An Afternoon on Wangfujing Street

Yesterday Chris and I embarked on an adventure to Wangfujing Street.  This street consists of nothing but shopping and MORE shopping.  This was our second time visiting Wangfujing.  The purpose of our first trip was to visit the foreign language book store to purchase books/software to help us learn mandarin.  During yesterday's trip, we revisited the book store to see what else they had to offer.  There were apparently three more floors.  First, we went to the fourth floor and had a look at their DVD selection.  There were a good number of American movies to choose from, but we decided we really didn't need anything. It was good to know where we could find American movies.  The next floor down had loads of books in English, as well as a sheet music section.  The selection wasn't great, but I was surprised to find the Barenreiter edition of Mozart Concerto in D Major.  Thankfully I own the same edition, as the text in this copy was of course all in Chinese.  One of the highlights of the day was actually when we were leaving the store.  We were in the same elevator as two french women and Chris started talking to them in French.  I knew he could speak some French, but I've never really heard him before.  Needless to say, I thought it was totally sexy! 

After the bookstore we went to the pharmacy, grabbed a few things, then headed towards the mall across the street.  The mall was gigantic!  There were seven floors, though half the stores were covered with signs saying "Coming Soon!."  We walked around for a long time, then took a break for a late lunch at Pizza Hut.  We are mega pizza eaters, and to go almost two weeks without pizza was very difficult for us.  This Pizza Hut was definitely the nicest one we've ever been too.  The interior looked like a nice modern restaurant, and they had a hostess and servers (I don't think normal Pizza Huts have a full staff?).  The menu also had dozens of specialty drinks.  I've come to realize the Chinese love their drinks, as there is so much variety everywhere you go!  Drinks aside, they also had fancy desserts, tons of appetizers, and even more entrees.  We decided against desserts or appetizers, but did decide to try what looked like an oreo milkshake and a salad in addition to our pizza.  I ordered for us as Chris was on the phone with his friend who is from another province in China.  The server pointed at the drink I ordered and said "ice and cookie."  Not knowing what to say, I said "okay."  The drink was literally blended ice and oreo cookies.  It was a little weird, but we drank it anyways.  The pizza we ordered was AWESOME.  Cheese is one of my favorite foods, and we both happily scarffed down our entire pizza (with a knife and fork..apparently the Chinese don't eat pizza with their hands).  The bill was much higher then I expected.  For one drink, a small salad, and a medium pizza our lunch was a wopping 100RMB.  I guess I've been spoiled with paying little to nothing for a good meal out here, but it was worth the $15 to get some cheese into our systems.  

After lunch, we walked around for a bit, found Chris an electric razor, and started to head home.  As we were walking towards the subway we saw a side street that looked way too "Chinese" to pass up.  I'm not sure what the street was called, but it was an experience.  It was here that we saw live bugs as well as starfish and seahorses on sticks.  Totally grossed out, I of course was only interested in taking pictures.  Chris actually asked one of the guys working at what I like to call a "creepy crawler stall" if he bought one of the bugs, would he eat it?  The vendor said he would, so he picked up a giant scorpion, fried it, and ate it right in front of us.  My camera was acting weird (as all electronic devices seem to do as soon as I touch them), so I lost the picture I took.  Though it was an experience, we kind of got ripped off.  We thought it would only cost 15RMB, turns out it cost us 50RMB.  That's not horrible, but still.  We actually think we almost got ripped off on the way in and the way out of Wangfujing.  On the way in there were two Chinese girls talking to us about how they were artists studying in Beijing.  They really wanted to take us to their gallery so we could see.  They seemed nice enough, and Chris at one point said sure, but after reading about numerous experiences where American's were scammed in touristy areas, I came up with an excuse and respectfully declined.  At that point we weren't sure if they were trying to scam us or not, but on the way out we were approached by a guy with the same story.  Needless to say, I'm glad we said "no."

Side street entrance

Walking down the street.

I like the red lanterns!

Bugs...on sticks...to EAT!!!!

Tarantulas!

All in all it was a nice afternoon.  It was nice getting out of the apartment for a little bit, and to have some alone time with my Chris.  I think we're all going to stay in today, at least until dinner tonight.  We're planning on going to this hot pot place near our house.  Cecelia hasn't been yet, and the rest of us loved it the one time we went.    Until next time!

-B

Ready for more rehearsals...

Today marks the fifth day in a row we haven't had a rehearsal.  It's nice to have some down time, as well as time to try and turn our apartment into a home, but I think we're all ready to be playing more.  The orchestra is on tour right now and should be back tomorrow, but we won't rehearse again until the 24th.  After our concert on the 25th, the orchestra will go on another short tour (again..Kyle will be the only one going..meaning more time off), then we will finally start working on Tannhäuser as well as the first opera of Wagner's Ring Cycle.  Pretty heavy stuff, but I'm starting to get excited about playing some opera.

In our days off we've made a two trips to IKEA, and several trips to our local Wu-Mart for food and other smaller household items.  Wu-Mart is in no way affiliated with Walmart, but they have nearly everything we need.  HOWEVER, though they have french presses, they do not have COFFEE.  I was able to find some coffee at IKEA.  It's alright for now, but I will definitely need to find a place that sells some decent coffee.  That aside, I forgot how much shopping is involved when you're starting from scratch in a new place.  Lots of shopping! The apartment is coming together nicely, and I promise I'll have some pictures up soon.

