Our Neighbourhood

Immobility

My mobility was recently compromised as I unvoluntarily became part of the big bicycle circle of Beijing. Bikes here get constantly stolen, and then they are sold on again, presumably to people whose bike has just been stolen.

My bike disappeared from right in front of our building, regardless of our having guards at the gate and security cameras in the bicycle parking area. What maybe annoyed me most of all is that every night there are a few hundred bikes parked outside our building, and only one of them got stolen. Mine, of course. Why couldn't they go for the neighbour's cool GIANT instead? Huh?!?

The security company checked the tapes, with no results. All I got was a bunch of apologies, and more than a week of being bikeless. In Beijing this is quite a serious condition. But finally today, I managed to replace my stolen steed, and now can take part in the mad morning cycling slalom race on my way to work.

I hope next time they go for that GIANT of Mr Wang's...

Blunder

Oops, just noticed that I never ended up publishing the post I had written about our visit to Tanzhe Temple two weeks ago, as I was having trouble uploading pictures.

It's added now below under the date where it belongs.

Rock and Revolution

After a hectic week at my new job, I finally got to take a breather this past weekend. On Saturday night we headed out to Chaoyang Park in the East of the city to check out an outdoor rock festival, resembling those held throughout Europe in the summertime.

And it was lovely, just sitting on the grass, listening to the bands and watching night fall over the city. And the treat at the end was Placebo, who had made their way here all the way from the UK to entertain us. Well appreciated!

Tip for those in China, though: Stay away from Blue Ribbon beer. Sugary yuck with rice listed in the ingredients. Ugghh.

On Sunday, it was a whole different show. I met up with some people, whom we met on the bus on the way back from Tangzhe Temple two weeks ago...some very nice, unpretentious people, not like the many wannabe-Western rich people that often come to talk to me.

This extended family includes two friends & fathers, who share a tiny apartment with both of their sons, and one of their wives. This time our group consisted of both the kids and one of the fathers, with the aim of practising both English and Chinese together, and just spend some time together.

For this first meeting, Harry, the father, had picked our activity, which turned out to be visiting the first day of an exhibition on the Long March at the Revolutionary Military Museum. Wow. This is the side of China that most people in the West expect to pop up everywhere in this country and the side that I rarely get to see so clearly.

But this really was the stuff of all those documentaries back in Europe.

And what's more, as it was the opening day, the press & publicity people were all over the place. And of course, as they spotted the odd laowai, the circled around me loke sharks. I didn't check out the local papers on Monday, but I am sure that somewhere there between the article on the housing issues and the weather report is a picture of me looking thoughtfully at the portrait of past great leaders, possibly with a caption that goes:"Foreign visitors deeply impressed by our country's revolutionary accomplishments".

Maybe my 15 minutes of fame here in Beijing.

Plus One More

On thursday night, we welcomed a long-term visitor to our house. This is how the story goes.

A couple of months ago, an abandoned cat was rescued by an American near Yuan Ming Yuan, or "the Old Summer Palace". After being left in the street by someone, the cat had found a small cafe where he stayed and was being fed a little. Still, the owner of the cafe did not want to look better after the cat, who was going blind as a result of a bad eye infection. So, this foreigner ended up taking the cat to the veterinarian hospital, where his eye infection was treated and he was otherwise nursed back to health.

But, we all need holidays, and so this American guy decided to go back to the States for a few weeks. And this is where we come in: E&F's Feline Boarding House!

So, now we have sweet Yuan Ming, named after the place where he was found, sheading his long, white hair all over the place. He is white, and like Gattuso, has eyes that are two different colours. His hair had been really matted and dirty before, and a lot of it had to be cut off in the hospital. As a result, he now looks pretty battered.

What makes it interesting, of course, is that our rascal kitten, Gattuso, is probably the most stubborn and aggressive cat ever lived. Of course, he's just a kid and naturally more energetic and playful, but Gattuso's energy goes way beyong average kitten behaviour. He really is much too aggressive and antisocial.

So the experiment now is: What happens when you put a rude, antisocial, aggressive kitten, and the sweetest, most patient adult cat together?

So far, it's pretty much Gattuso being an idiot, constantly jumping on Yuan Ming's back, biting his neck and attacking his tail, not giving him a moment of peace, while Yuan Ming tends to try to just walk away, and find places where he could just relax, enjoy little naps, watch out the window and get as much scratching and stroking from us as possible.

But poor Yuan Ming is so patient, that I'm hoping in a few days something good will come out of it, and Gattuso might actually pick up some good behaviour patterns from this sweetball.

MEEAOW!