Meet Lyon.

Lyon, a French expat, has come to China to “help the Chinese people.” This sounded quite bold and charitable—until he elaborated. “I help the people with production and technology.” [Wait, French people helping Chinese people with technology?]

Curiously, despite Lyon’s ambitions to aid and advance technology in this country, his Chinese speaking skills are essentially nonexistent, or at an “unsurvival level” as he put it. However, he does have two key phrases down: xiexie and ganbei. [He’s well on his way to fluency.]

He thoroughly enjoys the Chinese people, stating their “general happiness for life” (and their beer) is staving off any pangs of homesickness. The Frenchman says it doesn’t get much better then eating kebabs on the streets with the locals; but while the stark contrast between spicy Chinese food and blander French food is pleasing to his palate, it is not so pleasing to his stomach. This is especially unfortunate for Lyon, as he is visibly upset when discussing the “odd and smelly” toilets he must now get used to.

Lyon claims the methods of relieving oneself here are strange and outdated, but he recognizes the expanding potential of this amazing city: when asked to describe Beijing, he simply replied, “The future.”

Tracy Winn loves to find the weird and wonderful characters who make Beijing great. Be sure to check out her other blog for more reflections of a laowai on the highway.