Blogging Beijing

Just another day

2008-08-17T08:03:00.003+08:00

I guess yesterday was a pretty good day. I woke up early, bought a ticket from a scalper for swimming, then saw Michael Phelps win his seventh gold. Then I ate lunch. Later, I saw Usain Bolt run the 100-meter dash in 9.69, setting a new world record. So I guess that qualifies as a pretty good day.
In all seriousness, I really had a day that I will never forget. Pictures to come...

Olympic Fever

2008-08-10T21:06:00.003+08:00

The Olympics have finally begun and with that, so has my event, Cycling Road Race. I must admit, I have been bitten by the cycling bug. The last week has been incredibly exciting. We spent several days training for our jobs as flash quote reporters and having a crash course in Road Cycling. Earlier in the week there was a rehearsal for the actual event. That day, I was able to ride along the course in a press vehicle which confirmed what every cyclist has told us since: the course is very hard! Wednesday and Thursday, we got the first taste of what we came to Beijing to do. Cyclists came through the course and we got to casually interview them. Mind you, I am wearing my incredibly attractive Beijing 2008 volunteer uniform, complete with fanny pack and bucket hat. I must add that the fanny pack is highly under rated. I mean, you can't beat that kind of convenience!
These athletes are really laid back and approachable which kind of came as a surprise. I guess the best way for me to describe (at least the men) is that they're the kind of guys I'd really like to go out and grab a beer with. Thursday was an actual official training guy, so pretty much all the athletes were there. My accreditation actually gives me access to a lot of areas at our venue, so I can go into the athlete area and sit with them and conduct interviews. Over the past few days I've talked to every member of the men's and women's USA cycling team, several members of the Netherlands team (including a young guy named Robert Gesink who just might win a Tour de France in the next few years), different cyclists from South America and a few Spaniards. Yesterday and Today were the men's and women's road races respectively. Yesterday I realized that I must really be starting to like this sport, because the excitement I felt when the cyclists were in there last lap was indescribable. The weather has also thrown everyone for a loop. Today it poured rain and we saw some spectacular crashes from the women.
Believe it or not, yesterday was 94 per cent humidity. 94 percent. Almost one hundred percent which means that it was technically raining without actually raining at all. The weather here is just unbelievable. I am astounded by the athleticism of these cyclists. The men's road race is a whopping 254k. It's incredible that they can ride that long in heat this unrelenting. But you can tell that it is all worth it to these athletes when you see them finish. When Nicole Cooke, the British girl who won the gold crossed the finish today she let out three loud yells, as if to say "I did it!" Or on the contrary, when Andy Schleck, a young guy from Luxembourg crossed the finish line yesterday just missing a medal by a hundreth of a second (if that, even) his frustration and disappointment was made obvious when he forcefully spiked his water bottle onto the pavement. Seeing these competitions can be very emotional, and I can see how much emotion goes into it. The picture to the left is of Samuel Sanchez

Speaking of emotion, it is clear that hosting these games is emotional for the Chinese. We went to watch the opening ceremonies on Friday night at a bar in an area called WudaoKu. When they started to sing the Chinese anthem and raise the Chinese flag, the Beijinger next to me put his head in his hands and the tears started flowing. They are clearly very proud to showcase their country and their culture over the next couple of weeks. I really love this event. There's so much excitement, so much work and so much pride that goes into it all from every country involved. In three days, I have met people all over the world. Needless to say, I have used my Spanish a lot, and I'm having a great time doing it. Furthermore, I'm astounded at the people I've met. Everyday I work side by side with journalists from media outlets all over the world from the AP to the Des Moines Register to The New York Times and the BBC. It's absolutely amazing.
Today we have the day off and BOCOG has decided to give us tickets to Beach Volleyball. Of course, I will bee decked out in red, white and blue!

You know you're in China when...

