I got the apartment. It feels great here. It was an ordeal to get it and it included giving 6 months rent upfront, but this is the place I was supposed to live. I can feel it. I actually viewed the apartment 3 different times. You see it's in this popular compound called "SunCity" where a lot of foreigners and trendy Beijingers live. I saw at least 10 different ads for apartments in this compound, and 3 of them were for this apartment. It's on the 8th floor, which is lucky according to the Chinese but I consider lucky in case there is another fire (the ladders could reach me!). It came with its own furniture and fish tank full of golden fish. I killed one accident on the first day (who knew you had to keep that loud, annoying filter on all day for them to "breathe?"). It was quite filthy though so I've spent the past 2 days cleaning and cleaning and cleaning. It's not easy keeping a clean house, especially in dusty Beijing. The neighborhood is fantastic, in one direction I have many restaurants, and street vendors and schools and a gigantic mall, in another is the "Wu Mart" (like a mini Chinese Wal-Mart), more street vendors, banks, a busy street that leads to all the hip clubs and restaurants (about 20 minutes away), the coffee bar that has no coffee and only lotto tickets and the McDonald's that blasts Sade on its streetside loudspeakers all day (I'm not kidding, "No Ordinary Love" is on at least every other 3 songs). And in another direction is more street vendors, a 5 minute walk to the subway, Starbuck's, fancy day spas and hotels and the ominous revolving restaurant. All in all, even though I was really afraid to sign a 1 year lease, this is a great place to be for a year. My friend Paul comes next month, and I'm really looking forward to his arrival, he is going to stay in the other room. Oh, I forgot to mention the artwork. Well let's see, we can start with the 4 ft. by 4 ft. oil painting of Napoleon Bonaparte stradling a horse (that one is over my bed, I think it was put there to draw in the male clientele), the Jesus on the neon purple cross in Paul's room, and the arrangement of fat babies being cradled by a depressing renaissance woman (there are about 4 of those altogether). I would love for a TLC show to fly out here just to get this place on camera, I think I could improve U.S.-Chinese relations very easily this way.

AFTER an exhaustive search I have finally signed the lease to an apartment. I am thrilled to have it. Its in a great compound in a great neighborhood in between all the new stuff and the old stuff in Beijing. I can walk to the subway in 5 minutes, I'm surrounded by restaurants and old hutongs (alleyways)full of character and life. There are gyms close by, a mall and just about everything you would ever really need. The apartment is actually quite big compared to most apartments in China and has a large living room, 2 bedrooms, a microwave with a hello kitty sticker on it and a tub in the bathroom! This is unusual for China. I move in on Thursday.

More snow since yesterday. Its quite dangerous actually, I keep on hearing stories of people falling and at night from my room I can hear people slipping too. I'm living on the 6th floor but everything is paper thin. Thank god for government regulated heating (the government turns the heat on and off each year, if you want more you go out and buy a space heater, but it works quite well overall). More eating adventures yesterday; I ordered tofu, a dish I didn't recognize by name and the waitress sort of wisely smirked when I ordered it and then huddled with the other waitresses after taking my order and they all chuckled. This is routine for me so I didn't think anything of it until I saw her walking from the kitchen with a giant steaming couldron (sp?) in her hands. Somehow I ordered all like the Chinese version of stone soup but mine just had tofu in it. Seriously there was at least 5 lbs. of tofu on the table with a giant spoon sticking out of this pot. I had a surprised face and sort of laughed and all the waitresses laughed with me. I had one bowl and that was enough. I asked them to wrap it up to go and it took all four of them to put it in plastic bags. I could have taken it home in the pot for an extra 20 yuan but figuring it would spill everywhere on the icy streets I went against that option. So know there is all this tofu in the fridge and I'm kind of tofu-d out at the moment. Don't know what to do about that.

Last night I went to a talk put on by this group called "Beijing Energy and Environment Roundtable" or BEER, the speaker was the head of the U.S. Dept. of Energy in China and it was fascinating. He was so honest and insightful, has many years of China experience under his belt and offered some great words of wisdom. The event was packed and I was very surprised and excited to see how many of my peers are doing interesting things here.

