One week ago I went for the first time to the bakery. I really was impressed what they sold. So many nice and delicious things. The bakers work whole day long and keep on baking whole the day to keep the supply fresh. And again it is not that expensive for what I’m used too.
Last Wednesday also was the moonfestival. This is a national holiday in China, but what it exactly means I don’t know. I tried to ask some local people, but they weren’t able to explain it clear with me, with their Chinese-english. I only know that the people come together (friends and family) give mooncake to each other and eat it. Then at night they have a dinner together and go home afterwards. Of course I also tried a mooncake. And surprised as I was, besides the bottles of Heineken it was partly something Dutch as well. The mooncake is filled with something that is different for everycake, but the outside of the cake tastes exactly the same as what the Dutch know as Taitai.
Then to come back to the title. Thursday I bought my own scooter. The bus is always full of people and most of the time late, so I thought just buy a scooter. Wow I understand the rules of the traffic it is safe to drive a vehicle here, so no worries!!
It is very simple. You have to stop in 9 of the 10 times for the red light, make sure you don’t hit any pedestrian or car and cars go first no matter what. If you follow these 3 rules, nothing can happen. It is an electric scooter, so every 2 days I have 2 charge my batteries again.. and it also isn’t particularly fast. But still it beats walking and the bus.
Friday we finalized with 10 people in total a trip to see more of China. Next week is a national holiday in China for 7 days and we thought this is an excellent opportunity to see more of the country. So we planned a trip with 10 people. Thursday night we will leave to Shanghai and stay there for 6 days. We won’t stay in Shanghai only, but also see some places in the neighborhood of that city. After those 6 days, we will leave and go to Quilin (I think you write it like that). Where we will complete the last 3 days of our holiday. We will arrive back in Beijing on Saturday night.
That also means I won’t be online and check my e-mails for that time!
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
New Apartment!
First of all last Monday Shane and I found a new apartment. It is somewhat closer to the university and also to Wudaokou. The room looks really nice and is a huge step forward compared to the first room. It has a washing machine, refrigerator, air conditioning etc. It also has a kitchen, so I can make my own food if I would like. I don’t have to go to the McDonalds or KFC anymore. I can finally drink milk again, thanks to the fridge. This wasn’t possible first, because I couldn’t keep it cool. We only have to wait for the internet to be installed, which will last till Sunday. It has also only one bed, so we will buy a second mattress as soon as possible and some sheets. Also some cutlery and plates and cups have to be bought. So when writing this blog I have to wait for 5 more days. Pictures will be uploaded as soon as possible on my Hyves profile.
Then some several days ago, when I was walking on the street. There were walking 2 parents and a little boy in front of me. Suddenly they stopped and the kid pulled his pants down. I was rather surprised, curious what he wanted to do. The parents did nothing and only looked. Some seconds later he also pulled down his underpants and started peeing in the middle of the pavement… Nobody looked surprise, so I guess this is kind of normal for the people here.? However I hope I won’t have to see it again.
Last Saturday I went with a group of people to the Great Wall and the Ming tombs. I don’t know exactly to which part of the wall, but luckily it was not as busy as was told to me. However it was very warm that day and we had to walk a lot. To see a piece of the wall is impressive. It is so huge and long and the view from the wall is also magnificent. It is a wall built by Chinese people, but I think some stairs couldn’t be used by them. Some are so steep, that it is hardly possible to make another step.. But it is all the effort worth! I recommend however, to walk on the Great Wall when the temperature is lower.
After that we went to the Ming tombs. This is the place where all the emperors, empresses and family of them of the Ming dynasty are buried. This place is at the beginning of a mountain, but I don’t know the name.. I thought that it would be an exciting place, but if you don’t have a lot of time in Beijing, you shouldn’t go there. I thought it was possible to access the tombs and really see something of the tombs. This was unfortunately not the case. We only walked through some kind of garden and saw some statues, a temple and a big stone with some Chinese text. Not really what I expected.
But it was for free, so I don’t mind. The tour guide forgot to collect my money, so I had a cheap day
Monday I had my first lecture of Doing Business in China. I think that will be the course I will like the most, but the start wasn’t very good. The lecturer first introduced himself and after that the whole class introduced itself one by one to the rest of the class. That took 3 hours, the lecture was over and I had wasted my afternoon. I hope the other lectures of this courses will be better.
