Beijing: Day-by-Day with Btay
Check out my daily activities from my internship with China Daily (May 20 to July 20).
20 May
14 June
15 June
16 June
17 June
18 June
19 June
21 June
22 June
23 June
24 June
25 June
26 June
27 June
28 June
30 June
3 July
5 July
7 July
8 July
9 July
10 July
11 July
12 July
13 July
14 July
15 July
16 July
17 July
18 July
19 July
20 July
- My plane leaves on a 13-hour flight at 4:50 p.m. from New York City’s JFK airport. The in-flight movie is boring, the food is spicy and my sneeze causes many passengers to put on their white paper masks.
- I arrive in Beijing around 7 p.m. and am picked up by a China Daily staff member. I arrive at the YINGHUA HOTEL and check in. I eat my first bowl of Chinese noodles.
- I spend most of the day resting and recovering from jet lag. Four of the Penn State interns, Sarim Ngo, Caitlin “C.J.” Holtzman, Alexandra Petri and myself, are now in Beijing and we familiarize ourselves with the area. We spend the evening at San Li Tun, a popular bar area in Beijing.
- A fifth intern, Katelyn Curran, arrives in Beijing.
- We are also informed that we are to stay relatively close to our hotel, as a voluntary quarantine policy has been placed on all travelers arriving in Beijing.
- I learn that an older man on my plane was diagnosed with the swine flu. My name specifically comes up as someone sitting in his general vicinity.
- My roommate, Matt Hershberger, arrives. All interns are now in Beijing.
- I begin my twice daily temperature taking procedure.
- We go to HOU HAI, a lake area surrounded by bars and bright lights. It’s a very nice area for relaxing and enjoying the warn Beijing evenings.
- We are visited by two staff members at the China Daily, Pan Zhongming and Xie Songxin. Xie is the boss/ internship coordinator for our two month stay.
- We go to the SILK MARKET. I am proposed to (as in, asked to marry) twice by Asian girls trying to convince me to buy their knockoff products.
- The TEMPLE OF HEAVEN is truly heavenly.
- We then briefly visit TIANANMEN SQUARE.
- My mom calls the United States Embassy, having read my blog and thinking I am in trouble.
- Xie takes us out to dinner. We eat at a nice restaurant down the block from our hotel. Our meal consists of about ten different dishes, from seaweed and chicken to beef and noodles, and even shrimp and sugarcane.
- The Underground City, an elaborate network of tunnels constructed during the Cold War to hide Beijing’s 6 million residents, is on top of our sites to see for today. After taking the train 20 minutes to the southern section of Beijing, we find out it is closed.
- In the evening, Matt, C.J. and I visit the OLYMPIC SPORTS CENTER and see the National Stadium and Water Cube.
- Matt and I visit the LAMA TEMPLE.
- I also may or may not have eaten tail (perhaps dog tail) for lunch. Either way, it was delicious.
- Hotel employees do not wake me up to have my temperature taken. The “quarantine” is over.
- The FORBIDDEN CITY is amazing. It really is a city in and of itself, with temples and smaller buildings where would stay. It even has a garden area toward the rear of the city.
- I am approached by an “art student” near the Forbidden City entrance.
- A group of Asian girls must have mistaken more for someone famous and want their picture taken with a handsome American boy.
- A day of rest and relaxation before we start work at the China Daily tomorrow.
- I start work at China Daily reading copy, choosing wire stories and designing pages. The night desk might as well be called the international desk, with staff members hailing from around the world.
- Since I work from 5 p.m. to about midnight, I have the day to myself. Today, I visit the China Military Museum. It's essentially a militaristic version of the Smithsonian, with Chinese weapons past and present, as well as a few captured American tanks from the Chinese Civil War.
- I begin training with Adobe InDesign at China Daily. 90 minutes later I design half a page.
- I design my first full news page, solo.
- I mess up my first full news page.
- I visit Tiananmen Square (for obvious reasons)
- I don't work on Fridays, so I take it easy and walk around a bit (uneventful day)
- The rain keeps us indoors for the day.
- At night, my China Daily staff and other night workers go out for dinner at a Middle Eastern restaurant and drinks after
- China Daily produces a condensed paper on Sunday. I have to work on a half page only
- I wake up at 4 a.m. to see the flag raising ceremony at Tiananmen Square. The flag rises in concurrence with the sun and is perfectly timed. The only problem was that a thunder and lightening storm moved in, so the sun wasn't visible. Without the cover of an umbrella, I get drenched, but have a great time.
- I visit Zhongshan Park located within the walls of the Forbidden City area. The park is named after Sun Zhongshan (Sun Yat-sen), the father of modern China.
- I also pay 15 Yuan to enter the Tiananmen Gate and stand where Mao and countless other Chinese leaders have stood when addressing crowds in Tiananmen Square. The view is spectacular.
- Today is also my dad's birthday. I think I'll buy him a Mao Zedong coffee mug or statue bust for his desk at work.
- Nice weather allows me to go outside again. I decide to follow a 4-hour walking tour of the Hutongs of Haidan, near the Hou Hai area, that I found in my travel book.
- A "take it easy" kind of day.