2008-08-03T16:28:00.002+08:00

1 - You might have generally short legs, but you're walking faster than anyone on the street.
2 - You see a man leading a herd of goats across an overpass.
3 - It takes more than two hands to count the number of times you've had a near death experience with a bike.
4 - Whereas you ride a bike often in the states, you're thrilled not to ride one because the traffic is so terrifying and the drivers so unpredictable.
5 - It takes more than two hands to count the number of times you've almost been hit by a taxi.
6 - McDonald's is one of the best alternatives to rice and kung pao chicken.
7 - Your bed is so hard that sleeping on concrete would be more comfortable, but the concierge tells you the mattress is good for your back.
8 - Oh, and your pillow feels like it is filled with beans. Scratch that, it is literally filled with beans.
9 - To use most toilets, you have to squat... because they are literally holes in the ground. Also, you get excited when a place has what you now refer to as a "Western toilet."
10 - You had to re-learn how to count the from one to ten on your hands because people gesture differently.

I've had a lot of funny observations since I've lived here, and those are just a few of them. The past few days we have been training at the finish line of the cycling road race and it has been really interesting. Literally everyone working at the road race venue is Chinese, and this week we finally got to meet our Sports Information Specialists (SIS). These three people are experts in the field of cycling. It is especially exciting for me because my Uncle Lee is a cycling fanatic. When he found out I was assigned to the road race and time trials, he about flipped. Lee subscribes to a cycling magazine called Velo News and as coincidence would have it, one of our SIS is Andy Hood, the European Correspondent of that magazine. The other two SIS are a woman from Australia and a guy from Holland. Their excitement has definitely caused my excitement to build.
Today I had a day off. I was glad my day off happened to fall on a Sunday, because I had been wanting to go to church here in Beijing and had yet to have the chance. I went to Beijing International International Christian Fellowship with my friend from Dallas, Mason Flink. BCIF is a cool place. When I looked around the congregation I saw people from all over the world. It's exciting, really. But it also made me think a lot about those who aren't even allowed inside. Chinese people do not enjoy the same religious freedom that we Westerners do. To even enter the church this morning, I had to show my passport and go through a security check. The whole process caused mixed feelings. Whereas, I am happy and thankful that I am able to worship whatever God I want where ever and whenever I want, I am discouraged and honestly a little bit saddened that the Chinese don't share this right.
After church we went to brunch. Now, in the states, going to brunch post sermon is one of my favorite things to do with friends and family, so it was doubly amazing that I not only got to eat brunch with a friend from home, but that the brunch was delicious Western food. It's like killing two birds with one stone. Grandma's Kitchen is the restaurant where we ate. Started by an ex pat Grandmother living in Beijing, they served all the breakfast food I had been craving for the past month. I was glad to get my fix.

