THE DAY OF THE QUEUE

Chinese people are not inhibited at all when it comes to pushing and trampling so they can move foward and check out anything they want to see. That´s why things as standing in line or waiting for their turn do not fit in their common habits. But, like they say: "when in Rome, do as the romans do". So after being pushed and shoved a few times, you quickly learn to do the same and find your way among the masses using elbows and shoulders to make room.

Because of this interesting cultural trace and thinking about the upcoming Olympics, China recently launched "The day of the queue", on the 11th of every month. On that day, people are reminded that they should be civilized when standing in any line and respect people in front of them. The chosen day has a pretty simple explanation: the number "11" looks like 2 people standing in line, one behind the other, like it´s supposed to be.

This iniciative officially started in February, so recently we had the second one. I haven´t felt much of a difference, but I haven´t had much experience with lines here either. Nevertheless, there is still a lot of work to do if chinese people want to impress the foreigners next year. At least, they are trying: spitting fines, guidelines for good behaviour and now "The day of the queue"....

Time will tell if these proyects are enough to change a nation´s life style.

EN PEKÍN TAMBIÉN SALE EL SOL

La vista desde mi ventana, la misma que la semana pasada, antes de los supuestos (¿?)"disparos" contra las nubes. Sol, viento y -4C...

DISPARANDO NUBES...

Durante semanas no se podía ver el sol claramente entre una espesa capa de nubes y suciedad. Los pequineses insisten en que apenas está nublado, pero ese tono marrón entre la neblina gris lo delata: hay mucha suciedad en el aire y los días en que se puede mirar directamente al sol -sin que te molesten los ojos- lo demuestran. No son nubes.

El invierno es muy seco. Nunca llueve en invierno, dicen. Pero este fin de semana, además de hacer mucho frío, llovío. Ví llover por primera vez desde que estoy en Pekín. No llovía con demasiada fuerza, pero sí constantemente. Durante el viernes y el sábado, prácticamente no pararon de caer gotas desde el cielo. Y con el frío esa lluvia se transformó en nieve. Tras semanas de clima casi primaveral para estas fechas (el invierno más cálido de los últimos 50 años) ayer las temperaturas volvieron a caer bajo cero.. brrr..y con ganas! Creo que nunca había pasado tanto frío en mi vida. Por lo menos en los últimos años. Con el viento, la sensación térmica el sábado por la madrugada era de -15 grados!

Y hoy, lunes, tras un domingo nevado y también nublado, amaneció el día con un cielo azul y con un sol impresionante. Casualmente, coincide que hoy es el día de apertura de la Asamblea Nacional Popular, el evento político más importante del país, que acontece una vez al año. Para esta ocasión, vienen a Pekín representantes del partido de todos los rincones del país y el Gobierno no se puede permitir mostrarles a su gente una capital fea, gris y nublada.

¿La solución? Disparar unas cuantas nubes y hacer llover, durante unos días, hasta que el cielo esté limpito y bonito para enseñar a todos los visitantes. ¿Rumor? ¿Exageración? ¿Historias raras a lo Archivos X? En todo caso, el Gobierno ya lo ha hecho antes y no me sorprendería nada que esta vez también hubiera sido algo programado.

Para los que piensan venir a Pekín para los JJOO de 2008: el Gobierno chino prevé cerrar un par de fábricas en los alrededores de la ciudad y bombardear las nubes de vez en cuando para mantener el ambiente limpio y despejado. Siento estropear el cuento, pero no me puedo guardar semejante secretito...

RANDOM THOUGHTS AFTER A RAINY WEEKEND

This weekend was rather interesting. Saturday morning was rainy, grey and cold, but still we decided to do something productive on a weekend for a change and ventured to Panjiayuan, a market full of antiques and just random things, were chinese people go to bargain gadgets that go from old alarm clocks with Mao´s arms to point the time or colourfull lanterns like the ones above, which are used to decorate the city for the ending of the Spring Festival (the new year celebrations), on the first full moon of the lunar year (Saturday night). After a couple of hours, two paitings, two lanterns, a belt, a bracelet and 3 pairs of wet feet, we decided to end the excursion and make our way back home.

First we stopped at one of our favorite chinese restaurants in our neighbourhood, were the food is really good and you usually pay less than 2€ per person. One of my friends, the one that lives really close by, even goes there to get a tupperware full of fried rice and some other dishes to take home a couple of times a week. So we thought our little secret place was a great finding. This time we even managed to order new dishes our teacher had recently taught us how to say and the food was just delicious...

Too bad that just after we had started devouring the food, one of the girls saw a big RAT running across the floor and hiding on the wall behind my chair. We all jumped up, started screaming and laughing, while the rest of the people at the restaurant, even the waiters and cooks, just stared at us probably thinking "Ah...these histerical foreigners...". Since we were still hungry and the food wasn´t gonna change anyways, we just moved tables and continued eating, with our feet up, of course! But when we saw the beast for the second time, after another round of screaming and laughing, we ordered the bill. Nobody came to say anything, apologize or even smile at us for the little inconvenience. Funny how this is proably just a common situation in any low-budget restaurant in China. We left the place really sad... and baptised our ex-favorite spot in the hood "The Rat". Nevertheless, I´m sure we will be back before we know it...

Later that day, the constant rain turned into snow and for the first time since I got to China it got really cold, but the new white landscape was just beautiful...

Sunday was another adventurous day. After doing nothing at home for most of the day, we decided to go see some tradicional celebrations at a park close by. The problem was that we had underestimated the cold and we were freezing. I don´t know how all those chinese people can enjoy being outside in the park, at night, when it´s windy and just really cold. We took some pictures, walked around a bit and ran outside to find a cab as soon as we could. I got back home with red marks on my face, which won´t go away after almost 24 hours! I´m afraid my little tropical skin is not used to extrem temperatures and it got burned... When I got back home, I checked the temperature: -12C!

And today, Monday, after the rainy weekend and after over 10 days of just clouds and fog all over, the skies were blue and the sun was out like I hadn´t seen it in a long time. The rumour around is that the Government shot the clouds (!!) to make it rain during the weekend so that today could be a wonderful, sunny and beautiful day. The reason behind this crazy method, used many times before, is that today is the start of the National People´s Congress, which will last for about 10 days. During this time, representatives from all over China gather in Beijing to discuss and approve laws and other policies. It´s one of the biggest political events in the country, so you have to show your people that the capital is a beautiful place to live in. Pretty impressive, huh?

Attention to those thinking about coming to the Olympics in 2008: the Government will close down a few factories around the city and will frecuently shoot a couple of clouds, so the city skies are always clean and bright, to impress the foreign visitors. Maybe I shouldn´t be ruining the Government´s effort to make Beijing look nice, but I can´t help it!