Impressions:  the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

I carry few impressions of Beijing around in my head from 6 years ago.  What I remember the most is that everyday folks on the streets gawked at me with my lightly colored hair.   I also think that the 6 months that we spent in China in the winter of 2006 / 2007 were months of isolated living.  Don’t misunderstand me, Tom and I didn’t sit home by the fire, we were engaged and busy yet at the same time we were isolated from the everyday people of Beijing.  Maybe these days I’m more open minded or  maybe it’s that without a driver to protect and look after me,  I’m left to deal with real people and the best and worst of everyday life on my own. 

I relocated to Beijing with hesitation knowing that we wouldn’t have a car and driver.  However, I am a graduate of Asia for Beginners 101:  Singapore; so I came back to China with “A Little Engine that Could” attitude.  My Singapore background is polite and organized and my China experience is, well, simply different.

I believe the public transportation system in Beijing is a lesson in the humanity of the city:  the good, the bad and the ugly.  After 6 weeks I have limited experience with this system, yet I find it telling. 

The Good .  I’ve witnessed young men giving up seats on the subway to older men; and older men giving up their seats to older women.  I’ve “met” older men and women who try to give me a seat; they are the same men and women who openly acknowledge me with warm smiles and gestures.   I don’t know if it’s because I’m not young or that I’m  waiguoren  (foreigner)  or both.   I know these men and women grew up in a very different China then I see today, and I am truly touched by their grace; it is genuine, and it’s honest. 

The Bad.  All the good that I’ve experience tends to be overshadowed by pockets of bad simply because bad shows itself as larger than life.  To date, I’ve had two bad experiences on the subway.  The first negative experience Tom and I had together during the October Golden Week.  At 7:00 pm we were going three subway stops from home and the capital city was crowded with visitors.  At the middle stop the masses pushed their way into the subway cars in such force that the subway doors wouldn’t close, so they pushed harder into the already packed cars.  I wanted to get out and walk home, but I couldn’t! 

I passed this off to the National Day holiday period, until yesterday, Wednesday, October 10^th, when I found myself fighting to get out of a subway car at 8:45 in the morning.  (No Singapore politeness and organization here.)  I couldn’t fight my way out of the subway car because of the numbers of people pushing with the enthusiasm of a crowd mentality to get on; that is, the number of people who couldn’t wait for the next train that would arrive in approximately 3 minutes.  An older man grabbed my arm and pulled me forward and out of the chaos. 

Okay, I told you that this was The Bad, please refer back to The Good.

The Ugly.   I don’t know how to deal with The Ugly because it pains me too much.   The Ugly are cripples, the lame, the blind, a mother with a hydrocephalic child, and finally today the legless  beggar who pushed his way through the subway cars.  I find that I am not living up to my Christian values.  I am not doing anything to help those in need.  The Epistle of James convicts me to be a doer, and yet I don’t know how to begin because the need is so overwhelming.  I don’t like The Ugly, but it’s in my face every day that I walk out into this city.

Please refer back to The Good.

Everyday Food Life of a New Beijing Expat

or the Daily Food Trials of a Trailing Spouse

Simple living takes longer here in Beijing than anywhere else I've lived.  It’s a fact.  Just putting food on the table can take days.  Perhaps I should qualify that statement:  putting Western food on the table can take days.  It takes days to track down all of the ingredients, but of course I’m starting with an empty pantry.   After three weeks of foraging for food, I finally feel I can get out and do something that doesn't involve securing food.  I've been to more than a dozen different markets since living here. I really don't remember filling my larder being this difficult the last time we lived here.  Maybe age has dimmed the memories; but of course back then we had a driver!

Suffice it to say that since I’ve found the best Jenny Lou’s Market in the surrounding districts, I'm one happy camper: one who is willing to pay a few RMB for that imported bag of grits!  Staples like peanut butter and sweet pickle relish are more precious than gold here, and then there are items like molasses that are rarer than hen’s teeth.  Oh, who needs molasses to make BBQ anyway?  Tom and I are still having trouble finding and identifying soy milk and low fat milk, but I think I'll be okay at the “best Jenny Lou’s”.  I have an app on my phone that reads the Chinese and translates into English which helps me to do the marketing.

Tomorrow I'll take the shuttle bus from the apartment to Carrefour, which is a French hypermarket  or as I have dubbed it, the Zoo.  The Zoo moniker because of the sheer number of shoppers, the noisy company girls shouting into microphones at every isle, and the 20-30 minute long checkout lines.  But, since I need to buy pop and beer for our first round of company, I need the bus to help me haul it home. Otherwise I'd be buying 6 cans here and 6 can there for the next many days.  Did I mention simple living takes a long time here in Beijing?  On a funny note, I traded my faithful Volvo wagon for a two wheeled shopping trolley or a “granny cart”.  I haven't taken it on the subway yet as I don't want to walk a cart full of groceries up and down the subway stairs.

Yesterday Tom and I walked from church to San Yuan Li or the wet market to buy produce.  It takes me a subway transfer and a walk to get here on my own, but no worries for this girl who likes to cook and needs the walk.  The market is a block long narrow building with individual stalls on each side.  These savvy merchants know their clientele and can identify their goods in English and for now are putting up with my non-existent Chinese.   I LOVE this market.  Items within range from fruits to rice with eggs, dairy, meat, seafood, vegetables, fresh herbs, wine, cheese, imported canned items and kitchen utensils in between.  I spent $10 USD on potatoes, spring onions, summer squash, carrots, bell peppers, onions, lemons, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, parsley, cilantro, basil, and rosemary.  I know I couldn't have done so well even at the “best Jenny Lou’s” and certainly not at home. 

The food saga doesn't end at the checkout counter, however.  Once home everything really needs to be triple washed.  Yesterday, this took all afternoon to pre-rinse out the dirt, wash, rinse, dry and then store.  Using the Clorox wash procedure I learned from my mother-in-law in the early ‘80’s, I wash everything from eggs to produce, including mushrooms, and meats.  Once stored my produce lasts a long time.  When I'm ready to use foods that can be peeled, I peel, even if I wouldn't peel at home.  Again, living takes a little longer here.

The interesting part to me is that I use almost everything I purchase.  I throw away very little.   I think since I work hard to obtain food, I don’t take it for granted; there is no such thing as a quick run to Schnuck’s, or even going into my garden to cut that recipe finishing bit of chives.

Check out Tom's photo blog link to the San Yuan Li market -->  San Yuan Li