Weekend update

Saturday morning we attended a “Service and Publicity Day for Foreigners” in Tongzhou, which is the district we live in. Similar events were held throughout Beijing Municipality, which has 16 districts and two counties. Tongzhou, an eastern suburb about 40 minutes from downtown, is 37 km wide, 48 km long and claims a combined permanent and migrant population of more than one million. For you Montreal/D.C. folk, it’s kind of like living in St. Laurent/Alexandria but with fewer immigrants/bureaucrats.

The Tongzhou event was outside a mall not far from the school, although it took us awhile to find it. There were 20 or 25 other foreigners there, seated in rows facing a stage, and everyone received two gift bags. The first contained a mug, pen, DVD and Tongzhou “Inverstment Guide (sic).” The second was a complete set for dog owners, including leash, muzzle and canine-themed playing cards. Now all I need is a dog.

The ceremony itself was short. Western teachers from a local music academy performed two songs, one in French and one in Chinese, followed by a Chinese student at the academy who sang Mariah Carey’s “Hero.” We exited with Michael Jackson (“Beat It”) playing in the background as local police registered volunteers for the Olympics.

It’s hard to overstate how important the Olympics are here. My students took a practice TOEFL on Friday, and the essay question was “What historical event in your country has had a major effect on your country? Give reasons and examples to support your response.” When I first saw the question I thought, “OK, there’s the Opium Wars, the Communist Revolution, Cultural Revolution, Nixon’s visit, Tiananmen Square, joining the WTO… The possibilities are endless.” Now, I don’t really expect my students to write about the Cultural Revolution or Tiananmen Square, but I thought at least Mao would get a mention. Instead, they both wrote about the Olympic Games. Preparing to host the Olympics has transformed China into a country that looks forward with optimism and hope, rather than staying mired in the past (although the past is still very much alive in many ways).

In the evening, Brian and I headed to Wangfujing – Beijing’s premier shopping street – for the China and Japan Cultural Festival. We had dinner in a basement food court, where the choice was overwhelming – Japanese, Cantonese, Korean. We darted from place to place asking ourselves “Should I eat here or here? Or here?” before finally settling on our meals. Of course, this means I’ll have to go back soon to try something else.

From there we went to Sanlitun, known as “Bar Street” to foreigners and quite popular among that crowd. It was strange but fun. We returned to Tongzhou in a cab and stumbled back onto campus around 2 a.m., trying not to wake the students as we passed through the dorm courtyard.

I had planned to explore Chaoyang yesterday, but I slept until 1:30 instead.

China Fun Fact: Tongzhou was founded more than 2,200 years ago and has had its current name since 1151 A.D.