Paying for Utilities and Dinner Afterwards

Wednesday I had the wonderful opportunity of learning how to pay for my utilities.  In china they give you a card for each of the utilities.  The top one is for the gas; the middle one for electricity; the bottom one for water.  I have to go to a bank and prepay for how ever much I want; that amount is put on the card. When I get home, I put the card in the appropriate meter which downloads the amount too.  After that I am good to go until I use it all up and buy some more.  It actually isn't a bad idea because people don't get behind on their payments, or they don't have gas, electricity or water.  The only problem is that I had to go to different banks to get them activated. I was able to take care of the electricity and water in banks that are just a few blocks away.  The bank for the gas ended up being about a mile and a half down the road.  The irony of the whole thing is that when I looked across the street from the bank, there was a subway station.  I could have been there in about 10 minutes.  Oh well, I guess I needed to walk about seven miles yesterday.  The good news is that once the cards are activated, I can go to any bank from now on.

Dinner after the Walk

On the way home from my utilities excursion, I decided to stop at the bakery and buy some bread.  It might not be a good idea to go into a bakery when you are tired and hungry.  I ended up buying some treats for my dinner - not the best meal of my life.  The pastry to the left is a red-bean donut, on the right is an almond pastry, and the one on the back of the plate is a chocolate-covered donut.  If you can't tell, the milk is skim.  This meal is very similar to drinking a diet coke with a piece of chocolate cake - or should I say three pieces of chocolate cake.

You will be happy to know that I didn't eat all of them.  I did finish the red-bean donut, but I only ate about half of the other two.  I think I didn't finish them because I know what a good donut and almond pastry taste like, and they just didn't compete.  I had nothing to compare the red-bean donut to, so I ate the whole thing.  I will try for more nutritional meals from now on.

Beautiful New Pearls

The young girl in the picture is named Mary - her English name.  She is the eleven-year-old daughter of one of the owners.  While she was out on summer vacation, her mother asked if it would be all right for her to sit in on my classes each day.  She has taken English in school since first grade, but didn't speak very much.  She still is very quiet, but does try hard.  I am sure she will do better in English when she goes back to school.  Unfortunately, they mostly write in their English class because either the classes are too big or the teacher doesn't speak English very well either.  Mary will be in my class for another week, but on Tuesday her mother came with her to class to give me these beautiful pearls.  Even the clasps are made of pearl, and they wear them in the front, not the back. They are a little too fancy for my outfit in the picture, but I am sure I will enjoy them for years to come - and will always remember Mary whenever I wear them.

Where in the World Is Marilyn Prettyman?

Marne and I have been looking on Google Earth for a few weeks, but we couldn't find the right coordinates to locate me.  Yesterday, while she was trying to help me find an Indian restaurant in Beijing (I really do miss Indian food), we were able to find some landmarks and roads.  It took a little while, but we were finally able to identify my apartment building and the building where I work.  It is pretty amazing, and maybe a little bit scary, to be able to pinpoint a specific spot on the earth's surface through a satellite in outer space.  I have uploaded the maps Marne made so you can get an idea of where I am, and where I am in relationship to  Utah.  I am sure you have noticed, but I will point it out anyway, Salt Lake City and Beijing are very close to being on the same latitude which makes our seasons about the same - just add humidity in the summer to Beijing.  (There I go talking about the weather again.)  Thanks Marne, for taking the time to make all of the maps.

This is the picture of my little apartment complex.  My apartment looks west.  That big rectangle to the right of my building is a fancy restaurant.  I have not eaten there and probably won't because all of the cars parked around it are Mercedes-Benz.  I think I will keep picking up my food at the local market for $1.50.

Right now I am teaching at the Music School.  We may even hold our classes there when we have our own students.  If I ever become brave enough to ride the bus, it really isn't too far away from my home.

This is a view of Beijing.  You can see why it took us a little while to locate my apartment building.  If you have been to Beijing, you will notice that I am in a very good location- not very far from the Forbidden Ctiy, Tiananmen Square, and quite close to the Temple of Heaven.  I really couldn't ask for a better location - except my hairdresser who speaks English lives on the north side of town.  Oh well, I can't have everything.

A view of Beijing in China.

A view of Beijing in Asia.

A view of Beijing as it relates to people in the US.  It looks like it is only a stone's throw away.  

Grocery Shopping Excursion

It is all of the little differences that are fun to notice.  I have wanted to show you the pictures of the escalator in the supermarket for a while, and today I finally took some pictures.  Look closely and you will notice that there are no steps, just a moving ramp.  The interesting part is that my little shopping bag or a large shopping cart won't slide down as it moves.  They have made it so the wheels are held in place during the trip up or down.  A very innovative way to move people and carts from one level to another.