Its snowing here today, not knowing anything about snow, I would say that it is falling softly. Its sort of an ethereal feeling to watch it fall. Almost like following music notes.

I'm always impressed by how well people dress in China. Everyone from the office workers to the migrant workers are dressed so well. Hip too. People have a tendency to look at other people's shoes on the street or the subway, I don't know if they are looking for the brand name or just trying to avoid staring.

Yesterday I lost my phone in the taxi and had to find a friend to help me go get it back. We got in another taxi and kept on calling until the cab driver picked it up (it was on vibrate). On the way to meet him, I asked the second cab driver if I should give him a tip for his honesty. The cab driver said that in China some would be insulted, but most wouldn't turn it away. So when we got to the cab with the phone, I got out of the car with a big smile and sort of kowtowed to the cabbie. I reached into my pocket to give him a tip but all I could find were 1 yuan notes (like $1 equivalent) and the cabbie just sort of stared it me in horror. This odd foreigner who leaves his phone and then ransacks his jacket looking for the bill he knows has more value in my country. Finally I found a larger bill and gave it to him. When I got back into the cab, the second cab driver scolded me on how awful I did at kowtowing and giving a tip. He said in China if you don't do these things quickly, it just sort of ruins it. The whole point of one's actions sort of diminishes. He was a good cabbie, telling me how cab drivers don't steal phones or other possessions, they often just never know things were left behind and other customers take them. Later we talked about the differences in teenage pregnancies in the U.S. and China. It was a fun ride.

from bottom to top: fruit for sale, Mr. Liu; my friend helping me with finding an apartment-we were trying to take a photo in front of the toilet, snack bars

बीजिंग

It feels great to be back. I arrived on the first day of rain after 100+ days of drought. I told myself it is an auspicious sign. I flew from Seattle over Alaska and Siberia and down the plains of Manchuria into Beijing. The rain poured as we made our descent until I finally I could faintly see the lights of the airport and I knew I had made it back to China again. It's funny; I truly believe in the power of 3's and this being my 3rd time to China, everything seems to be more crystal clear. When I first came as I student in college, I was more naive and ignorant than anything else. I had a curiousity about the place and a quench to explore the unknown but my grasp of this place was so minimal. The second time, last summer, I kept on telling myself that it was the right thing to do. Leaving love and forcing myself to do the "professional" thing overtook my entry and duration in south China last summer. This time, I planned everything in advance and I truly want to be here. Unsuprisingly, so far everything has worked out well and I like the mojo I am carrying with me here now. Can't jinx it though.

I looked at apartments today for the first time. What a good Chinese excercise! Fortunately my friend Paulette put me in touch with a friend of hers who is helping me as I look at places with the real estate agents. The rents have gone down a bit here since the Olympics and the economic downturn has furthered their decline. Each apartment I looked at today is an area of the city known as Dongzhimen, which is in the northwest quadrant of the city and in between the western half filled with embassies, flashy western clubs and expensive restaurants and the inner city with its old hutongs and ancient gates and towers. To save money on rent, I told the agent I would live on a floor with the number 4 in it. The Chinese being auspicious believe that the number 4, pronounced "si" sounds much to like the word for death, "si" (but with a different tone). The same rule applies when you buy a phone, if the number has a bunch of 4's and/or ends in 4, you will pay 20-40% less than all the other numbers.

The sky is grey and winter is here, but its tolerable. I have been eating meat buns for breakfast and really need to quit that as I will develop a habit that will be too hard to break. I'm off to Ikea today to get things for the room I am renting in the meantime (I am looking for apartments for my friend Paul and I but he doesn't arrive until next month so I am staying with a friend of a friend for now). It's Valentine's Day and there are young men with bunches of roses for sale everywhere and I can imagine all the single young women must be sulking more than usual today. Valentine's Day is the most widely celebrated western holiday in China. I celebrated by looking at apartments with my new friend Mr. Liu and taking pictures together in front of old toilets that had been thrown out in the courtyards of the apartment buildings. I will attach one here later once I find the cord.....

That's it for now.