Studio Final Review + Bikes, Cafes, Food

Our last day of studio consisted of a 3 hour presentation in which all five groups presented their designs in a powerpoint presentation as well as posted boards for display in the lobby of the architecture hall. We were joined by several new professors from Tsinghua in addition to our usual MIT and Tsinghua professors. The ambient noise from the lobby made it difficult to hear the presenters and I cut out to grab an iced coffee from the cafe Paradiso across the yard I had trouble staying awake. Most of us had been staying up 'til the wee hours the past few nights trying to complete everything and make it look good.

Our group had been struggling with our presentations in that we didn't practice so they were often disjointed did not flow well. This time we had practiced, though not all together, so that the microphone would be passed smoothly and the story would flow. I introduced the project, gave some background on our concept and felt generally good about how that went. But towards the middle, things started to drag and one professor fell asleep. I knew it was getting a little agonizing and it didn't help that we were the second to last group to present and the audience had been attentive for two hours by then. We summed it up concisely and I think it ended on a good note. Over the course of the project we had been giving presentations on a weekly basis so though many good ideas came out of it, we had heard many of them previously. The final presentations were still somewhat interesting and each group displayed many new and captivating graphics. Once our group sat down, I escaped to get a bit of sunshine and move my legs and pondered another espresso since they are less than $ .50 USD. Instead we opted for a bubble tea after the presentations were over.

This Cafe Paradiso across the way we only found out about the last week and a half or so of studio. We were flabbergasted to realize this place had been here the whole time and we hadn't known about it. I had tried to let the craving for good coffee since such luxuries are hard to find. There is a Starbuck's outside the gate of campus, but not close enough for a quick sip during a break. I tried an espresso there and thought the shot tasted overdone; at least it is consistent worldwide. There is another coffee shop on campus that we were ecstatic to find but it is still too far from the studio - better as a stop on the way home. That coffee shop makes good shots, but does other strange things. For example an iced latte is made by a shot of espresso with steamed milk, poured over ice. Hmm... the foam melts immediately as does the ice and the latte degrades to a lukewarm watery liquid with remnants of foam around the edges. They do have wifi and a nice atmosphere, and the campus food card can be used for purchases which more than redeem the place, just don't order an iced drink. This place was completely trumped by Cafe Paradiso with prices about half and distance to studio not even comparable. The only problem with Paradiso is that the prices seem to vary based on nothing comprehensible, but since they are cheap anyway it's not so much a problem.

Our dorm is about a 10 minute bike ride from the studio and we all have rental bikes from the campus bike outfitter. They are really worn bikes but do the job. The seats are extremely hard they make sure at least one of the brakes work. We have a lot of fun with them since they are already junky - jumping up curbs, down stairs, crashing into each other, circus tricks, and weaving among the umbrella-toting Sunday riders that crowd the campus. By now both of my wheels revolve with a solid 2 inch deviation from center of axle. Makes for a wobbly ride!

The other place we've been enjoying lately is the bakery which serves bubble tea. If you go at night, they may welcome you into the shop and then say the drink counter is closed. They might not say it is closed but say "finish" at every menu item you try to select. Best bet is in they daytime when all drinks are available. We go up to the drink counter and someone calls over the barista and translator. The translator is a girl who asks if you want hot or ice after you speak your selection, she then proceeds to watch the barista make the drinks and watch us as we wait. The barista takes his job quite seriously. He wears a white apron and uses beakers to measure the ingredients of the drinks down to the milliliter. He uses a shaker like a bartender and you can see him counting seconds in his head as he shakes it near his ear to hear the size of the ice cubes breaking down into the correct fractions to give the drink the most accurate temperature when served. Taro may be the best flavor but almond is a tough competitor.

The best find of all in Beijing must be the night market near the Wudoakou station. There is a market every night that lines the streets around the elevated station but one day we looked a little further back and found this amazing place tucked away behind a building on the main road. Three of us Americans found this gem on the 4th of July and celebrated our country's independence together uninhibited with joyous and songs of freedom. We elicited some strange looks and even drew some curious neighbors to our table. We rode home on our bikes that night continuing the chorus through the boulevards of Tsinghua accenting the music with our bike horns.

We have been back numerous times to this place and shared it with all our classmates. It is a large courtyard lined with food stalls selling sushi, skewers, soups, and 5 yuan beers (large bottles). My favorite food stalls are the skewer place where you can select such things as eggplant, squid, chicken cutlet, or mushrooms and watch the man douse them in oil and grill them to perfection. The other fave is the soup place: skewers of greens, fish balls, tofu, eggs, noodles and 30 other ingredients sit on a shelf from which you take them and hand them to the woman on the adjacent stool. She takes them to the back where the go into a pot of boiling water and spices. Ten minutes later, out comes a delectable soup with a sauce so interesting and good I can't even describe it. Each skewer like at the other place is 1 or 2 yuan so you can estimate your hunger and add as many ingredients as you wish. Needless to say, a fantastic dinner with beer and topped off with Beijing special local yogurt in a ceramic jar for dessert costs around $2 US. The atmosphere is great as well as it is a simple courtyard of benches and tables, filled with locals and internationals alike. They even have umbrellas for when it rains so you can't lose. The only drawback is that the umbrellas do not cover the edges of the benches and they are bowed such that in heavy rain, the drips collect from the ends, forming puddles which run down and sneak up on you while you're enjoying your dry microclimate in the middle of the bench. Nonetheless this place gets 5 stars.