Blue Sky Morning Run

Hello dear reader,

 

As I am sitting cozy inside with my laptop, outside the pollution particles are quickly stacking up again. Simon was supposed to have a soccer tournament today, but it was cancelled because of the 375 "hazardous" pollution level.

 

 

As you can see in the photo, our local grocery shop sells masks at the check-out counter, along with condoms and some drinks. I guess that's all you need in a rush, really!

 

 
So with this dreary, gloomy weather outside, it is about time I post some fun pictures from a recent run. It was a beautiful Thursday morning last week, three days before the Beijing marathon. So I decided to stretch my legs and go for an easy run.
 

 
This is just at the edge of our "foreigner neighborhood." The building on the right is actually from a golf court. Some people play there, others just pass it on their run :)
 

 
After the golf court, I usually run through a small orchard. Well, I don't really see the orchard, but I run through this little group of buildings where the farmers live. I guess the tea is almost ready!
 

 
Just out of the little farmer's compound, my journey continues past a more secretive complex of buildings and parks. I am not allowed in the park, and armed guards are standing at the gates. This giant lion probably knows more, but he is not telling me. Rumor has it that family members of some high-ranked party officials of China's Communist Party live here. Great for them to live so close to me!
 

 
I follow the lion's gaze and run out towards the big road. (The road through the farm field was kind of a short cut to go to this big street behind my neighborhood.) Ooh, look out, a school is coming up. It's Simon and Thomas' school. It's great to run while they are busy building their brains!

 

 
Some guys at work in the middle of my running trail. After I pass the school and a couple of shops, I turn right to zip past a little shopping malls. I think the flags are for Halloween. (They might also still be from last year's Easter.)

 
Basically I am still running in a big square around my own house. On the picture on the left, you see the view as you gaze back across a still empty field towards my own "villa" neighborhood. The field is empty, but for how long? Things change here overnight. I could come here tomorrow and it might be a five-story apartment building. There are also always funny cars parked everywhere. It looks like a greenhouse, but I think this contraption is to shuttle people and materials, not plants.
 

 
Did I mention it was a blue sky day?!? Wow. One good thing about all this pollution is that you absolutely learn to treasure a blue sky.

 

I turn right, along with this public bus. Still running in that square around my house.

 
But here things get exciting! I leave the big old square and turn left into this little village called Maquanying. Nice little gate to remind the innocent pedestrian where he is going.
 

 
I skip the bathroom stop and run a couple meters into this street. Oh well, I might as well tell you, I am having so much fun taking pictures that there's not much running going on anymore. But I do take little runs between the shots.

 
From the main street I turn left into a little alley. And this is where time starts to stand still and I just love being in China. 
 

 
So many colors and things to see!
 

 
Notice the mop on the right--one thing I actually don't understand about China is why there always have to be so many cleaning products out on the street. I don't want to be nasty, but China is not a squeaky-clean kind of place, so what on earth is everyone doing with all these mops and brooms everywhere all the time?
 

 
A village still-life.

 
I thought that the color of the door was so awesome, I had to take a selfie. The door's clearly up for some new paint, but Europeans like it that way, nice and rustic.

  

 

 

 
I think at this point I am getting lost in all the streets. The desk chair is a clear marker though -- if I see it again, I know I have gone full circle.
 

Oh, we're here!
 

 



 
Left at the shoes...
 

 

 
And right after the cute kids...

 

OK, now I am getting obsessed with laundry.
 

 
In addition to the cleaning products.

 

 

 
Just missed a wedding: The character on the right is the sign for double happiness. It's the Chinese character xi (喜), but double, so it's double-happiness for the married couple. For a divorce, you only need scissors.
 

Call me maybe?
 

 
Eventually I do find my way out of the maze and pop out onto the street (the one with the public bathroom in the beginning). I check out some clothing and then turn right, to head back home.

 
Some restaurants. The bottle of soy sauce (or is it vinegar?) reminds me of a funny story. Internet groups in China often use the phrase "I was just buying some soy sauce" to basically say "no comment," or "it doesn't concern me." The phrase comes from an interview with people on the street about some scandal, when one man commented "This has nothing to do with me, I was just buying some soy sauce!" The phrase went viral and now is used a lot in online forums.
 

It's hard to imagine, but just next to the little shopping street is this field of corn. I had never even seen it before myself, so you are getting first dips!
 

 

Would you like some egg on your jian bing?
 

 
Big smiles from the shoe lady, who has her shop just outside the big supermarket.
 

I admit it is an obsession. (But really, at the bus stop?)
 

 
Yi weihai zuguo wei chi, which I think means that if you harm your homeland (zuguo), you are in disgrace. Can't exactly understand what the guys on the right are doing, but it looks bad. The Chinese Mr. Bean on the left appears to be meditating. That, or he has a stomach ache. Luckily the other piece of street art (photo on the right) shows a more manageable objective: a yoga tree pose.

 
After my quick education on the vice and virtues of disgracing myself and hurting the homeland, I run (step) out onto the main road behind my neighborhood: good old Xiangjiang beilu, which means something like the "sweet-smelling river street (north)." I don't think they got that name from the little canal on the left.
 

 
No bus or bike for me today.
 

 
Lions bigger than the forbidden city watch me from across the street.
 

 
Back in my street...and home sweet home!
 

 
It was a lovely run. My own little lion peers out of his polluted eyes.

 
Speaking of pollution... hhm, even on my blue sky day the pollution index was 100, or "moderate." In other places that is cause for alarm, but we call it a good day. Oh well-- did you enjoy the run from the comfort of your own chair and while inhaling clean air?
 

In het Nederlands: Een uurtje rennen (maar vooral lopen) door de buurt. Het was een prachtige dag, al bleek het bij thuiskomst toch niet zo'n heeeel zuivere lucht te zijn.  

Tuesday Prayers in a Chinese Mosque

The thought of visiting a Chinese mosque never really crossed my mind, until recently when I signed up to go along with a field trip of Thomas' class. Thomas' current class work is all related to different belief systems and this week he is visiting a mosque, a catholic church, and a temple, covering Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism in one gigantic religious swoop.

 

I never quite realized how big Islam actually is in China. According to some research posted on Wikipedia, about 1-2 percent of the Chinese population is Muslim, which translates into about 20 million Chinese. And, as I learned today, the second largest Muslim area in Beijing is about 10 minutes from my house!

 

 

Here we are, pouring out of the school bus and onto the grounds of the mosque. The mosque was only built in 2011, to accommodate the residents of the brand new building complexes on the right. (When I arrived in Beijing four years ago, there was only a big field. Back then, in 2010, the old homes and villages had just been torn down.) Apparently 95 percent of the people in this little subset of the city (a couple blocks of apartment buildings like the one you see in the picture) are Muslim.

 

 

 

 

 

The imam welcomes us at the door.

 

Thomas is hard to see in his red "Washington Capitals" sweater.

 

We are allowed inside the main prayer room, which is very unusual. Women would normally also be on the other side of the screen that you see in the left of the picture. (The kids had lots of questions about the separation between men and women here.) 

 

The focus is Allah.

 

Inside of the dome.

 

Some autumn gardening and construction.

 

Through the women's shower and hand washing area.

  

Blue sky! Always a treat in Beijing.

 

 Reflection window.

 

 

In het Nederlands: Vandaag ben ik met een schoolreisje--weliswaar een heeeel kort schoolreisje-- van Thomas meegeweest. We hebben een moskee in de buurt van school (en ons huis) bezocht en van de Imam geleerd over Islam en de verschillende gebruiken van de moslims. Het was heel interessant de moskee eens een keer van binnen te zien.