It's the time of year where I feel like I could be in any major city in any part of the world. It smells like spring, it looks like spring, and the big buildings and hustle and bustle aren't particularly distinctive. There are moments where I could be anywhere and then I am reminded that I am definitely in Beijing. The following things help bring me back to reality:
1. I see a bank guard. He doesn't have a gun, but instead he has a long stainless steel baton with spikes on it that make it look like an instrument of medieval torture. As an aside I was going to take a picture of it, but I didn't want to tempt him into using it.
2. I'm walking along one of those could-be-anywhere streets when all of the sudden I run into a wall of sewage smell with an unidentifiable origin.
3. More and more people are out and about after hibernating through the winter, but I don't look like any of them.
4. The smell of paint thinner is in the air in all major shopping areas. I still haven't figured out where this smell is coming from or, frankly, what it is, but it seems to be everywhere. Maybe people are doing all of their toxic renovations now that the weather is nicer and they can open the windows and doors and poison us all.
5. CNN has blacked out twice in the same news sequence. I had to look online to find out why, and I had to use a proxy server to see the pictures. I don't know how they managed to block only the pictures on a site. It's pretty amazing and mildly disturbing!
6. Our taxi driver stops en route to our destination and asks us to wait in the car while he goes to the bathroom. I let him know I wasn't inclined to do so, so he punished us by driving as slowly as possible the rest of the way.
7. Two police officers showed up at our hutong trying to tell us that we needed to re-register after going home for Christmas holiday, when it is not the case. They insisted, however, that we would not be able to stay there the next night if we didn't do this. It turns out they were probably looking for a bribe. I'm sure you're shocked.
8. The police officer waits for me to tell her if I will tutor her child in English before beginning to do the paperwork I need from her. Of course I told her yes, but I may not answer my phone for the next few weeks!
9. Blue skies and real clouds are not the norm.
10. There's so much dust that spring cleaning is a weekly event!
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2 comments:
Yay! Still too cold in Annapolis to call it "spring," though that doesn't stop people from going out to play croquet with spring clothes on.
It is amazing how those weird things can pop up that let us know that we are somewhere else... almost running into a man with an AK when coming around the corner.
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