Blogging from Beijing

I picked up the results from last week's physical exam. I am medically fit to stay in China for the next year. Now hopefully Beijing Review's HR people can get the ball rolling on my Visa application and residency permit and whatever else I need.

Tamaqua. That's "Ta-mah-kwa" to anyone who lives outside the Coal Region of Pennsylvania. The better part of my life was spent growing up in this small town of 7,000, where I attended a high school with 700 other young people and graduated from a class of close to 120. I can still name almost all the students in my class from senior year.

Like any small, rural town in America, things moved a little slower. Life was simple, quiet and at times downright boring, but I was glad to have come from such a small, close knit community enjoying the "Small-town Life".

In 2005, I began four years of education at Penn State University, commencing my "College Life". Classes grew to include over 300 people in lecture halls and the shear volume of students (40,000 on a good year) threatened to swallow me whole as an individual, but I adapted, forming a small group of friends and finding my place among the blue and white masses. Those years were a roller coaster of a ride, with ups, downs and unexpected twists. I almost was jettisoned out of my seat a few times, but held on and enjoyed the ride. Only a handful of times (after turning 21) did the loops and G-forces of college life make me lose my stomach.

And like any roller coaster, the ride was over before I could blink. The seat harness lifted and I got off the ride and was handed a diploma, quickly being ushered off the stage so another thousand students behind me could receive their certificates of graduation as well. Honestly, I was ready for it - the anticipation surrounding the internship in China making the transition from student to alumni more bearable.

Two months of living the "Unpaid Life" of an intern would leave me hanging in limbo, as I wasn't sure if I'd be staying in China to pursue a career or heading home. Then a phone call from Beijing Review changed everything and I knew my stay in China would be for longer than one month.

Yet, securing a job was not enough to truly begin the next phase in my life.  My local friends insisted this would not happen until today, when I moved into my new apartment. Until today, I'd stayed in a hotel for one month followed by another month in a temporary apartment. While both places were comfortable, neither made me feel like I was living in Beijing. I was a tourist on an extensive stay of two months.

Now, with apartment key in hand, I can start that new life - my Beijing Life. I can tell all my friends that I actually live in China and under the "Current City" on Facebook I can proudly display Beijing. Now all I have to do is wait for the social networking site to be unblocked.

As part of the work visa and living permit application process, I needed to get a physical examination to make sure I hadn't brought any foreign infections into China.

 When filling out the application at the clinic I realized how pointless this was. If I were sick, it was probably from something I caught while living in China for the past two months, not from something I brought from home.

For the exam, I entered six small rooms, answered questions, gave blood, read letters on a wall and had an X-ray taken. And that was it. 

On the way out, I noticed a sign pointing to the clinic. It read "Physical examination" and had an arrow pointing in the direction of the exam area. A closer look revealed the words "for aliens." Physical examinations for aliens. I had to laugh. I'd never thought of myself as an alien before. 

I signed the lease today. I can move in next Monday, August 3. I'll have two roommates, and French girl interning with Airbus and a Chinese girl, who I'm pretty sure is a doctor or a nurse.

There's a new employee at Beijing Review, and it's not me. The magazine is in the process of hiring more foreign experts. The new guy, Joe Kirschke, called me over the weekend - he too was looking for a place to live. 

We talked for a while and eventually asked me where I was from. I told him Pennsylvania, the Northeast. He said he used to work in Schuylkill County, my home county, for the Pottsville Republican. He covered TAMAQUA SCHOOL BOARD MEETINGS!

 I almost had to put the phone down. Here, in China, thousands of miles from home, I'd found someone who had not only heard of Tamaqua, but had covered meetings in the area. Small world.

After accepting the job with Beijing Review I started looking for an apartment... again. This time, I knew what to expect and what strategies to use to get the best price and locations.

I started calling people who listed apartments on the site I used before, in my failed apartment search. Once again, I was shown overpriced, unlivable environments. But soon enough I found the perfect place.

Located less than a block from a subway station on the same line as Beijing Review, the apartment was everything I wanted. It was a duplex, with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, a shared, fully furnished living room, kitchen and washing machine space. My bedroom was located on the second floor of the duplex and included its own bathroom. It was more than enough space and I fell under my budget for housing.


One of the contacts I've made in Beijing, Ken McManus, a copy editor with South China Morning Post, put me in touch with a friend of his. This friend happens to be a lawyer. When reviewing the lease, he noticed a few irregularities, which will be taken care of soon.


Now all I have to do is find the world-class gym in the area and I'll be all set.

Thursdays are Production Day at Beijing Review. That means all the stories must be edited, pages are designed and proofs are printed for the foreign copy editors. 

I would be shadowing another foreign copy editor to learn the process and manage the job the next week by myself.

The process is not much different than reading proofs at previous internships, so everything went smoothly... at first.

The other editor told me he usually finished up around 10 or 11 p.m. It was 8 p.m. and the Chinese editor had just brought me a dinner from one of the local restaurants. This wasn't too bad, I thought as I ate what I thought was chicken.


Then 10 o'clock passed. 11 followed soon thereafter and soon enough it was 2 in the morning. When we finished, the editor in charge said we could have the day off Friday. A wise decision, since I would have just stayed overnight if I had to come back the next morning.