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I’m already concluding my 5th week here in Beijing on Saturday evening, because I’m sitting at home with a little cold and feeling to weak to go out…
The week, nevertheless, was packed with nice things, besides work ;) On Monday I was invited for dinner by an officer and his son, as he is leaving for his studies in Guang Zhou and wanted to have a last opportunity to chat. From Tuesday to Thursday I enjoyed a little homeland presence as two colleagues from WU visited Beijing to do some research work for their thesis and of course, go out a little. So it was mainly Hou Hai, San Li Tun, Gong Ti and Chao Yang Park we had a closer look at. Yesterday actually, in the office I started to feel week and already had a cough. We went to buy some Chinese medicine (中药，Zhong Yao) in order to get rid of this cold.
Even though feeling not that well, I went to have dinner with Mr. Sun and his family, who mainly enabled my stay and the internship here for me. It was a really exclusive and delicious Hot Pot restaurant, but the Bai Jiu (白酒, liquor) probably added up to finally finish me off totally in terms of health.
Right now, I’m already getting better and hope to be sound tomorrow… to eventually turn it into a pictured week still ;)
This week (4th) was horrible in terms of Internet bandwidth. Some main data connection lines between Europe and Asia apparently were damaged leading to tremendously over-strained local Internet providers. That’s just to apologize for not having updated duly this time ;) – nevertheless I’ll date back the entry to last Sunday when I arrived back from the “beach-trip” to 南戴河 (Nan Dai He).
As you can tell from the pictures it was big fun and very Chinese of course. It’s just nice for me having the opportunity to experience that kind of team-building office vacation. On Friday, we had the day off in order to being able to prepare for the trip and on top, as my colleagues used to say: “have a lazy sleep”. I confidently followed their advice, of course ;) We took off from Dong Zhi Men Subway Station in the noon time and arrived in Nan Dai He at about 6 pm in the evening. The welcome dinner was quite liquid owing to a few bottles of 白酒 (Bai Jiu, literally meaning “white alcohol”; I’d rather translate it with hard liquor or schnapps). Following that, we strolled to the beach accompanied by the tones of an amplified harmonica, played by one of the bosses, and enjoyed some delicious and fresh seafood.
For the next day I mainly want the pictures to tell the water park story, because I could hardly make up my mind due to seeing sooooooooo many people in one place… it somehow reminded me of Tian’An Men in the Golden Week last year.
Nevertheless, on Sunday we had a good time on the not so crowded beach just in front of our hotel with playing some soccer and yeah, swim in the not so European standard clean sea… it was so polluted. But I don’t want to go into more detail here, as I know Chinese people are partly embarrassed of what they are doing to the environment. The question on the other hand is, how would any other people rich nation handle this sensitive topic? However, I experience a change of mind here in my job concerning environmental and social responsibility issues and can only support that by all means.
During my second week in the CSR-office my job mainly was to revise and correct a report of a company that already meets up to the standards required by the Responsible Supply Chain Association. At the moment there aren’t that many people in the office due to vacation or business trips. Usually we are 9 people including me but at peak times last week there were about 3 persons in the office ;)
On Friday I invited a few friends over to my apartment in order to have a little warming-up session before finally going out in the San Li Tun area (Shooters, Komoko) again. Saturday for me was very suitable for a little clothes shopping and having a suit and a few shirts done at the taylor of my trust. In the evening Fan (a guy from work) took Alex (a Swedish guy we happened to meet coincidently) and me to a really nice hot pot restaurant (Dolarshop). Following that we had a few cold beers in Hou Hai, as last weekend. On Sunday I eagerly wanted to do some sight-seeing. Therefore I headed towards the spot I liked most in Beijing when I was here for the first time last year – Tian Tan. It suddenly started to pour so heavily made me not enjoy the special sight that much. That’s why I’m referring to a former entry in the golden week, where I had more luck with the weather and could take better pics.
For me it’s quite nice to see the reminiscence and what a great time we had at our golden-week stay in Oct. 2008.
To conclude, just a little traditional cliché about Chinese habits (some of you China experienced guys may have already stumbled across…): 你吃了吗？(Did you eat already? Have you eaten so far?) is more or less replacing the good old 你好 (ni hao, hello) or 早上好 (good morning) in lunch or breakfast time. It’s rather almost a rhetorical question, puts further emphasis on the eating habits and the importance Chinese people attach to it.
On Friday I met Ingo and Mengmeng at Hou Hai Lake a scenic spot with a lot of cosy little bars. I know Ingo from Vienna as we started to study Chinese at the same time. He has been here in Beijing for already a year. We even met last year when I came to visit Beijing during the Golden Week. It’s nice to have some locals you can refer to and of course – for going out and get to know the spots you wouldn’t find that easily by yourself. So after that it was San Li Tun Area where we went to party. For me it was a nice impression of Beijing nightlife ;)
On Saturday we met at Ingo’s place first to go out again afterwards – same area as on Friday. What I can tell is that so far nightlife in Beijing in comparison to Shanghai is just different. Here you seem to have less opportunity where to go to. But I may be wrong; it’s just the things I was told by people who as well have the city comparison.
On Saturday I went to see Tian’an Men approaching the square from South by walking through the newly built shopping street Qian Men (前门) that still is a big construction sight. Quite a walk… As soon as I arrived on the square it was already about to start raining so I just rushed home. Unfortunately it wasn’t suitable weather for shooting some nice pics anyways.
And today, Sunday, it was my first sunny day here so I walked for about 5 hours in the “fresh” air to explore the environment surrounding my apartment. Via Workers Stadium (工人体育场) I went to the San Li Tun village a really westernized shopping area. I also had a brief look at the Silk Street Pearl Market, but somehow it was too crowded today so I didn’t feel like staying there long… Well, I hope you all enjoy the impressions I herewith provide ;)
Have a good one, Michael
My first week was mainly about getting acquainted to the new environment again and managing all those administrative things like registering as resident at the police station, opening a RMB bank account and to internalize important things I’ll need for work. Concerning the job I’m in an office under the China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC) that entails in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
“In the context of the economic globalization, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is not only an ethical or moral issue, but it concerns the corporate concept and philosophy that impacts management and operational aspects of businesses. CSR places an emphasis on the respect and recognition of human values of employees and taking care of their consumers, environment and multi-stakeholders. This practice that goes beyond of the profit-driven approach previously taken as the only business objective is increasingly embraced by international and Chinese enterprises and companies.“ (Source)
It has been quite interesting so far and I’m already curious about the tasks coming up for me tomorrow. I work Monday to Friday from 9am to 6pm at the office, which is in the very center of Beijing – one stop before Tian’an Men East Stop that leads right to the enormous square. It takes me about half an hour to get there from my apartment (3 subway stops).
Chao Yang District is – as already mentioned – the biggest district in Beijing with a lot of huge companies located there.
