December 2011
4 posts
Another Amazing Birthday in Beijing
This year I was very lucky because my birthday fell on a Friday so I pretty much owned the whole weekend and it was Legen -waitforit- Dary.
Wednesday night (although not technically the weekend at all), I had a memorable evening with one of my friends. To give you a hint:
What do Lassie, Old Yeller, and Scooby Doo all have in common? Starts with a “d”… Delicious! going down my...
Weekends in Beijing
The Beijing air was hanging particularly heavy and thick today, as the dust and pollution of the city mixed densely with the clouds. Visibility and air quality was reduced significantly, so much so that essentially all air traffic into and out of the city was canceled.
I think it’s safe to say, that in this day and age of chemicals, radiation, and manufacturing, it’s likely that...
November 2011
2 posts
Sunday Morning
Being not of any religious background, it might sound strange that I go to church every once in a while. And when I say that, I truly mean once in a Long while. But I went yesterday morning and I thought it was quite the coincidence with regards to the pastor’s chosen topic:
Sexual Impurity
…sins of the flesh/dirty thoughts/adultery/lust… Most [maybe all] things I can...
October 2011
2 posts
September 2011
1 post
November 2010
2 posts
Adulthood Means... (unfinished)
This week was pretty amazing. Hectic. Busy. But amazing. I learned some important life lessons. Like what it feels like to live in the adult world.
Monday Unimportant for the most part, except I talked to 李实 about getting some more information from the ShanXi companies and it felt pretty awesome. It’s quite thrilling to call on the phone, ask for financial data like you know what the fuck...
I am In Love
This past week I went to TaiYuan (perhaps my lucky city?) for a business trip. Although the work was incredibly interesting (perhaps another entry to follow if I can get around the Non-Disclosure Agreement), but I must say the one thing that kept me going was a certain gentleman I met during the trip. His name means Honesty (a little bit too much honesty at certain times), and he’s an intern...
October 2010
5 posts
Pre-Halloween Funs
Yesterday was Saturday. October 30th. The day Before Halloween. And although my day wasn’t exceptionally extraordinary, it still had some pretty positive moments.
In the morning I just pulled a classic Kat-the-dork move and headed over to Miss Me cafe. Sat around for a few hours preparing for my tutoring lesson and Almost studying Chinese, when Samantha came in. Helping me with some of the...
The Chinese Language is Great for Keeping Secrets
One of my favorite things about Chinese is the fact that the pronunciation for the words “she” and “he” are the same* (ta1). Not only does this provide for some hilarious misunderstanding when Chinese FOBs speak English, but it’s also highly conducive for keeping secrets. For example, say you’re explaining to your classmate why you plan on missing class the next day and you say:
[In Chinese] “An...
Some Particularly Sweet Few Days
Hey y’all,
The past weekend has been notably delightful, so I figured I’d make some notes in my little blog here…
Friday - finished class as usual and had a ‘class trip’ to mine and SuiCaiMing’s neck of the woods. We all hopped on the 101 公共汽车 (bus) and headed over to 望京 (WangJing). Not knowing exactly where the restaurant was, from the bus stop we took a cab...
A blog entry What?!
Hey,
So seeing as how I’ve had SO many requests to update my blog (…mmmm….3?) I figured I’d stop being so lazy and write something. Plus, I found out I have a fan (other than my parents), so I gotta give the people what they want, right?
I officially dedicate this post to Freddy. Props to you for actually finding my random-ass blog and reading through.
—-
Despite...
September 2010
2 posts
My First Day at School and Other (mini) Adventures
Today was my first day of Chinese lessons at the University of International Business and Economics [对外经济贸易大学 - Duiwai Jingji Maoyi Daxue]. I started at 8:00am and classes finished at 5:00pm. I learned such useful things as:
你好 - Ni hao = Hello 您好 - Nin hao = Hello (polite) 再见 - Zai Jian = Goodbye
And other such useful, albeit elementary, things. (This is completely useless as far as this post...
A nice thought...
“I want a boy who would hold my hand in line at the mall & make all the girls jealous. I want someone who would sing to me at random moments. Someone who is more goofy than romantic. A boy who would throw stuffed animals at me when I’m acting dumb. Someone who would bet me kisses that he could beat me at all the old playstation games and then let me win. A guy who would make...
August 2010
2 posts
Flashback Post: Days Before My Departure
Thursday, August 26th, 2010
I escorted Derick and myself to Tysons I to meet up with Tracy and Max. We shopped for perfume, cried over how expensive Free People is, and killed some time in Urban Outfitters.
Max happened to find the following checklist:
Reasons included: - you owe me money - because I love wearing condoms - you’re no good at saying no - my hand’s getting tired...
First Day Back in Beijing
Busy day, but very awesome nonetheless. Would you like a tour? Of course you would…
…registering for classes. Please note the Christmas tree and Chinese New Year decorations still set up in August. Respect-yo. Man - there were so many Russian-speakers (Russians and from Kazakhstan), and yeah, I was disappointed. Also, most of the are in undergrad. So I feel old. At age 22. God life...
July 2010
2 posts
My theme song
“The mountain stands still; above it fire flares up and does not linger. Therefore the two do not stay together. A wanderer has no fixed abode; his home is the road. Therefore he must take care to remain upright and steadfast,so that he sojourns only in the proper places, associating only with good people. Then he has good fortune and can go his way unmolested.” - I Ching
The I Ching...
