Jenny Lou's expansion

Roasted Duck
Originally uploaded by sheilaz413.

Topic of the day: My most pleasant surprise of the week

One of the best expat groceries in Beijing has to be Jenny Lou's. Started by a woman who worked as an ayi (cleaning lady) for expats, she had the grand idea one day of importing all the foreign products that expats crave and dream about. A bit of investment later, Jenny Lou's is now one of the most successful (if not THE most) successful chain of foreign grocery store in Beijing.

I'm lucky enough to live across the street from a Jenny Lou's. This outlet is small and cozy and even though the stuff they sell there are a few times more expensive than your average Chinese supermarket, myself and other expats from around the area are drawn to it like suicidal fireflies to campfire.

A few days ago, I received my most pleasant surprise of the week. I walked into my little Jenny Lou's and it wasn't little anymore!! Overnight, the store has expanded into an the neighborhood lot, doubling the size of the store. It's a work of art now. Not only can I find all the old stuff I love, but they also added great new products - like Pam (and two other types of spray butter!), Nature Valley granola bars (in 4 different flavors!), etc.

I'm one happy, happy girl... :)

And yes, even though this picture I took from a few weeks ago doesn't really have anything to do with Jenny Lou's, but I figured it's more relevant and interesting than another hutong picture. ;)

This and that...

Scooter boy
Originally uploaded by sheilaz413.

Topic of the day: Random thoughts and observations

Due to a lack of creative writing juice, here's some random ponderings and observations as of late, in no particular order…

- The government is helping to make Beijing rain. I don't know how, but apparently they shoot some chemicals into the air. Apparently, Beijing's airport has already cancelled 600 flights this summer due to the bad weather (thanks, Digs, for the article).

- Been doing some more shootings of the Beijing hutongs. The hutong residents I've met while walking around have been very nice and kind. Twice in two days, I was invited by the random people that I met, into their homes to take shots and tour a traditional hutong house – great experiences. I think my skin is growing thick as well. I hardly flinch now when I get shoo-ed away from taking a shot (from pedestrians, albeit). So far, I've enjoyed working alone as well. Will do some more shoots in the coming weekends.

- Most hutong residents do not want to move from their homes – not only are they not being compensated well, they also don't want to move away the homes that's been in the family for generations. They are sad about the history that will be lost once the houses will be demolished. I guess these are the kind of things that everyone kind of "knows" - rationally, it's easy to figure out. However, for me, it wasn't until I met people who expressed to me their feelings that these sentiments really drove it home for me. Encounters can be powerful things.

- This summer has been the ugliest summer I've seen in Beijing – barely any blue sky days – every day is cloudy, gross, and most of the time raining. Why is the government making it rain? Hmmm…

- Lots of people are leaving nowadays – I think I have these periods twice a year – where heaps of friends decide to take flight and leave Beijing (or China). First, there's Nick, Mads left today, Kathleen in Shanghai will leave this weekend, Rachel will leave in less than 2 weeks, and Adam will be moving to Xi'an in a few weeks time as well. Eduardo and Soraya will also leave in a few weeks. Oha!

- I'm addicted to Lost. Enough said. Now, I can't get enough of the antics of all the survivors of the Island. I heart Jack!!! :-)

- I was watching a Tarkan VCD that I bought in Urumqi this morning. One of the songs on it is a remix he did with Fabulous (yes, the rapper). It was pretty interesting – I liked it. But what I was most impressed about the video was the way Tarkan danced... Man, he can shake his tail feather well...

- I was flipping through this month's MetroZine when all of a sudden, smack in the middle of the magazine, was a picture of Mark (the intrepid Irishman who we met up and traveled with in Xinjiang)! In the picture, he's standing in a scenery that's much like Kanas Lake (only warmer looking). It turned out the reason he was in it was because he wrote the article, about traveling in Kazakhstan. He popped online a few days ago where I chatted with him - he was logging in from Tehran, Iran.

Kathleen's last wet Beijing visit

Kathleen
Originally uploaded by sheilaz413.

Topic of the day: Watching Italy vs. France in torrential downpour

For the final game of the World Cup, a whole bunch of us met up at Ritan Park, or the Temple of the Sun Park, to watch the game. Ever since the start of the games, they have been broadcasting the games from the park. The setup was actually pretty cool. In the actual temple of the sun, they have put up two big screen TVs, positioned at an angle from each other. One screen is for all the Chinese viewers, one for all the foreign viewers. Below the stone steps of the alter, chairs, tables, and booths are set up in the open space between the alter and the red temple walls. Pretty cool.

