He's living the dream

  Beijing, China
Monday, July 14, 2008

After leaving Song Shaowen and Li Qian outside Tuanjiehu park, I tried to get in touch with Alex and Freddy. They'd called me a bunch of times from four phones late last night and while I was practicing Tai Chi. They didn't pick up on any of the numbers, so I cabbed all the way back to the hotel.

Alex called me back when I was there and asked me to come meet him at Tuanjiehu. So, I walked the 10 minutes back through the hutong alleys, then walked up to the next avenue because it is impossible to catch a cab near the train station, and then took a cab back across the city to where I'd just left.

Alex had just got returned from 10 days in California visiting his family. It was his first time in America in two years. He got back to Beijing Saturday night and put a ring on Rose's finger. They were still giddy Sunday afternoon when I met them.

Tuanjiehu's swimming area

Alex told me to meet him in the swimming section of the park, but I didn't quite get what that meant. There was a big man-made beach in the middle of the park, complete with sand, swimming pools, water slides, and a wave pool. I had frequented Tuanjiehu from February to April '05 and had no idea that there was something like this in the summer.

I hadn't seen Alex in three years, but we picked up right where we left off. We were like brothers when we were roommates at ACC, and the bond was still there. He took me over to a corner of the park filled with buff Chinese gym rats and beautiful women tanning.

Alex and Rose

Alex introduced me to his fiancee. Rose is niubi - a hot shit in English, wicked pissah in Bostonian. Beautiful, covered in tattoos, with a dirty mouth and a wicked sense of humor, tough, deep thinking and emotional, Rose has got to be the perfect woman for Alex. She grew up in Beijing and is a well-known scenester in the rock clubs. Talking with her and watching her with her family, she was one of the most friendly and loving people I've met. But she tells stories that go something like, "I was at a bar and this little chick from Shanghai said 'Beijing is shit' in English to some laowai. So, I said in Chinese 'say that again.' She said it again, and I asked her again. The third time she said it I bottled her." I had a blast talking with her and catching up with Alex. We went to dinner and then back to their apartment to hang out for the night.

Alex and Rose have an amazing apartment. A luxury pad in one of the best locations in the city for the same price I pay for a little room in a 4-bedroom in Winter Hill. Rose's mom came over with Rose's daughter, and later on her cousin came home with her son. Rose's mom was niubi too. A frank, hard-drinking, and beautiful woman who was retired from the military. Together, Alex, Rose, and her mom tried to explain marriage to the 5 year old girl and tell her about the engagement. Alex said, "From now on, our whole lives, we'll raise you together and take care of you. I'll always be there for you." Jasmine (her English name and very fitting) replied, "So, you don't need to go to work anymore?"

Jasmine was wicked cute and even more energetic than my cousin Danika. Little kids are the same the world over. She had me spinning her around, dancing, and playing. I did 'Trot, Trot to Boston' with her like I do with my baby cousins, and she said the same exact thing Danika does only in Chinese, "Trot, trot! Again! Again!"

The view from Alex's apt

We played with the kids until bed time, when we were worn out and they weren't. After that, we all drank and chatted until late at night. I had some deep conversations with Rose and her mom. Mama talked about how much she feels her life was wasted because of the Cultural Revolution. She was just finishing high school when it went into full swing. She said that she would have been able to go to Beijing University (arguably the best college in China; the argument comes from Shanghai's Fudan University which is Yale to Bei Da's Harvard) and I believe her. We talked about all the trouble in life, but had to admit that at that moment life was like a dream. There we were in an amazing apartment, with great friends and family, drinking black label and talking about the exciting things happening in our lives. It doesn't get much better than that. I left feeling ecstatic that Alex's life was turning out like this.

I cabbed home and stepped off a block from the train station where dozens of people were sleeping or trying to sleep on the dirty sidewalk.