Shanghai'd

2008-07-31T12:20:00.000+08:00

Because of the Olympics, the Chinese government has been trying for sometime now to teach its people do to certain "Western" things. For example, they have forced some restaurants to tragically take dog off the menu. Also, men have been told not to blow their nose into their hands in the middle of a crowded street, and parents are no longer supposed to let their children go to the bathroom in public. Though I'm not sure how much progress is being made because I was in a market the other day and walked into a store, during its business hours, and saw a woman helping her toddler son urinate into a trash can. I guess I could get used to witnessing strange things like this. But above all things, I am dying for Chinese people to learn how to stand in line. Seriously, these people have absolutely no concept of lining up and waiting their turn. Americans may have a reputation for being loud and pushy, but I beg to differ. The Chinese are some of the pushiest people I have ever encountered. I was waiting in line to check in at the Shanghai airport in order to come back to Beijing and their two little Chinese women kept just pushing their way to the front of the line, weaving their way in and out of the throng of travelers. All the while, the woman standing directly behind me in line tried to underhandedly cut in front of me every time I stepped aside ever so slightly. Take for example, waiting to order at a coffee shop. Rather than standing in a line, the Chinese will stand in a cluster, stepping stealthily in front of you anytime they see even an inch of space. I spent five fabulous days in Shanghai. I really enjoyed the city. It's a lot more familiar and comfortable than Beijing. Believe it or not, it's actually laid out on a grid. Imagine that! A city that was planned, unlike Beijing, that has no downtown, rather vast urban sprawl throughout the city. Thus, Shanghai is a lot more navigable. In Beijing, if you want to go somewhere, you should allow about an hour for travel time because everything is so spread out across town. But points of interest in Shanghai are a lot more concentrated, making it incredibly easier to get around.
Myself and three other friends took an overnight train to get to Shanghai. It was actually pretty fun. The only other time I had ever taken a train like this was in Europe, and the Chinese one was a lot nicer. The beds were actually pretty soft and the food wasn't bad. The best part about it was that we went to sleep at night and the next day, when we woke up, we were in Shanghai! Our accommodations in Shanghai were pretty cool, thanks to my friend Zach. He found a company online that rented out apartments. So we rented out a three bedroom apartment for the time we were in Shanghai. It was cool to stay there. We had a kitchen, so one night we were able to hire a Chinese lady to come cook for us and teach us how to make dumplings.
The four of us did quite a bit of sightseeing and walking around. The apartment was in a cool area of Shanghai called Jing An. There were lots of little shops and restaurants in the area. On the first day, we went up into the Pearl, the largest building in Asia. Honestly, I was a little nervous to go all the way up, but the view from the top made it totally worth it. That day we also walked around on The Bund and Nanjing Road and spent time getting to know the city.
We ate a lot of good food in Shanghai. One of the first things we sampled in Shanghai were dumplings from a street vendor. Now, I realize that street vendor food can be dangerous territory here, but these dumplings were well worth it. Shanghai has a lot of really good Western-style dining, so we indulged in some delicious meals that were reminiscent of home. Our last meal in Shanghai was by far the best. We ate at a place called Three on the Bund. It's right on the Bund and boasts by far, the best view of the city. The food was great and we actually got to eat with the general manager, which was pretty cool.
Overall my Shanghai trip was a lot of fun. Tomorrow, we start working pretty regularly, and the Olympics are just a week away!

Spicy Sichuan

2008-07-23T22:08:00.001+08:00

There are a few things I wish I knew how to say in Chinese, including but not limited to "Your breath smells nice, but I usually I enjoy a bit more personal space," or "Hey cab driver, you might speak Chinese more slowly and more loudly with gesticulation than you were just a second ago, but I still don't understand a word coming out of your mouth." The longer I'm in China, the more apparent the language barrier becomes. I guess my inner idiot thought more people would speak English here. As students, we don't have the luxury of going around with translators to help us out. Most of the time, confusing conversations result in gesturing, which results in more confusion, because the way people gesture is even different here. More and more every day, I realize how different China is from what I am used to in the good ol' comfortable USA. For example, there are a lot of things I notice every day that sound when articulated, sound like they could be the beginning of a joke. Two grown men were riding on one bike together... or I was walking down the street when I spotted a nine year old boy relieving himself in the middle of the sidewalk... or this one time I met a girl who's name was Sponge. That's why it's easy to look at every day as a learning experience.

I spent the weekend in Cheng Du, visiting my friend, Kristin, who lives there. Kristin has lived in Cheng Du for about two years and is studying Chinese. I was pretty impressed at her proficiency in Mandarin. She even answers the phone in Chinese. We went to K-TV on Saturday night with some of her Chinese friends, and besides singing major boy band hits of the 90s with me, Kristin was belting out all these random Chinese songs. K-TV is a big deal here. It is what they call Karaoke, and I'm not even close to kidding when I say that there is a K-TV joint on every corner, right next to the numerous little convenient stores that sell ice cream, tea and fans. At K-TV you get your own little room with a big screen where you have the luxury of drinking beer and singing badly just among your friends, rather than with a bunch of random Asians. Needless to say, I love K-TV, especially when I get to rap. I definitely did justice to a Lil' Wayne song that somehow made it's way to the K-TV place in Cheng Du. I find it funny that I was able to sing "Duffle Bag Boy" but was unable to find "Benny and the Jets." Then again, a lot of things in China are just... funny.I ate a lot of delicious food in Cheng Du, some so spicy I thought my face was going to melt off. Cheng Du is located in the Sichuan province, which is known for spicy food. Apparently, if you're from this province, chances are you don't even like the food anywhere else in China because it just doesn't singe your taste buds the way the food does in Sichuan. Sunday, we went to an International Church and had hot pot for lunch. However, this kind of hot pot was a lot different than the hot pot I've had here in Beijing. This kind of hot pot was mouth numbingly spicy, yet very delicious. I also got to eat Tex Mex (not quite the same as home) at a place called Peter's. It was nice to be able to satisfy that craving. In contrast to a nice, rather familiar Mexican meal, I also ate spicy noodles in a market on a dirt road behind Kristen's apartment. Though this picture screams "Danger! Do not eat! Communicable disease breeding ground!", the noodles were delicious and incredibly inexpensive (the equivalent of about 30 cents) yet my intestines remain intact.

