So my bike was stolen...twice
The following experiences indicate—at least in my mind—that I’ve finally settled in to my life in China:
1. After buying a gym membership late last week, I decided to go to the gym Monday afternoon in order to do a little bit of training. Once I got to the gym, I was unable to find the entrance to the underground bike lot (many of the nicer places in Beijing have an underground lot where workers and a few patrons can park their bikes). Therefore, I decided to park my bike on the street next to several other bikes. After a decent workout, I left the gym only to find that my bike was gone. Although it was locked, someone had managed to break the lock and take my bike. After I thought about it, I realized that parking a nice bike with a cheap lock on a corner that has hundreds of migrant workers passing everyday was probably not the best idea. The next day, I went to a super market and bought a cheaper bike and a more expensive lock. Yet, as fate would have it, that bike was stolen as well. Although I did buy a more expensive lock, it was a very greasy one. I think that when I went to lock it this morning the clasp slid right out of the lock and someone stole it. As they say in China, zenme ban, or what is one to do?!
2. Last Friday I was paid a decent amount of money—most of which will now go to buying a new bike and a very nice lock—to work at an event celebrating the 5-year anniversary of a Japanese-Italian magazine. A friend of a friend of a friend was looking for 4 clean cut Westerners to serve champagne and walk around at an event attended almost exclusively by upper crust fashion-savvy Chinese. During the party I spent 2 hours walking around, looking white and serving champagne. Besides getting paid to look foreign and exotic, which in and off itself was kind a novelty for a white jew from ohio, I was also given a free dinner complete with sushi and chocolate cake as well as some of the left over champagne I served, which was terrible.
The reason that I bring this up is that, for the first time in my life, I was paid to walk around and be exotic. My purpose was to be a white foreigner at the beck and call of the Chinese party attendees. I think that I was paid handsomely precisely because having several foreigners serving the guests gave an appearance of power, opulence and class. What I found to be most interesting about this was that, aside from a few people who were demanding and consistently asked me to refill their glass and bring them ashtrays and the like, most people looked right through me. It was as if I existed only insofar as I was able to fill their glasses with more wine. Therefore, my job was to be part of the ambiance and background of this party. While this is really the role of all wait staff, I found it interesting that I was chosen to do this specifically because I was a Westerner.
3. My visa is going to expire in a month. As an American living in the States, you take for granted the ease of living without having to worry about your visa expiring. This week, I hope to extend my visa, or else I’ll be deported and this blog will end rather abruptly.
4.Saturday night I went to an Abigail Washborne folk concert. Abigail was accompanied by a fiddler, a cellists and her boyfriend, Bela Fleck, who plays the banjo. Obviously, getting to see such a show is rare in China and only possible in Beijing, Shanghai or another major city was a large expat community. In fact, I saw more white people together at this concert than I have seen in any one place during the duration of my stay here in Beijing. For me, the highlights of the night were as follows. Since Abigail speaks fluent Chinese, she performed some traditional Chinese folk songs in addition to a few that she wrote on her own. While I couldn’t understand all of the Chinese, it was really neat to see a white blond haired women the banjo bust out Chinese. As Abigail is very invested in Asian music and used to live in China, she arranged for two musicians who play in a traditional Mongolian manner to sit in for a while. The men both wore long green robes and played instruments that looked like two string guitars. The Mongolian style musicians did some incredible throat singing, played a drinking song, and then harmonized with the Americans, which sounded pretty good. The final thing that struck me was the ignorance of many Americans living overseas. During a break between songs, Abigail used Chinese to ask how many Americans were in the crowd. About 15 hands went up. Ten seconds later, she repeated the question, this time speaking in English. About 75 hands went up. This, then, is further proof that, even in places like Beijing, many Americans live in a small, ethnocentric world.
5. Before I forget, I should mention that I can’t read this blog. While posting on it from inside China is no problem, I’m unable to access it. So if any of you have written an interesting or insightful comment, I apologize for my inability to read it.
