LoveJY

Before I forget, I need to post this photo that I shot in the Beijing Aquarium. Most tanks were fairly normal, but I guess they thought it wouldn’t be uniquely Chinese sans at least one tank complete with the rainbow lights.

Also, on my way to the airport, my taxi driver picked up two 1rmb coins from the change bin when we were stopped at a light, and he started pinching at his chin. I couldn’t tell exactly what he was doing because there’s a clear plastic separater between him and all the passenger seats, but it wasn’t long before I realized he was tweezing his beard hairs. When the light turned green, he tossed the coins back in the change bin, started driving again, and everything proceeded as normal.

If you didn’t know already, T.I.C. means THIS IS CHINA. Not everything goes the way you’d expect or even imagine, but hey, life only gets richer from here on out.

Something about that city really makes me want to go back. I think it’s partly because I feel like I didn’t get to see the whole thing (and even those parts that I saw, I would go see again!), and partly because I experienced an exceptional amount of tremendous family hospitality.

Anyway, I’m back in Shanghai now, and I’ve started my new part-time job! I’m working at Barefoot Portraits, doing client and production coordination, and soon to be working on some marketing plans. At first I was a little disappointed that I didn’t have a more photographer-centered position, but I’m pretty sure the time and energy spent on doing my job well now offer me more to learn from in terms of soft skills and business thinking. My first few days and already I have so much information in my head to be sorted and mastered.

I end my short post tonight with the philosophical question of the day:

Is it worth losing good things in life, in pursuit of other good things?

While many of the animals at the Beijing Zoo have an outdoor area, most that we saw today were caged in tiny cubicles, I’m hoping only because there was still snow outside…

I’ve been in Beijing for the last 6 days, waiting for my visa extension to go through. In the meantime, Crystal’s taken me and another friend around the huge city, to amazing historical sites that are just incredible. We went to the Great Wall first, on an extremely cold day, as you can see it had just snowed (in March!). We only hiked past 4 towers, but it felt like we went so far because of all the climbing up and down in the biting wind. It’s hard to imagine how tough it was to build such an immense structure, totalling about 8000km in length, all along the highest points of the mountain; and on top of that, how soldiers had to navigate it with 20kg+ worth of armor and weaponry! That afternoon we also went to the Houhai Lake area, where we saw old men jumping into the half-frozen lake in their speedos!

The next day we went to Tiananmen, where Mao’s portrait famously hangs facing the Great Hall of the People. We wanted to see the Chairman, but the mausoleum was closed to the public for the week-long annual Party meeting. Out of 52 weeks, it had to be this one… But then we also went to the Forbidden City–where we walked through door after door after door– and the Temple of Heaven, the unique circular temple symbolizing heaven (heaven as round, earth as square).

I thought Shanghai was big and amazing–which it is– but Beijing definitely has more cultural significance and historical sites, all of which are just mindblowing. 不可思议: inconceivable, unfathomable.

Tomorrow, Summer Palace  and Beijing Zoo+Aquarium!

Addendum. Met a new group of cousins tonight, all super nice. I really wish I had grown up with more extended family around. I can only imagine how wonderful it would’ve been to have so many close  哥哥姐姐’s (in Chinese culture we call older cousins older brother, older sister, and since I’m the youngest on this side of the family, hurrah!). Growing up with my one older brother was awesome, so having 10 more would’ve been crazy! Since my dad was one of the younger ones in his generation, most of my cousins on my this side of the family are already middle-aged and married with kids, so it felt a little weird in the beginning calling them 哥哥姐姐when normally I would call people their age 叔叔阿姨 (uncle, auntie). Anyway, to put it simply, it was nice.  I like being in China.