Crazy Beijing

My first two days of classes have been pretty intense - 8:30 to 12:30 straight - so I've been chillin' the past couple of afternoons. Yesterday I studied for most of the afternoon, today I wandered around the local shops and practised my Chinese on the poor locals.

I bought some batteries for my camera, and it was a huge success compared to my initial restaurant experience. Imagine the following conversation in Chinese:

Me: I need to buy some batteries (dian chi)
Shop guy: What kind?
Me: Like this (shows him my camera).
Shop guy: Here.
Me: OK, how much?
Shop guy: 1 for 5RMB, 4 for 14RMB.
Me: I'll take the 4. Here's 15.
Shop guy: 1 change.
Me: Thanks!
Shop guy: Bu xie.

Note: a full conversation and everything, w00t! Also note that 4 high quality duracell batteries are about 2 bucks. Strawberries are about 2 bucks a jin (half kilo), and apples cost a fortune - 10 dollars for 6 small apples! Sheesh.

By the way Beijing is a crazy place. There are all kinds of shops, from giant mega malls to Hutong storefronts. No one seems to shops at the malls, all the shops are empty except for dozens of salespeople standing around texting on their phones. (My roommate thinks they all have second jobs working for call centers.) The markets and small stores are more fun and that's where I've been shopping. There's a little market near my appartment that has 2 floors of goods (dry goods, canned goods, snacks, alcohol, bread and frozen stuff). The upper floor has a section for stationary and another for perfume and other stuff, which it turns out are actually separate shops! I found out when I picked up a notebook and wandered off, and the sales lady came chasing after me.

There are cash registeres if you look closely ...

I found a Dolar Store at the mall, and i tried to buy a notebook and batteries there, but it turned out to be a fancy restaurant. Crazy.

Traffic is of course a life threatening experience. Every intersection is a giant game of chicken. The locals seem to have figured out when a car actually intends to stop or not, but I've had a few close calls. I've started to exercise a bit more caution though, and stick close to the locals.

You can rent bicycles from a machine. Drop the off at another machine, or there are drop-offs next to the subway stations.

There's an interesting mix of old and new. Near me there is an old Hutong district across the street from new appartment buildings. The traffic is a mix of fancy new German cars and old bicycles and pedicabs. The garbage is picked up by workers on bicycles.

You hear the locals all wandering around going "nei-ge-nei-ge-nei-ge". This is "那个那个那个" and translates as "that that that" (it's the equivalent of us saying "blah blah blah" or "um"). However it sounds like "nigga nigga nigga", and if you can imagine 20 million people walking around muttering "nigga nigga nigga" then you've got a pretty good idea of what life is like in Beijing!

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