Kathleen was in town for the weekend, her "last" visit to the country's capital before her departure back to Deutchland. After a busy day of watching Lost (I'm certifiably hooked now), eating, visiting the Cleveland Museum's impressionist paintings at the capital museum (which turned out to be very good! They had many fine works from Picasso, Van Gogh, Modigliani, Renoir, Monet, Manet, et al), and watching the Wedding Crashers, we scooped out a good few tables at Ritan and started waiting for the hours before the start of the final game.

And then the rain came. Columns of rain poured from the heavens, leaving us nowhere to run and no where to hide except under the bare shelters of our table's umbrellas. There we stood for an hour while ourselves and our possessions were slowly getting wet and a whole new ocean was forming below our feet (drainage wasn't so good). While waiting for the rain to stop, some people were getting creative. The highlight was a pseudo rain dance from an enthusiastic would-be hippie.

After an hour there, we finally decided that the venue needed to be changed (this came mainly when the satellite service was becoming unstable). The rain by that point still had not stopped and our only option was to dash from our point A to point B. And that was what we did. During a period when the rain wasn't coming down as hard, all 8 of us sprinted from our shelter under the umbrella into the dark abyss. The 5 minutes walk to the gate of the park was the most fun I've had in a long time. At this point, we were all soaked, so we just decided to have fun in the half flooded park, stamping in the water and kicking water to add to the wetness of others. By the time we reached the new bar to watch the game, I was soaked.

P.S. Kathleen and I were on CCTV5 for a brief second (both in the background). Who knew the annoying camera men who were blocking our way was for CCTV5??
P.P.S. Compared to all the other weekends where I have hung out with any of the other SHA crew, this was probably the most productive! Amazing!

Shaky grounds

Topic of the day: Earthquake in Beijing!

It's the 4th of July, it's about lunch time, and all of a sudden I felt myself getting pretty dizzy. At first, I thought it was just me, but then realized that other people in my office were feeling it as well - it turned out to be an earthquake!!! Considering my office is on the 19th floor and everyone felt the shaking, I'm guessing it's a slightly substantial shake. However, there's no reports out right now yet on the quake...

After that, everyone was freaked out for a little bit - and then it's back to work. Anyway, it's quite a way to celebrate 4th of July - happy holidays, everyone!

Update: Just got news that the earthquake measured between 5.1 on the Richter Scale!!

2nd LD: Earthquake mearusing 5.1 degrees jolts Hebei Province, felt in Beijing
309 words
4 July 2006
Xinhua News Agency
English
(c) Copyright 2006 Xinhua News Agency

BEIJING, July 4 (Xinhua) -- An earthquake measuring 5.1 degrees on the Richter scale jolted a north China county, about 120 kilometers south of Beijing, at 11:56 a.m. (Beijing Time) Tuesday, according to the State Seismological Bureau.

No casualties are reported at press time, according to the bureau. The quake was clearly felt in Beijing and Tianjin.

The epicenter of the earthquake is located at 38.9 degrees north latitude and 116.3 east longitude in Wen'an county, Hebei Province, about 120 kilometers south of Beijing, according to the bureau.

Seimological experts of Hebei Province have rushed to the quake-hit areas to investigate the situation and help deal with the aftermath of the quake.

According to the general office of the Wenxian County Committee of the Communist Party of China, as 12:40 Tuesday noon, six of the county's 12 townships have reported the earthquake.

No causalities and loss of properties were reported.

A source with the office said possibility of casualties and loss of properties caused by the quake could not be ruled out.

The earthquake shook high-rise buildings in Beijing. Many people having lunch and working at offices felt shaking chairs. Some of them even ran out of the building to shun possible damages that might be caused by the earthquake.

A Mr. Li was attending a meeting in a high-rise building in Tianjin, about 70 kilometers northeast of Wen'an when the earthquake occurred. He said he felt his chair moving back and forth for three times as if somebody was pushing the chair underneath. Li said he also saw a cup on the windowsill shaking for a few seconds.

But there was no report of damages and casualties in the city.