Beijing in Pictures

I didn’t feel like writing a bunch of paragraphs of text (which is why this blog entry is so overdue!), so I’ve decided to show some pictures of my time back in China so far.

It was pretty polluted my first few days here.

Had churros on new year’s eve

This is a thing here. It used to be called “Darkie” toothpaste, but was changed because of how blatantly racist it was. The Chinese name, 黑人牙膏，still means “Black Person Toothpaste”, though.

What kind of post would this be without some hilarious Engrish (mis)translations?

Attended a Chinese New Year office party (invited by one of my roommates, the guy in the middle of the back row in this pic).

Documented Beijing’s first flash mob, where everyone “freezes” in the middle of a public square for a few minutes.

Took a trip to the Dashanzi Art District in Beijing.

Had Turkish food on Valentine’s Day with my lovely girlfriend, Ru Ya (AKA Nicole). We went to her hometown, Xuzhou, for Chinese New Year, but I didn’t take any good pictures there, I was too busy having fun and eating way too much food!

I finally found decent Mexican food in Beijing! Even though their aesthetic is very Chipotle-inspired, the food was quite original and delicious. They didn’t actually have any avocados (or guac, bummer) when I went; I guess the city is having an avocado shortage or something. You’ll also notice that soda-cups aren’t a foot tall here, like they are back home.

I saw some kids trying to run up this concrete post on the street today. The last two pictures I took with an app called Instagram on Nicole’s iPhone. It’s got some pretty cool filter effects built in.

In case you are wondering what I’m up to, I’m about to begin taking classes at the Beijing Language & Culture University, studying Chinese. My classes haven’t actually begun yet, but I’m sure I’ll have more to write about by then! That’s all for this post, thanks for reading!