Rugby and Karaoke

Over the weekend, our extended group of Aussies and Americans spent some time on the town. We took in the annual rugby match between the New Zealand All Blacks and the Australian Wallabies at a pub called The Den Mark. All along the wall hung rugby and soccer memorabilia, and the crowd was definitely excited for the upcoming grudge match.

I sat with two older Aussies, Leo the professor in charge from the students from QUT and another gentleman who worked in China and had a membership at the club that got him cheaper drinks (always a good friend to have). I have only a passing familiarity with rugby as a sport, so I relied on the other men at the table to fill me in with the specific details. However, there was no need to explain the hitting, which was far more vicious than I ever gave rugby credit for. Also, I found that I had always seen rugby and football as similar sports, which they really aren't. Football features harder hits, courtesy of the protection that its players have, and the athletes are trained for quick bursts of athleticism. Rugby features hard collisions, but always with the thought in mind that the harder the blow, the more it will still hurt the tackling player. Also, rugby is an endurance sport much like soccer, with the ball constantly moving and the players rarely leaving the field.

It was a trip for sure to get to watch a big-time rugby match with an enthusiastic crows, but the night still had one more shock for me. We decided to go to a karaoke bar after the match, a trend that we find very Chinese as karaoke is far different in China and also far more popular. Karaoke bars are designed with many rooms filled with couches, microphones and TV's. You select the songs on a screen and the words appear on the TV, but only the friends you have come with are forced to hear your singing voice, which is a much friendlier crowd than most karaoke nights in America.

We've already been to one karaoke bar near our dorms, and putting this as nicely as I can, it was a dump. The one we went to this particular night, a place called Party World, was something completely different. It looks like a five-star hotel from the lobby, and each of its floors keeps up the idea that you are in a fabulous resort, except all of the rooms are karaoke rooms. It's unlike anything back home, literally something that would never stand a chance of making business in America, but I found myself thinking that was a shame, as it was really a fun place.

More Training

An even earlier morning awaited us today as we went in for our second day of training. Although we had to be across town an hour earlier today, it made it easier that none of us had to worry about what to wear. That's right snazzy new uniforms make things much easier.

Today we did more in depth training on what we'll actually be doing during the Olympic competitions. We staged a mock Mixed Zone (the area that we will be interviewing athletes directly after their competitions) and a mock press conference (a more official time to speak to medal winners and get more in-depth quotes). Krystyna, our Venue Manager, and our Venue Reporters Amy and Ernst played different athletes running through the zone portraying different athletes in different moods. Amy played the highly touted cyclist who had just placed eighth while Ernst and Krystyna played cyclists in better moods, but determined to only say they were happy.

Interviewing these "athletes," not only did we want to truly work on how we asked questions to get the best possible answer, but also we all wanted to impress our new bosses. While no one wants to look like they are overly enthusiastic about making themselves noticed, these situations will likely prove to be very important in our bosses decisions on who will get the limited number of stories that flash quote reporters will have the opportunity to write. While I wasn't very happy that my mixed zone questions only yielded "I dedicate this to my family" answers (it's a nice gesture, but it's no good as a flash quote), I fared better during the press conference.

The only difficulty with the day is the continuing problem with shorthand, a skill I am still learning to grasp. Working at the Exponent, I often have a recorder to back up my written notes during an interview. At the Olympics, the noise level on the competition floor and the need for rapid repetition of quotes into the online database means we do not have that luxury, and each time we practice these interviews, I find my shorthand only barely keeps up. I'm working on it after work, so hopefully by the Olympics I'll be more confident in my notes.

First Day of Training

We began our first real day of training on Monday morning, heading to the Velodrome across town around 9 a.m. Day one meant mostly learning how to operate the system that our flash quotes will be available on, the INFO system designed by Infostrada for these specific Olympic Games. The INFO system will be available to visiting journalists covering every sports at the Olympics and offer history of sports, past event winners and athlete biographies along with other important items of information.

We also met our Venue Reporters, who will be instrumental in helping us get the best quotes we can get out of the athletes. Amy, from Australia, actually plays for the Australian national baseball team when she isn't covering cycling, while Ernst, from the Netherlands, is also a bicycling expert. Amy took us out to the track again t give us a more in depth look at the specifics of track cycling and the importance of different markings on the track, and we also learned that there is one official that's only job is to stand and point at the leader in a points race as they spin around him on the track. Odd.

