Back in the Jing.

Andingmen

So, I've been settled down in my new apartement between Andingmen and Yonghegong, still close to the area where I used to live last year. I picked up my suitcases today that I left here when I went back home in June. Can't believe that those 4 months went by so quickly. Everything has pretty much changed right now. To start with, I'm not renting an apartment with school but instead I've searched for my own place that I'm sharing with 2 friends of mine. Price is pretty much half of what I would have paid if I would still have stayed with Hutong School - if not more. And to be honest, it's way better than the apartments I've been in last year.

This coming week I'll be spending loads of time studying - actually reviewing all the characters and my books of speaking - and trying to figure out what to do with school. I'll be taking private classes, starting in November, but still haven't figured out the details. I would love to do an internship here in Beijing, somewhere in March, April 2013. But in combination with classes every day, could be exhausting after a while. Knowing myself, I would give up the classes and just throw the money out of the window. So, I'll probably take 4 months of private class (still haven't decided to go for 8hours or 12hours a week) and start an internship whenever I finish classes. 

This internship will give me some experience on the Chinese workfloor, in hope I'll find a job out here. My mind is already set up in working in China for a while. Doesn't have to be for 10 years, but at least 1 or 2 years sounds pretty in my ears. 

Quick summary of what happened once I got back to China. My plane landed on Friday morning, 8.30am local time. A good friend of mine picked me up at the airport and we dropped off my stuff at his hotel. Followed by a visit to the school I was going to last year, hanged out there for a bit and in the afternoon we had an appointement with the agency and the landlord of our apartement. Not much later, we signed the contract, paid and we moved in the next day. Everything is brandnew! Is it located between Yonghegong, Lama Temple and Andingmen, in a little hutong. 

Sanlitun

The days after I went on a search to buy some apartmentstuff, wandered around in the neighborhood and made a stop in places I was a lot last year: Sanlitun and Dongzhimen. Wandering around in Dongzhimen and seeing people again I saw every day, was a bit weird. People asking me where I've been these last months. Met up with old friends and getting all comfi in my apartment. Haven't met a lot of new people yet, classes didn't start yet, so once I'll be back on track with that, I'll get the chance to meet the students from school.

So, everything goes well here in China. I'm glad to be back, but I could have stayed a longer time in Belgium. I got used to my life back there, but it's time to continue this story in China. 

I'll keep you posted.

Kisses from Beijing.

Reality hits me on the head.

Waking up 5 days a week with the following thought "I should get ready for work" and turning around in my bed for another couple of minutes of sleep. Once I've woken up, I drag myself to the bathroom: shower and get dressed. I walk downstairs, make myself a cup a coffee and if I have some more time left, I watch one episode of 'Friends' on my television. At 10.58am I tell my brother: "We should go" and we get into the car, we drive towards Ham - Kwaadmechelen were the french fries are waiting for us. Every morning we get there around 11.15am and the first thing I always do is, get myself a clean apron and make some more coffee to get through the day. If the coffee doesn't help there's still Redbull - which tastes so much better than the one they sell in China. Once we get there, I always check if everything is refilled. Usually, the mother forgets about the little things and the little things make the difference. 5 minutes after I'm settled down there, the first customers already walk in and tell me what they want to eat. That's the start of my day, every day ... 

1.30pm, time for lunch and around 2pm we drive back home for 2hours. I can't imagine staying in that place 11hours a day. My parents do, but my brother and me we always go back home for 2hours. He is playing a game on his computer, I watch Grey's or 'study' or watch some television. Surprisingly how fast the time goes, in a blink of an eye, it's already 3.58pm and I tell my brother the same sentence as in the morning: "We should go".  4.15pm is the time that we arrive at the french fries place - there is no English word for it - and before we know it, people are standing in front of me again, pointing to different kinds of meat and looking at me weirdly because there are Chinese people standing behind the counter. From that moment on, time goes by really quickly, people keep on walking through the doors and before I realize it, it's already 10pm. Time to close everything down and start cleaning. Because .. tomorrow is another exciting day! I come home around 10.45pm, watch an episode of my favorite show and I head to bed around 1.30am. 8hours later, my alarm goes off and the same day restarts. You'll probably all think 'Whuuut? She has 8hours of sleep every night!' I need 8hours at least, you'll feel in your legs after just one day of standing there. This goes on for 5 days a week. Except on Wednesday and Thursday, those days I luckily don't have to smell like french fries or burn my arms to the oil.

