Beijing

I will try to keep this brief.

As of tomorrow, I'll have been in Beijing for a week. I worked three days at my internship last week. It's a very casual environment, certainly nothing like what I'm used to from past summers. So far I've only worked on revising the magazine's source list which they monitor in their capacity as a news digest. I'll go in to work tomorrow to discuss what I'll be doing on a more regular basis.

I've looked at four apartments, two of which are good prospects. Hopefully will have something nailed down by the end of the week.

Went out Friday and Saturday night with a complex amalgamation of friends and friends of friends. Example: three students in CIEE were from Soka University in the OC. Their German friend from the same university visited them for the last couple days of our program in Nanjing. He happened to be on the same train going to Beijing as me and another girl from my program. I went out with him and met his Chinese friends. They're all very cool and I hope to hang out with them in the future, although he has already left China for Japan. Two friends passing through independently of each other also came along bringing their friends. Anyway, this is a good change of pace from the built-in friends of the program I just completed.

One other anecdote. I was on my way to check out this interesting apartment in a hutong (traditional maze like alleyways that used to be where most Beijingers lived), and it began to downpour. Some alleyways flooded to like a foot. In the end, I purchased sandles and waded through it all. The apartment has 6 rooms around a courtyard. Half belong to a Chinese family, one room belonging to a Chinese-Canadian dude, and the other one I could possibly rent. Could possibly be an interesting cultural experience.

Right now, this dude on the computer next to me in this huge internet cafe is watching a childrens fashion/talent show thing, and it's really creeping me out. Why couldn't I have sat next to one of the hundred other dudes playing World of Warcraft?

Lastly, I'm writing bar reviews for an english entertainment publication called City Weekend. Pays OK but will pay for my night life. First one's due friday, I already visited it in the same hutong in the apartment.