The greatest day... ... So far

Wednesday the 28th March will go down in history as the day I fired a DSHK machine gun (still attached to the tank). Well, I also used an AK-47 and an Uzi, but they hardly compare.

We were at the China North International Shooting Range, which is in the very outskirts of Northern Beijing, at a military base. The whole experience was quite surreal. You walk into a huge room with class cases covering all walls, chockablock full of weapons. Everything from pistols to grenade launchers, sniper rifles, semi-automatics and sub-machine guns. You then tell the attendant which weapons you wish to fire, and how many bullets per weapon you wish to purchase. The minimum is 10 bullets per weapon, and each bullet ranges from 3元 for a Communist pistol, and up to 80元 for the DSHK. You then proceed to the firing range and take a seat while the attendants organize your weapons.

For safety reasons, you have to be seated while firing, because the gun is literally bolted down to stop anyone being shot accidentally (or not, either way). The attendants (who didn't wear any ear protection, tisk tisk) then loaded the weapon for you, and off you go! I wasn't overly ready for the noise or the kick, and I missed my first shot, but I managed to hit the targets with my next nine shots (had my paper target been real, he would have been toast). There was eight of us there, so we had plenty of time to sit back and relax (they even provided nibbles and drinks). The DSHK was last, and it was certainly the fastest I have ever spent money in my life (I know, I know). Ten rounds was all over in less than 2 seconds, but I nearly managed to rattle off my seat in the process.

Unfortunately, you cannot take photos at the range, because it is a military base. But here are some pictures from the website:


(Window shopping)






(The DSHK)



(My souvenir)

We then returned back to Uni, where we all ate dinner, then went to Blablabar (the bar on campus) for a few drinks. Today I have woken up quite stiff and sore, with a fabulous vertical bruise just below my collarbone, but it was definitely worth it.

STOP - PHOTO TIME

Ok so here are the photos I have been waiting on, from the first few days in Beijing





Our motel in Xuanwu, Beijing






The thinnest Hutong around - I'm guessing no fat people live down there






















And some photos of us from today:







Check out the weather today - compare it to the picture below...

Not much news this week, I'm afraid.

I have settled into the routine of uni (or should I say high school?). Getting up at 6.30am is getting easier, but the time at which I go to bed is starting to rival Dad's! After class finished, my friends and I usually have lunch in one of the cafeterias (average price = AU$2 for a main meal and rice). The meals I order at the moment are quite limited to the characters I can read and pronounce though! And the Sweet + Sour dishes are definitely better here.

On Wednesday after uni, Luchi and I went shopping at Wangfujing Dajie. Managed to find a cute mandarin-collared cream blouse with bubble sleeves from ONLY for 299元. My taxi driver on the way from from Wangfujing (I think his name was Deyun) was the first cabbie I've had so far who struck up a conversation. His pronunciation was very "Beijing-ish"... They really like to say 'rrrrr' a lot, so I couldn't understand everything he was saying. But he got me to read out signs as we drove past them, and he would then correct me if I got a character wrong. He also mentioned that I am very beautiful and would make a wonderful wife - haha! I don't think I'd have any problems finding a prospective husband here if I wanted!

Thursday night - we tried 肚皮舞 - that's belly dancing for the folks playing at home. Candy (an Aussie, from Sydney but originally from Hong Kong) dragged Mega (from Jakarta, Indonesia) and I along because she wanted to try it. By the end of the class, Mega and I were signing up for 20 lessons, but Candy obviously wasn't as impressed! But I have definitely learnt that Asian girls cannot dance. And either can I! It should be fun though, 2 one-hour classes a week on Tuesday and Thursday nights. I think sometime this coming week we are going to try Yoga and Latin dancing too and see how that is.

Friday's class was possibly the hardest we have had so far. Every day we seem to average one "lesson" per day (whereas at ANU we were averaging one per week). Thursday's homework was to memorize 8 lessons worth of dialogue and new words, in preparation for a 2 hour oral test! I was definitely glad when that class was over.

Satuday - hmm... what a day. Dragged my lazy self to uni to meet Mega, Candy and Liz (also from Indonesia) and we went to lunch to China's version of McDonalds. Wasn't the best chow in the world, but definitely better than the cow lung and liver kebabs I ate last week (oh, did I mention that? Definitely wasn't memorable). Then we went SHOPPING! There is nothing in Australia that compares to it. Two floors, with hundreds of tiny little stores. And by tiny, I mean 4m x 4m square. I didn't see any other Caucasians while I was there, and its not somewhere a tourist would go. The majority of the stores are clothing, jewellery, belts, shoes and bags. Everything is incredibly cheap, but of course you have to bargain (in Chinese - none of the 'stores' we looked at could speak English, so it was great to discuss the item in question without the store-owner understanding). But I had never realized how long it takes to bargain something down! On average, it took us around 1/2 hour for each item we wanted to buy (thus why we were there for 5 hours, until the place closed). I ended up buying a "Juicy Couture" cream bag with gold studs (that thankfully doesn't have Juicy emblazoned on it anywhere) and a grey knit sweater dress for 37元 and 40元 respectively. That's about AU$15. *I think I have died and gone to Heaven*

Huh... I guess it turns out I had a pretty eventful week after all!