Then some several days ago, when I was walking on the street. There were walking 2 parents and a little boy in front of me. Suddenly they stopped and the kid pulled his pants down. I was rather surprised, curious what he wanted to do. The parents did nothing and only looked. Some seconds later he also pulled down his underpants and started peeing in the middle of the pavement… Nobody looked surprise, so I guess this is kind of normal for the people here.? However I hope I won’t have to see it again.
Last Saturday I went with a group of people to the Great Wall and the Ming tombs. I don’t know exactly to which part of the wall, but luckily it was not as busy as was told to me. However it was very warm that day and we had to walk a lot. To see a piece of the wall is impressive. It is so huge and long and the view from the wall is also magnificent. It is a wall built by Chinese people, but I think some stairs couldn’t be used by them. Some are so steep, that it is hardly possible to make another step.. But it is all the effort worth! I recommend however, to walk on the Great Wall when the temperature is lower.
After that we went to the Ming tombs. This is the place where all the emperors, empresses and family of them of the Ming dynasty are buried. This place is at the beginning of a mountain, but I don’t know the name.. I thought that it would be an exciting place, but if you don’t have a lot of time in Beijing, you shouldn’t go there. I thought it was possible to access the tombs and really see something of the tombs. This was unfortunately not the case. We only walked through some kind of garden and saw some statues, a temple and a big stone with some Chinese text. Not really what I expected.
But it was for free, so I don’t mind. The tour guide forgot to collect my money, so I had a cheap day
Monday I had my first lecture of Doing Business in China. I think that will be the course I will like the most, but the start wasn’t very good. The lecturer first introduced himself and after that the whole class introduced itself one by one to the rest of the class. That took 3 hours, the lecture was over and I had wasted my afternoon. I hope the other lectures of this courses will be better.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Holiday is over :(
Last Friday I ate with a Korean friend at the hypermarket near to us. He explained to me what everything was and how it should be eaten. There was a pan with boiling water in front of me and basically you just put your meat and noodles in the water and wait till it is ready. If it’s ready you grab a piece of lettuce, you put the meat with some tofu in it. Add some spicy peanut sauce and soya sauce. Then wrap it all up like a kind of wrap and eat it. It tasted very nice however for Chinese standards it was somewhat more expensive, but still cheap. Shane also gave me some tips how to eat with the chopsticks and since then I can eat with the sticks
With that same person I’m also looking for another room to stay in. The place we live in now, is small, not very suitable for studying, and quite far away from the university. We will try to find an apartment in the Wudaokou area. That is the place were practically all students live and the place to hang out.
On Sunday we went with a bunch of people to the forbidden city and the temple of heaven.
It was organized by the university, but all people knew each other already. We first went to the forbidden city for 3 hours. It is very big there and not possible to see everything in one day. However I don’t think it’s necessary to see everything. It is a place you want to see, because it’s a part of China’s culture, but every building looks the same there. So after an hour I was a bit bored there, just like all the others. All the buildings there look the same. They only differ in size and the purpose what they were used for in the past differ. It is funny even though that all the emperors and empresses have walked there in the past and that I was walking there at that moment on the same stones as they did.
After that we had lunch at a place where only western people that did trips come. The restaurant was western orientated. They even had cutlery, what you normally won’t find in a Chinese restaurant and the dinner wasn’t spicy at all.
After the lunch we went to the temple of heaven. It is a big piece of ground with grass and trees and some place to walk. At some places there are some Chinese temples. These were different than the ones in the forbidden city. The roof of these buildings were blue, which means the sky or heaven. The Chinese people used this place to make sacrifices for a good harvest for that year.
After the excursion we were hungry and we decided to eat with 4 people. My Korean friend knew a Korean bbq restaurant where we were going to eat. In the restaurant was a big round bbq from glass in the table where the meat was prepared by a cook. Several Korean side dishes comes served with the meat. Everything tasted delicious and we were all stuffed. And again we laughed about the price.
The Monday morning I discovered there was something wrong with my timetable. Some of my courses clashed and I wasn’t able to take all courses and I wouldn’t have my 30 ECTS. After some mails to my academic advisor and my exchange coordinator a solution was born.
I’m now allowed to take 2 courses of the Master level to solve the problem.
That also meant I had to go to class on Monday already and not on Wednesday. So my holiday was 2 days earlier over than expected.