I'm really enjoying the people we're living with.  Cecilia (horn player no. 1) and Keyondra (horn player no. 2) are great girls.  Keyondra is sweet, funny, and very easy to talk to, and Cecilia is crazy silly (kind of like me) and I love it.  Chris of course is my favorite person I'm living with.

I think tonight we're going to make a stir fry, so we're going to head to Wu-Mart to pick up some rice and veggies.  Hopefully we'll get out more in the next few days, and I'll have something more exciting to write about.

Zài jiàn!

  

Week One

Hello!

A week ago today four CCMers arrived in the overwhelmingly gigantic city of Beijing.  Beijing is huge, and exploring this place is proving to be an adventure.

When we arrived here a week ago we were met by Ms. Wang, our contact with the orchestra.  She has been both kind and helpful with everything we need, and her English is good enough that she can even make jokes with us.  After meeting her in the airport, she took us to our apartment.  I believe we're located in the northern part of the fourth ring of the city.  The apartment is awesome.  We're located on the top (25th) floor of our sky-rise complex, and when there's no smog outside you can see all the way downtown (pictures of the interior coming soon!).   

View number 1 after a short rain shower.  Very cool!

View number 2..can you see the mountains??

The first few days here we were completely swamped with running errands.  We had to register our passports with the police, we went to IKEA to buy bedding, dishes, glasses, etc., as well as other household items, went downtown to set up internet, bought cell phones/sim cards, and the list goes on and on. Two days ago we had to go to the bank and set up bank accounts.  After two hours of paperwork and waiting, we had bank accounts, as well as new debit cards.  I was incredibly excited to see that my debit card was shimmery and had pink bunnies on it (I of course assume a momma and her baby), as well as a little bunny house.  This is the year of the rabbit, so that explains it.  The girl helping me probably took one look at me and thought definitely the bunny card.

 We had our first rehearsal with the orchestra two days ago, and a concert yesterday.  To be honest the level of the orchestra was much higher then we all expected.  Everyone is also really nice.  Most know a little English, and have been very helpful in rehearsals.  This past concert (as well as the next one) consisted entirely of Chinese songs.  From what I understand, July 1st is like China's 4th of July for the states, and the celebration begins in the weeks leading up to that date.  After the 1st we will start playing western music.

After our concert yesterday, we had a meeting with Ms. Wang regarding our contract (we haven't signed anything yet, as we wanted one article adjusted, so we may be doing that later today).  After that we hung out at Starbucks for about two hours waiting for our dinner date with Liya and Jing Huan.  For those of you who don't know, Liya is a CCM harpist who recently won a job in Beijing, and Jing Huan is Professor Gibson's (CCM orchestra director) graduate assistant.  Jing Huan has been a HUGE help to us.  I'm kind of sad that I didn't really know her until now, because she's awesome!  She has helped us through nearly everything.  I think a nice gift is in order.

Last night Jing Huan made a reservation at a very fancy restaurant so we could all have our first Beijing duck.  The restaurant was beautiful.  The server's were overly helpful as well.  One surprised me when she was putting the napkin in my lap for me, and another one put a slip cover over the back of some of our chairs to cover our jackets.  The duck was amazing.  They came to our table and cut it for us, and later brought us a very light and delicious soup that was made from the bones of our duck.  As most of you probably know, I'm a sucker for good soup, and this soup was wonderful. 

Beautifully prepared duck.

Later on in the meal they brought us dessert as well as a giant plate of complimentary berries.  For the life of me, I can't remember what they were called, but they were exquisite.  You peel the skin and layer of white stuff (like an orange) off and are left with a juicy interior.  We determined that it kind of looks like a grape in canned fruit cocktail and has an aftertaste similar to a pear.  Apparently they can be pretty expensive, so it was definitely a treat.  I'm sure the name will come to me later, but if any of you knows the name, please post!  I think it starts with an L?

Delicous!

One thing I love about China is that everything is so cheap.  Our amazing meal cost us 725RMB, so with a table of seven, we each paid about $15.  That's like going out to eat at Chili's or Applebees!

Four out of the five of us have a week off, as the orchestra is going to tour to Sichuan (?).  The land of pandas.  I'm slightly jealous because I would love to see a panda bear, though I'm not jealous of the 24 hour train ride.  I think we may go shopping later today.  I'm in need of a new wallet...and if you give a Brittany a new wallet, she's going to ask for a new purse to go with it.

I love and miss you all.  Until next time!

-B

Ni Hao!

Dear family and friends-

With less then four days left before my move to the other side of the planet I finally got a blog going.  I plan to regularly update the website with pictures and descriptions of my adventures in Beijing!  I'll write about my job, new friends, my travels, and of course THE FOOD.  If you know me at all, you know I am most excited about eating and hopefully learning how to cook authentic Chinese cuisine. 

So far I have about half a suitcase packed, because I can't seem to make up my mind as to what I want to bring!  Trying to fit my favorite kitchen utensils, a few books, a lifetime collection of sheet music, as well as clothes and shoes is proving to be difficult.  Sadly, cuts will have to be made.  

Speaking of being indecisive, what do you think of the look of my blog?  I have changed it dozens of times, so let me know what you think!

That's all for now.  Time to cram my life into a few suitcases.

~B