Coming to an end

I have just about a week left in Beijing- two months has NEVER flew by this quickly before for me. I have to say that I’m excited and a little sad about it, but like I have said before, I’m ready for the next chapter of my life. I spent the last week taking care of last minute things I wanted to do and finishing up some shopping. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to completely get everything done and I will explain why in just a little bit.

Chinese people are all about tea; they drink its morning, noon, and night, and it can be found in every restaurant or market. I’ve never been much into tea but when I’m living in a place so obsessed with it as China, I figured I might as well see what all the fuss is about. Last Wednesday I went to a tea making class with some friends where they told us some of the history behind tea including the types available, and how to prepare it (which is as easy as it sounds). There was also a tea tasting which I took a liking too. The particular type of tea were focused on was called Pu’er , pronounced ‘poor’, and is only grown in 4 provinces in China and nowhere else on the planet. I thought there would be some elaborate-complicated- traditional method to prepare the tea (as they made it seem) but the instructor literally poured boiling water into a teacup containing the Pu’er over and over again. Since the quality of the tea is so pure and contains no other ingredients, only a small handful of tea leaves were able to produce over 3 gallons of tea for the group; I myself must have had 1 gallon because I was in love with the tea. Unfortunately this indulgence didn’t agree with my stomach later that night, but I’ll stop there and spare you the image. I was going to purchase some of this rare tea for myself to bring back to the states but then I remembered that I don’t have the patience to do what she did at home, so I’ll just stick to Lipton instant-tea. It was a good experience and a fun way to spend my Wednesday evening for sure.

As I mentioned before, I planned on spending my Saturday doing some last minute gift shopping before it becomes too late. I went out with my friend Heather to my favorite market, the Silk market, which started off pretty good. By this point I am an expert in the fine art of bargaining with the Chinese locals so I was able to get everything I went for at very little cost. Despite being called “a shit head” by one merchant in particular, it was a good shopping day. While on our way to a local jewelry market the sky opened up and hurricane China hit before we knew what was happening. We managed to make it back to the apartments pretty quick luckily. The storm did not let up and Beijing was actually in a state of emergency within a couple hours. By the next morning Beijing experienced the worst rainstorm in the last six decades which left 37 people dead in its wake. Widespread flooding, building damage, and power outages were seen but thankfully my area, Shuangjing, did not get it too bad. What a way to end my weekend!

By this time next week I will have all my belongings packed and ready. I’m very excited to see my family, girlfriend, and best friend Jocelyn Tannenbaum (pool part, woot woot! and crispy tiger prong sandwiches FTW). What an experience this has been!

It’s been about 2 weeks since my last post, and I apologize to for that. Life move fast here in Beijing and I barely even noticed the time since. The new group of interns arrived on July 5th and they are a pretty good bunch so far. My new roommate is a nice kid named Tom from Australia and he’s been getting used to the area quite well, especially since I’m basically a Beijing tour guide at this point into my internship. A lot has happened since two weeks ago so allow me to share with you!

This past Wednesday was a CRCC event so all the old and new interns can have a chance to meet and interact. Karaoke in China is pretty much a national past time so we went to a place called Radio KTV right around the corner from the apartment complex and rented out the biggest room in the building; all in all about 60 of us were there. The room had about 6 different karaoke stations all playing in unison so the entire room can enjoy the music simultaneously. Mix a bunch of expats, karaoke, and free alcohol together and you will get on interesting night. I found myself belting out a few songs myself, and showing off my dance moves, of course. I managed to snap a picture or two and you can see what I mean when you see them…

Thursday and Friday after work were two separate B&D Law Firm company events. The first was an introduction dinner for a new major client the company just picked up – the former VP of the Oracle Corporation. In case you don’t know Oracle is the third largest software company in the world after Microsoft and IBM, with a market value of over $78 Billion. The client is starting up an internet company similar to eBay here in China so this is a very important case for the firm – and I get to be a part of it! The following day was a company dinner to celebrate the success of the firm and to just enjoy each other’s company. The food at both events was…interesting to say the least. But as to not disrespect the host and restaurant I ate it all. Also, the Chinese love their wine and vodka so I was unable to refuse a toast as it would show disrespect. Needless to say by the end everyone was taking cabs home.

Saturday night I met up with my old friend ‘apple juice girl’ (Golriz) and her new roommates, Heather and Claudia to have some dinner and explore Beijing a little. They are all in law school so it was nice to talk to them and get some feedback. We met two of Golriz’s friends from law school here who are visiting Bejing together. They are this really nice couple who have been traveling around the world together before they start school back up. Interestingly, they met in Israel about 3 years ago – he was studying to be a Rubbia and she was there visiting – and have been together ever since. She, being Catholic from Hawaii, even converted to Judaism for the sake of their relationship. It was great to all sit together and speak about life and traveling and just about everything else we could fit in a 3 hour dinner. They took us to the Muslim restaurant (because everything has to be kosher) and the food was very, very delicious. There was even a belly dancer who came out to perform every 15 minutes. It was one of the better dining experience I had while in Beijing and it really heighten my desire to travel and culture myself even more so than I am now. My goal now is to finish what I started in 7th grade and get back to my roots by learning Spanish and maybe next time visit Spain.

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We had nothing else better to do today, Sunday, so my roommate and I joined a group of newbies going to the Great Wall. I guess we liked it so much the first time we wanted to do it again! Today marks two more weeks in Beijing before I head home; it is hard to believe how fast time has flown by. The feeling is bitter-sweet, but I look forward to the next chapter of my life.