Last October, I posted pictures of my amazingly tiny and sparsely furnished "dorm" room in BLCU. Sometimes, at night, it still haunts me: the small hard bed, the noisy heater, the PA system right outside my window that blasts Beijing Opera performances at 6pm. I still remember all my da bao (take out) dinners, my first cold, gray winter in China, sunsets at 4pm, 6-hour school days. It really was a nightmare.
But I guess I had to go through all that to prepare myself for the dream that is my new apartment. Haha. For days after securing my contract for the unit, I could not talk about anything else but moving into my new home and leaving behind that difficult life in the university.
On January 29th, a Saturday and two days before my final exams in BLCU, I dragged the first of my (plentiful) suitcases into Beijing Fortune Plaza - my address for the next couple of years. After that were days of labor, cleaning, furniture/knick-knack shopping and about a few thousand dollars down the drain.
I feel lucky to have found a place I can comfortably call home in Beijing. I love my new apartment and it relieves my homesickness because it somehow gives me a sense of security, and considering that I am living alone, that's really something. Now I have a sanctuary in Beijing and it makes the prospect of my 2-year expatriation less scary and more exciting.
My before and after pictures are now in http://chwistine.multiply.com -- does it look like the Fab 5 came over? Well let me say it proudly: the transformation is from my own blood, sweat and tears. I have lived here for a couple of months now and have welcomed some guests including my family. It may no longer look as perfect as in these pictures (there's the occassional mess here and there), but I still love it just the same!
Pictures are in the "My Beijing Home" album. Let me know what you think!
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
A New Abode
It has been a week since I dragged the first of my (plentiful) suitcases into Unit 36G Beijing Fortune Plaza, 3rd Ring Road, Beijing 1000020 P.R.C. Yes, my friends, this is my new address (though I recommend you ask me for the Chinese translation should you want to send postcards!) and will perhaps be so for the next couple of years.
So after many hours of labor, cleaning, furniture/knick-knack shopping and xx,xxxx.xx RMB poorer, I feel that I am "settled" -- evidence of which is today I cooked my first Pinoy meal in my apartment.
It was a simple dinner of pork steak (recipe of course courtesy of Mareng Jennet) and fool-proof rice thanks to my boss' rice cooker, but now I feel that this place is home to me. I love my new apartment and somehow it relieves some of my homesickness because it somehow gives me a sense of security. Now I have a sanctuary in Beijing and it makes the prospect of my 2-year expatriation less scary and more exciting.
I will post my before and after pictures (amazing transformation, you would have thought the fab 5 came over) pretty soon but for now I gotta enjoy my new place. I'm gonna kick back, relax and have some well-deserved Baskin Robbins Perils of Praline to celebrate the start of life in Beijing! :)
So after many hours of labor, cleaning, furniture/knick-knack shopping and xx,xxxx.xx RMB poorer, I feel that I am "settled" -- evidence of which is today I cooked my first Pinoy meal in my apartment.
It was a simple dinner of pork steak (recipe of course courtesy of Mareng Jennet) and fool-proof rice thanks to my boss' rice cooker, but now I feel that this place is home to me. I love my new apartment and somehow it relieves some of my homesickness because it somehow gives me a sense of security. Now I have a sanctuary in Beijing and it makes the prospect of my 2-year expatriation less scary and more exciting.
I will post my before and after pictures (amazing transformation, you would have thought the fab 5 came over) pretty soon but for now I gotta enjoy my new place. I'm gonna kick back, relax and have some well-deserved Baskin Robbins Perils of Praline to celebrate the start of life in Beijing! :)
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Of Forgetting People, Of Forgetting Me
How long does it take for people to forget? How long does it take for people to stop yearning, stop missing and once again start moving on with their own lives -- and this time, with one person less?
No, this is not about forgetting past loves and heartaches and trying in vain to get over someone. This kind of forgetting I'm pondering about is the type which probably occurs even more commonly than the romance-related ones.
It has been over four months since I left Manila to work here in Beijing. And it is not a secret that I do feel strongly about being away from home. But today, a realization hit me and I was surprised that I never viewed things from perspective of forgetting before.
How long will it take for people to forget me?
I know I will not be gone forever, it's only three years! But how long will/did it take for people to almost not feel that I am gone? How long before they stop/stopped wishing I was with them? How long before they stop/stopped counting the hours, days, weeks since they last heard from me? How long before they get/got so used to not seeing me or not being with me, that they stop/stopped remembering that I am part/once part of their lives?
I realize it is selfish for me to ask people to remember me every second of the day. This is not only impossible, but also useless. I guess, all I am saying is that, perhaps for all of us who are away from home, there will always be a fear of being forgotten.
The fear of people forgetting your smile, your laugh, your words.
The fear of people forgetting how it was to be around you, be beside you, be with you.