Overall, the trip to Cheng Du was a lot of fun because I got to try a lot of new things and reconnect with a close friend. But it was definitely a cultural experience. There were a few times when once again, it hit me like a ton of bricks: I am in China. On both the plane ride there and the plane ride back, I was literally the only person in the whole aircraft who was not Asian. I wondered if the only reason the flight attendant made announcements in English because they saw my curly head walking onto the plane.

Yesterday I finally got to solve the dilema of my broken iPod. I was devastated when it broke the very first day that I got to China and I've waited three weeks for the first Apple store in China to open here in Beijing so I could get it fixed. The store finally opened Saturday, so yesterday I took the Subway over to the San litun area to solve my problem. The shopping center where the Apple store is located is kind of crazy. I totally felt like I was walking into an American mall. Besides Apple, there was Nike, Addidas, Quicksilver and a Steve Madden store, and they are only getting more Western stores. The presence of western companies is more apparent to me every day. It seems as though everywhere I look I see either a Subway, Dairy Queen, Starbucks or McDonalds. I suppose our world is only getting smaller.

Cheap China

2008-07-18T10:44:00.000+08:00

Let me preface this post by saying if you are a member of my family, consider yourself lucky because I have pretty much taken care of Christmases and birthdays for the next five to seven years. Seriously, China is so cheap. For example, I can buy about a pint and a half of beer on the street for three Yuan. That's about 45 cents. I love this country. Last night, after our training session, we went out to dinner at a hot pot restaurant. The six of us ordered piles of food and ended up only having to pay 47 Yuan, or seven dollars each. There's no telling how much a meal like that would cost us in the U.S. Basically, I can live a lot larger here than I can at home.

The past few days have been spent in ONS (Olympic News Service) training. Yesterday, the cycling reporters were on the bus to go to training and the bus literally broke down. It just stopped working in the middle of a busy intersection. Over and over on this trip I have said a phrase along the lines of "It's all part of the adventure." I would think that phrase applies quite aptly to the bus fiasco, considering when it comes to driving in Beijing, it's every man for himself.

I have been able to learn a lot more specifically what I am actually doing and I have to say that I feel over prepared. For the Olympics, my official Job title is "ONS Flash Quote Reporter." This means that my job is to interview athletes immediately after they complete their race. The quotes that we gather are then available to different journalists and news agencies. I got really lucky with cycling, because not only am I working right by the Great Wall everyday, but I also don't have a very heavy work schedule. So now, I am scavenging for tickets to other events. I've found craigslist Beijing to be quite helpful. This morning I was able to secure tickets to swimming finals! I also have tickets to a few other events in the works. I'll have to wait and see what pans out.

Earlier this week I got to see my cousin who lives here in Beijing. She has lived here for about 24 years, so she has had the privilege of seeing Beijing grow and change a great deal. When she arrived Beijing was quite a different city, China, a different country. I was enthralled listening to her talk about China; she has a vast knowledge. My cousin is an English teacher who originally came to Beijing thinking she would only stay a year, but just couldn't get away. With an extensive knowledge of Chinese history and culture, I could have discussed China with her for several hours longer.

This weekend I am headed to Cheng Du to see a friend. I am excited to see her, but also interested to see Cheng Du, post-earthquake. I was in Cheng Du two years ago and have a lot of invaluable from that trip, so I am ecstatic about this weekend.