- I decide to visit the Fragrant Hills, expecting to spend two hours there. Instead, I spend the whole day and getting absurdly sunburned. The Hill area was nice and a ski lift allowed me to get a panoramic view of the entire Beijing area.
- I use the public bus system for the first time and get completely lost, but find myself after about two hours.
- Great weather
- Great photos
- Great Wall visit. I finally get to see the Wall of Walls up close on a 10 km, 5 hour walking tour from Jingshanling to Simatai.
14 June
- I spend the day unable to walk without a limp, having spent the previous day traversing the Great Wall.
15 June
- Due to the pricey laundry service at our hotel, I wash my laundry myself. It is the closest thing to hard labor I have ever had to do.
16 June
- When it rains in Beijing, it pours in Beijing. I wake up to find the skies darker than they typically are at night, with bright flashes of lightening and bursts of thunder every so often. Needless to say, I spend the day inside.
17 June
- I have lunch with Erica Redline and Brad Jones, both Penn State graduates. They treat me to a western style breakfast of pancakes and french toast.
- I visit a Chinese Wal-Mart, the ultimate symbol of consumerism.
18 June
- I spend the day apartment shopping (I'll blog about this later)
19 June
- More apartment shopping/searching. No luck.
- Another day without success. I spend part of the day double apartment shopping with a young Australian girl named Ashley. She was looking for a long-term place to stay after acquiring a job at the Australian embassy. Ashley made out better than I did (since her stay is for longer than a month) and is considering renting one of the apartments that I would have preferred moving into. Lucky her.
- Today is the halfway point in my stay in China.
21 June
- The living situation may have sorted itself out. We'll see tomorrow.
22 June
- I'm able to make an arrangement with China Daily, moving into my new place located within walking distance of the China Daily office building. It happens to be exactly the type of apartment I've been looking for, and at an affordable price.
23 June
- Getting used to the new place. Bought clothe detergent but I have no way of using the washing machine since it's all in Chinese. Going to have to get some help on this one.
24 June
- This weekend I'll be traveling to Xian to see the Terracotta Warriors. I buy a ticket at the Beijing West Railway Station for 400 Yuan.
- I also visit the Marco Polo Bridge, located almost 10 km from the city center.
25 June
- Special shoutout to my brother Michael for turning 18 years old today. He is the last member of our family to become an "adult." We'll see how he handles the new status.
- I figure out how to use the laundry machine (all the buttons are in Mandarin)
26 June
- My train for Xian leaves at 9:18 p.m. If there are no updates to the blog this weekend, fret not, it just means I decided not to take my laptop (and not that I was kidnapped in the night).
27 June
- I arrive in Xian around 9 a.m. A few people from my hostel pick me up
- Before even checking into the hostel, I book a seat on a tour to the Terracotta Army Museum located 40 k.m. outside of Xian. I spend the day admiring the army and even visit a factory where they make replica terracotta soldiers
- I visit the Muslim Quarter for a delicious Middle Eastern meal: fish and lamb.
- At night I visit the Big Goose Pagoda to see a water and light show.
28 June
- Waking up at 6 a.m., I make my way to the train station to buy a return ticket to Beijing.
- I spend the rest of the rainy day sightseeing, visiting the Big Goose Pagoda again, the Shaanxi Museum, Small Goose Pagoda, and antique market in the morning. During the afternoon, I walk a stretch of the city wall and visit the sight of the Xian Incident as well as the largest stone stele collection in China.
- My train leaves for Beijing at 8:34 p.m. By 9 p.m. I am passed out for the night.
- I arrive in Beijing around 8 a.m. and make my way back to my apartment.
30 June
- A simple day of job searching and work.
- The power in my apartment goes out late at night. That means no air conditioning. It's going to be fixed soon.
- Where did June go?
- The power in my apartment goes out and I wake up sweating. At least the [cold] water still works. The power is restored by the time I get home from work later that night.
3 July
- My adventurous side takes hold and I get a haircut. After using single words to tell them how I'd like it cut, the get the job done.
- I spend the Fourth of July at a sake (Japanese wine) tasting event. It was free and I couldn't find any fireworks in Beijing.
5 July
- I spend the afternoon having lunch with an editor from the South China Morning Post. He explains the ins and outs of the newspaper business in China and gives great pointers in my search for a job over here.
- A smoggy mist rolls in.
7 July
- I visit the Silk Market to start buying gifts for friends and family back home.
8 July
- I prep for my first official job interview
9 July
- I have my first job interview in Beijing with an eCommerce company called Light in the Box
- I'm told I can stay at China Daily until the end of the month.
10 July
- Second job interview, with Beijing Review.
11 July
- Another smoggy day.
12 July
- A thunder storm covers Beijing. It makes sleeping somewhat difficult.
13 July
- Good news today. I am offered a job with Beijing Review
14 July
- Rain.
15 July
- Temperatures reach 102 degrees F.
16 July
- I begin searching for another apartment, this time for a longer stay.
17 July
- Last night as an intern with China Daily.
18 July
- More apartment searching.
19 July
- A day of rest before my first day of work.
20 July
- First day of work as an expat.