Hot Weather Update

I have learned a few things that help in hot weather.
1.  Don't wear clothes that have any polyester in them.  After my experience on Wednesday, I am only wearing cotton or linen clothes.  That means I have about five outfits, but I don't think anyone will notice.  The students might, but I don't think they will care.  And even if they were to care, I don't care.
2.  Don't walk fast.  I have noticed that the Chinese walk at quite a leisurely pace.  I, on the other hand, was trying to conserve on time and was walking very quickly.  Yesterday I left my apartment about 10 minutes earlier and joined my fellow commuters for a stroll to work.  I think I will need to do that from now on.
You will be happy to know that yesterday was a one-tissue morning, and didn't feel like passing out once.  I think I may make it to September.  Let's just hope it cools down then.

By the way, there were a couple of errors in the last blog.  Ed McMann is spelled Ed McMahon.  My apologies to him.  Second, the humidity on Wednesday was 91 degrees with 84% humidity.  No wonder it felt so hot and muggy.

Fast Food Update

I was on my way to work this morning when I spotted the little girl sleeping on the table outside of the food trailer.  She was absolutely dead to the world - even though she was surrounded by noisy people, honking cars and miscellaneous vehicles.  I haven't seen her before, so I guess Mom and Dad just couldn't find a babysitter today.  I am sorry the picture isn't better, but I snapped it quickly so her father wouldn't stop me.  Besides - I needed to get to work.

Today was a very hot day.  As Ed McMann would ask Johnny Carson, "How hot was it?"  Well let me tell you how hot it was.  It was 91 degrees with 74% humidity.  I am sure there have been other days that have been just as hot, but today was a knockout from the moment I walked out the door.  Usually on my way to work I have a one-or-two-tissue day.  (That is how many I use in the morning commute to wipe the sweat off my face, neck  and arms.)  Today was a six-tissue day.  I had only walked a couple of blocks before water was pouring off of my body, and it only got worse on the subway train.  In fact I felt bad for the people who were glued to me because water was dripping off my arm, and I couldn't  move my hand to wipe the drops.  I think all of the moisture was out of my body by the time I came up out of the subway station.  That is when I started to feel a little faint.  I really didn't want to pass out on the street two blocks from work, so I walked very slowly and managed to remain standing.  I drank as much water as I could while I was teaching and hoped that going home would be easier.  I always carry a bottle of water to drink on my way home, but unfortunately even that didn't help.  I decided my body was out of electrolytes and decided to see if I could find some Gatorade at the little market.  Much to my surprise, they did have it.  I drank it down pretty quickly.  Then after a cold shower, a little lunch and a nap, I finally felt like myself again.  Hopefully, tomorrow will not be as bad.  I will be sooooooo grateful when August is over, and Beijing cools down a little.

A Visit to the Bicycle and Scooter Repair Shop

I need to give a little explanation before I explain today's picture to you.  I have talked about cars, scooters and bicycles before, but I want to add a little more information.  I have learned to move in and out of all of the vehicles quite well.  Cars are probably the easiest because they do stay on the road and can only come from one or two directions at a time.  Scooters and bikes are a totally different story.  They can drive on the road - either direction on each side, and they can drive on the sidewalk or anywhere else there is space for them to get through.  The other interesting aspect of staying out of their way is most of them are absolutely quiet.  Every once in a while a noisy one passes by, but the rest of the time they can be right behind me, and I won't know it.  I have decided it is like being shot at with a bebe gun from any direction.  I haven't learned yet to keep them on my radar as well as I should.  Thank goodness they do give a good beep of the horn in time for me to more out of the way.  I guess I wouldn't die if one hit me, but it could cause a bit of distress.

Another thing I have learned about scooters and bicycles in China is I don't think they have thrown one bicycle or scooter away since they started making them.  That doesn't mean there aren't a lot of new ones.  With a billion and (almost) a half people, they are building and selling new ones all the time.  But the old ones just keep on moving up and down the roads each day.  So I am sending you a picture of a scooter and bicycle repair shop.  I asked them one day if I could take their picture, but they said, "No, no, no, no."  So I assumed they didn't want their picture taken.  (Actually, I held up my camera and pointed to it. That is when they said, "No, no, no, no."  Today I hid across the street so they couldn't see me.)  Everyday people come by to fix a tire or buy a new one.  They also help with engine trouble on the scooters or fix the chains on bikes.  It is a busy little place.  At the end of the day.  They close the door on the shed and go home.  You have to admit they have very low overhead.  The only problem is they can't, or don't work on stormy days, so I am sure that cuts into their profit.  I am constantly amazed at their ingenuity here in China. If anyone is interested in starting something like it in the US, just contact me for more details.  Oh, I guess it wouldn't work to put one up on the corner of Dan's on Ft. Union.  You really need hundreds of scooters and bicycles coming by all day.

This has nothing to do with scooters and bicycles, but don't you just love the bright green and yellow running shoes they are wearing in the Olympics.  I am sure I could run farther and faster if my shoes were that colorful.