Work Work...

I had a pretty busy week and the coming ones show no signs of rest. That is to say that no matter if you are on the other side of the world, little routines end up catching up with you sooner or later. After all, I came here with the intention to work and for that; I do have to settle down a bit. So it’s all for the best. And as for my 7 o’clock resolutions, well as most good resolutions, it didn’t hold for very long. I still try to get up at a reasonable time which varies according to my schedule. That makes a lot more sense to me.


I present you my buddy Jean-Charles Chabot, known as John. He is also from Québec, more precisely from Sherbrook. He’s been in Beijing for over 3 years. It was for the company that employs him that I went to The Great Wall. I got to take in-studio corporate portraits of all their team. John is one of the rare people I get to talk French with and the only one I get to talk “Québécois” with. He is also the only one I get to play chess with, although after well over 12 games I was not yet able to defeat him once. I came close a few times but to no avail.

Here, you can see him helping himself to a typical Chinese meal. Unlike what we are used to, here they serve the food in the middle of the table and everybody digs in a bit everywhere with their chopsticks. All we have directly in front of us is a little plate that’s serves only to recuperate the bits and pieces that don’t make it to destination. When there are many people, they sit around a big round table which has a kind of rotating shelve at its center. These big tables are the most interesting since you get to try many different meals and mix all kinds of flavours.


The other day, as I was coming home on a beautiful and sunny afternoon, I came across this man who had a bird perched on his finger. Intrigued I moved closer to have a better look. He then fledged the bird but it turned right back around to that man’s hand. The next time I realised that there was a second man a few meter away who, at the precise timing, threw a small plastic ball in the air. The bird then catched it in mid air and came back with it in its beak for a few grains reward. It was a pretty neat trick which they did time and time. Maybe you wander if he often loses his birds. The story doesn’t say but all I know is that he had four other of these birds perched and tied to his bicycle handles.

Cute little golden fish

A Chinese classic

I said before that Beijing is a relatively clean city considering... but nothing is perfect.

One of many cleaners that constantly busy themselves booming the streets and side walks.

Goodbye!

Two Months Already

Two months already. It flew by and even though the cold days linger ahead, the next while is promising to go by just as fast. There’s no shortage of work. Starting this week-end, I will every week, teach 6 hours of French, 2 to 3 hours of English and study 6 hours of Mandarin. Throughout all that, there is of course photography which remains my main focus. It looks like I’ll be busier than I have been in quite a while. It’s probably a good thing. It will force me to make better use of my time and improve my efficiency. First resolution, I will get up at 7h00 AM every morning. As we say: “The future belongs to those who get up early.” Ok ok ok, I can all hear you laugh from all the way from here. Nonetheless, my alarm clock is set and we shall see how long it will remain that way.

After one month, for a total of 24 hours, of studying Mandarin, well... it remains pretty much incomprehensible. It is really, REALLY difficult I think the most challenging aspect of its spoken form, as we are not even going to discuss it’s written from with its thousands on dense little scribbles, resides in the fact that, unlike English or French for instance, Mandarin is not based on words but rather on sounds. For example, you can say: hello, helllo, hellooooo, hellllloOoOoo, it remains “hello” and everyone will understand it. The emotions conveyed by it might differ but the word and meaning stay the same. Not so in China. There are 4 different tones plus 1 neutral one. So every sound that composes the language have 2, 3 or even 4 deferent variables depending on its applicable tones. For the complete list of all those sounds, check ( http://www.yellowbridge.com/language/pinyin-combo.html ). That list is what is called Pinyin. Pinyin was created some fifty years ago as some sort of bridge between Mandarin and our alphabet as we know it. Don’t rely on the letters, they, of course, do not pronounce the same way. That would be way too easy. For instance: e = eaA, s = schea, z = tshea, c = tshea also butwith “more air” in it, j = tj, n = nea, r= j, q = tchi, p = poaa, h = hr, eng = Oongm, ong = oonoumg, etc, etc, etc. Thus these are rather difficult to produce and reproduce, especially when you put them all one after the other with all their different and respective tones. To speak Mandarin, you have to be able to sing. All of that leave practically no room for error. One cannot have too much of an accent and expect to be understood. You have to say things the way they say it and fast too, otherwise they simply will not understand. Even after listening to them for 2 months I can barely single out a few rare key words in what to me seems nothing more than a long string of strange noises. I will continue my classes nonetheless. Before I left, and even once here at the beginning, I was secretly hoping deep down that it would be somewhat easier but at the same time I knew I was only luring myself.


I will leave you with a few photos of what is, if all goes well, an architectural wonder to be. Do not adjust your monitor’s screen. This is not an optical aberration cause by my lenses nor a Photoshop trick. These two 234 m tall giant skyscrapers are actually leaning towards one another at a 6 degree angle. They are even supposed to merge into one big kind of loop containing no right angles. At its opening scheduled before the Olympics, it will be the new headquarters of CCTV, the principal, and almost only, Chinese TV Station. Estimated cost: 750 million dollars. While taking some of these photos, a journalist and his cameraman came to ask me what were “my feelings” about this building. So maybe I’ve on Chinese TV. For more details, or for an insight at what it is supposed to look like once over, check at: (http://www.cctv.com/newSiteProgram/en/project_info.htm ).