This is so much different than the life I was living barely 2 months ago. I'm not saying that I don't like to work, I was raised by my parents knowing that I NEED to work during the weekends, holidays, etc. It has been this way since I was 14. But when I got the chance to go abroad and study the language that I wanted to study. I forgot about the weekends that were filled with working. I started enjoying my weekends, I could go out till 7am and not having to wake up at 10.30am on a Sunday to start working till 9pm. I could wear tracksuits on Sunday and didn't have to do my hair because, who would care? Barely 2 weeks after I got back from China, I started working again in the weekends and also during the week. It was like I never left Belgium. I got sucked into my regular life in Belgium. My plans to study for HSK level 6 are just not possible. So I've decided to take it easy on Chinese and just focus on working for my parents till I leave Belgium again. This blog sounds so sad and depressing. Sorry guys! 

It is true. Once you get back to your country after living or studying abroad, your life in your own country sounds and seems not challeging. I've heard this many times before from other friends who lived abroad and with that I can say, they're truly right. I'm still missing China like crazy. Thank god I'm busy every day, so I don't really have time to think about it. But I can not wait to go back there and do my own thing. Study some more Chinese and maybe start looking for a job over there. I'm turning 25 this year and I'm still not working, student for life, lol. My friends who are 25 all have a "great" job, dating and living by themselves. Me on the other hand, I'm still studying and I can't really imagine myself working right now, behind a desk, with a computer, at 8.30am in the morning with a grumphy mood. I'll prospone that for another year and in the meanwhile I'll just continue baking some french fries for another 2 months and head out to the East and discover what it has to offer for me. But before I continue my adventure in the East, I would like to start another adventure in the West. Not here in Europe, but somewhere further West, lol. I'll be spending some time in New York City within 3 weeks. Therefore, to get the money, I'm obligated to work 45hours a week. I just keep in the back of my mind 'NYC, NYC'. 

I'll keep you posted!

Kisses from Belgium.

Back to reality, but just for a couple of months ;)

Being in a country, where you can speak your native language. Being able to understand everything that's written on billboards, cars with ads, streetnames, signs, etc. Walking outside and hearing the language you grew up with, understanding every word and not even have to think about the actual meaning. That's what happened to me. I'm back in Belgium and it feels so good being home. I landed Wednesday morning, 6am local time, my parents were there to pick me up in Brussels and I drove me back home. It was somehow weird that I didn't saw that many Chinese people. The streets looked kind off empty, the amount of cars on the highway wasn't that impressive as in Beijing. The people actually know how to drive here in Europe. No dirty streets in my neighborhood, no weird smell hanging around my environment, no pollution in the air, the trafficjam. Crossing the road and being surrounded by cars, because they totally don't stop for pedestrians. Oh god, I already miss Beijing. I have to admit, I kind off miss all those things. After my parents picked me up, we went to a gasstation and I quickly grabbed a coffee and was just walking around in the gasshop, I touched some stuff and I didn't really place them back on the same spot. This would not be a problem in Beijing, you just throw it somewhere on the shell, but that was not what the lady in the shop was thinking. She actually turned around and said "Could you put that back where that belongs?" Normally I would that in Belgium, but in Beijing I kind off lost that habit, so I felt a little bit ashamed. I felt bad and I just bought the thing, lol. 

My favorite boys.

The big boys and their dino's! 

