Just over a month now in Beijing and it’s going well. I think I’ve adjusted as much as I can to how things are going to be around here.
Just started Mandarin lessons and now I’m told the Beijing accent, although a good one to have (especially in Beijing), is different from that of the rest of China and, get this, the rest of the world. Not only is the Beijing accent a little different from other regions but the Mandarin they teach in Beijing is “Simplified” whereas the Chinese characters you see in Chinatowns around the world (and Taiwan and Hong Kong) are “Traditional”. That’s because the people who set up the Chinatowns left the country over half a century ago (similar to the “old Ukrainian” you’ll hear in Canada as opposed to the more modern Ukrainian used in that country today.)
Bought a few books from Amazon.cn. Not only is it amazing that I can use a company that I use back in Canada (the other being Indigo), but I’ve read that it’s only recently that Chinese citizens living in China can order directly from the Amazon.com website and that the company is planning on opening a distribution warehouse somewhere on the mainland.
As for the protests in Hong Kong, we haven’t experienced much, if any, disruption to our daily lives. The most I can tell is that Instagram has been blocked which, it may surprise you, that you can still download apps such as Facebook and Google, you just can’t use them without a VPN. It may seem callous, but we don’t hear much about the protests except that some people want the police to start arresting people. It’s a sensitive subject, as you can probably imagine.
As for the creative arts, trying to finish up mixing/mastering my percussion album as I begin another musical offering. Hate to be vague but even I’m wondering what it is!
That’s all for now.