Week Five: Minnesotans and Dimsum
Rolling, Rolling, Rolling...
Work is moving along at a much smoother pace. While things are ramping up in Hong Kong, I have a relatively stable VPN connection. I wasn't expecting it to be so cooperative, considering how crazy things have been in the southern reaches of the country, but you won't hear me complaining. Having other interns here has turned out to be a godsend. Not only is it nice to have conversations entirely in English, instead of a hesitant mix of Chinese and English, but it's also made working a lot easier. Lawrence (the 2L from Yale) and I have access to a very diverse number of databases because we attend different schools, so it makes the reach on my research much wider, and much more comprehensive.
The research for the ECPAT project, while moving slowly, is still interesting. Because there's so much going on at the firm right now, the project seems to have taken a bit of a back burner for other members of the group, but it just allows me to do my research more thoroughly. Soon, though, we'll start writing up the preliminary report, and I'm excited to see what it looks like when we're finished. Next week will be especially interesting, though, because we'll have two meetings with people from outside of our organization. The first will be with one of the heads of China's arm of Save the Children. Save the Children is an international NGO focused on children's rights and stopping all forms of child exploitation, from trafficking, to child marriage, to child labor. The second will be an intern-alumnus, Michael, and he'll be presenting on gentrification and urbanization in China.
Another intern has started working with us as well, Aryaman. He's a third-year undergraduate law student from India. I think one of the best things about this internship is the numerous perspectives I get to hear on all sorts of issues. So many of us are from different places throughout China and the rest of the world, and I get to hear opinions on issues that I never would have if I'd been in the United States this summer.
Bringing the 612 to the 京
Another one of the great things about having other interns here is having a group to hang out with on the weekends. However, this weekend I had a couple different options. An old family friend, and one of my dad's coworkers, was in Beijing this weekend with a cohort from her doctorate program. Excited to see a familiar face, I offered to show her around some parts of Beijing. So Saturday, I met up with Kellie, some of her friends, and Aryaman to explore Beijing. One of the important things on the list was lunch. Being the person with the most experience regarding Chinese food (other than the standard Chinese-American fare you can get back in the U.S.), most of the decision-making was left to me. I opted for a restaurant called Jing Yaa Tang. Jing Yaa Tang is a swanky restaurant known for their freeflow dim sum option and pan-Chinese fare. Located in the basement of one of the nicer hotels in Beijing, The Opposite House, I figured we were in for a treat. Because there was a group of six, we decided on the freeflow dim sum option, and I was left to decide what exactly we were going to order.
I kept it relatively simple, and stuck with things like custard dumplings (奶黄包), soup dumplings (小笼包）， a few different types of spring rolls, and pork buns (叉烧包). I think the fanciest thing I ordered on the menu was the braised duck and mushroom pastries, which were shaped into little swans. They were both adorable and delicious. For drinks, while people got some of their own separate beverages, I opted to get the table a pot of a popular oolong tea. Overall, everything was super good and I'm considering coming back for a round of their regular food one of these nights, just to see what it's like. After lunch, Kellie and her friends wanted to check out the local art district, so I headed back to 七九八 for another day of exploring the galleries. Unfortunately we didn't stay for very long, since Kellie had just gotten in the night before, and they were all very jet-lagged.
Afterward, I went home for a quick bite to eat and to change clothes, and I met back up with Aryaman to check out some of the clubs in Sanlitun. On our way, we stopped at a nearby convenience store to grab some more snacks, and we ran into two other foreigners there. We began chatting, and I found out both of them had moved to Beijing from Minnesota! After the standard freak out that happens whenever two Minnesotans run into each other, I found out both of them had attended the University of Minnesota Duluth. Even better, they were familiar with some of my favorite Northern Minnesota haunts, not to mention some of my favorite places in the Twin Cities. We checked out Aurora with them, a popular nightclub looking to revive the feel of the old "Beijing underground" that was popular before more swanky nightclubs started popping up throughout the city.
Connecting with people from my home state, and being able to hang out with some of the other interns definitely made this weekend worth it, even though my feet were killing me after a day of walking approximately 17 miles. On Sunday, my feet were still sore, so I opted to stick around the house and let myself sleep in. I spent the day reading books (I'd highly recommend The Circle by Dave Eggers, Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson, or A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen - and yes, I did make it through three books).
Though this week's blog post was relatively uneventful, I promise I'll be back with something much more exciting next week, since I'm headed to Seoul! I'm hoping to hang out with a friend from undergrad and stuff myself with three of my favorite foods, japchae, gimbap and haemul bokkeum. Until next time!