That same day I went to see my cousins, the twins. I can't believe they're already so big. When I left Belgium, occasionally I would pick them up and treat them like babies. And when I saw them Thursday, I could not believe my eyes. They are big boys right now, they have big teeth, know how to read and write. I'm so proud of them. The older they get, the less they look alike. The oldest one looks more and more like his dad, and the youngest one looks more and more like his mom. The moment I walked into the restaurant, I saw the younger one behind the bar and when he saw me, he didn't really know what to do. But after 3sec he gave me a big hug and the other one came running towards me. And there we stood, hugging each other for at least 2 minutes, telling me they've missed me so much and that they're happy I'm back. Oh, true love -wink. We started playing with the helicopters that I bought for them and I told them that they should come for a sleepover when the weather is better and when the Holidays starts. I'll be at their restaurant every weekend because I'm helping out my aunt and uncle. They bought my parent's restaurant, where I worked for 9 years. I won't be that long, because I'll be helping my parents in the frituur somewhere mid of July till I leave for New York and Beijing. 

Russian store in Dongzhimen. , our meetingspot
for the past 6 months. 

But let's see how my last days in China were. I went to class on Tuesday, I wasn't really paying attention during class. Actually, I was just passing by to say goodbye to my classmate and my teachers. I picked up my certificate and I was disappointed. I only know (or better, recognize) 2500 characters, I'm pretty convinced I know more than that, both of my teachers told me I know around 2800-2900 characters. They didn't even made the effort to get a confirmation from my teachers. I guess the staff of school thinks, after 10 months, the student probably know 2500characters. So, after class I went home and grabbed some dinner with 2 good friends. Watched a movie at my place and almost fell asleep during the movie, so tired I was. Wednesday I finished packing and had a goodbye dinner with all my good friends in Beijing. I kept it small, loads of previous Hutong students always had a huge goodbye dinner with people they didn't really even know them. Well, this was something I was trying to avoid. I wanted to spend my last hours with the people I love and really know, instead of sitting at a table with people I barely know. So we had a dinner in Dongzhimen, ghost street, followed by a icecream in front of the Russian Store and one hour later I was on my way to the aiport. Thank you guys for staying at my apt till I left and thank you for taking my luggage downstairs. Thank you for getting me a cab and thank you for being there! 

Kisses from Belgium.

The end of my adventure in China, part I.

The weather is getting a little bit unbearable, for example today, the pollution was so bad, I couldn't even see buildings that were 300m away from my window. Nice to know I'm living on the 11th floor. It's not only the pollution that makes it unpleasant, but also the high temperatures, nowadays we get 35 to 37°C during the day, in combination with the high percentage of humidity you're basically sweaty and sticky the whole day. Taking several showers during the day doesn't really help, from the moment you leave the apartement and feel the hot breeze, you immediately start sweating again. I know, doesn't sound attractive at all. The weather during the months July and August will be like this, somehow I'm kinda relieved that I'm not going to be here. But when the sun is shining, blue skies and white clouds, it's lovely to be outside. Yes, occasionally the weather tends to be like this and I love sitting outside, enjoying the sun. That's what I did last weekend during the day, sitting outside at the park with some friends, or taking powernaps. 

The girls at the BBQ.

The whole group at the BBQ.

Last Friday, we had a barbeque at our friends' place. He moved a couple days ago and got his own apartement, it's nearby our area. It's not only a nice neighborhood, nice apartement, but he has a big terrace. We had our first barbeque here in Beijing. Drinks, friends, food, music, nice weather,... The invited ones were the ones we all knew, we decided to keep it small. The host took care of the meat and guests would bring some more food and/or drinks. Usually when we/they organize some kind of party, loads of people will show up and we don't really know them. That's a fun side of being abroad, you meet people every day. But for this, we just invited friends, people we hang out with every day, getting dinner together, hanging out at one of our apartements, etc. After the barbeque, we headed out to KTV, it was my last one before I leave Beijing. At 6am in the morning we left the room and about one hour later I came home, all exhausted and longing for my bed. 5 hours later I got a call from my favorite English guy, and we met up at the park to chill some. Eventually we ended up with 5 people: sleeping/reading/talking nearby the fontain. Our rugs were placed right next to the fontain and our feet into the 'cool' water. Nast water actually, but hey, it was tons cooler. Pretty surprised it was 38°C that day, and there we were, sitting outside in the sun, trying to get some tan. In the meanwhile the Chinese people were hiding between bushes and trees in the shadow, staring at us. 

The guys at the BBQ.

