barca blog!: December 2008

I got a chance to go to church today. The only church I really know of in Beijing is BICF, Beijing International Christian Fellowship. It's a huge church that's very contemporary and extremely diverse. It was so refreshing to go and be able to worship with so many people this morning. The songs they sing there remind me of RUF :).

After church I went to have lunch with my parents at this new Italian place in town. Then we went to 798, which is like going to the Chelsea district in New York. 798 used to be an area filled with old factories. But all of the factories have since been converted into galleries/artists' studios and 798 is now a bustling artists' village. Chances are if you pick up one of those "Art in China Now!" books in the US, you'll be seeing works from 798. Anyway, there was this Dior exhibition going on which we went to see and I have to say I was super impressed. This was comparable to something that you might see at the MOMA. I have a feeling that any RISD apparel major would go crazy if they saw it. I even got in for free with my student ID!

I couldn't take any photos but I got to see garments from the latest Dior Haute Couture collection! There were dresses dating back to the 1950s designed by Christian Dior himself, and countless dresses designed by John Galliano. Whooo! It was definitely the best exhibition that I've seen in a while. Oh yes I forgot to mention that the exhibit was commissioned by UCCA, the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, partnered with Dior. They commissioned 20 contemporary Chinese artists to create installations inspired by Dior gowns and the result was this one giant installation with 20 mini installations within it. It was beautifully done... You walk on this meandering bamboo runway that goes through room after room of installation before arriving in this open space showcasing more pieces integrated with Dior gowns. It was very architectural, with lots of modern design elements, but earthy at the same time. Think grassy bamboo forest with giant mirror structures everywhere guiding you through the space. The whole exhibit was really a work of art in itself.

They didn't allow photos but it turns out that I can find lots thanks to Google :D. OMG I'm googling now and I see that Charlize Theron and Eva Green both turned up for the opening. Oh and John Galliano too. I am so starstruck!! Haha... :p

Here are a few pictures:

My middle school French tells me that this says "Women don't wear what they like, they like what they wear."

And some more photos from today:

I think I spotted a bicycle-share program today. I was really excited to see this in Beijing because Megan showed me an article back at RISD about a community bicycle program in Barcelona and I can't wait to try it!

Yay for Join-Bike!

The door to a coffeehouse at 798!

"Fake" trees?

A modern day terracotta warrior

The Raft of Medusa done with vegetables :p

This reminds me a lot of RISD

Giant Santa hats!

A door at 798

An interesting wall

One of 798's old factory buildings

A building with a PVC pipe facade

Our Christmas tree with un-opened presents because we're waiting for my sister and brother-in-law who are arriving in about 7 hours! This means from tomorrow onwards, my family will be eating out everyday and making the most of Beijing in the 4 short days that we have together :).

Oops I procrastinated and now I have 3 days worth of adventures in Taipei to post about! This might be a long one...

On Wednesday I met up with my middle/high school friend, Jackson, who I haven't seen for maybe 6 years? It was so great to catch up! We ate, watched a movie, walked around, ate some more... Here we are in front of a christmas tree :).

This is Taipei 101, one of the world's tallest skyscrapers. We spent a lot of time walking around this area. There was tons of stuff going on... people everywhere, shops, restaurants, movie theater, you name it!

Here's another shot of Taipei 101 with some christmas lighting.

around Taipei 101...

We came across these people offering "FREE HUGS"! You can't see it in the photo, but the other side of their signs say "FREE SLAP".

We didn't slap them in the end. Jackson got a hug though :).

Here are some more random shots of Taipei:

Taipei 101 during the daytime. The building was designed to resemble a Chinese pagoda.

Wow a Paris Hilton store?!

They have lots of diagonal pedestrian crosswalks here, which I think is really efficient. I wish there were more of these in the US!

They have a special waiting zone for women in the subway. My dad told me about these when we were riding the subway in New York and I didn't really believe him until I actually saw it myself. Apparently they have video cameras so it's safer for women at night. My dad says they have entirely female subway cars in Japan! Guess I will have to go to Japan to see for myself :p.

Speaking of subways, I met a RISD alumn on the subway! I had never met her before but I saw that she was carrying a RISD bag so we got to talking. It was pretty neat bumping into a RISD person! I think we should all carry around our RISD bags after we graduate.

Friday was our last day in Taiwan. My dad had to work and my brother went to meet some friends. So I spent the morning/early afternoon with my mom. First we dropped by the Chiang Kai Shek memorial as one of my mom's friends had an exhibition going on there. Here are some photos from the memorial site...

Then we decided to go on a mini food spree since it was our last day and all.

First we ate some typical Taiwanese "xiao chi". I'm not sure how to translate "xiao chi". It literally means "small eat". So I guess they are kind of like Spanish tapas... or Cantonese dim sum. Basically "xiao chi" is food that you find on the streets of Taipei. Anyway, going clockwise (excuse the bad translations!): "Oh wah mee swang" (Taiwanese rice noodles with oysters, the kind I wrote about in my previous post!), "rou wan" (meat ball?), "dou fu gan" (dried tofu?), "lu rou fan" (pork rice), and "chou dou fu" (stinky tofu, not pictured here).

Then we went to have shaved ice with strawberries, mango jello, and mango sorbet. Mmmmmm...

Me and my muzzer.

A cool bench..

Next we went to get "dou hua", my new favorite dessert. You can pick from all of these toppings...

and these... those are legit "buo ba" (aka tapioca pearls or bubbles) on the right!

Then they add this really soft tofu and sugar water. And you have this delicious soupy dessert, served hot or cold. Not sure why the picture shows up sideways here :(.

This is where our mini (okay maybe not so mini) food spree took place. It's a street called "Yong Kang Jie". Thanks Jackson for telling me about it!

Next we went to visit the Taipei National University of the Arts. Turns out I have a distant relative (I met her at dinner the night before) who is the director of the dance program there. This is the top school for dance in Taiwan! She also used to dance with Cloud Gate Dance Company, Taiwan's premiere modern dance company. Imagine how excited I was to discover another dancer (and such an amazing one!) in the family! Anyway, she invited us to visit the university... so we went!

I couldn't help but compare the campus to RISD's. The grounds were huge! When you enter, you walk up this beautiful hill with green on both sides where there have sculpture gardens. Actually compared to College St. in Providence, I guess this hill was more like a mound :p.

This is a sign we saw as we walked up the hill-mound.

Entering the "front door"!

Some sculpture.

Interesting car sculpture...

More sculpture.

This is the walkway that leads to the dance division. I think this dog belongs to the drama division :).

Walking to see the dance building (on the right).

After we visited the university, I went to meet Putzer (fellow RUFer from Brown!) at the National Taiwan University, "Tai Da". This is where my Dad went to college.