We also received our uniforms that we will be wearing for work for the rest of our time here. I don't have a picture of the whole set laid out yet, but I'll put one up when I get one. The uniforms left no part of the body out, as we receive Adidas shoes, socks, several shirts, two pairs of pants, a hat, a water bottle, a poncho, and the best part, a fanny pack so we can all live out our Hulk Hogan fantasies. The only problem that has arisen is the fact that the guys receive baseball hats, with the brim in the front, while the girls have received safari style hats, with the brim all around. Several of the girls have approached me about switching, but even if the hat fit me, I wouldn't take that offer.

We were also told that if we had anything that said Nike on it, we couldn't wear that to work any longer. At first this gave me pause, but it's no different than the times I've been told to finish a drink before going out onto the court covering a basketball game. Leroy mentioned another time that all drinks had to be in a Dasani cup before stepping onto the court, so this isn't something that is new. Also, if you were paying the kind of money that a full Olympic sponsorship I think would cost, I'm sure you'd want it the same way.

BBQ in China

While our teammates who are working with the photography staff have had to work these past couple of days, the rest of us have been relaxing and waiting for our venue to be set up. In our time in Beijing, the Australians and us have been splitting our time eating between take-out and the local cafeteria food, with the only real sit down restaurants being the ones we visited during our state-sponsored tour.

So our group has decided to make some forays into some of the finer dining establishments in Beijing. We've been to some higher class Chinese restaurants on our tour, so we looked closely into some of the western style restaurants. Also, like I said when discussing Paul's Steak & Eggs, we're all kind of sick of Chinese food. And to be clear, we still love Paul's and will never forget that amazing first visit to his place.

Alysha turned 22 recently, so for her celebration we looked for an Irish pub style restaurant. We settled on Durty Nellie's, a place that, like many parts of Beijing, doesn't appeal too much on the outside but turns out to be well set up inside. I haven't had a decent fish and chips meal in a while, but Nellie's made a pretty good plate of fried fish and potatoes. I may ever turn away from West Lafayette's Nine Irish Brothers' version, but for being halfway around the world, this wasn't bad.

Also, with the prospect of Guiness on tap for the first time in our visit to Beijing, we decided to spoil ourselves with any college kid's favorite drink, and Irish Car Bomb. It was called an Irish Kaboom on their menu, but we kind of figured we knew what it was, and the end result was exactly what we hoping for.

Our most recent foray into the finer western dining offered in Beijing was a trip to Tim's Texas BBQ, a place that we have driven past several times but have never had the time to actually visit. Before we even left for the restaurant, the trip had the feeling of a hit. Most times that we try to go anywhere as a group, it turns into a giant process that no one wants to deal with. This time, we all got ready, got into the cabs, and got to the restaurant in very good order, which Leroy felt was even more enjoyable than the meal.

Tim's BBQ proved to live up to its name, as this tex-mex restaurant offered exactly the BBQ flavor we were looking for. I had the chopped beef sandwich, essentially a burger bun with a mound of BBQ covered beef on it, and it was delicious. We also ordered some nachos and burritos, and the nachos were great. Like always with community nachos, there had to be a battle over the last couple that were more salsa than chip, and such, four of us had a rousing battle of rock-paper-scissors. A battle to the death was suggested, but the restaurant said we couldn't move the tables to clear some room.

Overall, our attempts to find some finer dining with a western taste have been successful. We even passed a T.G.I. Fridays today, so we have even more options in the future.

Velodrome Time

Today marked our first visit to the venue that we will be working at, the newly built velodrome in Beijing.  From the Communication University of China, where we are staying, it's about a one hour trip on the subway, making it about as far away from us it can be and still be within the Beijing proper.  Since it is a brand new facility, built specifically for these Olympics, everything is still being put together in preparation for the games.  The track however, appears to be just fine.

We walked around on the track during our tour of the facility including the corners, which appear to be near vertical walls from the bottom.  They sit at a 45 degree angle so the cyclists can keep full speed rolling through the corners, and the view from the inside of the track shows how tall these corners are. We saw what appeared to be the halftime show entertainment (I know cycling doesn't have a halftime, so maybe lag time entertainment, but it fits the idea) practicing in the center area of the track, the same area that we learned would be the mixed zone, or the area that we will be interviewing the athletes. The dancers were dancing with an inflatable version of the main Olympic mascot, the same kind of blow up character that Rowdy was featured as. We wanted to get a photo with the character, but he jumped out of the suit before we could. I've seen how sweaty people get in those suits, and with the Beijing heat hitting you even in the velodrome, I felt for the guy.

