Tutor, Jenn's Mom and Huotongs

At some point I have to get over my fear, well not really a fear rather reservations, of talking to the Chinese in chinese. I've gone on record about that blank look that inevitably appears on the face of the person I'm speaking chinese to. You should know that I've taken steps to remedy the situation by getting a tutor. My first lesson will start today once I get that all important text message from her letting me know that she's at the station ready to be picked up. Watch this space, I'll let you know if it works out well or if I have to fire her.



On other fronts: my friend Jennifer Dozier's mom is in town for the next three months. Her name is Dorothy and if she thinks that I'm babysitting her mom for the next month while I'm here she is sadly mistaken. I don't even like her mom!! She's loud and obnoxious and to top it all off she's smells bad. LOL. Joking people. She's really a lovely woman and we've really hit it off despite the odor. What!? LMAO. If Dorothy is reading this I'm sure she's getting a kick out of it.

Saturday we went to the Houhai Lake and took a rickshaw ride around the lake and the surrounding huotong. Poor little rickshaw guy didn't realize that he would be working so hard when he got me at 212 pounds and Dorothy at...at least, what... 305 pounds? in that tiny ricketyshaw. He was sweating so much when the ride/tour was over I felt really bad for him. Afterwards we sat on couches outside one of the bars drinking beer and eating chicken wings. Don't know who the folks were staring at more; us, black folks eating chicken wings (imagine that) or the other americans smoking from a hookah pipe sitting behind us. We walked off the beer and wings by finishing the trip around the lake and taking pictures. Took a wrong turn and got turned all around up in some Huotong so had to back track to get on the right road. Ended the evening by taking a cab back to our respective places and crashing hard. So much walking. So hot. So tired. Really good day. Next I'll have to take her to the Panjiayuan (Flea Market)to see how really good her haggling skills are. She says that they are good I tell her she aint got nothing on the chinese and she'll need to bring it if she wants a good deal on anything.



For those that don't know Huotongs were the traditional locations of homes in Beijing maybe all of china but I'm not sure. Picture cramped alleyways winding the twisting their way and at varying intervals with a gate leading to a courtyard house or a door leading to a small apartment. This is a huotong. For the uninitiated they can be intimidating places where you never really can tell which street you are on. In the area that were in the huotong was updated somewhat with modern roads, apartments converted into shops and stores at least the facade of some of these places were updated. If you looked closely or got a glimpse into some of the doorways and gates as you past you'd notice less than ideal conditions. This is the twisting maze of low slung buildings that we took a wrong turn into on Saturday evening. It wouldn't have been a problem finding our way out or simply walking until we did but it was late, getting dark and we were really tired (you'd be amazed how many people who don't have english as a first language say "tie red").

As cool and as interesting as the huotong (sorry they are pronounced "who tongs") are they have disappeared rapidly since Beijing got the Olympics. There used to be an incredibly large number of them, but in the name of process and development they have been razed to make room for huge apartment buildings, office buildings, stadiums, malls etc. Some folks celebrate the fact that they are gone while others say a vital part of China's history is being destroyed. You decide.

I wish I couldn't have been here about ten years ago. Less actually. Found out yesterday from Sammy (Sammy is the owner of Beijing London, the restaurant/bar/internet cafe where I used to blog from before I got this eee PC.) that up until 7 years ago the area that Im currently living in was full of small little villages. It wasn't developed at all!! I find this really hard to believe because the area I live in is full of tall office and residential buildings, malls, shops, huge department stores, movie theatres and subway stations. In less than 7 years all this was supposedly done but then again the chinese really seem to be able to do anything, particularly when you put tons on people on it.

Update: I had my first meeting with my tutor yesterday and it went really well. She's impressed with my knowledge of chinese and says that I'm not bad at all. Had my second session today and that went well also. Sooner rather than later I might be speaking this language after all. In class today my instructor asked if I had gotten a tutor. I told her yes and she said she noticed because I seemed a lot more comfortable speaking the language in class. Yeeeaaaah boy. LOL.

Take care peeps

p.s. picture of me taken about two weeks ago. one that I actually like. These others were taken from my bedroom window of the first sunny day I experienced in Beijing after being here a week. Proof positive that sunny days with blue skies can happen in Beijing. - Wil