chickens waiting to be cooked in the cafeteria at work...how appetizing!
WORK or something like it…
So what exactly is it that I’ve been doing for an, “ahem”, extremely minimal salary which shall remain unnamed?! (to give you a ballpark figure, lets just say that if I saved everything I made each month, didn’t pay rent and didn’t eat (although they do give us a sum of allowance for food of 200 RMB!), then I could just almost maybe buy a pair of miss sixty jeans!) haha.
My first few days here were rather uneventful, and I began to wonder if I had been hired to sift through architectural magazines all day. And to develop a severe case of idle brain. But finally, after day 3 I finally got in on some ACTION at the office…
I was to design a water purification factory.
Don’t let that throw you off---it did turn out to be interesting!---
(Being a governemnt operated company, they are anything but short of commissions.)
It seems like I’ll be doing a lot of design work, which I am really happy about, having initially feared the dreaded “fresh graduate” position as a cad-monkey! I think that you can get a lot of great experience in China, regardless of your previous design experience.
At first, I wasn’t really sure how to go about the project…you know how some firms basically expect you to adopt their building language. I was a little worried about how to design in this “contemporary Chinese style”, which dictates many office and apartment buildings here these days. In the end, I figured I would take a risk and offer a less generic direction---
At the end of the week, we had a surprise crit in the office! (for those not familiar with the term, critiques are basically review sessions where you present your work and ideas, followed by a discussion)
And it actually went really well, despite the language barrier (though I had a "translator" and lots of process diagrams and sketches!). They really liked the ideas and appreciated its “creative” and clear expression and acknowledgement of context.
It seems like they are fairly open to new ideas. The principal from a German firm that they are partnered with was completely shocked to discover an office full of people copying buildings straight out of architecture magazines! “This plan here, that elevation there…” Hmm.
The group that I’m working with are all young, many of which just graduated and had been working there a year already---I think there are about 10 guys and 6 girls---
Everyone has been very nice---they call me “Mei-mei” (double meaning: little sister or...beautiful girl-haha) because “Patricia” is too hard. They also thought that my Chinese given name was a little “old-school”! And I might agree.
So in general, the office environment is pretty “chill-axed” and the project pace appears relatively slow, that is, compared to studio-PRODUCE PRODUCE PRODUCE!
So for the moment, I’m liking the stress-free styles this side of the world.
A taste of Nanning's residential cityscape---the buildings in the foreground are for the workers of the company that I work for---they play a "recess" is over bell after the lunchtime siesta! (My apartment is the tall black one at the very back)
Markets!
Clothes washing---thank god my wardrobe is not very extensive!Yet.
and primarily BLACK! haha.
Got a cold my first few days here, from the A.C. of all things---this is the "chinese remedy"---mmmmmm
Moving on past vacation mode. Tear tear.
Nanning, Guangxi. The ‘Green City’. Population 1.3 million.
Palm trees. Hints of a blue sky. Tropical, humid summer climate.
Utter chaos on the road. Jay-walking gets rather---interesting. Traffic light regulated intersections are no less dangerous.
Motorbikes, motorbikes, motorbikes (license for trish?!)
Endless shopping strips. WALMART like you've never seen before!
High-rises like no tomorrow. And even more in construction…especially if I can help it!
First few days here were hectic and exhausting, as I had not yet recovered from ‘Beijing-ing’. As I stepped out the comfortable air-conditioned airport, still in a daze from my three hour nap on the plane, a wave of Nanning summer air hit me and I wondered how I would last the summer…which unfortunately ends in October!!! Nothing could ever prepare you for this heat!
Living:
I had originally arranged to stay at my dad’s friend’s condo.
Pros: Gorgeous brand-new place--4 bedroom, air-conditioned, fully furnished, hardwood floors, with a double height living area and generous balcony. Lush gardens in the central park, equipped with tennis courts. "Dep" under the building: in addition to milk, bread, and beer, the “dep” also sells live chickens!