So I actually had my first class on Monday; Managing across cultures. Almost all lectures last for 3 hours, what is very long. In Tilburg the lectures will last for 1,75 hours with a 15 minute break, while here you have to sit and listen for 3 hours with a 10 minute break. If you’re lucky you will get 2 breaks. Wednesday I had my 2nd and 3rd lecture, Marketing channels and Chinese economy. The first one will be nice I think, but the 2nd one will just be a book of facts that I will have to learn. Today I had a class of introduction to programming. That will be a nice course too. However it takes much concentration to listen for 3 hours to the teachers!
Furthermore I received my bankcards yesterday, so I will have money again:D
With that same person I’m also looking for another room to stay in. The place we live in now, is small, not very suitable for studying, and quite far away from the university. We will try to find an apartment in the Wudaokou area. That is the place were practically all students live and the place to hang out.
On Sunday we went with a bunch of people to the forbidden city and the temple of heaven.
It was organized by the university, but all people knew each other already. We first went to the forbidden city for 3 hours. It is very big there and not possible to see everything in one day. However I don’t think it’s necessary to see everything. It is a place you want to see, because it’s a part of China’s culture, but every building looks the same there. So after an hour I was a bit bored there, just like all the others. All the buildings there look the same. They only differ in size and the purpose what they were used for in the past differ. It is funny even though that all the emperors and empresses have walked there in the past and that I was walking there at that moment on the same stones as they did.
After that we had lunch at a place where only western people that did trips come. The restaurant was western orientated. They even had cutlery, what you normally won’t find in a Chinese restaurant and the dinner wasn’t spicy at all.
After the lunch we went to the temple of heaven. It is a big piece of ground with grass and trees and some place to walk. At some places there are some Chinese temples. These were different than the ones in the forbidden city. The roof of these buildings were blue, which means the sky or heaven. The Chinese people used this place to make sacrifices for a good harvest for that year.
After the excursion we were hungry and we decided to eat with 4 people. My Korean friend knew a Korean bbq restaurant where we were going to eat. In the restaurant was a big round bbq from glass in the table where the meat was prepared by a cook. Several Korean side dishes comes served with the meat. Everything tasted delicious and we were all stuffed. And again we laughed about the price.
The Monday morning I discovered there was something wrong with my timetable. Some of my courses clashed and I wasn’t able to take all courses and I wouldn’t have my 30 ECTS. After some mails to my academic advisor and my exchange coordinator a solution was born.
I’m now allowed to take 2 courses of the Master level to solve the problem.
That also meant I had to go to class on Monday already and not on Wednesday. So my holiday was 2 days earlier over than expected.
So I actually had my first class on Monday; Managing across cultures. Almost all lectures last for 3 hours, what is very long. In Tilburg the lectures will last for 1,75 hours with a 15 minute break, while here you have to sit and listen for 3 hours with a 10 minute break. If you’re lucky you will get 2 breaks. Wednesday I had my 2nd and 3rd lecture, Marketing channels and Chinese economy. The first one will be nice I think, but the 2nd one will just be a book of facts that I will have to learn. Today I had a class of introduction to programming. That will be a nice course too. However it takes much concentration to listen for 3 hours to the teachers!
Furthermore I received my bankcards yesterday, so I will have money again:D
Friday, September 3, 2010
Registration day
Yesterday (Wednesday) I had to register at my university. They said it wouldn’t take so long. Actually the registering part only took 5 minutes of my time. The waiting time however was 90 minutes before I could register. After registering they told me to sign up for the medical insurance. I don’t know why, because I’m already insured, but I had to else I couldn’t register…
So another 300 Yuan is wasted.
On every piece of paper the Chinese people put a stamp. I don’t know why. I think they love to do it. Even in the supermarkets they put stamps on all the receipts, preferably 2 or 3.
The only thing left is collecting my student cards. Not 1, but at least 5 I think. One for use on campus, one for getting food at campus, one for the library, one for sporting and one ID card. Why not one card? They couldn’t answer.
I was surprised in the bus too. All the people will stand up for the older people. In Holland we will look to the older people and won’t offer if they want to sit on our place. In Beijing the younger person stands up and the older person must sit there, even if he/she doesn’t wants to.
Then there is the area Wudaokou. That is an area near to where I live and where almost everything is happening for the students. Like pubs, bars, shopping malls, etc. The Asian people say they don’t get drunk fast, but yesterday most of them failed to prove it. After a few drinks they were almost wasted..
