kaspar könig

It is time to write about the first impressions of Beijing before it’ll be the second.
INDEED it is very impressive and I would like to share a couple of experiences.
like the fact that I arrived quiet easily to the second best fine art school of beijing
where my friend and proffesor Ming Leung has his office. The complex is brand new
and they are still “finishing” it. That means that the building is really finished though
essentials like furniture is still to be bought. The whole campus is build with a beautiful black brick and it offers 4000 students a permanent stay. So painters aswell as designers and architect are housed in this hugh complex. Logically the main building is called ” complex building”.
And the students supermarket got the name “educational supermarkt”.( for me it definitly is) This fits to the impression I got that the people here tend to play with the names of the objects.

Like Konka a very well done immitation of Nokia or does it lean on the english “to concur”? (like Ming suggested?) playing with the names and second meanings will become part of my new vocabulary, I hope. they are very creative with it.
A bicycle called FOREVER is very popular. There is something unlikely in that name, because one of the few things that might get stolen here is a bike. The rest seems to be very safe. I heard already about 3 people who happenend to buy a new bike for 20 euro. they could use it between 1 day and a week, before it got stolen.
Strange because the doors to basicly all the buildings are wide open 24 hours a day without guards.

If there is a guard you can bet he/she doesn’t speak english.
Yesterday night 2 guards came to ask if I was about to leave (it was 24h). One was 16 years old and was wearing a impressiv uniform.
I managed to convince him that I still wanted to work and I hope I can do that tonite again. There is still a hugh gap between the english and chinese understanding. I noticed. And I’ll try to be as communicative as possible. There is no way around it, i didn’t study mandarin enough yet.

And basicly I didn’t leave the campus yet. Except for the ride to IKEA to buy some furniture. Also the trip to arrange a mobile phone SIM card is quiet interesting. The newer business is much easier than the old business.
It’s much easier to get a new phone then to get a train ticket. Everything needs a stamp, preferably with red INK.

A stamp for dinner, a stamp on every reciept and 3 stamps for the mobile phone card. though this was quit easy to get as I mentioned. The first thing overall was the choice of a number. Which number do you want to have. I could make up my mind
out of 40 numbers. 20 numbers involved the number 8 and where trice as expensive as the numbers wihtout 8. Due to the luck number 8 brings. So after choosing one without a 8 I got almost the double amount of charge on my phone and
a whole 10-piece NAILCLEANING set for free. Clean fingers for clean phones? don’t know. So somehow i was suprised that the girl who attended me called me inmediatly after leaving the shop.
Suddenly she spoke quit well English and she said she made an
error in my advantage. She kindly requested If I could come back tomorrow and resettle it with her? Yes i was suprised. I told her that I would arrange it. And this morning Ming paid the rest of the charge. In the afternoon I got a sms if I please come to pay. So now I got a bit anoid and i said she could check the reciepts from around 10 o’clock so she could afirm that the rest was paid aswell. They kindly compensated it by opening my phone for international calls too so if you want to call me give it a try.

O.k. one of the reasons I came for is to get a view on all the products and designs I’ve never seen before and i might see in europe later. There are a lot of them. from a plastic bag to hold many hot coffees with one hand, to hypermodern cars that might never be exported to europe…..Not to mention the food that is everyday astonishing.
especially in the mensa, where prices are adapted to the student.. or not? it is really cheap and with a lot of variation. a beer costs more then a decent noodle/vegetable soup that fills you up.

By the way the guard just recognised me, and i think it is completly o.k. to stay longer tonite.. so I’ll finish this mail before I’ll get consumed by the city tomorow. I will have a bike(as long as I can have a hold on it) and my chinese map will guide me through the skycraper jungle it seems to be. jing.

I include some pictures mainly from the campus and the office I will work now.(you’ll see Ming) Also the forever bike is placed next to a longlife electrical bike. waitress of the mensa restaurant (completly in traditional clothes) and of course the 10 piece nailcleaningset!

If you have any comment on what I definitly should do, which artist I should meet
or thing I really would like , just give me a hint. Looking forward to hear from you!
take care and all the best , till the next freshimpress.

best regards and please forward this newsletter if you like.
KASPAR