Cons: Suburbia. 45 minutes by bus from downtown. Reminiscent of one of those remote condo developments outside Toronto. I think I would’ve died from loneliness. Or become a serious internet hermit.
Not exactly what I had intended in coming to China for a year... Though I don’t deny that I would have loved the comfort, I just had to be in the city. I wanted to meet people, and really experience life in Nanning. After living four years downtown Montreal, there's no turning back!
And I had nothing but amazing luck! I went to meet my supervisors at work the day after arriving, and I was offered a place to stay with one of them! My friend Xu Ming has a place about a 15 minute walk to work. She has been really awesome, openly inviting me to her place and her life here. She is sincerely worried about this random girl from Canada!
And thus I have begun the unthinkable---work in the ‘REAL-LIFE’ architectural world! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!
After dodging one too many taxi drivers at Beijing International, cartful of luggage in hand, I quickly push myself onto the thankfully air-conditioned shuttle bus and am on my way into the city!
Beijing.
People, more people… and even more people?! Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?
White hazy sky. (it’s hard to tell if it is going to rain or not!)
Traffic jams. (bicycle jams?)
Debris in the eye.
Since in China, I have also experienced much new random phenomena:
I have started to SWEAT---I know some of you always thought it somewhat mutant of me! And thus the necessity of a minimum of two showers per day.
Adapting to the toilet in the floor---how ‘un-wordly of me’! but I think the girls at the Peel House certainly perfected the ‘art of squatting’!
Constant thirst---debating whether to drink or not for fear of having to face such situations!
Queues mean nothing---thus the necessity of being pushy and aggressive---while waiting to pick up my bag at the Great Hall of the People, within a second three people had squeezed their way in front of me---I didn’t realize that it WASN’T rude to shove the key in the lady’s face!
Watching out for those spokes!---I actually got poked in the eye on my way into the Forbidden City, by an elderly woman in front of me who seemingly lost control of her umbrella. Thank god for my contact lens.
Checking your blind spot while strolling through the hutongs---I have no doubt that those rickshaws and bicycles will hit you---pedestrians have absolutely no right of way!
Despite all this, I seemed to have survived the week in Beijing- I had 5 full days (thankfully I was not seriously jetlagged---)
AGENDA:
Summer Palace
Forbidden City
Jingshan Park
Fragrant hill
SoHo
The CBD (central business district)
Tian’ anmen
Beijing Planning Museum
Temple of Heaven
Lama Temple
Silk Market
Houhai Lake
The Great Wall (at Badaling)
I think that my feet still hate me.
I should’ve taken my mother’s advice and brought running shoes---the city is HUGE…but it’s not the distance between the sites that kills you, you can always take a bus or taxi---but the sites themselves are HUGE…walking through a massive park for one temple?!
I was also fortunate enough to have some Chinese friends take me around. Alice and Eric hung out with me in the evenings, after my long days---they were quite a relief to some of the hostellers---when I could no longer take backpackers bragging to one another about their ‘awesome adventures’ in the far east---haha
And also my uncle was able to take me around some sites for two days---two days of extensive physical activity as we climbed the Fragrant Hill one day and the Great Wall the next! i think the evidence was quite evident in his drenched shirt!
And a friend Maggie gave me a rather thorough historical tour of both the Lama Temple and the Temple of Heaven---
All in all, I had a GREAT time in Beijing!!!---I advise all of you who haven’t been there yet to GO---haha, easier said than done but seriously…its AWESOME (la).
p.s. if one more person asks me if I need a fork to eat…
"chiiiii-na?!"
...less than 20 hours away from getting on the 14 hour flight to beijing---
i am currently...
nervous
excited
exhausted
still packing
bienvenue a "trish in china"!---a year long journey in quoi, exactly?
pursuing life abroad post-mcgill architecture--- i couldn't have imagined a greater or more RANDOM opportunity for fieldwork and self-discovery (and potential root touching, for all my zoolander-appreciating amigos!)
'cuz china must be just about the craaaaaaaziest/exciting place to be now!
next stop: beijing, china