We've done research on the different styles of racing done in track cycling, and today we spent some more time doing research on track cycling, mountain cycling and BMX. We also took a tour of the BMX track and mountain biking course. The BMX track looks like a good time, and since we had a great chance to take this tour, we got to go up into the starting ramp for the BMX track, something that not a lot of people get to do.

Our training has not officially begun as of yet, since the ONS office has not been fully set up at this point, and so we do not know when exactly we will be working at the velodrome.  Also, we have not received our uniforms yet, a matter that has made some of us blue, as we are thoroughly excited about the fanny packs that are included.

But even though we have not begun our training, we have seen our work space and we now have an image of where we will be for the Olympics, which makes us all that much more excited to get to work.

Traffic Jams

We have been able to see the first effects of the new policy Beijing has put in place to help traffic and pollution during the Olympics.  From here onward to the end of the Olympics, only half of the registered cars in Beijing will be allowed to use the roads on any given day.  On even days, cars with licenses ending in even numbers can drive, and likewise for odd numbered days.

Now, there are obviously some exceptions, including taxies, buses, and government vehicles, and also this doesn't affect cars not registered in Beijing, meaning visitors from Shanghai or other places are not held to the policy.  However, the overall feel of the streets is that there are a significantly less number of cars on the roads.  We haven't noticed anything significant in the pollution levels, but that might take a little longer, so we'll have to see.

It got our group talking, after we noticed that the policy was actually doing something, that such a system would never be able to work in the U.S., say for instance if Chicago gets the bid for their own Olympic games.  Even though the idea has merit and would improve traffic situations for the games, people would never allow their right to drive wherever they please t be taken away.   I'm not saying that as a good thing either, but it just gets you thinking a bit that we sometimes should look more closely at situations than simple knee jerk reactions to them.

Oh, but there is one problem with this idea.  We, for our job, have to take the subway all the time.  This policy means more people using the subway.  And that's going to make an already crowded ride, even more crowded.  Yippee.

That Building Looks...

One of the things that I've been meaning to write about for a while is the architecture of Beijing.  Most large cities tend to have their own style, and Beijing is  no different.  Myself, I've only seen one two large cities a number of times, being Chicago and Detroit, but I've been in other cities and know what to expect.  Beijing has appeared to take it a different path.

One part of it is that there is not one large downtown area.  Beijing is s big that there is a section of large buildings, then they tone down, then there's another group down the street.  It takes some getting used to, but the city just keeps going.  And some of the buildings are pretty crazy.  Some are normally built, meaning nothing really stand out, and then at night a whole side of the building turns into a color screen.  Others are just completely different architecturally.

We've seen two Olympic buildings already that are different that most people have heard about, the aptly named Bird's Nest, the main olympic stadium, and the Water Cube, the center for swimming and diving events.  Both are technologically advanced, but who cares about technology when they just look that different.

Two other buildings in Beijing, one still under construction, bring another flavor to the architecture.  One, near the Bird's Nest, becomes wavy towards the top of the tower, portraying the smoke coming of the end of a cigarette, at least to my eyes.  The very top even levels off and leans out away from the rest of the building, giving it a wild, leaning look.  The one stil under construction is even crazier, as it forms somewhat of an arch.  Two towers rise up, and between them runs several more dozen floors to connect them, but at right angles.  Imagine if you took the St. Louis Arch and bent it so that, looking from above, it looked like a 90 degree angle, and you've got this building.  It's something that still makes us stare at it even though we've driven past it a dozen times.

I know others in the group have taken photos, so I'll get some up as soon as I can.

They Have PBR in China?!?

So this is something that happened a while ago in our time in China, but it's still relevant so I'm gonna speak about it now.

Since we've been splitting our time eating between the local school cafeterias, take out and restaurants, both western and Chinese, we've also been sampling the local brews, which are more numerous than I expected.  (For the record, everyone on this trip for Purdue is of the legal drinking age of 21, although to our knowledge China doesn't have a drinking age.)

The most common and China's most famous beer is Tsing Tao, and by our estimation it's comparable with the major beers back in the States.  It's in every restaurant and, more importantly, it's inexpensive.

