Government crushes bird flu, saves people

I've been reading hundreds of articles on bird flu from various Chinese media for work. The point is basically to look at changes in media openness through a particular case study. For the most part it's mind-numbingly dull, as the reports are just page after page of government boosterism, but occasionally I find an amusing article here and there. My favorite was this picture from CCTV's Focus, showing the effective measures the government took to prevent spread of the disease:

I wish you could get a 360 degree view of the scene. I think this guy in a white plastic suit is just standing by himself in the middle of nowhere waiting for trucks to come by. Also key is the disinfecting sprayer he's using, which is the same model I bought for use on Kite Runner. We filled it with a mixture of water and glue and used it to stick shredded paper on trees. It broke after a day.

My sweet crib

Finally moved into my new place. I spent the last three days pretty solidly looking for housing. The first day I made an appointment with this agent who usually finds housing for ACC alumni. I figured she would be good since Meghan had recommended her, and Jin Laoshi brought her up the other day. She took me to see four places that day, and was very cordial and paid for my water and transportation and all, and offered to take me to a peach orchard sometime, but her houses were dumps. The first place was a joke. She said, "I figure you'll want a cheap place, so let's go see this one first, I'm sure it will be right for you." We took a bus for half an hour to get there, on the north side of Chaoyang Park. We walked off the main street a ways, past one of those big trash piles which naturally accumulate in public spaces, and down this little alley with squat shoddy brick housing. I waited for ten minutes while she fiddled with the door to the courtyard, whic...

More Fuwa, More Fun

Endlessly inspired by Beijing's androgenous mascots, I drew this at work the other week. My teammates on the B team going to the frisbee tournament in Shanghai liked it so much that they decided to name the team "Beijing Bling" or "Bei-bling," hence the hat in my recent Flickr uploads . I paid 35 RMB for the hat at Yashow, plus the half hour or so of walking in and out of the store it took me to get the price to that level. The silver glitter came off on my fingers once I brought it outside. They don't make bling here like they do back home.

Day One in the Jing

Alleyway Originally uploaded by arewethereyet My first day back in Beijing was blessed with beautiful blue skies. I posted some pictures on Flickr, although there seem to be some censorship problems with the site for me so I'm not sure if I'll keep using it. But then again my blog is also still censored. I was very productive on my first day. I got a new phone number and a bank account. Liu Shaochun (the special effects props guy) called me and said that Ken was talking about coming back for some production in February or March. Xu Ke (my old roommate) invited me to spend the spring festival at his family's in Hunan. By freak chance, I ran into the behind-the-scenes cameraman from the Kite Runner on one of the new subway trains (what are the odds?), and he gave me his card and said he'd be in touch. I met up with a bunch of other translator friends for dinner. It's been a long time since I ate in a smoke-filled restaurant. Quite a different feelin...

Peaceful Rise

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