Salutations from Beijing! I am currently stationed in my host family’s 13th story apartment, which normally (when not obscured by heat, smog, sand, and whatever else is making my cold/allergies worse) overlooks Houhai Lake, Beihai and Jingshan Parks all the way to the Forbidden City and the Beijing National Performance Hall…Thing. Today’s temperature: HOT. Good thing I’ve got this 奶茶 (Milk Tea) to keep me cool.
Beijing hasn’t changed much. I mean, there are loads of new buildings and almost all of the Olympics slogans have been taken down (apparently 北京 doesn’t 欢迎你 anymore). The cab drivers aren’t nearly as chatty as they used to be. My host family’s cat ran away. Aside from those things, the city could be the same city I left three years ago. Traffic here is still horrendous. The third elevator in my host family’s apartment building still doesn’t work. There is still a man who sells fruit by the front gate, though he is not the same man. Twice I have been told, and not asked, where I am from (Pakistan and Brazil, respectively). The Olympics came and went and the pace of life in Beijing still slows down at night when everyone meets in the park to dance, smoke, and gossip with neighbors. All in all, 差不多.
(Lovely smog, isn't?)
(YES, PLEASE.)
I am back home.
Today I decided to go out on my own for a bit to run some errands. I needed luggage locks to for my bags since the train company won’t ship them otherwise and I forgot to get them in the US. I decided to go to 物美超市, otherwise known as Wumei Hypermarket. For those of you who have never experienced one of these establishments before, Wumei is a massive Walmart-esque store that sells literally everything in no particular order. Discounted clothes are placed next to air conditioning units, which are across from cellphone counters staffed by young Chinese 20-somethings all on their cutting-edge phones. The second floor features meat, produce, snacks, and other unidentifiable but edible things along with checkout counters with lines of 30 people each.
After nearly getting run over by a train of 100+ carts, I head downstairs to the first level in search of locks and tissues. I go to the luggage aisle and look for luggage locks. Not there. I try hardware, which has three separate areas. Also not there. I ask an employee for help, who leads me back to the luggage area. After searching for a while she turns to me and says, “Sorry, I have no idea where anything is. This is my first day.” Sigh. I ask three more people. Each one of them points me in a vague direction before they are bombarded with questions from fellow shoppers. I begin strolling down aisles at random, hoping desperately to locate the locks. Twenty minutes later, I finally find them in the toys department behind a pole. Obviously.
At 12PM, I meet my host mother at a nearby restaurant. My host father, who I had not seen until today due to his work schedule, joins us for lunch, which is fun if somewhat incomprehensible. To this day I do not understand the man when he speaks since he a) has a thick Tianjin accent and b) almost always has food in his mouth. Anyways, he, my host mother, and I are enjoying our lunches of rice, baicai, potatoes and beef (still attached to the bone of course) when none other than Justin Bieber starts playing.
Choking slightly, I look around at the other restaurant patrons. Nobody has acknowledged the Canadian pop star. The surrounding Chinese businessmen and women continue their lunches, frequently checking phones and joking amongst themselves. No explanation whatsoever.
The last notes of “Never Say Never” play out. My host mother, who has observed me not eating for the past three minutes, asks me “吃饱了吗?” “Are you full?” I shake my head and return to my food, pondering the experience.
In retrospect, this should not have surprised me. Western music, just like a lot of Western cultural things, is super cool here, despite the fact that few people understand the songs and even fewer know the lyrics. Didn’t they used to play the Black Eyed Peas? Isn’t that why Pizza Hut is a sit-down restaurant with table clothes?
Tomorrow I leave muggy Beijing in a luxurious hard-sleeper train car. 哎呀!!! Next stop: Harbin!
**The author would like to dedicate this post to the survival of the jianbing man, the rechristening of Good Time Cofe café, and the passing of Taiping Jiaozi Guanr. Taiping, you will be missed.**
"Justin Bieber" Sorry!
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