It’s a Whole New World

Hey guys,

My name is Dragriffin and welcome to today’s topic :

It’s a Whole New World

I’ve already been here for 4-5 days. I really have a hard time telling because of the time difference between Montreal and Beijing. And two things hit me. First was the jet lag. It’s nothing like those 3 to 5 hours’ jet lag. This was the whole twelve ours jet lag. And it hit me like a truck full of pillows. Seriously, I kept falling asleep in the middle of the day, while walking. If you check my latest video TRS Part 3, you can see how deeply tired I am. I look like a tanned zombie. Who knew you could have one? So that was the first thing.

Second thing is, well, everything! It’s really the first time in my life that I’m left with such a cultural difference. It starts with the signs and posts. Normally, you would find some familiarity through Latin letters. Although there’s a lot of Latin letters and English translations, on a day by day, it’s a whole other story. You can’t recognized the words, because you have the Chinese characters drawings instead. Evidently, I’ve been ordering food by pointing like a child to the board that has a picture of something edible. But when it comes down to the detailed menu.

This is breakfast…

 I tell you ladies and gents, I just randomly point at something and hope for the best. I’ll admit it, it’s a great way to discover new food. But I do have the feeling of playing a food style Russian roulette. Exciting, isn’t it?!

So far, I had great food. I even went for the shady street food stand with some people I met. They told me this is very local, but not very healthy. It was good. Here’s the dialog of how that went down:

Dragriffin : “What is it?”

Chinese friend number 1 : “I don’t want to tell you.”

Dragriffin :  “But I like it. It tastes great.”

Chinese friend number 1 : “I still don’t want to tell you. Let’s say it’s animal parts.”

–End of dialog. I still finished my plate. It was good! What do you want me to tell you?!–

That’s basically how it went. Food Russian Roulette. I think I really wanted to get that whole “traveling tourista” thing that everyone keeps talking about. But nothing. Digestion is peachy, for those wondering. More details? Nah, I didn’t think so.

Besides food, this place is a place of extremes. Sometimes you have these beautiful architecture and Ming Dynasty palaces, sometimes you have the old decrepit abandoned cars and houses that look like if it was the worse part of Ethiopia.

You know what I mean, the channel where they keep showing you starving kids in shed houses. It’s close to that, depending on where you are.

So, all in all. It’s a strange place, it’s a place of extremes, but not boring a boring place. I got to already meet some expats, all with their own stories. Like Ana, who’s from Ukraine. She’s didn’t come to China because she really wanted to visit, but given that there’s currently sanctions on the country, she can’t really go to Europe, neither the US or Russia. She ended up here, in Beijing. Starting anew. There are quite a lot of people hear starting anew.

I also met an Australian who, after being ripped off by his partner, is also starting a new, from scratch, at 55 years old. I’m amazed at how people can sometimes just land on their feet again when life pulls so much crap on you. Cheers to those amazing people, I say!

Dragriffin out!

Today’s item on the list:

• Try new food, regardless of what it is! (Food Russian Roulette anyone?

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