Stick to the B.E.A.T, get ready to ignite!

1. It is warm in Beijing. I thought I'd never say those words. It was last week that a thin blanket of snow covered the dull landscape just outside the city, last week that I stayed in bed for three days nursing a cold as vicious as the wind outside my bedroom window. Big brother shut off the central heat in the entire city three weeks ago, and our alternative to freezing in our own home was to turn on these electric heaters that suck up the energy bill like hideous energy goblins. Electricity is pay-as-you-go here and more than a few times we have been rudely awoken by sudden pitch blackness, cold water, and no wi-fi. Oh the things we take for granted back home. In China, everything is pay-as-you-go, and if you don't pay, the service gets cut off. Just like that. I guess that's the only way to make sure 1.3 billion people pay their bills.

2. Beggars. Panhandlers. The homeless. There are so many it's dizzying. At Wudaoko, the highly saturated student neighbourhood where I live, there are no less than ten, shaking the coins inside their tin containers with vigour at your side. The first week we got here, an American we met told us not to give these guys money because they were involved with the mafia and were being punished for wronging someone in the gang. The most creative excuse I've heard for not being charitable, but nevertheless I have not given away any change to date. Then I noticed that they all looked very similar and dressed the same. Duh you say, they're in rags, not a fashion spread, but no joke they look like they are in uniform. Second, I never see them all at the same time, some are there in the day, some at night, I'm not saying they're taking shifts but uh, it's like they're taking shifts.

Then there's the variation of old blind man and singing woman or vice versa on the subway. I encounter these duos at least every other time I ride and it is an uncomfortable 5 minutes while they sing and wail their way to the next car. I am against giving money to the poor/homeless in general as it is a unsustainable and damaging sort of charity that perpetuates poverty, but today I looked up from my book to see how other people were reacting. In three minutes, the duo had picked up about 10RMB and were moving on to the next car. Quick math in my head predicted that in the time it takes them to move from one side of the train to the other, they'd could pocket 150-200RMB. For less than hour of work, and considering how many trains they could transfer to on a one-way fare (2RMB) in a day, this is hustling at its finest.

I read on the web that Beijing's beggars are part of a large ring called the Beggars Federation, and 85% of them are professionals who live very comfortably off their earnings. Kind of like the shaky lady in Toronto. But I'm still undecided, when is it right to give to a beggar? Why do people prefer to give food over money? Does that not still encourage dependency and keep people on the streets? People use age and disability as factors when giving, but 5 dollars later, the kids and the disabled are still destined for the same life. I worked at the Scott Mission once upon a time in Toronto and can guarantee that a dollar donated towards outreach programs like that makes a much larger ripple in the pool of charity than a coin in their hats ever will.

3. I went to work today at the hotel I told you about. The CEO was the one who brought me in the company and he introduced me to the head of the Sales department, with whom I'm doing my first of many rotations to get to know the hotel. In China, everything is political, everything is about who you know, not what you know, and that scares me a little. I will be watched like a hawk, because CEO brought me in. The older people will look at me and say whothefuck are you, whatchuknowaboutthat and I will stammer to find the words in Chinese. CEO is also one of the scariest Chinese men I've ever met. He mumbles his words like he got shot in the mouth 8 times, sort of a cross between Fitty and Al Pacino multiplied by Bruce Lee. I realize I am going to get served a steaming rice bowl of whoopass, but it's too late to turn back.

4. I discovered today that I am a lump and about as graceful as Herbert the pig pictured below in the post about Green Cow Farms. I went to a dance class tonight taught by one of Beijing's most regarded contemporary dancers, and was a massive hazard unto myself and my surroundings. Granted I have never taken a single dance class in my life (other than the one time I was four and my mom spotted me in the back of the room distributing candy and distracting other girls around me- she promptly removed me from that class) and tonight's class was "Advanced Contemporary Technique". Apparently the body can move in wonderous ways that I am yet unfamiliar with, and it was a great course in human anatomy 101. But there is no excuse for the excess area codes my body is currently inhabiting, and I am newly inspired to get in shape and D.A.N.C.E! I love D.A.N.C.E! I will be pliéing and reverse turning the next time you see me.