1. After buying a gym membership late last week, I decided to go to the gym Monday afternoon in order to do a little bit of training. Once I got to the gym, I was unable to find the entrance to the underground bike lot (many of the nicer places in Beijing have an underground lot where workers and a few patrons can park their bikes). Therefore, I decided to park my bike on the street next to several other bikes. After a decent workout, I left the gym only to find that my bike was gone. Although it was locked, someone had managed to break the lock and take my bike. After I thought about it, I realized that parking a nice bike with a cheap lock on a corner that has hundreds of migrant workers passing everyday was probably not the best idea. The next day, I went to a super market and bought a cheaper bike and a more expensive lock. Yet, as fate would have it, that bike was stolen as well. Although I did buy a more expensive lock, it was a very greasy one. I think that when I went to lock it this morning the clasp slid right out of the lock and someone stole it. As they say in China, zenme ban, or what is one to do?!
2. Last Friday I was paid a decent amount of money—most of which will now go to buying a new bike and a very nice lock—to work at an event celebrating the 5-year anniversary of a Japanese-Italian magazine. A friend of a friend of a friend was looking for 4 clean cut Westerners to serve champagne and walk around at an event attended almost exclusively by upper crust fashion-savvy Chinese. During the party I spent 2 hours walking around, looking white and serving champagne. Besides getting paid to look foreign and exotic, which in and off itself was kind a novelty for a white jew from ohio, I was also given a free dinner complete with sushi and chocolate cake as well as some of the left over champagne I served, which was terrible.
The reason that I bring this up is that, for the first time in my life, I was paid to walk around and be exotic. My purpose was to be a white foreigner at the beck and call of the Chinese party attendees. I think that I was paid handsomely precisely because having several foreigners serving the guests gave an appearance of power, opulence and class. What I found to be most interesting about this was that, aside from a few people who were demanding and consistently asked me to refill their glass and bring them ashtrays and the like, most people looked right through me. It was as if I existed only insofar as I was able to fill their glasses with more wine. Therefore, my job was to be part of the ambiance and background of this party. While this is really the role of all wait staff, I found it interesting that I was chosen to do this specifically because I was a Westerner.
3. My visa is going to expire in a month. As an American living in the States, you take for granted the ease of living without having to worry about your visa expiring. This week, I hope to extend my visa, or else I’ll be deported and this blog will end rather abruptly.
4.Saturday night I went to an Abigail Washborne folk concert. Abigail was accompanied by a fiddler, a cellists and her boyfriend, Bela Fleck, who plays the banjo. Obviously, getting to see such a show is rare in China and only possible in Beijing, Shanghai or another major city was a large expat community. In fact, I saw more white people together at this concert than I have seen in any one place during the duration of my stay here in Beijing. For me, the highlights of the night were as follows. Since Abigail speaks fluent Chinese, she performed some traditional Chinese folk songs in addition to a few that she wrote on her own. While I couldn’t understand all of the Chinese, it was really neat to see a white blond haired women the banjo bust out Chinese. As Abigail is very invested in Asian music and used to live in China, she arranged for two musicians who play in a traditional Mongolian manner to sit in for a while. The men both wore long green robes and played instruments that looked like two string guitars. The Mongolian style musicians did some incredible throat singing, played a drinking song, and then harmonized with the Americans, which sounded pretty good. The final thing that struck me was the ignorance of many Americans living overseas. During a break between songs, Abigail used Chinese to ask how many Americans were in the crowd. About 15 hands went up. Ten seconds later, she repeated the question, this time speaking in English. About 75 hands went up. This, then, is further proof that, even in places like Beijing, many Americans live in a small, ethnocentric world.
5. Before I forget, I should mention that I can’t read this blog. While posting on it from inside China is no problem, I’m unable to access it. So if any of you have written an interesting or insightful comment, I apologize for my inability to read it.
posted by jr at 4:08 AM
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