Dinners

Two days ago we had dinner with some classmates at Biajia Dayuan. This garden home of Prince Li (Qing dynasty) is now a restaurant in Haidian staffed by people dressed like imperial courtiers. The "concubines" wear fake headdresses and totter around on odd-looking platform shoes. The "eunuchs" wear fake Manchu queue, greet you by saying "long live the emperor," and then park your BMW, should you arrive in one. The gardens surrounding the restaurant are truly beautiful, and well-preserved.


We dined on chicken, venison, liver, duck, flower salad, and a vegetable dish containing bock choy. For dessert, we experienced an hour of traditional Chinese opera. And by "experienced" I refer of course to the shrieking sound of an erhu, a two-stringed bowed traditional instrument, being sawed in my right ear while four singers tried, in vain, to overpower the instrument with their own shrieking. I would feel bad for disliking this instrument if not for Miss Han, our student host, telling us that many Chinese dislike it as well. In fact, one of her roommates got into Beida on an erhu scholarship, and evidently she gets a lot of grief for her academic focus from their friends.

Thankfully, after the chainsaw opera, the performers shifted to some Pipa and Liuqin music that was far more pleasurable. It sounded like luegrass, actually, but without the harmonies. All in all, though, it was nice to sit, have a meal with some new friends, and experience something that, for me at least, was an unprecedented experience. China remains full of surprises.


The next day, after registering for classes, we made our way down to Chaoyang (through some pretty serious pollution) for brunch with the expats. This particular brunch was a special event hosted by Stacee (caterer/chef) and Monica (international labor & employment attorney) at their apartment. Stacee cooked up an amazing meal consisting of lobsters flown in from New England, bagels from Jenny's, eggs benedict, and mimosas. It was a nice little oasis away from the craziness of registration, which is a story for another day.


Outside their apartment, though, we noticed some pretty serious construction going on across the way. Two towers are rising above the third ring road, both perched at a fairly precarious angle. Somewhere, in the back of my mind, I remembered seeing mock-ups of a building with similar angles, and went looking for it online this morning. It turns out that it's the new CCTV tower, an award-winning design by Rem Koolhaas's OMA that will redefine the skyline of Beijing. Just seeing it built is an experience unto itself.

Today we're off for another adventure, and hopefully to find a rug for the entryway.