Beijing sightseeing

2008-07-14T22:16:00.000+08:00

BOCOG took our group sightseeing over the weekend. After the less than invigorating visit to the water treatment plant Friday, our group, along with the other BOCOG volunteer groups got to see more notable Beijing sights. By the way, the other volunteers include groups from Iowa, Emerson, Sheffield in England, two schools in Australia, UNC and Ithaca. It was exciting for us to finally get to interact with other volunteers.We traveled to the mother of all sights on Saturday morning. The sight our tour guide said we must see in order to be "real men" and "real women." Actually that's not entirely what she said, but I inferred that it's what she meant when she said "see Great Wall you real boy, real girl. " Which means now, I have a lot in common with Pinocchio. Badaling was the section of the Great Wall that we visited. That specific section is not only the most touristy part of the Wall, but also the most crowded (see picture below), especially this Saturday. By some chance we visited on the same day that Felipe Calderon, the president of Mexico was visiting. Thus, our group had to wait roughly two hours to actually get on the wall. Not only was it sweltering, but I now have a new found hatred of umbrellas. We were lucky enough to have a beautiful, clear, sunny day on Saturday and it just so happens Chinese people carry umbrellas more when it's sunny than when it is raining. That's an interesting cultural difference between Westerners and Asians. Whereas we'll do anything for a tan, they avoid it like the plague. Anyway, we waited for quite some time in a huge pack of Asian tourists. Security did not let anyone else on the wall while President Calderon was visiting. However, once we finally got in, the experience was fabulous! Considering it was such a beautiful day, we could see the Great Wall roll through the green mountains for miles and miles. Even though I've visited the Great Wall before, seeing it again was just as amazing. For lunch, we went to a traditional Chinese craft shop and cloisinea factory. That afternoon we visited the Ming Dynasty tombs. I wish I had more to say about the tombs, but there really wasn't much to it.As luck would have it, Sunday was also a gorgeous day. We toured the Summer Palace, which is located on a big lake on the East Side of Beijing. This place is one of my favorite spots that I've visited since arriving in Beijing. Beautiful and peaceful, it was relaxing just to walk around and explore. In the afternoon, our tour took us to the Yuan Ming Yuan Gardens, where there is an annual lotus exhibition in July as well as ruins from the Old Summer Palace. Notice that this Chinese child is also a Dallas Mavs fan. The evening activity was something that once again, required me to stifle laughter, at least for the first ten or so minutes. We went to a Chinese Opera. Now, let me preface this by saying that the Chinese version of beautiful traditional music is not the same as the American version. It sounds a lot like drums crashing to no particular beat and a lot of different shrill discordant sounds.

Sightseeing is always fun. I like to embrace my inner tourist. It must be the little bit of Asian in me.

Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?

2008-07-11T23:23:00.000+08:00

My adventures last night brought me to one of the most interesting things I've done in Beijing, the night food market in the Wang Fu Jing Neighborhood. This market sells all kinds of foods, some of which you probably never knew were actually foods. From star fish and chicken hearts to cicadas and lamb stomach, this market had it all. They also sell a lot of good, normal food too. But honestly, who wants to hear about that? I started out with a sea snake, which was really tough and hard to bit into. It literally tasted what you would think a sea snake might taste like. Not exactly delicious. Scorpion on a stick made up my main course. Salty and crunchy, it was actually not bad at all. I finished it all of with a seahorse on a stick. The seahorse didn't have a lot of flavor to it, besides the seasoning the vendor sprinkled on it, not to mention a hint of fishy flavor. I went to the night food market with a group of about eight friends. We were all trying the odd fare and we actually started to draw a crowd. Besides the bizarre foods I stomached, I also sampled dumplings, fruit in candied molasses and a lamb pita. Spending the evening at the market is definitely not something I will soon forget. Especially considering I woke up this morning with my right eye incredibly swollen. Maybe seahorse doesn't agree with me?

During the day yesterday I visited the Lama Temple (pictured below) and the Confucius Temple. Today I went on what I will refer to as the Communist Propaganda Tour 2008. BOCOG (Beijing Organizing Committee, basically our boss for the summer) took us first to the Beijing Water Treatment Plan. I couldn't make this up. We can't drink the water, but they decided to take us to the water treatment plant. It makes sense to me! In the afternoon, we visited a "typical" village that was anything but. The village of Xiang Tang boasted a golf course, a new temple and state of the art condominiums that already looked a little old (what do you know, pollution?!). Let me assure you that no where else in China does anything like this exist. I have never heard of a village that was complete with a golf course. There were actually signs in the village calling in the Official Olympic Reception Village, code for come see our communist propaganda. But we ended the day on a high note with a Peking Duck dinner. It was the first Chinese meal that I can say was a slam dunk across the board. I liked everything on the table. The sightseeing and dinner was with all the other BOCOG student volunteers, so it was exciting to finally get to meat some of our international co-workers.

