had ordered and payed for. The American told me I had ordered correctly but the clerk had miscommunicated the order. It’s not just the speaking, it’s the paying attention to and understanding what is being said around us. Oh well. I’ll try again.

My big news is that I was hired by an international school, Beijing City International School, to be the Admissions Manager. I begin work on March 15th. I learned about the job in an English language magazine. Applying for and securing the job was learning experience in and of itself. I'm sure the next couple of months will be a real adjustment in many ways. But I am looking forward to the challenge and I am glad to have more of a purpose to my day to day activity. The school website is www.bcis.cn if you want to check it out. It is relatively new (about 5 years) and the people I’ve met so far are motivated and friendly. In a nutshell, I will be responsible for interfacing with prospective parents and students and building relationship with embassies and expat community groups.

Steve’s work keeps him busy. He hasn’t been required to travel much although he has an engagement or two that are outside of Beijing. He comes home with handfuls of business cards, the primary way people introduce themselves here.

We are beginning to find some weekly routines. Our Monday evening activity is the Pub Quiz at the English language book store/cafe called The Bookworm. The first week we went we sat by ourselves and were decidedly the old folks in the crowd. The next week was pretty crowded so a young couple joined us at our table and then a few others and we had a team. Now, after four weeks, a group of six of us (Americans and Brits) convene, have dinner, chit chat, and then partake in the quiz. We do pretty well until we get to the music portion. Mostly modern songs that we have never heard before. We’ll keep trying for that bottle of wine prize!

We did a little sight-seeing this past weekend. We went to the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, a porcelain museum and a eastern medicine center. We also attended a Chinese opera Hua Mulan, the basis of the Disney movie Mulan. The most interesting aspect of the opera was how is appears that the vocalists, both men and women, imitate the sounds of the instruments in the orchestra. We wondered if that is the origin of the Chinese singing style. Anyone have any insights to share? The National Center for Performing Arts, which includes the opera house, is a spectacular building, a must see for anyone coming to Beijing. It is shaped like an egg from the outside with very high wood vaulted ceilings. The floors are marble, a variety of colors and patterns. One enters the building under a pool of water which you can look up through when you travel down the main corridor to the performance spaces.

Our sea shipment finally arrived this week. We were most grateful to receive our bed. Seven weeks of sleeping on the low, hard Chinese style mattress that our landlord was kind enough to loan us was six weeks too many! We are mostly unpacked now and ready to receive any of you who want to have a taste of the East.