We've also found Budweiser in large quantities, and it appears to be the largest American brand to be found in China, and the cheapest, as most imported liquors are significantly marked up in price.  Carlsberg is the next largest imported beer, at least by our estimation.

The greatest surprise for myself was on our first visit to the local supermarket.  For reference, they do have a Wal-Mart several subway stops down, but for most needs we get our supplies from the local store here on the Communication University of China campus.

I turned the corner to the drink aisle, and while perusing the different offerings on the shelves, I found the last item I would ever think to find in a Chinese superstore:  Pabst Blue Ribbon beer.  I mean, there are some places in the U.S. that you can't find PBR, and here we are a world away and a day ahead, and they have a sizable quantity of the stuff.  Most people look down on PBR, as it is a cheap beer, but myself, I think that blue ribbon means something special.  Yes, I'm joking here, but I do like the stuff.

So for those who care for such knowledge, Chinese beer is actually quite good, and while we think that the ingredients might vary from western varieties a bit, the essential taste isn't too affected.  Wine is a more drastic change in taste, but not so much that your forget you're drinking wine.

Our time off will continue for several more days, and with it the somewhat non-important wall posts.  So stay with me, hopefully something exciting will happen soon.

Out on the Town

Friday brought me face to face with something that I truly hate in this world.  Shopping.

Not just shopping, but shopping with six girls who have nothing else to do all day.  Who must go to ever single little shop and peruse its contents before moving two feet to the next shop.  It's infuriating.

OK, so I'm exaggerating here, and I actually had a great day with the girls, but shopping is still one of my most hated pastimes.  I like to get in and get out with what I want, which is hard in the company of a bunch of girls.  But the alley that we hung around in was a very popular shopping area, and I found the chance for some souvenir shopping.  After leaving the boutique alley, we visited the official Beijing Olympics store in the Chinese version of Times Square.

This store takes up an entire floor of a more expansive mall and has every Olympic souvenir that you could want, and a lot that you won't.  Ever.  But I found lots of fun stuff for myself and others in my little spree.

Also, I was excited to see the lady taking my orders from behind the counter do something that is actually very rare in China, actually make someone stand in line for their turn.  I've heard that the whole idea of lines and taking turns is very American, and that Europe and Asia do not hold such convictions.  It's been true for the  most part, as most Chinese believe that it is totally OK to push their way to the front, no matter where it is, and we have had to adapt.  Hey, different culture I understand.

So I've been waiting in line for several minutes and when it's my turn, this man literally lays his money down right next to mine and proceeds to sidle into me as if to move me away from the counter.  I didn't take too kindly to that, but it's not the first time it's happened, and it's not worth making a fuss.  But thankfully the lady behind the counter made him wait while I fished through my pockets.  I appreciate it lady.

So, Friday we went out for our first night on the town instead of staying and hanging out at home.  We visited several different hangouts, finally staying at a rooftop bar that gave a pretty fabulous view of the Beijing skyline.  They had tables set out in sand too, pretty cool.

Still more time off.  I'll keep writing.

Mexican Food with Chopsticks

With our week off from any duties relating to the Olympics now moving into full swing, our group has been out on some adventures that we all have been looking forward to.  Krystyna, our ONS manager for our venue, took the entire group out for some authentic western food, exactly what we've been looking for.  While we've all grown accustomed to chinese food here, some more than others, it was a delight to find a place called simply Paul's Steak & Eggs.

Paul came from Canada, and after selling the original Steak & Eggs restaurant in Daytona Beach, he came to China on vacation and never came back.  He figured a restaurant like his could find a niche in the Chinese dining scene, and he was right.  The place didn't sell Chinese versions of diner food back home, it served the real deal.  Anything from spaghetti to hamburgers to breakfast was available, and our group didn't hesitate in their decisions.

Myself, I've been dying for some hash browns and eggs for breakfast, so my dinner was corn beef hash with all the fixin's.  After dinner, we proceeded to find out just how much beer Paul had in stock in the fridge, by any means we could.  Afterwards, we set out, with Krystyna our boss in tow, to find a night club we had heard about.  However, like what tends to happen when we try to find a place in Beijing without knowing exactly where it is, we ended up settling for another bar along the way, the Pipe Bar or something.  It was empty but for us, but we had a good time just sitting in our own booth for the evening.