Tomorrow we are going to the Great Wall and the Ming Dynasty Tombs, and I couldn't be more thrilled!

Hello lady, I give you good deal!

2008-07-09T17:37:00.000+08:00

Last night marked my first solo adventure in Beijing. My friend, Mason, from high school lives here this summer as well. Mason is working for a travel guide in town and has already been here for about three weeks, so he's more familiar with where everything is. We picked an area to meet in, since we live on opposite sides of the city. Everything would have been fine, had the cab actually taken me to the right place. I got out of the cab and called Mason, only to hear that I was in the wrong spot, so I had to brave the subway. A bit tentatively, I got on the subway and pretty much just had to figure it out for myself, and it all ended up OK. I got to where I was supposed to be and I'm now that much more confident about using public transportation in Beijing. Mason and I went to a late dinner, where he ordered because much to my surprise, he is pretty proficient in Mandarin. We hung around in the Houhai area, which is near where I was the other day for the rickshaw ride and such. It's always good to catch up with old friends.

Today, Quinn, Blair and I went to the Hong Qiao Market. The Hong Qiao Market is a famous pearl market. It's always a little bit overwhelming to step into a market for the first time. People are barking out in broken English that they have the best product and they will give you the best deal. But really it sounds more like "Hello lady! Hello girl! Girl! Chanel bag! You want Gucci bag?" or "Hello hello skinny jean! So cheap!" These market vendors aren't bad at English but it's funny to think that they might not know the word for "toilet" but they know how to say "double-stitched" when boasting about the quality of the Lacoste shirt they're trying to sell to you. The market sold all kinds of things besides pearls, including designer threads and accessories, and traditional Chinese wares. Bargaining for these treasures is a lot of fun and when you get something for a low price after some intense haggling, it feels pretty good.

On the way home we took the subway. Riding on the subway here is kind of funny. Several lines have opened in the years since Beijing won the bid for the Olympics, so it's still kind of a new concept to a lot of Beijingers. The trains and stations are new and clean for the most part, but I don't think people have quite figured out how to do it yet. Sometimes people cluster pretty close to the door and won't get out of your way when you're in a hurry. I think it's another one of those things that the government is trying to teach people how to do before the Olympics just like they're telling people not to blow they're nose into their hand in the middle of a busy street or let their kids relieve themselves on the ground in the middle of a crowded park. But in all seriousness, the subway is pretty nice and makes getting around in trafficky Beijing that much easier.

A few things

2008-07-08T15:04:00.000+08:00

This morning we had another quite tedious lecture. After the lecture a few friends and I made the Trek to McDonald's in the rain. Yes, it's raining again and yes, even though I don't really eat a lot of fast food at home, today it sounded like the best thing in the world. The McDonald's is about a five minute walk from our campus. Next door to it is a rather large grocery store. Three of us wandered into the grocery store to look around. It really was quite the cultural experience.
Chinese grocery stores are very different. Think of anything strange that you would never want to eat and a Chinese grocery store probably stocks it regularly. They sell chicken feet, whole ducks and chickens, whole fish, eyes still intact, dozens of different kinds of eggs, including what looked like robin's eggs and many more types of food that neither looked nor smelled appetizing.

I forgot to include these pictures in my last post but they're from my trip to the Temple of Heaven yesterday and I thought they were worth seeing.

