2009

first brutal winter

February 19, 2009

This is probably around the time where I had doubts about my lifelong dream (6 years, really) of wanting to live in New York. Beijing winter was incredibly brutal, and it doesn’t even really snow that much compared to a lot of other cities. But boy, getting through one winter was a feat in and of itself — I got sick one time after another, in addition to the occasional case of food poisoning. It also wreaked havoc on my skin. Sucked.

Here’s the front of the building complex I used to live in — International Wonderland — in the Sanlitun area. I used to always think about how cool it would be to sled down that slanted rooftop…

Tagged as: 2009, apartment, beijing, daily grind, weather

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all in a day’s work

February 18, 2009

in Work

Pretty typical day in Beijing. Wake up really friggin’ early, walk through the cold winter snow at 7 am to the subway, take the subway to Wudaokou (1 hour), go to Chinese class, take the subway back to Dongzhimen, work, and then finally dinner, often at blue frog Sanlitun.

E doin’ the robot.

Here’s Zach starting his first tray of 100 shots, on his way to becoming a Wall of Famer at blue frog Sanlitun!

Tagged as: 2009, beijing, daily grind, friends, school

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cream cheese scramble with prosciutto on bagel

February 14, 2009

in Eat

I know this doesn’t look like anything special, but it really was very tasty (maybe it even looks nasty…). I know it also looks nothing like this recipe that I followed (I might as well have just winged the whole thing), but it made for a really delicious Valentine’s Day breakfast, alongside some tasty bagels smothered in butter. I love fat.

I also didn’t have chives, but what could be more fulfilling than fluffy eggs with cream cheese melted into them, covered with an even fattier prosciutto?

Tagged as: 2009, american, breakfast, cooking, holiday

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happy 25th birthday to me

February 13, 2009

in Play

Holding onto a belated 25th birthday present! One of my personal goals to reach by the time I turned 25 was to be able to read the Chinese newspaper. I didn’t quite make it, but am pretty happy with how far I got at this point (roughly 8 months of being in China, only 2 of which were studying Chinese “full-time” or roughly 4 hours a day) — from basically being illiterate to being able to read enough characters in a newspaper to know what’s going on most of the time.

I wish my progress were faster, but I had started working also which left me pretty tired though nothing improves your language skills more than using them in contract negotiations and work!

Tagged as: 2009, beijing, birthday, resolution

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