Message

Claire, 15 February 2008
China Beijing

Great Leap forward...

Hello again / after a long long time/...

Those who I havent been really in touch with do not probably know that i decided to make a 'great leap forward' and move to China
How has that happpened? Well, easily. One day I though...living and working in Prague is nice...but why not to live and work elsewhere, so I took a globe and I turned it and here we go...China...why not?
Just kidding, of course. In reality, I have been thinking about it for quite a long time.

So anyway, here I am. I came last week exactly on the Chinese New Year´s Eve when everyone is stressed, running around, shopping and shooting fireworks...a bit crazy...But I survived the first few days with jet lag and cultural shock at the same time, moved to my friend´s house and spent the last days going around and discovering Beijing.

My first observations and impressions of the city and China in general?

- everything in Beijing seems to be HUGE and growing - especially the distances and since they mangaged to construct only 3 subway lines (even though you will find already 5 lines on the map) and since every centimeter on the map mean an hour walking - you got to walk a lot...

- the attempt to quit smoking will probably not work out since a packet of cigaretes here costs approx. 0.4 Euro and they are actually smokable

- everyone seems to have a job here - even in the elevator in our building sits a lady and her job is to press the bottoms 1-22 according to your wish

- Chinese people have different habits that may drive you crazy...spitting in the streets just in front of you, pushing you in the subway or bus even though there is no hurry, being too loud, staring at you as you were an alian I guess you have two options - either to hate them or love them for that...I havent started any of that yet

- being Czech in Beijing I feel I am a rare species...there are supposed to be only 100 of us - havent met anyone yet though...but there are a lot of foreigners all around the city, mostly expats that speak great chinese...vrrr

- otherwise it is not too difficult to get around, I have already manage to: use all the public transport (or at least I tried), register at the police, exchange money at the bank, make fool of myself when eating slimy dumplings with chopsticks, survive first chinese night club, visit most of the sites and of course make some new friends

- so, all in all, its been quite nice... now, I just need to find a good job, so I can stay But it wont be a problem

- my new chinese number is 008613439101393 and if you want to see some pictures go to www.facebook.com , for those who are not on facebook try this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=89283&l=a3be3&id=808940323

Take care, good luck with whatever you do and keep in touch!

Klara

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