05-30-04

My bicycle was stolen indeed. Remember when I said that one time that if someone stole my bicycle I wouldn't be that upset because I knew it would probably go to someone who really needed it and didn't have the money to pay for another one? Well, scratch that, cuz it really made me angry. Let me tell you why. Had my bicycle been stolen from the street, I would back up my previous theory. However, someone came into my apartment garage, which is in a private complex, and went into the second room on the right and got mine out. Why??? that guy knew what he was doing, and he knew who I was. Also, there is a person that lives in our garage and his job is to keep an eye on the bikes. So I know he was into this scam. That's what made me angry.

So that was it, I was on my way to school one morning when...it wasn't there. Ugh. I've told you how important it is to have a bicycle here in Beijing. It's all you have to move. Without it you're either depending on your feet (and mine don't work great) or on cabs (those get expensive on the long run). So basically I found myself in a predicament. I went to my buddy "Pengyou", the bicycle man, and asked him for one exactly like mine, but second hand. He explained to me that because they are so good nobody sells them and are very hard to find used. However, he promised me that he would look hard for one and let me know when he got one.

Well, I left the place, and on my way out, about 5 blocks away, I saw this other street bike shop and asked the owner: "do you sell used bikes?" -No- was his answer. He then asked me which kind of used bike I was looking for, and I saw one leaning against a wall in front of the shop, pointed at it and said: "One like that!". Then some guy from the shop right next to us (a clothing store) interrupts and says - thats my bike, you want it?- The guy turns out to be the owner of the shop. So I ask him how much the bike was and he said he would give it to me for 100Y. I tried bargaining it down but no such luck. He was a tough one. He wasn't going below 100 kuai. So I gave him the money and left. And that was it. Now I have a 15 year old bicycle tougher than a tractor. It's a little heavy and rusty, but runs perfectly. That's it for the bicycle story.

Since I have no pictures of the bicycle, I'll just put a couple that I took yesterday before we left on the Safari trip. There was this sort of children drawing and calligraphy contest.

05-19-04

Last night Andres and I took a cab to this place where I finally got a good look at the motorcycle. It looks like the one in the picture below but nicer and military green. We were secretly taken to this weird obscure place that I can't really describe. Not because I can't but because I'm not supposed to. I bet that made you curious huh? ;-) Anyhow, we got there at around 10pm and took a look around. It was an interesting experience.

Chinese is coming along. At this point in time I just feel like my level ameliorates at exponential rates. I am taking extra classes in the afternoon with 3 other friends and it seems like we learn a lot faster this way. Our teacher at the University has noticed a dramatic change already compared to what we used to be.

Remember the story about the elevator? Well today I just thought about something else when a Spanish friend made me realize it. As I went up the elevator to Andres' room in the scholarship student's only dorm building, a Spanish friend of mine said, “these elevators are like the ONU's”. And is he right. There we are, stopping at every floor, with about 15 people, each person from a different country speaking a different language. Anywhere from Arabic languages, African, Spanish, English, Russian, French, German, to Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian, and Korean; and the list goes on. Fascinating.

This Saturday someone invited me to this dinner/tiny photography contest hosted by this very good photographer. He has invited amateur photographers to bring what they think are 3 good pictures, if not their best ones obviously. I shall take 3 of mine. If you have any suggestions from any of the pictures on this site, well they are welcome. Sometimes I feel I lose objectivity since I see my own pictures all the time. I'll let you know what happens.

Sleep.

This is somewhat similar to what i'm looking for.

Anyhow, after much more research I did on the internet last night, I found more distributors for these bikes and today I shall go in the quest for more after I pay my phone bill since we have no phone connection at this point. I didn't know where to pay for these things or how. It's not like you get a montly bill and you can pay it online. Oh no. You try to figure this out in Chinese. However, after asking around, all I have to do, I think, is go to the bank and give them my phone numer and pay. That's it. We'll see how it goes.

Yesterday the weather was bad. Rain all day. By the looks of today it looks like it's doomed to be the same unfortunately. A good excuse to stay home and study.