Thursday would be another laid back day, with the most important events revolving around where to eat and when to go get drinks.  And I'm belated in telling you all about this, but we also filled up our rooftop pool for the second time on Thursday.  We have bought a small kiddie pool and have put in on an extension of the building we have taken to calling our porch and we fill it up through the window.  It can fit three people rather cosily, but during the ridiculously hot Beijing day, an ice cold pool is a nice thing to have.  As the Aussies have put it, how very American.

So after spending the day by our pool, we found a way to get some food, again not wanting the usual chinese fare.  We found a service that delivers from several different restaurants around the city, and we ordered in mexican take out.  However, Alysha forgot to get silverware, so I found myself eating my chicken enchiladas with chopsticks.  Only in China.

Our week off continues, so keep in touch.

Training Begins

Tuesday and Wednesday meant training seminars early in the morning.  Our group joined all the volunteers that the Beijing Olympics had brought in for the games at a local hotel, where we were brought up to speed on the type of systems that we are going to using in our venues.  Much of this was discussed in the training lessons before we left for China, but it was nice to be able to ask some questions from our potential bosses.

The real exciting parts of the training came during the lunches, shocking I know.  It was our first chance to get some American food, courtesy of McDonald's.  The second day we tried a pizza buffet, and one of the most glorious things in China was in that buffet.  Not only did it have decent food, it had cold beer, on tap.  I haven't spoken on this matter yet, but we've been working on warm beer here from the first day due to China not being too keen on chilling things and no fridge of our own.  So this beer tap, distributing the coldest beer I've had in weeks, was the greatest thing I could have asked for.  It was glorious.

So now we've moved on to the real work, but the strange thing is we won't actually be working until next week.  We have essentially a week off in China to do whatever we want, which could be a lot of fun.  We've been discussing visiting the Terracotta Soldiers, but as of right now we're not sure what we're going to do, so keep reading.

The Oprah of Beijing

The third and final day of our guided tour meant visits to the Summer and Winter Palaces of ancient Chinese emperors.  We approached the palaces as the same type of sites that we had seen earlier,  much like museums.  The palaces were more along the lines of parks, and we took advantage of the large lake in front of the Summer Palace by renting a six person paddle boat to tour around.  Afterwards, another Chinese restaurant was our destination for lunch.

While the Summer Palace was enjoyable, the Winter Palace brought our first look of an ancient place in China that had not been renovated or redressed for the tour.  The original palace had been burned down in WWI by French and English forces, and all that remains are the ruins of the once beautiful palace.  It was a fantastic chance to see something that hadn't been done up just for benefit.  The ruins were a look into the real history of China and not what the tour coordinators wanted us to see of their history.

After the palace tours, the guided tour ended with an evening at the Chinese opera, a classic tale of love and turmoil, all dressed up in face paint and huge costumes.  The opera was translated on screens next to the stage, but it was hard to follow, due to the screens sometimes not changing for several minutes and flashing through lines too fast to read.  Also, the volume of the performers' voices was so loud you wanted to cover your ears.  The acrobatics and combat acting were exciting, but the parts of the opera that simply included two people singing at each other for several minutes were hard to get through.

Monday was mostly a day off before training began on Tuesday, but we also got the chance to be the audience for a late night Beijing TV show.  He had the head of the Olympic volunteers and the oldest volunteer for these Olympics on as guests, and he used us as part of the show as well.  We never actually caught the name of the host, but we could understand him through a translator we heard over a radio, and he made several good jokes.  I was actually brought on stage, accompanied by some kind of warrior music by the show's musician, to act out a scenario of an athlete who didn't want to be interviewed.  It was a lot of fun, and when the host brought on two girls from a town in the country who wanted to promote their t-shirts to help their school, it felt a lot like Oprah had come to China.

The highlight of the evening was meeting the oldest volunteer for the Olympics, a structural engineer who, get this, graduated in 1948 from Michigan with his master's degree.  When I started talking to him about Michigan, his face lit up, and although his English wasn't great, his excitement over the topic came through just fine.  It was crazy to meet someone this far away from home that acts the same way as a college freshman does for his school.

Training starts on Tuesday, so stay tuned.

Well, It's Not Called the Good Wall of China

It's day two of our guided tour, and our tour guide Henry leads us to what is by far the greatest expectation for the group thus far, the Great Wall of China.  The part of the wall that we visited on Saturday was about two hours outside the city proper, but I'm not sure where that really means because Beijing is so huge that we barely left the buildings behind when we could see the wall.  Henry gave us a brief history of the wall's importance in Chinese culture, but it was hard to listen to him with the wall so close.  Few times in my life have I been lost for words, but seeing this relic, one that has been discussed so much even in America, it was beyond speaking.  Or listening to Henry.

