Beijing in Black and White

    I've been in Beijing almost a week now and I am loving every day of it! The weather is hot but it has been bearable for the most part (this may change in July and August). Class is enjoyable and the work hasn’t been overwhelming yet. It’s also interesting being on the Ren Min University campus, which is much different than living with a host family. 

A few things that have struck me since being here: 

• There seem to be fewer smokers (not sure about this one, but it's just my impression).
• The pollution seems worse (but it's hard to tell what is pollution and what is fog these days).
• Pretty much anything that was once unavailable in China can be bought here now. You might have to search harder and pay a little more for it, but no longer do you have to worry about running out of deodorant in the middle of summer.  

• Murses. Lots of them, all over. Maybe I didn’t notice these in 2008, or maybe they just became “in”, but I can’t walk down the street without seeing a guy with one of these. Interestingly, my Dad predicted the rise of the murse about a year ago. For once, he may have been right.

    I got a Canon S90 as an early birthday present (thanks Mom and Dad!) after my Canon G9 kicked the bucket a few months ago. The S90 I so small I just carry it in my pocket everywhere I go, and image quality is good enough that I rarely feel like I am making a compromise using it. It’s also a lot easier to photography people discretely when using a small point-and-shoot: SLRs are a little scary looking.

     I have a bunch of pictures in the tube, but this first set I put together were all photos I felt looked better in black and white (which, oddly, was the majority of the photos I took the first week here). Expect more from Zhongguancun, my host family, and the Forbidden City coming soon!

My room at Ren Da. The foreigner's dormitory is disgustingly nice compared to the rest of the dorms on campus.

One of the many news stands on the streets of Beijing.

Large apartment buildings dot the Beijing skyline. Taken from the UChicago Beijing center.

Students play pool in the basement of a building at Ren Da.

A women checks on her drying clothes.

A small store on the side of the road in Xidan shopping center.

Two women look at a map at a bus stop near the Ren Da campus.

A hairdresser across the street from Ren Da.

One of the cafeterias near my dorm on the Ren Da campus.

The UChicago crest on a carpet at the UChicago Beijing Center.

A drink stand near the Xidan shopping center. 

A man rides a cargo bike on the Ren Da campus at night.