Out and about

As it was our first real day sightseeing, naturally we started with Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Not long after we exited the subway, a girl about our age fell in step with us and asked where we were from – she wanted to practice her English. She pointed out all the sights around the square and walked down the block with us.

Later, as we were standing around in the square, a young guy from D.C. came up and asked (a) did we speak English and (b) did we have a Beijing cell phone. His cell phone had died and he was trying to meet up with his friends in the largest public square in the world. Brian lent him his phone, and the conversation went something like this: “Where are you? What are you looking at? A big portrait of Mao? So am I. Meet me by the statue with the gold lettering. No, the other one.”

Brian – who’s 6’3’’ and blond – has been a big hit here. All day men and women were telling him how handsome he is. “I never thought I’d get tired of being complimented,” he said. Someone even asked to take a picture with him at the Forbidden City. People have trouble with his name, though. When we arrived at the airport in Beijing, our school coordinator met us with a sign reading “Jennifer and Brain,” and that’s pretty much how everyone has been pronouncing it.

Outside the Forbidden City, a woman showed us the baby in her arms and asked for money. I had 1 yuan in my pocket, so I pulled it out and gave it to her without slowing down. As we walked away, however, tiny footsteps came running up from behind. Soon a toddler was struggling to keep up with us, grabbing at our legs and repeating the only English words she knew, mostly "money." How do you turn out as an adult when those are your childhood memories?

It’s hard to tell who genuinely wants to practice English and who’s trying to bilk money from you. So many people came up to us today just wanting to talk. But the Forbidden City was also filled with “art students” who ask people to come look at their work, then pressure them into buying it. I had heard about the tea ceremony scam (people invite you to a tea ceremony, then present you with a huge bill) before I arrived, so I was hesitant when two girls we met in a park invited us to have a drink with them so they could practice English. First, you have to understand that people stare, wave at us from across the street and walk right up to start conversations, so it wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility that they actually wanted to chat. We had nowhere in particular to go – and we are English teachers, after all – so we agreed. Once we walked into a teahouse, however, I got nervous and made sure we discussed how much we’d be paying before any tea was served. The girls assured us it should be no more than 50 yuan (about US$6 or $7) per person and we proceeded to sample maybe six teas, all the while talking about school, celebrities and whether we wanted to go bar-hopping with them tonight. When the bill arrived, however, it totaled more than 1,300 yuan – 50 yuan per person per tea. The girls seemed surprised by this (which I didn’t totally buy, since they’re Beijing natives and should know better), but they said since it was their fault they would pay if we just chipped in a little more. Did they work for the teahouse? I don’t know. We ended up paying 100 yuan each, but decided that it wasn’t such an unreasonable price anyway. (For comparison, 100 yuan covers admission and an English audio guide at the Forbidden City).

After that we said goodbye to the girls and walked around looking for somewhere to eat dinner. We were about to enter the subway to go home when, in a city of 20 million people, we actually ran into someone we knew – Xavier from the Beijing WITT office, along with a co-worker we hadn’t met. Every day there’s a new surprise.

China Fun Fact: The emperor was the only non-castrated male allowed to enter the Forbidden City’s eastern and western palaces, thus ensuring that any pregnant concubines were carrying legitimate heirs.