We were worried that seeing the wall would become a difficult process as we approached, since the entrance was crowded with what looked like all 17 million residents of Beijing.  We learned that half of the wall (or that section) was shut down that day because the president of Mexico was visiting that day.  However, we made our way up through the crowd and began our ascent of the wall.

OK, before I get any farther, I forgot to mention something.  This day, this particular day that we were going to visit one of the greatest sites in all of China, was by far one of the best days that Beijing has ever seen.  Now I know I have no basis for that opinion in my whole week of living in the city, but it was as gorgeous a day that I have ever seen, anywhere.  Clear sky, bright sun, and no smog to be seen.  To get an idea of the comparison, I'll post a pic from earlier in the week of a typical day in Tiananmen Square with this day's photos.

OK, back to the climb, and I do mean climb.  Right off the bat, it's a 60 degree incline up the side of the wall, which I kinda forgot in the excitement of the moment, goes up the side of a MOUNTAIN.  Then it would level off for a fort structure, then another incline, and proceeded as such until we reached the highest fort on that particular part of the wall.  For some reason I'm not too sure on now, we had decided as a group, without any type of discussion or such, to book it up the wall as fast as we could.  It was a good time, but it was a relief to see that final step lead into a building on the top of the mountain that had no business being as cold as it was on a day that hit 100 degrees fahrenheit.

At the top, we rested in the cool confines, out of the sun in a room and enjoying the breeze that would blow through the giant windows around the room.  I'm kind of a sucker for a good view, and I've seen my fair share of mountain vistas, but this view was one for the record books.  The trip down would end up being just as eventful as the ascent, as the uneven stairs made footing tricky at best.

After the trip to the Great Wall, the group hopped on the bus, again, for a trip to the Ming Tombs, the resting place of some ancient rulers in Chinese history.  The above ground areas of the tomb were nice, with gardens and several rising stair cases, and the tombs were a fantastic view into the Chinese culture, but even the tombs had a hard time living up to the wall at its best.

I've been focusing on the individual sites we've visited in the past couple days, but our time outside of the tour has not been uneventful.  We've seen the Forbidden City on our own time, and have found time to bond with our fellow volunteers, the Australian contingent that we also share a building with.  We've had a chance to dine at some of the best restaurants in Beijing because of the tour, and have fun dishes that we all like, and a couple that we intend to steer away from.  I plan on posting soon about more day to day affairs of our first week, so watch for that.

Sewage Plants, Temples and Ducks, Oh My

Day one of our organized tour of Beijing began early this morning, as Henry our tour guide talked us the entire way to a sewage treatment plant in Beijing.  It resembled every sewage treatment plant I've seen in the U.S., but the key reason for the visit was that the water treated in this particular facility will be used at the Olympic facilities during the games next month.  The water that the plant produced was not drinkable, but it was clean and clear and could be pumped into the waterways around the city to improve their appearance.  The water could also be sent to another plant to make it drink quality.

Later, we toured a rural village outside of Beijing which had been prepared as part of a tour route for visitors during the Olympics.  Along with farms and small houses in the village, an area around the local Buddhist temple had been developed into apartments and shops, a sign that this rural village was becoming more industrialized by the day.  The temple was situated in among the hills outside of the village, and featured several fantastic views of Chinese architecture.

The contrasts within the village were startling in the effect of the change these Olympics have brought to all parts of Beijing.  The village is the same as it could have been 100 years ago, but the program to industrialize the town has brought modern buildings into the middle of rural farm land.  It's nice to see China modernize the countryside, but at the same time it is a sad moment to watch the old be swept away for the new.  At the end of the tour, we watched some elders of the village perform tai chi, one of the highlights of the day.

Also, the temple's buildings were newly painted and refurbished, and the effect was unsettling, as it somewhat took away from the history and sense of age in the temple.  It was still an amazing opportunity, but it didn't hold up with the Forbidden City in the sense of history that the buildings evoked.  The golf course next door didn't help either.  Really, there was one.

The evening would bring us back into the city proper for a dinner of Peking Duck.  The restaurant was fabulous, and the duck lived up to its billing as a high class dish of China.  It was prepared right in front of us, and we received a demonstration on how to fold our tortilla style wraps around the duck.  While we have all had a little trouble adapting to the food in China, there was no doubt that this meal was one we would all remember.  Peking Duck goes on the list for all-time greats, and I think we all left feeling a little bit more cultured.

