Ryan Ing

I always expected that the food I would get in Beijing would be the Chinese food that I’ve been eating my whole life at home, but I was completely wrong.

The food in Northern China (includes Beijing): OILY AND SPICY

The food in Southern China: Exactly the same dishes you find in Toronto (ex. Dim Sum)

Summary: The food sucks here. NO DIM SUM.

Though Noah and I were able to find a Southern Chinese food restaurant, tasted like home.

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The desk in my room is pretty awesome – about 4 feet wide and 2 feet long, with a whole lot of shelves. But that’s pretty much the only thing in my room.

Ghetto pill counter

Chinese oreos taste the same.

Tissue box mounted to wall.

Ipod shelf.

New mattress

Bought two cause they were so damn thin.

Fixed gears are really popular among the Koreans on campus. There’s one store in Beijing that’ll customize a whole bike for you (in any colours you want) for $400 CAD. Considered it, but decided it wasn’t worth it.

But if you take a closer look at the photo… you can see the lock on the bike is like one of those dollar store locks you buy in Canada. If we were in Toronto, that bike would be stolen and put on Craiglist faster than I cay say “Woodfield”. But in Beijing, stealing bikes isn’t so common.

Piece of home.

Beginning to notice that different students have different difficulties in learning Chinese.

For example, the Japanese girl in my class told me that Japanese doesn’t have the “ang” or “eng” sounds, so it’s hard for her words like “xiang” (to think).

Also, the class is directed towards English speakers wanting to learn Chinese. They teach you a new word by telling you the Chinese word, then the English word for it. But some of the people in the class don’t understand the English word in the first place.

However, everyone in the class already speaks a little English (the Mongolians, Koreans, Japanese, Spanish, Russian, Kazakhstan, Belgium, etc.).

It’s pretty cool to have people all over the world come to learn in one place, and they already know your language (I feel pretty lucky to have already learned English). Never knew that English is taught as a second language (officially or de facto) in so many other parts of the world.

Thanks Eric, helped a lot.

Funnily enough, I have the same language teacher that taught all Adam, Eric, and Noah, the basics of Chinese. She says I don’t look like any of my siblings.

Enjoyed some “TOSSED” cucumber for lunch. Had a nice sauce on top.

First day of class goes by well. Learn the 4 tones of Mandarin Chinese.

All of the people in my class are from different cultures (ex. Spanish, Russian, Finnish, Ethopian, Japanese), so that makes me the only person that is ethnically Chinese.

Being in the absolute beginner class (Have zero knowledge of Chinese), I start to wonder if I’ll be able to learn Chinese any faster than the people from other cultures, due to the fact that I am actually Chinese. Sorta brings up the Nature vs. Nurture arguement, hmm. But you can tell me what you think.

Get my student card.

My dormitory hallway during le golden hour.

Baguette sandwich. Onion, ketchup, and last but not least… hickory sticks!!

Hao chi.

Visited the art district of Beijing. A lot of outdoor street art and statues, pretty awesome.

Swirly

Spoons on spoons on spoons, with kid trying to take one (bottom right of photo)

$500 CAD. Nice colour combination.

Not exactly sure how to describe it.

But I guess he liked math.

Louis Vuitton Trunk (aka old school suitcase) interior

Bull ramming a man. Was hilarious to see in real life.

Thrilling.

Outdoor area

Chairs on chairs on chairs (chair freeze)

Look closely at my head.

Bad graffitti.

“Hello I’m a martian, space jam Jordan” – Lil’ Wayne.

Seriously, who would buy a mask with a jordan logo on it?

Visited a lounge/bar/club with a bunch of people from campus. It was on the 6th floor patio of a hotel, very luxurious.

I guess it’s comparable to Rockwood Nightclub in Toronto (if you’ve been there before), except for a lot bigger and more balling.

Huge patio, with pretentious things such as small fountains, great view (below), and even a live band playing music.

Went to another club after, named Spark.

DJ’s play about the same music as they would in Toronto.

Lots of foreigners (you can clearly see in the photo)

And to top off the great night: 24 hour Mcdonalds. With Chinese people sleeping in them.

This is the people in my class next week. You can see the names are very ethnically diverse.

My name is 5th on the list.

Banana a day, keeps the diarrhea away, hah.

Had to get a pair for myself.

Was inspired by this guy.

My current visa for China is 30 days. Within those 30 days, I have to get a Physical Exam done, register with the University, and pay a few fees, in order to extend my visa for the whole school year. I don’t wanna get deported.

The physical exam took place in a small health clinc, and consisted of an eyesight test, an x-ray, a heartbeat monitor, and last but not least, drawing blood. All of the tests (except for drawing blood) were very poorly conducted; the staff seemed apathetic and unqualified.

For example, for the eyesight test she just held up a card saying “9 6 9″, and she pointed to it. I asked her “What am I supposed to do?” and she just signed my paper and checked pass. Guess she gave up when she realized I couldn’t speak Chinese.

I was laughing so hard when I was getting this done. It felt ridiculous.

Just realized I had this lighter in my backpack.

Made it all the way through the airport!

Banana candy cause I don’t have bananas and I used to eat a banana on the daily.

Electric scooters + bicycles are extremely popular here. You can buy an electric scooter for $300 CAD, and it has a max speed of 45 km/h, which is pretty good. Fast enough to drive in the car lane, small enough to cut through cars.

(Friends scooter)

This hotpot looked good, but tastes bad.

Fun to try, but not worth it.

Why pay extra money for food that you have to cook yourself? Imagine KBBQ in Toronto, but you have to pay for each tray of meat.

$2.50 CAD fish at Carrefour. Cheap pet huh?

Carrefour is pretty much similar to Wal-Mart. French supermarket chain, third biggest in the world, after Wal-Mart and Tesco.

Chinese toilets don’t have toilet paper, so you always have to bring a roll with you when you’re going to the washroom. Stocked up.

Birthday gift from a New Zealand friend. Sound great. Sorta look like Rokits.

Havianas swag. Roomate got me a pair from Brazil.

This old Chinese dude right here is like the campus hermit. He walks around campus all day collecting plastic water bottles out of garbage cans, off people, and anywhere else he can find them. Then I guess he goes and sells them to the recycling plants for a few cents each. Kinda handy since he’ll just take any empty bottles you have off you any time you run into him. Guess it gives him some purpose since he’s old and retired.

Had to get another fix of chicken.

KFC CHICKEN ON RICE!

Finally turned 18.

Noah asked me what I wanted to eat for my birthday… nothing other than good ol KFC.

The KFC here actually tastes better believe it or not. The have chicken in a bunch of different flavours, (ex. spicy, barbeque), instead of just the original recipe

But enough about chicken.

Headed out to watch a soccer game with one of Eric’s old friend, Mars. The teams were two different Chinese cities facing each other. Pretty cool to watch. 

While watching the game I learned a new word “Sha Bi”, which is pretty much the Chinese equivalent to “fuck you”. It was hilarious watching, because every time the opposing team got the ball, the whole audience would start chanting that in unison. I guess it’s pretty normal to swear at the other team, hahaha.

Beijing Nightclub called Vics. Not really much to explain about that.

But all in all, had a great 18th birthday.

And thanks a bunch for emailing me a happy birthday:

Started off the day with an international skype call from a familiar face:

Or not…

Dropped by a local foreigner bar with a few friends to hang out:

Ginormous 3L jug.

Alcohol is pretty cheap here, and is also sold in all supermarkets and convenience. I don’t think “carding” someone who looks young exists here either.