The fear of people forgetting that you love them -- or worse -- that they love you.
And once you come back, how long will it take them to remember all these again...
...if they ever will?
No, this is not about forgetting past loves and heartaches and trying in vain to get over someone. This kind of forgetting I'm pondering about is the type which probably occurs even more commonly than the romance-related ones.
It has been over four months since I left Manila to work here in Beijing. And it is not a secret that I do feel strongly about being away from home. But today, a realization hit me and I was surprised that I never viewed things from perspective of forgetting before.
How long will it take for people to forget me?
I know I will not be gone forever, it's only three years! But how long will/did it take for people to almost not feel that I am gone? How long before they stop/stopped wishing I was with them? How long before they stop/stopped counting the hours, days, weeks since they last heard from me? How long before they get/got so used to not seeing me or not being with me, that they stop/stopped remembering that I am part/once part of their lives?
I realize it is selfish for me to ask people to remember me every second of the day. This is not only impossible, but also useless. I guess, all I am saying is that, perhaps for all of us who are away from home, there will always be a fear of being forgotten.
The fear of people forgetting your smile, your laugh, your words.
The fear of people forgetting how it was to be around you, be beside you, be with you.
The fear of people forgetting that you love them -- or worse -- that they love you.
And once you come back, how long will it take them to remember all these again...
...if they ever will?
***For Mariel -- who knows how it feels to be away from home and who probably has the same fears as I do. Chin up, Mariel, kaya natin 'to! I hope. :)
Saturday, January 20, 2007
A Much-Needed Resuscitation
There was a time when I could not access blogger from China, which is why I then switched to blogging in Multiply. Now, Multiply is not accessible from China, so I'm switching back to Blogger. With a new (albeit very simple) layout to boot.
This layout is also supposed to crossover to my new domain as well - www.novemberthree.com - but so far I have been unsuccessful at making it work. Add to that the fact the the my internet connection here in the university has not been fully restored since the Taiwan earthquake. So I am trying to be v-e-r-y-p-a-t-i-e-n-t with trying to solve all my blog issues including, but not limited to:
1. Accessing Multiply and moving all blog posts from the last few months to Blogger
2. Making sense out of how files are being organized in the domain
3. Knowing where blogger is saving everything in the domain
4. Just making the blog look organized, because I have already given up on trying to make it look "nice"
I just realized that it is so difficult to choose one venue to publish your thoughts. Blogging services are popping up left, right and center. Now, even networking sites like Friendster and Multiply - which should have been dedicated to networking - also offer blogging capabilites. And yet there is no way to cross-post an entry to all of these facilities. I know Multiply has an option for cross-posting but it almost never works.
Anyway enough blogging woes and onto the updates. One more week to go and we are done with the Mandarin training. I have been sooo looking forward to starting work again. Sounds weird but I really am tired of studying. Right after I graduated from college, I entered the MISE Program, 50% of which is theoretical training i.e. studying and homeworks and projects and exams. Three months after graduating from MISE, I again join a language course that entailed memorizing and previewing and reviewing and all that crap EVERY SINGLE DAY FOR THE PAST FOUR MONTHS. What am I doing to myself???
And so now I am swearing off studying for the good two years that I am here in Beijing. Pahinga naman muna diba?
This layout is also supposed to crossover to my new domain as well - www.novemberthree.com - but so far I have been unsuccessful at making it work. Add to that the fact the the my internet connection here in the university has not been fully restored since the Taiwan earthquake. So I am trying to be v-e-r-y-p-a-t-i-e-n-t with trying to solve all my blog issues including, but not limited to:
1. Accessing Multiply and moving all blog posts from the last few months to Blogger
2. Making sense out of how files are being organized in the domain
3. Knowing where blogger is saving everything in the domain
4. Just making the blog look organized, because I have already given up on trying to make it look "nice"
I just realized that it is so difficult to choose one venue to publish your thoughts. Blogging services are popping up left, right and center. Now, even networking sites like Friendster and Multiply - which should have been dedicated to networking - also offer blogging capabilites. And yet there is no way to cross-post an entry to all of these facilities. I know Multiply has an option for cross-posting but it almost never works.
Anyway enough blogging woes and onto the updates. One more week to go and we are done with the Mandarin training. I have been sooo looking forward to starting work again. Sounds weird but I really am tired of studying. Right after I graduated from college, I entered the MISE Program, 50% of which is theoretical training i.e. studying and homeworks and projects and exams. Three months after graduating from MISE, I again join a language course that entailed memorizing and previewing and reviewing and all that crap EVERY SINGLE DAY FOR THE PAST FOUR MONTHS. What am I doing to myself???
And so now I am swearing off studying for the good two years that I am here in Beijing. Pahinga naman muna diba?
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