life. in china. captured through the eyes of a nomad named jen.

my neighborhood supermarket went from ghetto fabulous to “wu” mart. gone are the little snack stands selling noodles, bao zi and other greasy standbys. i’m a bit sad.

i will not approve you as my facebook friend.

was cute, but he wore a fanny pack. this is beijing. doesn’t get much better than this. literally. sadstuffseriously.

i just watched that movie starring sienna miller and i liked it. i want to interview someone. not in a professional sense, but really digging deep down into the inner soul of someone kind of interview kind of way.

how many times do you get to that really? just spending hours and hours into the night asking someone’s deepest darkest secrets? sure maybe with some life long gf’s, but the time with such soul sisters are precious and rare. at least for me.
new friends, you sorta interview in bits and pieces. but life these days especially in a hectic city affords you almost barely any blankets of time to one long sit-down session. instead, it’s more like chit chat over a dinner or drink. one short interview after the next. at least for me in Beijing.

and with men, you sorta do the small talk and skip to actions without words. after, you feel like you know them. and so you sometimes end up missing out on the long-winded 21 questions on repeat. the tell me your life ambitions, your biggest fear, your favorite childhood memory, kind of chit-chatting, that i don’t really do, haven’t really done in an all nighter session with a guy sorta way that I can remember of. at least for me.
yeah. that’s what i would like to do. an interview. perhaps with you.

BJ Green Drinks celebrates its 6 month anniversary tomorrow night. I’m so happy that it has continued succesfully with an average attendance of 50 people. This firmly puts Beijing on the map as a city that does give a @W$#%R about environmental issues. In fact it is now even being dubbed as ” a networking night for young, smart people with advanced degrees who love the environment but also like to drink. It’s quietly becoming one of the best networking nights in the city(City Weekend Magazine).” Yay.

Before I moved to China a friend commented, isn’t it an oxymoron that you want to “green china?” With all the negative and mostly accurate media coverage on the state of China’s environment, I often do wonder if our efforts are making a dent at all.

However, I have met people hailing from America to Chile to Japan, and of course China, who honestly care and want to do something to make China a greener, more liveable and sustainable place.  I’ve been Inspired by their ideas. Inspired by their enthusiasm. Inspired by their actions.

At the second Green Drinks, someone talked about her initiatve, The Green Long March, which took place this summer and involved hundreds of college students marching across the country to document environmental successes and to spread environmental awareness across China’s cities and villages. One person was so touched by the campaign that he ended up contributing $50,000USD as a corporate sponsor. The Green Long March has since come to a successful conclusion and the event is set to occur again next year.

……..Greening China, an oxymoron? Hell no. I remain optimistic that “greening china” isn’t doomed to be an empty catch phrase. I really do.

i never really had any symptoms until these past few years. but now the week before, i pig out like a spoiled only chinese child. i cry like a 62 year old woman from the midwest during bridges of madison county. and i tell grown men (well one in particular), that he is a “conceited poo head.”
brilliant.