New home

Hi everyone. You can now find me at talkstotofu.blogspot.com!

Hello (belated) to 2011!

My resolutions:

1.) Slow down and chew my food more.
2.) Take care of myself mentally and physically.
3.) Look more put together when stepping out the door.
4.) Photography! Start documenting life more often.
5.) Write in my journal daily.
6.) Keep things neat.
7.) Read. Read. Read. for school and for fun.
8.) And keep this blog alive!

Okay? Ready… set… GO!

(image from flickr)

Outtakes from China

I spent the first two weeks of December traveling around China with my study abroad program. We visited Xi’an, Chengdu, Leshan, Lijiang, Dali and Kunming. It was an amazing time with great friends. Saw the terracotta warriors (a little underwhelming), baby panda (heartbreakingly cute) and beautiful scenery, climbed a mountain, sampled different food, and experienced China outside of Beijing. Unfortunately, holding pandas didn’t happen, but I’m okay with that. It’s hard for me to put down the experience in words. My painful stabs at describing all that I saw and felt wouldn’t do my trip justice.

Here are a few of the photos I took. Visit my flickr to see more.

The Great Firewall of China

The Great Firewall of China has struck again! WordPress is blocked in China. The only reason I can post this now is because the computer I use at my internship has a proxy installed. Anyway, aside from the bitter, but brilliant cold that has descended upon Beijing, life is pretty good right now.

In brief, because I’ve got actual work to do:

-volunteering at a migrant workers’ school on Fridays
-a trip to Tianjin via bullet train
-lots of good food
-Mao Zedong’s body
-avoiding papers and studying
-798 arts district

(Taken while exploring a hutong that had been converted into a hipster zone, China style. Really neat scene, but too expensive for me! Here street musicians are laughing at a member of the audience.)

Oct 05: Morning light

Old photo. The light in the morning makes everything prettier.

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Update:
I am participating in Nanowrimo. And I will be much more sane once my Monroe project proposal is turned in and registration is over. Sorry, friends.

Can you believe it’s November already? I can’t believe that I’ve been here in Beijing for two months already. Seems just like yesterday when I arrived.

old and new

a new favorite fruit:

with a cute underbelly : )

and an old favorite:

a day in my life: 10.23

new shoes are finally broken in.

at the zoo. what a pretty bird!

yes, we eat napa cabbage.

I have more photos from the Beijing Zoo, including a video of a panda, but seeing the animals behind bars and glass, all the litter around them (and the smell!), broke my heart, so I’d refrain from sharing any more. I don’t know how I got soft and sentimental.

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Yesterday, I saw a commercial for Bounty paper towels on MSNBC’s website and I was struck with profound homesickness.  I’ll admit it: I really miss America– my boyfriend, my family, my friends, food, being able to get around without being too nervous, clean air, my own bed, school, playing bassoon and piano, good chocolate desserts. Home feels farther away when you’re on the other side of the world in a different country. Do you know what I mean?

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday, mom! Thanks for constantly being supportive and an inspiration. I wish I were home to celebrate with you. What is it? Your 35th birthday? : ) Haha. Keep on dreaming up those ideas– you are quite possibly one of the most creative persons I know!

Love,
Felicia

Snapshots from the Temple of Heaven:

Intermezzo

Check out my post at Pink Pangea. It’s about what I did the night of the Mid-Autumn festival (and it’s rather belated, I know.)

Pink Pangea is a great website where female travelers around the world can share their experiences (good and bad, but mostly good) with each other. I think it’s great to see where everyone else is all over the world, and reading about all these stories has made me add more places onto my wanderlust list.

Beijing, in my opinion, is a very safe city for any gender. I’ve seen tiny women walking alone safely late at night (smaller than me, and I’m barely five feet tall!) Honestly, if you have common sense, you’ll be perfectly safe in Beijing.

There is, perhaps, one thing: Anyone who does not look Chinese is “exotic.” I’m lucky in that as an American-born Chinese, I don’t stick out like some of my American friends. The Chinese are absolutely shameless at staring and asking (or just not asking) to take their pictures, and it gets very annoying. Some people will even pull out phones to take pictures while my friends are walking by them. (I have had someone ask for my picture, but that’s another story, more bizarre than annoying.) This is a form of harassment, but there’s really nothing that can be done besides ignoring it or being obnoxious. (Chasing down the photographer and tackling them for their camera always an option, but you might get in even bigger trouble!)

Other than that, the biggest hazards in Beijing are pollution and crossing the street with all the crazy motorbikes, bicycles and cars. Now those two are really worrisome!