Ramblings of Beijing Madman

And now for random, unconnected thoughts from Beijing to catch you up on the last busy week.
Each class level chose one student to give a speech at the graduation dinner, and I was elected by our class to deliver ours. The problem was, I partly forgot and partly didn't have time to prepare, and when they called me up I had to do some fantastic improvising. I tossed my camera to my friend hoping he would take a picture, not realizing that he would instead video tape the entire thing. So we have evidence, it actually happened. The speech went well, apparently I spoke quite fluently and impressively because I was swarmed afterwards by some recruiters. They had come to pass out flyers to anyone interested in teaching English, and after hearing my speech and discovering from my teachers I was going to Beijing they attacked.
And to continue the trend of being swarmed by Chinese people interested in knowing what I think, the next morning JJ and I got interviewed by the paper for the Olympics. We told them all about how we felt about Yao Ming and basketball, and as a result I got my name in the headline on page A17: "Foreign Student Chris Marco Says". Except it is in Chinese, of course. I have a copy of the paper, and it can be seen online here at http://jrzb.zjol.com.cn/html/2008-08/09/content_3426638.htm. I am pretty much famous in China now, all 25 people who made it to the 17th page without falling asleep now know who I am. I'm kind of a big deal.
Spent some time in the night market with JJ and Bob helping them find presents before they left. I had lots of fun putting them in awkward situations. I didn't want to buy anything, so whenever a lady asked if I needed help I told them that I had no idea what to buy, but my friend Bob was looking for the perfect gift for his girlfriend and could really use some help. A few times this backfired because they became fascinated with me speaking Chinese and forgot to sell things, but most of the time it worked, and I not only got to shop in peace but also got the entertainment of sales people smelling blood in the water and circling him to sell the perfect rose scented Chinese warrior tea doll.
I said my sad goodbyes, but it still really hasn't sunk in yet that I've left Hangzhou. I miss it already, though I think I miss the routine I'd gotten used to more than I actually miss the city. The people I genuinely miss, but I don't have much time to mourn them while trying to juggle all the friends who want to eat lunch or dinner with me now that I'm back in Beijing. I managed to get two people who knew each other to go out with me at once today, but for the most part I've had to schedule lunches and dinners for the next few days to show all my friends I truly didn't forget about them while in that big, strange country known as America.
Before I got to Hangzhou, though, I had to make it through the airport alive. The airport itself wasn't too hard, but once we were on the plane we didn't taxi, we just sat for half an hour. We got a message about 15 minutes in that "the plane had been delayed because of the plane delay," which if you didn't understand the Chinese before it is hilariously confusing. Luckily I was paying attention, and we had basically been delayed because other delayed flights needed to use the runway and that all flights were getting pushed back, but I delighted in the delay due to delay anyways. The flight itself wasn't bad, aside from drinking way too much orange juice and talking to the Chinese family next to me while eyeing the line for the bathroom, squirming and frightening them.
The first night in Beijing we went out to a bar near the foreign quarter to eat and watch the olympics. The girl I'm staying with's boyfriend was with us, and since he has some long term friendship going with the bar we got free food and drinks all night. It was the first of many free things I've had since getting to Beijing, everyone keeps treating me to everything it is overwhelming. In any case, I had the Ceasar salad, which was terrible. I followed it up with the nachos, which while bad by American standards had jalapenos and guacamole (most likely both from cans) and thus was fantastic. Eventually the game started, and though the nimble Chinese and their 3 pointers kept up for awhile, the game quickly got out of hand in favor of the large scary foreigners. It was at that time I realized I was the only one in the bar that was for the American team. The other foreigners were European that from conversations I overheard apparently equated American basketball success with American hegemony, and the majority of the bar were Chinese people. I was betting with the Chinese girl to my left what the gaps at the end of the quarters would be, and I felt really bad when the gap I guessed was only half the size of the actual margin. We got out of the bar pretty fast fearing some type of vengeful anti-American basketball mob.
Today I went with my gym friends from before to their new gym to get a membership. They apparently have a new place they work at, and I got a really good deal on a membership card. I got double the time I got in Hangzhou for literally 2/3 the price, creating a fraction my brain can no longer handle. We went out to lunch at a nearby restaurant for fish round two. Last time I went out to eat with them I ended up biting into the bony, crunchy tail of a fish thinking that it was edible and intended for consumption. Yes, dumb. This time they ordered fish with no bones. Looks like we are both learning.
I am so excited about the food in Beijing. The restaurants I all love are still here, and I can't wait to get my fill of dumplings and fried pig stomach and peppers and green beans and oh I am excited.
It has been very weird wandering some of the familiar streets. With the exception of some little things the streets I frequented before haven't changed at all, they are outside of Olympic jurisdiction and maintain all the charms and quirks from before. I am excited to be back in Beijing.