Before going out and discovering the nightlife we went with a group of people to the other side of town to eat the roast peking duck (peking eend). This was in one of the most famous restaurants where you can eat the duck. You order it and after 40 minutes preparing time a cook will come to your table with a trolley. On the trolley is the duck and he will chop off all the eatable pieces for you. He starts with chopping of the ducks’ head and afterwards he will start preparing the other pieces. He puts it on the plates and a waiter serves them to you. As last surprise the head is chopped into 2 pieces and you should eat it too…
I passed for it.
I already had tasted something else I didn’t like. As a side dish somebody ordered one plate of jellyfish. Just as I thought it looked liked jelly, but it didn’t tasted like jelly. It is very though and you have to chew very hard before I could swallow it. The cook soaked the jellyfish with vinegar, so it actually tasted like vinegar.
After finishing the duck we went outside to a food market. All kinds of ‘strange’ dishes are prepared there except for coconut juice and sugared apples and grapes. You could eat there small and big scorpions, hearts, starfishes, lizards a complete young chicken (kuiken) and more like that…
After the jellyfish I didn’t had that much appetite anymore, so I didn’t try anything of it.
I can’t post any pictures due to the Chinese firewall, but soon I will post some on my Hyves profile page!
When I have more news you will hear from me again!
So another 300 Yuan is wasted.
On every piece of paper the Chinese people put a stamp. I don’t know why. I think they love to do it. Even in the supermarkets they put stamps on all the receipts, preferably 2 or 3.
The only thing left is collecting my student cards. Not 1, but at least 5 I think. One for use on campus, one for getting food at campus, one for the library, one for sporting and one ID card. Why not one card? They couldn’t answer.
I was surprised in the bus too. All the people will stand up for the older people. In Holland we will look to the older people and won’t offer if they want to sit on our place. In Beijing the younger person stands up and the older person must sit there, even if he/she doesn’t wants to.
Then there is the area Wudaokou. That is an area near to where I live and where almost everything is happening for the students. Like pubs, bars, shopping malls, etc. The Asian people say they don’t get drunk fast, but yesterday most of them failed to prove it. After a few drinks they were almost wasted..
Before going out and discovering the nightlife we went with a group of people to the other side of town to eat the roast peking duck (peking eend). This was in one of the most famous restaurants where you can eat the duck. You order it and after 40 minutes preparing time a cook will come to your table with a trolley. On the trolley is the duck and he will chop off all the eatable pieces for you. He starts with chopping of the ducks’ head and afterwards he will start preparing the other pieces. He puts it on the plates and a waiter serves them to you. As last surprise the head is chopped into 2 pieces and you should eat it too…
I passed for it.
I already had tasted something else I didn’t like. As a side dish somebody ordered one plate of jellyfish. Just as I thought it looked liked jelly, but it didn’t tasted like jelly. It is very though and you have to chew very hard before I could swallow it. The cook soaked the jellyfish with vinegar, so it actually tasted like vinegar.
After finishing the duck we went outside to a food market. All kinds of ‘strange’ dishes are prepared there except for coconut juice and sugared apples and grapes. You could eat there small and big scorpions, hearts, starfishes, lizards a complete young chicken (kuiken) and more like that…
After the jellyfish I didn’t had that much appetite anymore, so I didn’t try anything of it.
I can’t post any pictures due to the Chinese firewall, but soon I will post some on my Hyves profile page!
When I have more news you will hear from me again!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
What Happened:
After I got out the club, I discovered that my wallet was stolen…
All my money and my bankcards were stolen, so I could nothing..
When I was in my room, I called to my father and he arranged I could have cash money the next day. However, receiving the cash money wasn’t that easy. I have underestimated the level of English the Chinese people speak. They all speak very poor English, only at the university this is better. Due to the help of my dictionary I could explain the most and I got my money. My mom will send the bankcards to me, so I will have them next week and I will have the important stuff back.
Even though most of the Chinese people people speak poor English, they are very kind and helpful. I told to the taxi driver that my wallet was stolen and he offered me a bottle of water. Also on the street or at the reception they want to help you as best as they can! However due to the language barrier this is not always possible.
The Chinese people always spit on the streets, just like some people in The Netherlands, but they really make a strange sound if they spit. That was funny when I heard it for the first time.
