Canteen Lunch

Buffet at my office during lunch is awesome

So close

Subway

Beijing 2017 International Youth Tourism Festival

1st event that I got to attend as press for China Today, the magazine I work for. Held at Beijing Railway Museum. Got to interview some cool people, including an 18 year old kid from Tajikistan who is studying architecture all in Chinese. The locomotive with Mao was actually the real train which Mao used until it was put out of service. 

Yonghegong - Lama Temple

This place is pretty cool. I live like 5 minutes away, so it's nice to just come here and hangout sometimes. Monks really do live here and can be found reciting Tibetan prayers and taking care of the offerings left by all the visitors. 

Hutong

So I moved into the hutongs, which are the traditional style buildings located with subway line 2 of Beijing. This is the entrance to my building. The walls are covered in stamps by people selling water, usually the company name and phone number. 

Busy busy busy

Been super busy lately having graduated, started my new job, moving, and dealing with visa stuff

宜家

Lingering among the stacks of furniture on the 1st floor of IKEA lurk those offering a special service. Trained mercenaries? Sex workers? Possibly the latter, but even more useful when buying un-assembled Swedish furniture are those undercutting IKEA's delivery system and providing their 1980's van for immediate service. "Deliver goods?" She asked in flawless Chinese. "Sure" I said, in equally impressive English. She looked confused. I translated it to Chinese. I am a Mandarin Master. 4+ years in this country are finally paying off. She creeps behind me as I make my way through the checkout and wheels my boxes outside. A man on the other side of the gate, her husband, greets me with a cheerful smile and carefully guides my boxes over the wall onto a cart and into the back of his van. We have the usual "Chinese person + white foreigner" banter and we arrive at my place. He helps me get the stuff into my apartment, I pay him roughly $20, and he returns to IKEA to repeat the process. It's situations like this, among the smog and daily grind of this city, that makes me say, "I fucking love China".

Happy 4th of July

Tsinghua Graduation 3

Tsinghua Graduation 2

We have no idea who this lady was. Guess she just wanted a picture with foreigners, which happens a lot more than you'd think

Tsinghua Graduation 1

It's been a wild 2 years, but I have finally finished my Master's of Chinese Politics and Foreign Policy at Tsinghua University. I'm so thankful for the support of all my friends and family over these past 2 years. I've met so many interesting people, had the opportunity to travel all around the world, and today, am proud to call myself a Tsinghua alumni. It's a bittersweet moment as the life of a student comes to an end and now must face the challenges that await me in the 'real' world. Thank you again to all my teachers, classmates, friends, roommates, and family for making this experience one that I will remember for the rest of my life. Here's to you, class of 2017. 

Praise the lord for these gains!

Beautiful Beijing

WDK Wall

Subway - Line 15

This is one of the newer subway lines at 3pm on a Saturday. It will be packed by 5-6pm

Roommate

Pants Building

Despite most Chinese people thinking this looks like a pair of pants squatting over Guomao, it's still one of my favorite buildings

BFSU + Kung Pao Chicken

Tsinghua OGCO