That same day, Saturday, we were invited to another barbeque at our friends' place, there were tons of leftovers. This time the group was a little bit smaller than the day before, but it was lovely. Eating outside, with a nice view - for as long you can see something with the pollution - and a nice breeze. We ended up at Kokomo that night, trying to watch the game, but I gave up and went home around 3am, got some sleep and ended up in Chaoyang park the next day with 2 friends. Again, it was extremely hot, but the sky was blue and I just want to enjoy my last days here in the summer in Beijing. Followed by some Beijing Kaoya in Dongzhimen and just chilling in front of the Russian store for an hour and then went home and fell asleep like a baby. I've been checking the Belgian weather, I think I might freeze to death there, or better, get all rained under. I'm kinda hoping the summer will come pretty soon, I've been checking the weather since the last 2 months and it's ALWAYS raining and temperatures don't even reach above 20°C. I'll try to take the sun to Belgium and like 10°C, but don't shoot me if I don't.Today I had a nice day with one of my good friends here in Beijing, he's going to be my roommate when I come back in October. He specially took the day off from work and we spended the whole day and evening together. Getting lunch, talking, getting dinner. I kinda appreciate that a lot! 

I'm all packed and ready to go, I think. Moved all my stuff to Chris' apartement untill I get back and I'll just some clothes back home. I'm started to realize I'm leaving China within 48hours and my friends for a bit. A lot of them won't be here anymore when I come back. Mixed feelings tho. I've been counting off so badly and time just flies by here. I still remember when I started to say "3 more months, 1 more month" and now it's only a matter of 2 days. I'll be going to class tomorrow, to have my last class and say goodbye to everyone and get my certificate of studying Mandarin for 10 months. Wednesday will be just checking if I have everything, review some Chinese, have a dinner with my closest friends here and off to the airport around 10pm. 

I've learned a lot here in China, not only about the Chinese culture, or the language, other cultures, but also about myself. Loads of people didn't really understand why I was going to China for a year. I had the vibe that they thought I would end up in some dump, feel lonely and totally be lost because I didn't speak the language. It was kind off overwhelming the first day. Not because of the people, but because of the MANY Chinese people EVERYWHERE. Every intersection looks alike, every high building looks alike, the weird characters that I saw the first days, the dirty streets in China, the little hutongs hidden next to the big building. China definetly has it charms. It's an interesting city, it doesn't only offer modern aspects, but also the historical aspects. We all have come to the conclusion, if you've never been to China, you'll probably don't love it. Once you've been here for a bit, you definetly want to come back and learn more about China itself. Coming from speaking no Mandarin at all and ending up with almost level 5 in speaking and writing. I couldn't even buy foodstreet the first days and now, I can watch the news on TV and understand what they're talking about. For me, I'm satisfied, ofcourse level 6 would be way better, but that will be the challenge for when I come back. Sometimes I sit in my room and I think to myself  "Holy sh*t, I'm in China, I'm all by myself" and then I realize how far away I am from my family and friends. Other times I feel home here. But, it's time to log off and head to bed. 

I'll keep you posted once I'll back in Belgium.

Big kisses from Beijing.

Coming and going.

My last blog dated from a week ago, time to update once again. Lately, I've been updating this blog weekly because I have more time and I occasionally think about it. I don't really go out anymore during the week, the main reason is because I need to save some money for back in Europe. It's a fact! I'll be in Paris from the 28th of June till 4th of July. Hence, I need at least some couple of hundreds Euro's and it's not like I'll be home for a couple of weeks to get the money. Which means, spend less here in Beijing and enjoy Paris till the fullest. We're meeting some friends in Paris that we met here in Beijing. I think it's so awesome that we all meet up in France and hang out for one week. Some people representing Germany, England, France and ofcourse Belgium. I'll be going with my favorite Limburger, Ward, a guy I also met here in Beijing in November '11. We'll be staying at our friends their apartment/home and I am really looking forward to it. Some of them I just saw a month ago, but some of them I haven't seen in 6 months. 

