A postcard.

I wish you all could come to Beijing.

I wish you could sit with me on the ledge outside my dorm, building six, drink a large (perferably warm) Yanjing beer and attempt to practice characters. As the sun perfectly hits the corridor in between building five and six, I wish you could sit with me and watch the world go by. These two dorms contain hundreds of international students. The corridor between our two buildings is our backyard. It is here that I watch russian women with pounds of makeup strut around, kazaks smoke three packs in an hour, koreans trade hipster ray ban glasses and ny yankee caps, french kids skip class, nigerians play the guitar, and americans drink and laugh until sunrise. It is my favorite spot in Beijing. 

I wish you could walk down Nanluoguxiang on an early saturday night. This street is, in my opinion, the most authentically preserved hutong in the city. Filled with tiny bars, backpacker cafes, and ethnic restaurants, it successfully makes traditional chinese life hip and trendy.

I wish you could walk around the central lung of the city--if only to get a glimpse of what Beijing could have been. It is in this district--around the Forbidden city, Behai Park, and Houhai lake, where you can appreciate the old city's beauty while simultaneously lamenting its ongoing destruction. It is here, in the center of the city, where the city almost feels a world a way--quiet lanes, shaded parks, and traditional lifestyles abound.

I wish you could wake up early one morning and go to the Temple of Heaven Park. I wish you could see the Chinese get up and the break of dawn to practice tai-chi, write calligraphy, sing opera songs, dance, and live life. This park is an open air museum of culture--yet the performances are not put on for anyone but the people themselves.

I wish you could walk out of a gonti club with me when the sun has already risen. Taking a taxi ride home in the twilight hours you feel as if Beijing is your endless playground.

I wish you could eat Sichuan hot pot. I wish you could understand the Chinese conception of spicy, a spicy that numbs your entire body and leaves a tingling feeling for fifteen minutes. 

I wish you could understand the love it or hate it TBC stomping ground that is Sanlitun. A home away from home, full of western restaurants, endless bars, and a state-of-the art outdoor mall--The Village. On any weekend night, this is the liveliest place in the city, where ex-pats from all over the world convene in the streets to eat chuar (meat on a stick), drink beer, laugh, fight, dance, and occasionally chase each-other around throwing chairs at one another.

I wish you could understand why this city is always new, always changing, always frustrating, and always fascinating.