Meet my roommate...

Let me introduce you to Xiaozhu, my new companion for the lonely hours in my beautiful apartment. Isn't she the cutest piggy ever? The way she winked at me at the supermarket made it hard for me to leave her there. Piggy madness galore!

It's only three days until the Year of the Pig begins, so China is going nuts. Almost everybody is leaving Beijing to be with his family for Spring Festival and the streets are crowded with people dragging huge piles of baggage around. The beginning of the Lunar New Year is always followed by a whole week of celebration, which importance equals the combined Christmas and New Year's craziness in the Western world. Spring Festival is a serious deal for Chinese people and a welcomed opportunity to leave work for a week. Companies usually let their employees work the weekend before New Year's, so they can make up for the time they're off. Fortunately, this won't apply to me. I had expected my last week at work to be somewhat hectic, as many things might need to be ready for printing right after Spring Festival, but I was proven wrong. Boy, am I bored or what?! Half of the staff left work already and the other half wastes its time with chatting, gaming, reading or what else you can think of to prevent you from lethargy. So, this is why you find me updating my blog during work time. Sweetness!

I can't wait for the weekend to arrive. Our international trainee posse will celebrate New Year's together and then take off for HongKong on Monday. It was a quick decision to join my new friends on their trip next week, so I have a hard time realizing that I'll be enjoying lovely 25°C and sunshine in only a few days. Wohoo! So much excitement in such a short time! I love it!
Since I have to raid my bank account for this trip, I try to save up on unnecessary things like taxi rides and imported food. Western food is ridiculously expensive compared to the Chinese stuff, but it's hard to replace the usual cornflakes breakfast with dumplings and rice soup. I don't think that'll comply with my eating habits. I certainly could cut down my Oreo intake though, but where would be the fun in that?! So, I stick to my original plan of making excessive use of the hopelessly crowded busses and subway in Beijing and having at least yummy Chinese lunch at 7-11 for only 10 Yuan (€1).

I know, I promised to upload some more pictures from work, but I've been sick with a tough cold and headaches all last week. I just stayed at home for one and a half days though, because I was getting bored even with HBO in my apartment. So, if you happen to know me a little better, you know that this is unusual for me. Exchanging the comfy couch for a swivel chair is a true commitment to this cool job, people! Work is really going smooth and I'm happy about every new challenge and responsibility they give me. For the upcoming issue I already edited several articles, ads and product pages and I was asked to come up with a topic for the opinion page. So that is my first own page I have under my belt! Additionally, I contributed an article for March's feature story about extraordinary women in Beijing. How cool is that? It seems so trivial, but I'm thankful for every little chance to have influence on the making of this magazine. After Spring Festival I will prepare my first own interview and article and assist in a PR presentation for a huge client. Baby steps towards success, people! I really love the atmosphere in the office and my colleagues are finally warming up towards me. They aren't as shy to speak English with me anymore and basically we have lots of fun. I hope that once I learn some Chinese, the relationship with the non-English-speaking part of the staff will improve as well.

Speaking of Chinese lessons, I'm currently trying to find a decent language course that is effective and affordable. A lot of free language partnerships are available, but I'm looking for a more structured way of learning. Some of my international friends here recommended a school close to work and my apartment (actually just in the middle between these two locations), so it looks like I'll be opening up a new course with a handful of trainee friends right after Spring Festival. My boss is quite pushy about me learning Chinese within a short period of time, but even if I take evening classes twice a week, it's illusional to believe I might be fluent in a few weeks. My colleagues try to teach me certain expressions occassionally, but I just can't memorize vocabulary just by hearing it. I'm a visual person and need constant visual help to support my memory and understand the structure and logic of a topic. So, this is my ambitious plan for the next month and I can't wait to learn this wonderfully odd language with my friends. It'll make it so much easier to stick with the learning schedule.

Okay, guys. Lunch time! 7-11 is calling me and my stomach agrees. I'll probably be updating you on my excessive social life on the weekend, since my internet access at home is a little quicker and uploading pictures won't be such a pain. Be ready to meet my amazing friends and learn about salsa dancing and crazy pub quizzes in Beijing! So stay tuned!

Oh, in case you wondered about how I came up with my roommate's name: Xiaozhu means "little pig" in Chinese and I figured it would be a suitable name for my Chinese Miss Piggy.

Celebrations....

(Boy, these must be the cheesiest ticker ever!)

Beijing, my love....

Wow. Who would've thought that within barely two weeks I would settle in this crazy city as if it was the most natural thing to do?! It's hard for me to put my experience in words, but Beijing has really, REALLY grown on me this past few days. I cannot grasp the luck that has occured to me from the first day I set my foot on this land. I left the adversities and disappointments of the past year behind me to experience a whole new world full of unknown opportunities and countless joys. I pray and hope that luck won't fail me in the next six months, so I'll be having the time of my life!