I tried to work out this afternoon and it was murder. There's a gym near our campus, but it's expensive so I haven't brought myself to buy a membership yet. So I tried running stairs, which is just terrible in general, and then I went outside and ran a little bit. First of all, it's really humid because it rained today, and second the air is rife with pollution. To begin with, I'm not much of a runner, so these things stacked on top of each other don't make the experience incredibly enjoyable. But I have to say, running on my campus is something that strangely makes me feel very American. People kept looking at me with these puzzled looks. I already stick out here in China, what with curly hair and big eyes, but I stick out even more when I am doing something that Chinese people think is strange. The American obsession with exercise is definitely a cultural difference.

exploring

2008-07-08T10:19:00.000+08:00

I have gotten to do a lot in the past several days!

Saturday was our first big sightseeing day. We walked around Tienanmen Square and through the Forbidden City in the morning. We took a lunch break and ate a family style meal in the area. The picture below is especially significant because I took a picture in the same spot just two years ago. Behind me is the National Museum and an Olympic countdown. I remember wondering in 2006 if I would get the chance to come to the Olympics. Little did I know...

In the afternoon, we walked through a hutong, which is like an old neighborhood. The particular hutong we were in was really cool, because it's kind of an up and coming neighborhood with lots of cool bars, restaurants and shops. We started in the Drum tower, which was once used to keep time for the city of Beijing. There are still drum performances (pictured below), but it's not used to keep time anymore.
After looking around the drum tower, our group got to ride rickshaws through the hutong. I use the word "ride" lightly, because it was more like playing bumper cars since there were so many of us in the road. After riding rickshaws, we wandered through Prince Gong's gardens and went into a tea house where we were given a demonstration on Chinese tea. That's a picture of Eric and Sarah smelling the tea, followed by a picture of the gardens. Saturday night I had my first experience going out in China. It was really fun, but like most things in China it was about a 10 on the inadvertently funny scale. I don't know what I expected, being in China and all, but we were just about the only non-Asians in the whole club. A group of us went to a club called Mix. It was a lot of fun! Sunday was our first day off. It was nice to finally be able to rest a little bit because our days have been so full. For lunch on Sunday, about 12 of us went to brunch at the Shangri-La Hotel. I'm not kidding when I say this was literally the most amazing spread I have ever seen. It was like brunch at the country club on steroids. Lobster, filet minon, any kind of dessert you want all on one buffet. I kept thinking, "Michael really should be here." For those of you who know my brother, you also know how much he loves food. Sunday afternoon was spent exploring our neighborhood. I went on a long walk just exploring. It's nice because I don't feel like I am rushed to see everything right away in China because I am going to be here for so long. So I wanted to get to know the area I am living in.

Yesterday morning we had a lecture on Chinese history and culture. It was pretty tedious because the lecture was given in Chinese and translated. In the afternoon, I went with two friends to the Temple of Heaven. This temple is where the emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties would come to make annual sacrifices so that they might have a good harvest. This kind of sacrifice is similar to the one made on the Day of Atonement at the Tabernacle in the Jewish faith. Anyway, the three of us took a cab from our university over to the temple. We went to lunch at a hot pot restaurant right outside the temple gates.

Hot pot is kind of the same idea as fondue. You have a pot of boiling water and you cook your food in said water. There are a lot of really strange things that you can order for hot pot, such as different animal innards and extremities, but we stuck with beef, shrimp and noodles. It was pretty good! The temple was beautiful. It's convenient that I am here for the Olympics because most monuments are getting fresh coats of paint. The Temple of Heaven was no exception as it looked like it had been recently restored.
This is a picture of me standing in front of the Hall for Prayer of Good Harvests, the main building on the temple grounds. The temple of Heaven is not actually one building, but a series of buildings. There is a big park around where a lot of older people like to come to do Tai Chi and play Majong and such. Besides just seeing the temple, the three of us got suckered into paying to get our pictures taken in Chinese costumes. It was one of the funniest things I have done since getting to China. It's kind of the same idea as the old timey pictures you can have taken at the fair or six flags, but Chinese style. I will try to scan the pictures in!

Last night, we had a dinner with students and professors from MU, Renmin and UNC. There are UNC students in our program, too and they finally arrived at the end of the weekend. We ate family style again off of a lazy susan. After dinner, some of us we went to a bar in our district where we heard a lot of international students go. I met Germans, Brazilians, Americans and Brits! It was pretty cool.

Overall, it's been a great couple of days and I'm looking forward to having two days off tomorrow and Thursday!

