TBD - an open-ended travel blog by Bridget Riley

Starbucks trips: 3

I think I’m doing pretty well so far. I’ve got a Bridget Jones-esque tally running in my head.

The squat. It’s the Chinese version of the loiter. You’re waiting for a friend, you’re texting mindlessly, you’re having a quick smoke, and you’re squatting.

I have squatter envy. I’ve tried it a few times: watching the propoganda video screen in Tiananmen Square, sipping on some yogurt. It’s practical when you’ve been on your feet a while but don’t dare risk sitting on the ground. People have spat and children have peed on every square centimeter of this city. There’s something about my legs, knees and ankles, though, that screams out after roughly 2 minutes sitting like this. Could my body learn to bend in this way, or am I doomed after 23 years of chairs, benches and clean floors?

Photo of Shanghai squatting family courtesy of Fraser Novakowski

Nearly every purchase here leads to a discussion rather than a quick exchange of money.** I am trying my best to take a step back and appreciate how the Chinese add a social element to the act of buying that is mostly absent in America — except that I suck at it.

This is not just because I haven’t mastered (read: signed up for classes in) Mandarin. Just before I flew over the Pacific, I went to a Giants game with my friend Geoff. Official tickets were outrageous, so we headed up along the bay in search of a scalper. One guy offered tickets behind home plate at a reasonable price, but I didn’t have enough cash. So I asked him if he knew of a nearby ATM. Yup, I’m that good. Of course, I should have shown him the money we did have and said, “That’s all we got. Take it or leave it,” or, at the very least, walked away as a bargaining tactic when I was actually going to the ATM. But no, I told this unknown guy potentially hawking fakies, “Hi, please throw out whatever price you want because I’m going to go fetch it for you.” Geoff managed to salvage the deal, bless his heart, and the tickets ended up being real, but the fact remains: haggling is harrowing and utterly alien turf to me.

Take that pathetic image of me and the scalper, then put me in a country where my eyes, nose, skin and height put a giant bull’s eye on my back. I have a lot to learn.

**Except for supermarkets and chains like H&M. If I really wanted to, I could avoid the whole haggling issue by eating in food courts and buying my shoes at Zara. However if I liked fun, pleasant experiences, I would have stayed in San Francisco.

At the haggle-savvy hands of my friend/mentor/roommate/translator Ashley, all these veggies cost 22 kuai, or about $2. I went to the same market and spent that same amount on a small baggie of almonds.

I moved to China two weeks ago. Right now, so much is unsettled about my life. My visa is still in the works, my Chinese has yet to move past 10 phrases, my iPhone continues to be on the fritz, and I still can’t handle the Beijing heat with much grace. But, my moments of Aha! have increased greatly in recent days. Partially this comes from having a job and thus a sense of purpose in life. That was lacking from my life since the close of April, and I never realized how much I would loathe being wholly untethered. Schedules, responsibilities, people who count on me — these are what we all complain about but I’ve found them just as necessary for enjoying life as sadness is for enjoying joy.

Please pardon my existential moseying. I read “Into the Wild” on the plane over.

Now to the fun stuff: one trip to Tiananmen Square led to four requests from Chinese people wanting to take a photo with me and my friend Ashley. That doesn’t sound too crazy, but I didn’t factor in the countless other times people used us as their background while they posed 5 feet away.

That’s all for today — one CrazieChinaLol, one introspective handjob. I have more posts planned already, such as finding the perfect Beijing Belly (requires photo evidence), Chinese Students Say the Darndest Things (often racist!), and the Beijing yoghurt diet (have yet to see if it works…). Stay tuned!!

To be determined. This pertains to many things in my life right now, but let’s just focus on the bits that will be explored in this blog. I’m moving to China in July. Duration and occupation are TBD. Purpose, friends, diet, wardrobe, romantic affairs, and life-changing realizations are also TBD.

But, how else would I have it? I don’t want Taco Tuesdays or Casual Fridays. No thanks, I prefer to pencil in my life plans.