The first night I also discovered the subway(metro) in Beijing. At the very first moment it looks very difficult, but it is very easy actually. You pay 2 Yuan (0,25 Euro) for a single ticket and you can get everywhere with the subway where you want! However it can be very busy in the metro just like the bus and that’s no fun :P
Then the traffic in Beijing. Of course it is very busy. There are 4 or 5 ring roads which Is 4/5 roads on each side and when it’s busy all roads are completely full and a lot of gasses. It really stinks. They don’t drive too fast here, but a car always comes first. If the lights for the pedestrians is green you still have to be careful crossing the street. Also the ‘zebrapaden’ means nothing here. The cars will simply yank the horn and keep on driving. For me that was a bit strange the first day, because I’m used to that cars will stop when you’re on the ‘zebrapad’.
In my room I don’t have a wash machine… I think I have to wash my clothes by hand, since I also couldn’t find any store where I can wash my clothes.
Also the toilet is somewhat different from The Netherlands. You can’t flush the toilet paper after using it. You have to throw it away in a dustbin and luckily a cleaning lady cleans it every day.
Furthermore I discovered that the Chinese government really blocks the access to some websites. I thought I would run into trouble using Google, but Google works fine, just like home.
However sites like Facebook, Youtube and the site for my blog are blocked…
Really strange how thet can deny access to Facebook, since it is the website to get international connections.
Furthermore I had today (Tuesday) a welcome meeting and a campus tour. At the welcome meeting I met some new students and at the campus tour we get to know each other better.
As I already said the campus is really huge. It has 2 lakes, sporting facilities, housing facilities, supermarkets etc. For Dutch standards it could be a village.
One of them is an Italian guy who’s name is Anush. I immediately started laughing and everybody looked at me, since I was the only Dutch person. So they asked what was so funny, but I didn’t explain it yet.
Well this is all for now what I have experienced so far. Tomorrow I will register at Peking University and you will be hearing from me soon again!
All my money and my bankcards were stolen, so I could nothing..
When I was in my room, I called to my father and he arranged I could have cash money the next day. However, receiving the cash money wasn’t that easy. I have underestimated the level of English the Chinese people speak. They all speak very poor English, only at the university this is better. Due to the help of my dictionary I could explain the most and I got my money. My mom will send the bankcards to me, so I will have them next week and I will have the important stuff back.
Even though most of the Chinese people people speak poor English, they are very kind and helpful. I told to the taxi driver that my wallet was stolen and he offered me a bottle of water. Also on the street or at the reception they want to help you as best as they can! However due to the language barrier this is not always possible.
The Chinese people always spit on the streets, just like some people in The Netherlands, but they really make a strange sound if they spit. That was funny when I heard it for the first time.
The first night I also discovered the subway(metro) in Beijing. At the very first moment it looks very difficult, but it is very easy actually. You pay 2 Yuan (0,25 Euro) for a single ticket and you can get everywhere with the subway where you want! However it can be very busy in the metro just like the bus and that’s no fun :P
Then the traffic in Beijing. Of course it is very busy. There are 4 or 5 ring roads which Is 4/5 roads on each side and when it’s busy all roads are completely full and a lot of gasses. It really stinks. They don’t drive too fast here, but a car always comes first. If the lights for the pedestrians is green you still have to be careful crossing the street. Also the ‘zebrapaden’ means nothing here. The cars will simply yank the horn and keep on driving. For me that was a bit strange the first day, because I’m used to that cars will stop when you’re on the ‘zebrapad’.
In my room I don’t have a wash machine… I think I have to wash my clothes by hand, since I also couldn’t find any store where I can wash my clothes.
Also the toilet is somewhat different from The Netherlands. You can’t flush the toilet paper after using it. You have to throw it away in a dustbin and luckily a cleaning lady cleans it every day.
Furthermore I discovered that the Chinese government really blocks the access to some websites. I thought I would run into trouble using Google, but Google works fine, just like home.
However sites like Facebook, Youtube and the site for my blog are blocked…
Really strange how thet can deny access to Facebook, since it is the website to get international connections.
Furthermore I had today (Tuesday) a welcome meeting and a campus tour. At the welcome meeting I met some new students and at the campus tour we get to know each other better.
As I already said the campus is really huge. It has 2 lakes, sporting facilities, housing facilities, supermarkets etc. For Dutch standards it could be a village.
One of them is an Italian guy who’s name is Anush. I immediately started laughing and everybody looked at me, since I was the only Dutch person. So they asked what was so funny, but I didn’t explain it yet.
Well this is all for now what I have experienced so far. Tomorrow I will register at Peking University and you will be hearing from me soon again!
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