Happy Birthday, America!

2008-07-04T22:08:00.000+08:00

Happy 4th of July!

This year, I have a special appreciation for this holiday for two reasons. The first being that my brother, along with many of his friends, is currently serving for the Army in Iraq. Secondly, I spent this July 4th in a communist country. It's interesting, really. Today we went on two media visits. The first visit was to China People Daily, a government owned news website. If you're interested, you can check it out at www.people.com.cn. It was almost eerie listening to the the Vice President of this media outlet talk about the "positive" growth the press in China has seen and the "freedom" with which they report. In actuality, everything they put out is filtered by the government. For me, it was really ironic for they have virtually no freedom compared to what we, in the U.S. have enjoyed for the past 230 or so years.

The second media visit was at a magazine called China Youth Daily. It is not government owned, and it is not just for young people, though it's title implies otherwise. China Youth Daily was really interesting. The staffers there seemed much more vibrant and open to change and truth than the sterility of the employees at China People Daily, which is basically a lot of propaganda.

For dinner, a few of us did some very American things. We drank a few Budweisers and ate at Pizza Hut. And I have to say, I was entitled to pizza tonight after how adventurous I have been. Yesterday for dinner, my room mate, Quinn and I wandered into a restaurant by ourselves with a menu that lacked two things: English translations and pictures. We just pointed to something on the menu and decided to order it. The results weren't terrible either. Quinn ended up with rice and mixed greens and I had some kind of noodle and tomato dish.

Now it is raining, and I know what you're thinking. The answer is yes, yes it is acid rain and yes most of my skin did burn off. But really, the pollution here is horrible. It makes me wonder how athletes will get by come August.

Pictures to come later... the internet is a little bit spotty here!

Settling in

2008-07-03T12:58:00.001+08:00

I can't believe we're finally in Beijing. We got here yesterday around 3:30 and met our MU professors and the Renmin student volunteers at the airport. Above is a picture of me and two of the volunteers from Renmin University. We took a bus from the airport to Renmin University (Also known as the People's University of China) where we're staying for the next two months. Students from UNC will also stay here, but they don't arrive until this weekend.

Driving in China is quite an interesting affair. One of the busses missed an exit and just backed up in the middle of the highway to correct his error. I suppose in America that would translate into one fat traffic ticket. But in China, it's nothing too unusual. On the way to Renmin, we passed by several of the Olympic buildings. It was surreal to actually see the Bird's Nest (pictured below) and the Water Cube in person. These are both buildings in which some events will take place during the games.

Thus far, we have spent today settling in. Already, I am learning to deal with the language barrier. This morning, I asked for a bottle of water at breakfast. Naturally, they brought me a beer. I asked for water again and was given a glass of water from the tap. I smiled and said "xie xie" (thank you) and left it. Tap water in China is dangerous territory. The rest of the morning was spent in an introductory meeting. We were introduced to the staff and volunteers from Renmin who will be working with us. We also tried on our volunteer uniforms. Many of our new Chinese friends were baffled at how big some of our American feet were. Specifically, my women's size nines. Representatives from the media in China were also at our meeting. I was actually interviewed by two different TV reporters. I guess I'm famous in China.

I just finished lunch at the school cafeteria. Surprisingly, it wasn't bad, though I couldn't recall what exactly I ate! I'm looking forward to the afternoon when we have our first lecture from a Renmin professor.

Leaving on a jet plane

2008-06-23T06:18:00.001+08:00

I am leaving for Beijing in two days. That's so hard to believe. It seems like I've been looking forward to July 1 since November and it's seemed really far off until right now. As I finish packing my bags, I can only imagine what the next two months will hold for me. Obviously this trip is a once in a lifetime experience. Naturally, I am a little bit nervous. I keep reviewing the things I am taking with me and trying to imagine what I might have neglected to pack. Without a doubt, I will leave something in Dallas. It's like the travel curse that always seems to happen with some kind of necessity like socks or something that is easily replaced but annoying to have forgotten.

More than anything, I am overwhelmed with excitement. I will get to see so much, experience so much and learn so much, and I can't wait for it to all begin!