Thursday, June 21, 2012

Death by Dirty Oil, and Then Some

At Tina's farewell lunch
     Last week was somewhat characterized by stops and starts, just like the news. For one, the office is a lot quieter: Tina, my fellow ABC intern, had her last day on the job--she's moving on to an internship at Vogue in China--and multiple team members are (or soon will be) on leave for assignments. They have encouraged me to travel around, though traveling is hard to fathom right now, as I'm only just now feeling like I'm getting my Sino-legs.

Because I, like many foreigners in Beijing, have quickly become obsessed with knowing (and bemoaning) the air quality, here's the compulsory update: last week's weather was beautiful, with clear skies, sunshine, and a rainbow (see the picture!) I even went on morning runs that are now just a figment of my memory, currently obscured by a very literal haze. The last two nights, there have been intense storms that I thought would clear things up again for a morning jog. My hopes were quickly dashed a few mornings ago when I checked the air quality index:

06-20-2012 03:00; PM2.5; 338.0; 388; Hazardous (at 24-hour exposure at this level)

Hazardous?! That's nearly four times the level of what's unhealthy.
And the current reading: 

06-22-2012 15:00; PM2.5; 160.0; 210; Very Unhealthy (at 24-hour exposure at this level)

So while that's an improvement, it was probably wise to bag those earlier plans.

     This last weekend was another fun one. I went straight from work to meet Sha and Jerry (who also goes to my old high school) for dinner and a movie. They chose Men in Black III, which, while perhaps not being the movie I would have picked first, greatly exceeded my expectations. (Later they told me they chosen MIBIII because it was the only one playing in English!) I was telling them about my cravings for jianbing guozi, a Chinese street food that is like a crepe with egg cooked inside, then served with lettuce and delicious sauce, when they educated me about digouyou. Here's the short version of digouyou:


(c) Chinese Media Project 2004-2012
Digouyou, or swill oil, is oil that is made by distilling waste fished from sewers. That Google Translate translates digouyou as "cooking oil" perhaps speaks to the stuff's prevalance; a Chinese food professor estimated that one in ten meals served at Chinese restaurants (i.e. in China) is cooked with digouyou. I wouldn't actually have a huge problem consuming swill oil if it were a healthy result of a sustainable recycling process--but you guessed it, it's the farthest thing from it. The China Daily reports, "A deadly toxin found in swill-oil is aflatoxin, which is among the most carcinogenic substances ever known and is 100 times more poisonous than the forbidding white arsenic."

     The next evening, Sha and Travis and I met at Nanluoguxiang, a "new-meets-old" area where designer boutiques are interspersed among the scenery of traditional courtyard homes. We snacked on street kebabs (I know after that last paragraph you're asking yourself, "Why, Audrey, why?") and a new favorite of mine, shuangpinai ("double-skin milk"--it's so much better than it sounds) while cruising the street before dinner. Afterward, Sha placed a few bets on the outcome of the Eurocup soccer tournament happening right now. When I asked him what happens if he wins, Travis chimed in, "He takes us out to dinner!" I joked that if he won a little bit, he could take us out for jianbing guozi. "But I'll probably have to start gambling to pay for our hospital bill."

Hint: the shopkeeper told us the first step is "3-1-1..."
     On our way back to the subway station after dinner, we came across a crowd of people staring at a sign with a Chinese question and numbers on it outside a clothing store. Sha and Travis explained that it was a math problem, and anyone who could solve it would get a discount on the clothing at the store. I was totally amused--imagine if answering the SAT Question of the Day could get you better deals on at your favorite stores? Would smarter people be better dressed?

And in case you're itching to attempt the problem, here it is:
     
     3 1 1 4 5 2 0 6
     Insert only minus and equals signs to make all sides equivalent


     On Sunday, I ventured out in search of a Catholic church, and found Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Beijing. I believe the bishop there is one of the few in China officially recognized by the Vatican--to find such a place at all in largely-atheist China is fairly remarkable. First constructed in 1605, four cathedral reconstructions later it has survived earthquakes, fires, the Boxer Rebellion, and the Cultural Revolution. The service, held in English, was pretty unremarkable except for the sweltering heat and the hymns, which sounded like a juxtaposition between Chinese 80's pop hits and Gregorian chant. The effect was very karaoke, enhanced by the scrolling lyrics on the TV screens mounted inside the cathedral, as well as a live electric guitarist and synth keyboardist duo.

     The next morning before heading to work, I met Wilson Hailey, who is an alum of my high school who has lived in Beijing for at least five years, I think. Between some combination of learning and teaching during that time, he has gotten to know the city and the language like a pro. He invited me to his apartment to have pancakes with his roommates, and so I met him at the subway stop bearing bananas and orange juice. What I wasn't expecting was for him to pull up on his motorcycle to pick me up from the station! The way back was even crazier--after a delicious breakfast (that included salsa!) he informed me that he was dropping off one of his friends to her work, so it ended up being the three of us on the motorcycle on the streets of Beijing. It was definitely a tight squeeze and a wild ride as a passenger, but luckily I made it to work without incident and a lot of built up adrenaline.

     This week I wrote my most popular story yet: Sex Toy Fools Chinese Villagers*. It was hilarious to write, as what happened was a goofy series of events that lent itself to a goofy article. In short, Chinese villagers had no idea that the thing they stumbled upon while drilling a well was a sex toy, and after consulting their local news station, came to the conclusion that it was a rare and fabled mushroom that was said to bring immortality. What made this even ridiculous was the young, cute, and totally unaware reporter's serious report on said mushroom finding that aired on the station's investigative program. (Check out my article if you're curious!) Anyway, it was amazing to see the response it got, including this gem from Twitter:

It's also a relief to write a story like that because there is so much news that highlights the worst parts of the world and people in it, and I was definitely getting a little depressed last week. After all, Pakistani women were sentenced to death for dancing at a wedding, and Chinese women were having their pregnancies forcibly aborted, and there is this ethnic and religious clash happening in Myanmar, and don't even get me started on Syria...Writing silly stories where I can throw in the word "probe" takes the edge off the negative stuff.

     *The title I originally proposed was "Sex-Toy Resembling Rare Mushroom Thrusts Chinese Villagers, Reporter into State of Confusion" but it was scrapped in favor of this one. Maybe it was too long. Maybe it was the word "thrusts". We'll never know.

In the News:
China's Ai Wei Wei Says Tax Hearing is Unfair

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