Foreigners in Beijing

Foreigners in Beijing – Share Our Experiences

Foreigners in Beijing – I love being a foreigner in Beijing!

If you are living in Beijing or you’ve been to Beijing, please share your Beijing experiences/stories/tips with us! (Please fill the form at the bottom of this page). I’d like to put them on my site and I’m sure others who visit this site will thank you, too!

Foreigners in Beijing
Foreigners in Beijing

And My Story …

Foreigners in Beijing – My Dog-eating Experience

Foreigners in Beijing Story – I love being a foreigner in Beijing!

I get to experience new things and make many new friends. The Chinese are always eager to learn new stuff from other countries. The young are always looking for new English words to learn (especially American hip-hop slang) and asking me about my country.

With the World Wide Web, it is also much easier to chat about rock music, art and cultures with many youths in Beijing. Most of them know their Pink Floyd, Genesis, Public Enemy and more. They are hungry for new sounds!

As a former DJ, I got to learn about the local club culture from some local Beijing DJs. They are really passionate about their DJing and only play using vinyl. Real DJ Puritans!

Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd

Sometimes, I really wonder how they support themselves as it is hard to get vinyl to spin here as they’re really expensive.

I am digressing. I will stop now.

Sorry, now, back to the focus of this page.

What are the must-try experiences as Foreigners in Beijing?

For a starter, I ate Dogs!

Not hot dogs, I mean the 4-legged pet doggy. Go fetch!

“How could you eat them?”

You probably hate me now and may never return to this site again.

Hear me out! I was FORCED unknowingly…

About 4 years ago, I was invited to a Korean restaurant by a group of students-turned-buddies (I used to work as a part-time ESL teacher when I first arrived in Beijing).

My friends started ordering many bottles or beer and the local White Wine (or “Bai Jiu”). They were getting me to drink non-stop as a sign of respect (me being their teacher) and I have to drink bottoms-up (or commonly known as “Gan Bei”) so that they do not lose face (it’s a warped concept but you’ll get used to it when you’re here long enough)

As their gung-ho teacher, I drank with them. The worst thing was I drank on an empty stomach and thus, the effect came really fast.

Public Enemy
Public Enemy

I was drunk within an hour.

And here came the dog meat.

My students ordered them without asking whether I was alright with eating a pet. To them, I look Chinese, and so they thought that dog meat was the usual delicacy for me too.

Without thinking or asking (I was really hungry and drunk!), I ate the dog meat with gusto, dipping them in a thick chili sauce (I heard later that its blended specially for eating dog meat to get rid some of the “doggy” taste).

I ate nearly the whole plate of dog meat. Hell, I was that hungry!

You probably asked: “What does dog meat taste like?”

Well, it tasted like beef.Real good beef!

And hate to admit it, it tasted really yummy to me!

I mean you wouldn’t know that its dog meat you’re eating unless you have eaten dog meat before and you cannot blame yourself for eating if you don’t know its dog meat in the first place.

That was how I consoled myself till this day.

Beijing
Beijing

If it makes you feel better, I have not taken another morsel of dog meat.

Anyway, I am not sure whether it is psychological but after that dog feast night, dogs tend to avoid me.

Maybe, they are just afraid of the Foreign Dog-Eater!

Well, here’s the first part of Foreigners in Beijing for you.

I’ll be writing more of my experiences soon when I find the time. Cheers!

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