The Great Wall of China

As promised, here is The Great Wall of China! I went there with my client (http://www.keyconsulting.com.cn) who was training another business about team work and communication. It was a busy week-end but still quite enjoyable. As far as I was concerned, the simple fact of getting out of the city and into the countryside for the first time in 2 months was a blast in itself. Plus, Mother Nature reserved us the nicest weather and blue sky I had seen in a while. I was glued to the windshield for the whole 2 and a half hour trip which seemed to last a few minutes only.







We were welcomed with a lamb on BBQ coal grill. At least I think it was lamb from the looks of the carcasses. We hate and drank quite well indeed during our stay. So after a little bonfire party, we all gathered up, geared up and headed out to spend the night under stars on The Great Wall. The sky was filled with stars. I did not sleep very much, partly because it was rather chilly but mostly because I setup my cell phone to wake me up at 4h00 AM. I wanted to make sure not to miss the sunrise and I wanted to be at the most elevated point of it so that I could get a nice overview. So I got up pretty much in the middle of the night, packed up my stuff, tiptoed over my comrades and headed out alone with my head lamp, my two backpacks containing two sleeping bags, some warm clothes and all my camera gear. As you can see on the photos, the wall is far from being nice, smooth and even all over. Many parts are actually quite in ruins. Fortunately, the night was calm, the breeze fresh and the temperature ideal. Simply magical.
I walked for about an hour before I arrived at a spot that I though adequate, I waited at least one more hour for the Sun to come up. Time was against me as I had to be back at the hotel at about 7h30 – 8h00 for breakfast and to prepare shooting the day’s activities. So as soon as the Sun showed itself over the mountainous horizon, I shouldered all of my stuff and started heading back while taking pictures on the way. Towards the end I was almost running in order not to be late. I got back just on time for the breakfast leftovers, out of breath and with my knees still shaking. Of course I would have liked to have more time for myself but I am nonetheless very happy with my first visit to The Great Wall of China.



Another good news, I finally got my 1 year working visa, valid until Oct 31st, 2008. That will allow me to legally work here and more importantly, it will allow me to be here during the Olympics. Apparently it may very well be difficult to come here next summer with a simple tourist visa if you don’t have Olympic Games tickets. They are not yet totally comfortable with the idea of letting in very many foreigners at a time so places are limited and reserved for the VIPs of this world. So if you plan to come, let me know... ;-)


I'll leave you know with some more pictures taken during my stay at The Wall.

When I first saw this big pile of coal in the middle of the alley, I was sure it was an accident, well apparently not. It was the usual coal delivery.

Local farmers.

AA traditional locking "fence" around our hotel. My room was just behind it.

A little running around with her jump rope. The Embodiment of pure happiness.

That's China for You!

During that last marathon, I lost one of my lens caps. I would even say a rather special and rare lens cap. I thus went to that big old looking indoor market entirely dedicated to photography in the west part of town. There I found only one merchant who wanted to sell me one taken from a brand new lens. He was asking 700 yuan (RMB) (approximately 100$). He knew all too well the importance and rarity of this ordinary and almost cheap looking little piece of plastic. If Chinese people may have a somewhat limited imagination and are hardly able to locate themselves on a street map, one thing they sure know is how to count. We got to give them that. It was, of course, completely ludicrous and even though haggling is part of the game, the bar was way too high to begin with. So after a few more unsuccessful visits, I was pointed out towards a merchant/craftsman who was able to help me. With scissors and pliers, a special plastic cheat, some metal wire, glue and leather, he handmade me a custom fitted one that is way better than the original one for 200 yuan (~29$). That’s China for you...

Since then, I terminated my English teaching career, at least to kids that is. It was then my most major source of revenue so why stop you will ask me? Well first of all most of my energy was dedicated to asking them to please sit down, to listen and to respect each other’s instead of constantly yapping about, to talk in English and not in Mandarin, to wait for the break before stuffing themselves with sugary cookies, cakes and chips, to stop quarrelling, to stop fighting, and to please stop yelling, so to simply CALM DOWN. Second of all these kids, aged from 8 to 11 years old, were speaking quite good English compared to the surrounding local population. So to teach them things of their level I would have need some reading and exercise books, but all I had to my disposition was a white board and beaten up pencils. Although I proved to be of extreme patience, enough was enough. From now on, IF I teach English again, it is going to be to adults who actually want to learn.

I will keep this week’s post on the short side of things since I have to prepare for tomorrow’s early departure with some clients to a week-end trip to the Great Wall of China. So my next post is promising to be a spectacular one. Stay Tuned!





The Bell Tower used to resonate through old Beijing to signal emergencies. Nowadays its front entrance is saturated with rickshaw and if those used to be a traditional mode of transportation, they are now little more than tourist’ traps.

Across is the Drum Tower which was resonating to indicate time with its water clock. It was the Big Ben of the Old Beijing.