For all of you who have no idea how I got here and what the heck I'm doing in a city like Beijing, I give you a little introduction. After months of unsuccessfully searching for a traineeship abroad, I finally got the offer to work as an editor for a bilingual lifestyle magazine here in Beijing. Within two weeks I packed my stuff, organized my stay and got on the plane. Since the internship was arranged by AIESEC (www.aiesec.org), my reception was all planned out before my arrival. Yaodi and Valentine, two very kind AIESECers, picked me up at the airport after a sleepless nine-hours flight and escorted me to my apartment. I was shocked by the impressive entrance of the building that reminded me rather of a four-star hotel than a regular apartment complex. According to Yaodi my company provides this apartment for the whole duration of my stay although the rent alone is about ten times higher than my salary. Insane! But who am I to complain? I pay my share for electricity, room service and such and will have this three-room apartment all to myself until the company decides on a second intern. Sweet life! I don't wanna tantalize you for too long, so here are the first pictures of my lovely apartment.


The living room as seen from my front door. I have my own TV and, to my delight, several foreign channels to choose from, such as CNN, HBO, Star World and National Geographic.










King size bed, baby! With a lovely view over the neighbourhood...

Buildings, buildings, buildings! What can you expect from an overpopulated city? You gotta put 'em somewhere!

Apparently, this picture was taken before rush hour which begins by half past eight and does not die down until late at night.









My neat bathroom. Equipped with western toilet, thank god! No acrobatics over a hole in the ground...



















Spot the difference! My kitchen before the massacre...

...and after. I was cooking yummy dumplings with Yaodi on my second day in Beijing, when suddenly a loud crack and a million pieces of broken glass scared the shit out of us. Note to myself: The glass top of the stove has to be removed before use! I don't even start ranting about the tiny burns I suffered from a hot sherd that landed in my T-Shirt. Thanks for mutilating me within my first 48 hours in this country!

So this is where I live. I haven't taken too many pictures yet, but I promise to put up more from work and city life some time next week. Believe me, as crowded, polluted and chaotic Beijing is, you can't fail to see the unique beauty of this city. I've been mainly to the central business district (Chaoyang, where I live) and university area (Wudaokou, international students everywhere!), but have yet to explore the historical parts of Beijing in the immediate future. Can't wait to see more! I'll keep you updated...

So what happened during my first two weeks of my stay here?

• I explored my neighbourhood including the gigantic supermarket where I found myself surrounded by hundreds of Chinese people hunting for the best offer and staring at me for being the only person standing in the aisle with cornflakes and jams. Service is great though. A shop girl took her time to explain the special Buy-3-Get-1-Free offer in Chinese and using her boundless creativity.
• I learned about the frickin' crowded buses in Beijing and that using your elbows is a crucial concept of survival here.
• I started my first week at work and couldn't be any happier. Everybody congratulates me on getting probably the best internship ever and until now I couldn't agree more. I love it! Cool staff (most of them don't speak English, but we're working on the non-verbal communication), relaxed atmosphere and interesting stuff to do. They've given me my first page and article now, so they're testing my skills at the moment. Hope to have more opportunities to prove my talent in the future.
• I've been to a wedding dinner of a colleague (OMG, yum!), a farewell party of another German intern, a pub quiz with my lovely trainees (which we only lost after four bonus questions in tie with another group. Still won a free pitcher of Long Island Ice Tea, though.), a media party (where the Chinese showed their passion for games and the urgent desire to make complete fools of themselves. Loved it!), a housewarming party and a birthday dinner in a Japanese restaurant (Unfortunately my stomach didn't approve and sent me to the bathroom a little later). How's that for the first week?
• I met the most awesome people right on the first Saturday of my stay. The AIESEC trainee community in Beijing is quite strong at the moment, so I had the incredible luck to get to know a bunch of amazing people I learned to love from the first night! You'll get to know each and everyone of them, once I have some decent pictures. I love you guys!
• I tasted countless varieties of Chinese food and, surprisingly, loved them all! I never thought Chinese food could be so diverse. No comparison to German Chinese food!
  I seriously have no struggles whatsoever to get my stomach filled and enjoy the taste. What a stretch to hear that from the pickiest eater ever! I'm progressing! And using chopsticks...my hidden skill! I'm faster and more adept than some of my colleagues.
• I settled here within a ridiculously short period of time. No jetlag, no culture shock, no fear of the unknown. From the third day on I pretty much found my way through everyday chaos, risking my life when crossing the street, pushing my way through crowded buses everyday, telling the taxi driver where to go with knowing barely three words of Chinese, exploring the supermarkets own my own and buying things whose use I can only guess, joining social events every other day and not being afraid to ask and learn new things. I hardly recognize myself, but I guess that's just life. Learn and grow with every challenge. And this challenge is definitely meant to happen or, as I put it yesterday when talking to an Irish expat journalist: "I didn't choose Beijing. Beijing chose me."

Ni hao Beijing!

My dear friends,

I just arrived in Beijing on the 23rd and have stories to tell that could fill an evening blockbuster easily. Please be patient and stay tuned for more posts in the future as I'm still settling in my new home. Six months will be a long ass time to explore a whole new world and yet too short to grasp every side of this multi-faceted country. Keep in touch! Comments and emails are very welcome...

Ally

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