Beijing: Week 1 Observations
This is a stock photo from Squarespace. But it looks like one of the streets between our place and the US Embassy.
After a 31-hour door-to-door commute, we finally made it to our new home in the Chinese capital of Beijing. On Monday afternoon, we left our temporary housing in Bethesda, just outside of Washington, DC, and arrived at our new digs on Wednesday around midday Beijing time—which is 12 hours ahead of America’s East Coast. To call it an arduous journey would be too kind, but it was better than expected, with our three-year-old owning the only meltdown of the journey–right at passport control in the Beijing airport.
A week in and we’re slowly settling into things. There are some hurdles to overcome, things we thought wouldn’t be issues, but are. Things we thought we sorted before we left, but didn’t. But overall, our situation is probably better than we could have imagined.
I’ve made a list of a few initial observations that shouldn’t be read as conclusions or anything more than interesting tidbits that could, upon further review, be completely misaligned with reality. They are in no particular order.
The Chinese folks in and around our neighborhood seem genuinely friendly and accommodating. More than anything, they’ve been patient with us as we’ve tried to navigate their society and inevitably make mistakes. Folks typically say hello (ni-how) or nod their heads in acknowledgment.
We were told folks here love kids. And I would say that’s generally true. They may not all stop and stoop to say hello, but they at least smile and wave at Marti and Benji. Some have even taken pictures, but that’s been rare.
There are American or Western conveniences everywhere: Mcdonald's, Starbucks, Tim Horton’s, Shake Shack, Goose Island, etc. We rarely shop at those places in the US but have visited each one in the last week. I have a feeling we’ll reduce our reliance on them as we get more acclimated.
Remember when traveling abroad that you should unlock your phone for international sim cards/usage. In our last few months of scurrying around sorting things for our trip, we forgot and it’s been a real issue.
Even though Beijing is a big city of 22 million people, I’ve yet to see the crowded spaces I expected. It’s busy, sure. But nothing I’ve not experienced before.
I have seen an obscene number of folks wearing New York Yankees hats. My gut tells me it’s a fashion statement, but I’ll reserve any definitive conclusions until I’ve researched this a little more.
Instant coffee is ubiquitous. Finding ground coffee is a bit of an undertaking. But that shouldn’t necessarily be surprising.
Beijing is a pleasantly odd place. It is both familiar and foreign. It is, at times, an assault on your sensibilities while at the same time accommodating them. It takes whatever limits you may have set for yourself and gently prods you to test them.