Summer and the last days of school

Oh, the lazy days of summer. As far as temperature, humidity, air quality, and mosquitoes, summer this year in Beijing has been so much better than last summer. That could be partly because I have gotten used to it, but partly because there has been more breeze and cooler temperatures. I bought a ticket for the train to Hong Kong the other day. In order to extend my visa I have to leave the mainland and come back. This is so troublesome, but everyone has to do it after their first year. Though Hong Kong is part of China again, it is treated as a Special Administration Zone with special rules. If I go there its like leaving the mainland. So I can simply go there and come back to meet the visa requirement.

For 642 yuan, about $80 US, I bought a one way ticket to Hong Kong. It takes about 24 hours to get there by train. By using the train instead of flying I will save money. Starting Monday there is a one week break with no school before final exams, so I’ll leave Monday and take off from work.

Yesterday I went to a career seminar hosted by a Japanese Staffing company. They seemed interested in me and said they have companies they would like to introduce me to. They sent me information about two companies and jobs whose requirements matched my skills, specifically a native English speaker who can use Japanese and Chinese. They both were in Shanghai. I was told before I came to China that for study Beijing is best, for work Shanghai is best. At the seminar I discovered most Japanese companies in China are operating out of Shanghai.

It gives me the feeling that Shanghai is next place stop on my journey because it is where the jobs are. Last night I was invited by a Chinese classmate to have dinner. The girl works as an intern for a Internet company called QQ, which is the largest instant messaging service in China. Little did I know that the host of our dinner would be the president of this company. I guess he asked her to invite a foreign friend of hers to dinner so he could potentially meet a friend he could practice speaking English with. Well, I was game, I could get free food and maybe learn a thing or two. We went to a fancy restaurant in Beijing. The parking lot was spacious, full of BMWs, and luxury cars. The restaurant was underground. It was huge inside, with maybe a 40 foot high ceiling, and had a space-techno, futuristic style. We went into a private room. The president of the company was waiting for us, he seemed young, maybe in his early thirties like me. He wore casual clothes like a guy in the high-tech industry. The conversation was slow. He talked about his company and work. I learned a few things about Chinese business.

The most interesting thing was the food. If there was a moment in China when I wished I had my camera this was it. Upon this extravagantly set table with chopsticks, knives, forks, tea cups etc. the waitress set a dish in front of each of us. The dish was square with a circle in the middle. There was one slice of cucumber at the top and sauce filled the circle. It reminded me of some fancy French cuisine, more style than substance. But in the middle of the circle, covered in sauce, was a chicken foot, skin, claws and all.

Well actually, I learned it was a goose foot. Anyway, I started laughing. All this fanciness and sophistication over a chicken foot. Alrighty then, dig in! Talk about not easy to eat, that chicken had no meat on it. What was there to eat I thought. Anyway, I couldn’t get much out of it. Then came some salads, fish and tofu dishes, spicy noodles. Then came the finale.

A big bone in some soup with radishes. This bone had some fleshy and fatty stuff on it, but I saw little real meat on it. It was just a big bone. Then the waitress put some straws on our table. I didn’t get what that was for. I saw my classmate stick a straw into the bone. Then she started to drink the juice out of the bone. She said you drink the "Gusui". "Gusui" I remembered that word from a Chinese language lesson we had in class about a girl who got a transplant. It means Spinal fluid or plasma I think. Anyway, here are some nice people, they dress and look nice, well to do people, sucking on straws stuck into these gargantuan bones drinking spinal fluid in some soup with radishes.

Anyway, I was handed some plastic gloves to handle the bone with and stuffed my straw into it. I tried to slurp on it, but it tasted dry and sour. This was not something I would like to have everyday. I suppose it is some delicacy here.

Anyway, I was thinking the whole time, if only I had my camera and could capture this moment.

Well, Friday was hopefully the last day of regular classes for me at Renmin University. I say "hopefully", because I expect to either get a job or go somewhere else. I like Renmin, but its time to move on. All that is left is the Final Exams the week after I get back from Hong Kong. Our teachers took us out to eat after class at a more typical Chinese restaurant, which was pretty good. The only male teacher I had, Mr. Liu, who likes to do a funny imitation of Mao Ze Dong, was knocking down shots of liquor with some European and Korean students near the end of the festivities. Drinking is not really considered a social evil in China. In my experience visiting different countries in the world and meeting different people, enjoyment of drinking seems like one of those things that crosses all borders.