( Will be posting pics from our first week in Beijing soon - hopefully today sometime )

Well, I have officially finished my first week of uni. Overall, its a bit easy at the moment (we're learning family members right now, as opposed to such enthralling topics as desalinization and social security like we were studying at ANU, but at least I understand this!) but it gets harder later in the semester. And, at the rate we're going, we'll be finished our first text book in a few weeks, as we're averaging one lesson per day (with around 30 new words to remember every day).

The weather is warming up, hopefully for good. I think in the two weeks I've been here, I've experienced enough Beijing winter for a lifetime. This may just be a coincidence though, but whenever it is cold here, the sky is clear. So clear it is blue. Alas today we're back to grey.

Anyway, on Saturday night Luchi, Rod and I hit the town. We started off the night at The Den, which I guess is some sort of rugby club. There was hardly a Chinese person in the joint, but it was packed with laowai. Then we somehow managed to score a free feed at a hotel a few doors down with some Beijing and Shanghai rugby teams... We didn't really last long there, then we walked over the road to Sanlitun Bar Street, to SHOOTERS! Yes, they have Shooters in Beijing, and it is (dare I say it) better than the one in Canberra! 10 Yuan shots, free entry, hardly any "pub rock", and there was actually a DJ. So, after a few hours and 10 shots each, we stumbled into taxis and went home. I had a pretty impressive hangover the next day too.

Anyway, here are some pics. I don't have any from the first couple of days, because they're on Dad's digi... But I'm working on it.



Nigga and I rocking it on the way to the airport




My room at ISC - bigger than Burgmann!




The view from my room - note the sky colour




Crossing the road in Sanlitun




Luchi and I at Shooters




Rod with a seedy mo at Shooters

Di Yi Xingqi

So, my first week in Beijing is nearly drawing to an end. How was it, you say?

COLD

Freaking cold. I think today is struggling to reach its maximum of 1 measly degree. It snowed Friday night and most of Saturday. Now it is just cold. So cold in fact, that the little pond in the middle of BLCU (my uni) has frozen over. (This may not surprise many of you, but I've never seen it snow apart from a couple of flakes on a freak Canberra winter day, and I've never been so cold in my life.) At what temperature is hypothermia a risk?

Apart from getting my Uni enrolment in order, Mum and I went shopping (really, no surprises here) at the Silk Market where I purchased a slightly *cough* fake *cough* Prada bag and a Chloe wallet. Both I had been considering buying in Melbourne, so really I saved about $5000 (the bag is worth just over $4000... limited edition, only one in Melbourne). We also wandered down Wangfujing Dajie, which looks like no other street in Beijing. Seriously. It looks normal. Clean.

We also took (for lack of a better word) a rickshaw ride through the Hutong between our hotel and Tiananmen. Hutong are basically a maze of very narrow alleys, with peoples houses jutting off. Our "guide" (he pedalled, we sat back and relaxed) explained that some of the Hutong are going to be demolished before the Olympic Games, because apparently they're not something you want a foreigner to see. Which is understandable, as they're filthy, with little to no drainage/rubbish/plumbing/sewerage facilities. The government has already started moving people from the Hutong to adjacent appartment buildings, but it is quite expensive.

So... Uni! I took the placement test on Friday, which to my shock was actually the HSK (anyone who has learnt Chinese will know that this is a very difficult exam). Clearly I didnt do very well, as the class I've been placed in is slightly below the level at which I was studying at ANU. But this suits me, because it is more similar to my level of speaking, which is terrible compared to my reading. Today, in our first class, we met our fellow students (I am the only whitey, there is one Khazakstan girl, a few Indonesians, two girls from HK, a few from Japan, and one girl from Brazil --- yuep we're a mixed bunch). Today was basically "Hello my name is ... ", nice and simple, but the teacher refuses to talk in English, but I managed to catch almost everything. Also, i was guilted into volunteering to be one of the two class monitors... We have to collect/redistribute homework and classwork books, and basically look out for anyone struggling with the work. I also get the pleasure of calling out "qili" when the teacher enters the room, and everyone stands up. I have the power!

So, starting tomorrow, class is from 8.30am until 12 noon, Monday to Friday. You cannot leave the classroom during that time either, so it's probably best that I dont drink too much then. (Actually, having seen the uni "facilities" I dont think I shall be frequenting them too often anyway.) We get given homework every night, and more on weekends.

This sounds more like high school than university, doesn't it?

I must run, it is lunchtime and we're off to get lunch at the 24 hour restaurant down the road (Almost everything is 8 - 10 yuan, or AU$2)

XoXo