My last 2 weeks in Beijing have started, mixed feelings though. I'm really happy that I'm going home, 10 months away from home is a quite long time. I know some people don't really understand why I'm so anxious  for going home, but I barely hear my parents on the phone. Indeed, we don't even use Skype, they call me twice a month for about 10mins and that's about it. Why they don't use Skype is ... they have no f*cking idea how to use it, they can barely start a computer, lol. In those 10 months I've seen my parents twice through Skype. My little brother is also quite busy with school, he's in his master year and he isn't home often, only during the weekend and during the weekend I'm usually not home. Don't forget the 6hours of time difference. So, that's why I'm excited to see them again, not only my parents and my brother, but also my 2 little cousins, the twins. Every time when we're on the phone, I just want to hug them to death. Play games with them, reading stories before they go to bed, go to the store with them and every time they get me that far to buy some toys. The daily stuff that I used to do with/for them. They're already 7 and I can't believe I've missed their birthday this January. I promised them I would buy a present and I did! I think they will love it, ofcourse I had to buy 2 the same .. Otherwise they'll fight for it and I know how it's going to end up. Both playing with one toy and the other one disappears in a closet. 

But I also realize, the less amount of days I have left here in Beijing, the more often I get a sad feeling about it. But I'm sure it's time for me to go home. I've noticed I haven't been enjoying Beijing that much than a couple of months ago. My mind is all set up for spending some months at home and just be able to do my stuff back in Belgium. Weird, but I'm really looking forward spending my weekends in the restaurant and just working. Before I came to Beijing, I did nothing else than that for 9 years. No, I didn't sleep in on Sundays till 2pm and spend the whole day in bed, but instead I woke up at 10am and started working around 11.30am till 8-9pm and headed towards my apt in Antwerp. I miss the little talks I had every weekend with the customers, I miss working with my parents and getting into arguments (especially with my mom) during work and being all f*cked up because of the pressure. I love it, lol. I miss arguing with my brother about idiotic stuff and trying to prove I'm right, if I'm not, still be damn convinced I'm right and he's wrong. Loads of people say, after their return to their country, they're bored after one month. I'm pretty sure the same will happen to me BUT it's summer when I head back home and I'll be quite busy with working and 'studying' Chinese. 

But let's talk about something else, I bet you're not really interested about my daily life back in Belgium. So, today's Giovanni's birthday. Yesterdaynight we had a surprise for him, we had a birthday cake dedicated to him! He was so anxious for clubbing, but we were all like "Come on Gio, we'll leave within 20mins, take it easy." 00.00am we dimmed the lights and started singing, he was pleasantly surprised, yayyy CAKE! Tonight we'll celebrate his birthday at Juicy. I know, in one of my previous blogs I said that Juicy was over and done, but ... tonight it's Ladiesnight and all the girls get 6 free drinks. Hopefully it isn't that crowded as on Wednesdays, but we'll figure it out tonight.

Now, the title of my blog is 'Coming and going', the coming is related to Sam's visit to Beijing tomorrow and the going is related to Giovanni's leaving this Sunday. Giovanni will be going back to the Netherlands after 9 months. Sam was also a student at the school and he moved to Shanghai (boohhh) in April and he'll be spending this weekend and next weekend in Beijing with us. Just perfect, would have hated it not seeing Sam before I go back to  Belgium. 

Well, thank you guys for reading this. It's time to log off.

I'll keep you updated.

Kisses from Beijing!

Happy Children's day!

Hi there

Hope you're all doing OK, last day before weekend starts! Today, in China, it's Children's day! I don't really know what that means, but I guess kids get spoiled. Something similar to Motherday of Fatherday. Do we have that in Belgium? :/ Didn't go that often to class this week, don't really feel like going every day anymore. Which makes sense, these last weeks I'm not planning to go that often, trying enjoy the summer here in BJ. I already started packing my suitcase, I know, sounds ridiculous. I'm leaving most of my stuff here in Beijing, I'm only taking some clothes back home and my laptop. No need to drag all my stuff back to Belgium, because I'll be back in Beijing somewhere in October. In the meanwhile, I'll leave all my winterclothes, shoes, bags, etc. at my friends' place. He's moving next week, so I need to be sure my stuff are also packed and ready to move his new apartement. Beetje organiseren en vooruit denken hé, a little bit German, lol.