May 2010
3 posts
Best.Weekend.Ever. [or pretty damn close]
The past few weeks have been pretty tough for the most part. Stressed with work, worried about my exam, unsure about my future, missing home, feeling lonely…life was hard. And although none of those problems are actually resolved, at least this weekend was pretty solid.
Aside from the obvious reason why Friday was awesome, we also had a half day at school, which comes as a much needed gift...
Kat(e)'s First "First Date"
Being in Beijing, (or being alive for that matter), a girl ends up meeting a guy or two. I’ve had what you might say some random luck in this matter. Although 90% of the (foreign) guys here are douchebags, luckily for me, they also aren’t interested in me. On the other hand, there are a few diamonds in the rough (and the occasion confused coal) out there. Here’s a breakdown...
March 2010
3 posts
ICwCh - 1.0 Road Rules
1. Crossing the street - as easy as it might sound to most people (and admittedly, it Is pretty simple in most countries where people obey the traffic laws), crossing the street can be a once-daily flirtation with death. Why, you might ask? Well, often times you’ll see a crosswalk spanning four lanes through a busy street without an actual intersection or traffic lights to help you out. And,...
It's (finally) Complicated w. China
So…clearly I haven’t been the best at keeping up with my blog/youtube videos…what can I say? I’m lazy. BUT I Do want to keep a pretty good record of my time here, and I also want to make sure I can share all of China’s wonderful quirks with my friends and family, so here’s my first step towards making that happen.
Although I’m not sure I can continue with...
February 2010
1 post
Some subtle differences btwn Beijing & HK...
Beijing has “Special Alcohol & Tobacco” stores on every corner HK has 7-11
HK has Dior/Gucci/Prada/LV at every shopping mall Beijing has (fake) Dior/Gucci/Prada/LV at every shopping mall
In HK, cars stop at the red light In Beijing, cars don’t stop
In HK, streets are littered with people trying to sell you watches, give you a foot massage, or tailor your suit In Beijing,...
November 2009
4 posts
A Brief History of The Philippines
Last weekend I spent some time stuffing my face on the main island in the Philippines. I was visiting Derick and staying with his family, which was a pretty sweet deal.
So here’s the long story of it all, because you know, I’m not good with keeping things shorts.
I left my school around half past noon and headed over to the airport. Turns out Beijing airport is much more efficient...
Snowtime in China
I woke up this morning, nothing too exciting planned. Then my roommate, Cameron, directed to me to the window and what did I see?
SNOW!
It’s SNOWing in Beijing. It hasn’t even snowed in Har’bin or Montreal yet, but it’s SNOWing in Beijing!
I couldn’t express just how happy I was when I saw it. Just this past Friday I went out with Michele and my teacher Ella to get...
October 2009
3 posts
“It’s okay to make mistakes, but don’t make the same mistake twice.”
– My lovely Samantha
September 2009
2 posts
Insert Random Post Here
This isn’t going to be a real update; it’s more of a random – oh let me share my feelings with you – kind of post. Maybe I’ll get to talking about my actual teaching experiences eventually. Just suck it up until then.
Anyway - Today Was Beautiful. Seriously, the weather was like the most perfect autumn day. And yeah, I said ‘autumn’, not ‘fall’ – it was that good that it merited the...
Where to begin...
So….I haven’t updated at all in a while and I know you must all be dying of anticipation to find out what happens next. Well, let me tell ya….
Like I said, after my mini-breakdown on the first Friday we moved in, things got a lot better. Friday night I met up with Ben and Jake, these two really cool guys from McGill who studied with Jessica in China two summers ago. It was kind of an adventure...
August 2009
8 posts
Btw...
Don’t worry, this story has a happy ending….I’ve just been too busy to write it :-p
The Apartment
This morning we settled into our apartment. After an early start in the morning, say around 6:30am, we got on a bus and headed into the city. We got to the Expertise office around 9am, unloaded everyone’s luggage, and headed over to KFC for lunch/breakfast. I put it as an and/or because we got there during the breakfast menu, but they had pretty much run out of all the good stuff, so we had to...
PS - McGill VPN Breaks the Blocks
Yeah so I finally connected to McGill’s private network and it got me around China’s firewalls, which pretty much block all blog websites. Who would have thought? Facebook and youtube - also not allowed. Oh wellzors.
Anyway, the post below this is actually from about a week ago. I will give an updated about the past few days shortly.
Video upcoming, too!
Intermediaries
I have had the most wicked last few days (just like my yellow pants). I’m on the plane and on my way to China, but before I get there, I thought I’d recap the last few days of inter-country traveling.
So Sunday morning I left the comfort of Maryland to arrive in Montreal, early afternoon. I met up with Farzan and Max at Second Cup and shared some summer stories (now That’s a lot of alliteration...
And so it begins
I’m sitting here at my computer; the clock strikes 1:00am on Saturday, August 15th. The day before I start my “exciting” adventure to China.
Step 1: Montreal Step 2: Toronto Step 3: Beijing (with one or two mini-parties in between)
I’ve just finished packing….I think (you can never have too much stuff)….It’s been a ridiculous summer. Graduation +...
my life.my adventures.my hope things work out
I’m Kate (sometimes Kat), but at the moment - Kate.
I decided to write this blog about my life and all the crAzy things I do. Hopefully I’ll keep it up, because hey - who doesn’t want to read about some random girl and the stupid things she does on a regular basis?
The point of this blog is just to go step-by-step, to see how things unfold. The *crossfingers&shaking* is my...
Hello world
….more to come…. :)