Tomorrow means the Great Wall tour, a spot we have all been anticipating since we first knew we were coming to China, so expect more from China soon.

It's Amazing What You Can Get Used To

Only four days in another country and it's remarkable how our group is beginning to acclimate themselves to Beijing and the Chinese people.  The language barrier is still and will continue to be an issue, but I'm already finding it hard to remember what it was like when everyone knew what I was saying.  Our time with the kids on the basketball court has taught us that there are many ways to get a message across when there is no common language.  One of the players, by far the most talented of the group, spoke enough English to tell us that he will also be volunteering at the Olympics, which is apparently an honor because of the massive number of native Chinese who applied to volunteer for the games.

Among the other pieces of the culture and simply life in Beijing that we are beginning to find second nature include:

1. The knowledge that any use of public restrooms will mean using a hole in the ground.

2. That our bathroom's use of a toilet shower (check the picture) is actually not that bad.

3. That what originally looks like pure chaos on the streets of Beijing is actually ... well organized chaos.  There is obvious skill in the drivers being able to avoid collisions as they weave in and out of streets with no actual lanes, but viewing it through the eyes of an American driver, it looks crazy.

Our adaptation even includes the other people we are living with, Australians from Queen's University of Technology and fellow Americans from Emerson College, in that we have formed into a rather tight group in a very short time.  We keep forgetting that we all will be here for quite a bit more time, and that we really haven't become as familiar with the country as we think we have, but I guess our connection has allowed us to form our own community within a much, much larger one.

Silk Alley Adventures

So our time in Beijing continues, and I've got enough things to talk about for about three blogs in a row, the first being our time in the shopping district called Silk Alley.

Imagine a giant shopping center, extending down into the subway and up into about eight floors of shopping, with each ranging from men's clothes, knockoff Prada bags, jewelry and suits, and electronics.  Each aisle is filled with small, 10 by 10 booths that essentially offer the same merchandise as their neighbor.  But the craziest part was the fact that the second the vendors spy a white man walking by, hell breaks loose.

Patrick, the only one in our group who speaks Chinese and is familiar with the customs, just stands by and watches as I am bombarded with with offers from vendors, most blocking your path so you can't go around.  He thinks it's hilarious, and it really was, as the people don't actually speak English but for enough to yell what they sell, and pretend the don't know what NO means.

It only really got annoying when we went through the luggage area, and one woman grabbed my arm to drag me into a booth while another literally shoved luggage at me to block my path.  That was getting on my nerves in a bad way, along with some vendors obviously saying things to you that they wouldn't if you knew what they were saying.

Otherwise, Silk Alley was an experience as Patrick convinced Chris, Leroy and myself to try a foot massage.  Best. Idea. Ever.  It was too bad our feet hurt anyway after walking home, but for the time it was worth it.

The Show is On the Road

I guess it's time to kick this blog off.  We've arrived in Beijing, China after 11 hours of flight and began to take in our surroundings.  Not that the trip didn't get exciting right off the bat.

Our taxi driver from the airport wasn't sure where exactly where we needed to be dropped off, and apparently thought a random McDonald's on the corner was the correct address for the Communication University of China.  It wasn't.  So after some pleading for help from nearby pedestrians, we made our way to what will be home for the next 2 months, the International Exchange building on the CUC campus.

After getting to bed late Saturday night after our trip, Sunday brought a chance to go for some sightseeing before the entire group arrived.  We will be given a three-day guided tour later in the week, but the group was ready to see a little of Beijing.

Hopping on the subway, which some Chicago regulars on the trip said was far better than the L, we made a trip to Tiananmen Square.  While the midday heat of Beijing was taking its toll on the group, we got a nice bit of sightseeing in before returning to the rooms for meetings with our trip coordinator Jane Natt.

Later, after the ridiculous heat wore off in the evening, four of us including Patrick, Leroy, Chris and myself decided to play some basketball on the courts available outside.  While the local players may not know a lot about the rules of basketball, they certainly made up for it in their athletic ability.  We ended up winning a couple games in a row before the Beijing air and heat took their toll on us.

Well, we've got the blog rolling at this point.  Future posts should bring more excitement as we settle into our jobs and training, so keep watching.