This week was kinda quite, didn't really planned a lot for in the evenings. Came home from class, had dinner with some friends and stayed in with them and my roommates and usually watched some DVD's or Chinese TV with them. I went to Wangfujing bookstore yesterday, after 9 months, lol. Big ass store where you can buy books, DVD's, loads of stuff. I was so happy with my purchase, I bought a Chinese-English dictionary. Let me learn all the words in that book and I'll think I'll nail HSK 6 when I come back to BJ, lol. I'm planning to take level 5 somewhere in December this year, but my teacher adviced me to take 6 as well. She's crazy, she wants me to study all the words of level 6 this summer, means 2500 characters. If I can accomplish that, I'll just need to study the grammar when I come back to Hutong school and I could do level 6 as well by December, or try at least. My goal was taking HSK 6 next June.

When she said that, I bursted out in laughing, 2500 characters in 4 months, understanding, knowing how to write, knowing how to use and memorising the whole time. Challenge? Accepted! I'm gonna try anyways, don't really have problems with writing, but I do have problems with memorising the translation to English. Boohhh! 

Alright, time to log off and get ready for class.

I'll keep you updated.

Kisses from beijing! 

Week 38

Hi folks!

It's Sunday afternoon right now, I went to the park - it's more a flowergarden - today with some friends. We kind off created our own beach there. Don't let the word 'beach' misguide you. There's a big fontain in front of some rocks - it looks like a beach, but only no sand and hard rocks - and once a while we lay there for a couple of hours. Ofcourse loads of Chinese people look at us and think we lost our mind. When I'm with some friends, it's OK, but when I'm alone they probably think "That Chinese girl lost her mind". I forgot to mention that I went to Happy Valley last Sunday, with my teacher and her friend. Our actual plan was going shopping, so we met up at 1.30pm and then they really wanted to go to HV, all fine by me. But we got there pretty late, around 2pm, so next weekend we're going once again, but instead of 2pm it'll be 9am ;) At least, that's what we said. Happy Valley is an amusementpark here in Beijing, build like 5 years ago and is really, but really nice to walk around. Just walking around makes you feel happy, suits the name "Happy Valley" ;) Afterwards we went to KTV with the 3 of us, it was 50% off that day. Ordered some food, drinks, singing, loads of fun. 

Monday till Wednesday nothing special happened. On Wednesday we went to Caribe in the Sanlitun area, it's a Salsa club. When we got there, we only saw couples dancing and they were pretty damn good. 30minutes later we crashed the dancefloor and everyone was just acting like a fool, which we like. More people met up with us in Caribe and eventually we ended up in Sanlitun barstreet, ordering some Broccoli for Mister Sozzi, I was glad it was 4am and I went home. Don't know what's happening, but lately I've been tired as hell. Every morning I automatically wake up around 8am and by 5pm I feel exhausted. Normally I don't have this problem, not in Beijing nor Belgium. My teachers are pushing me to do my best, that's quite exhausting as well. Don't feel like concentrating 3-4hours when it's +30°C outside, just too hot. AC is still not working, so usually I feel like sleeping in class or just sitting there and stare at the teachers, lol. Another 2 weeks and our favorite English friend is visiting us in Beijing, really looking forward to it, hopefully he'll bring our Canadian friend with him. 

I'm really - you guys have NO idea - looking forward going back to Belgium. It's not that I don't like it here, but at some point you just want to be home for a bit, even 2 weeks would be enough. I've seen loads of friends going home after 3,4 months and knowing that you'll still be here for another 4-5 months it's kind off rough. I've been counting off the days and I can't wait to see my family and friends again. Can't wait to eat daddy's food, my mom doing my laundry for 2 months, playing with my little cousins, seeing my friends, working at my parent's old restaurant, talking with all the customers and just to be able to walk outside and understand EVERYTHING without really focussing on what they're trying to say. Although, I'll be homesick - can I use this word? - when I'll be in Belgium for a bit, Beijing kind off feels like home as well. I've been here living for almost one year. I met loads of interestering people here and I'll sure miss the convenience here, just walk out of your apt and you'll see loads of food, shops,... Everything is in a handreach from you.

Alright, time to log out and meet up for dinner. 

I'll keep you updated.

Kisses from Beijing!