Two-thousand eight will go down in the history books as one of those turning point years. It includes a monumental U.S. election and 222 days spent abroad by yours truly, events that will certainly change the course of history.
Television and the Internet can bring us insanely close to foreign lands, but they can’t physically put you there. This lesson even corresponds to journalism. If you can physically be somewhere to experience something, you have to go. That experience will most certainly be invaluable.
Invaluable. I think that is a good word for my time abroad this year. Whether it is Arhus, Denmark or Beijing, China (and these two places are just slightly different) or anywhere in between, the experiences are invaluable.
I grew so fond of Denmark that it truly felt like a home to me there. I can really only say that about three places in my life so that’s pretty significant. Invaluable were the people I met, the cultures I encountered, the life lessons I learned and the things I learned about myself. It’s very easy to be yourself in front of your life long friends, but the challenge to be yourself in front of dozens of people you’ve never met and who’ll your spend six months with is difficult. I’m proud of the short time it took for me be comfortable with those people and be myself. This is something that extends to hostel living as well. I made cool friends in several locations just by striking up conversations. In a couple instances I spent significant time with those new random people, something I never would have seen myself doing last year. 222 days can sure change a few things.
I’m thankful for getting to explore copious amounts of Europe in my adventures abroad. And yes, I did just use ‘copious’ because I haven’t used that word in forever, even if it may not fit in this context. Whether it was currywurst in Berlin, gelato in Rome, baguettes in Paris, crockets in the Netherlands, frites in Belgium or horse in Iceland, each destination presented new opportunities and learning points.
China, on the other hand, is a whole different beast to tackle. Although it seems almost impossible to sum up Beijing in one word, I’ll give it a try: invaluable. Not a day went by in Beijing where I did not experience something indescribable. As I’ve said in previous posts, China can be a frustrating place. But that should be no reason not to go to a particular place. If I just looked at it for face value, then I would have missed all the amazing things in between: the beauty and magnificence of the Great Wall, the Communist nationalism of Tiananmen Square, the compassion of the Chinese people and the Olympic spirit.
On a side note, it’s interesting that I would visit Communist China in the same year as such an important Democratic election in the U.S. I heard from many Chinese about how great Communism is and how they couldn’t imagine another government running their country. From my nationalistic U.S. standpoint, I could not disagree more. Communism sucks, that’s all there is too it. I take that statement down to a more personal level and that would be journalism. My job as a journalist working for the Chinese media would be so vastly different. Particularly in U.S. sports journalism, columnists will often write about how bad Joe Blow is doing or what a terrible move Joe Blow made. In our Beijing media tour, we were told straight from the horses’ mouth that they were funded largely by the Chinese government. You don’t have to be smart to figure out that you don’t piss off your boss. We all know the problems currently facing the U.S., but I can’t imagine the problems that would arise if the population were stripped of all their First Amendment rights. It’s so cliché, but we all take that for granted. To walk around all day in fear that someone may overhear my grumblings about the government is no way to live.
I think the most important thing for me to take out of the last 222 days is that I can’t let the lessons fade away. Who I became in that time is the person I want to take into the future, and I can’t forget that. I have to develop the close relationships I made abroad because I owe that to myself and to those I met. The world is so small, so it never hurts to have a friend around ever corner. It’s invaluable.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Please Stay Off the Newly Planted Sod
It's absolutely amazing how things can change and remain the same all at the same time. I'm sitting on the historic Columns in the middle of the beautifully revamped Francis Quadrangle, you can call it the quad if you want. I didn't have class today, but since I haven't been on campus in almost 9 months I wanted to check out the changes. The memories of the quad being a construction zone have almost completely faded. I look in that direction and everything seems normal, like back in sophomore year when we frolicked here in the autumn mist. The new journalism building is impressive and came out of nowhere the first time I saw it.
I was all afraid that I wouldn't recognize a lot of campus and that time was going to pass me by, but I have no idea what I was worried about (well maybe I did miss a lot of friend stuff) because I feel absolutely at home right now. Campus looks great and I have to start working hard again tomorrow when classes start...life's good.
I was all afraid that I wouldn't recognize a lot of campus and that time was going to pass me by, but I have no idea what I was worried about (well maybe I did miss a lot of friend stuff) because I feel absolutely at home right now. Campus looks great and I have to start working hard again tomorrow when classes start...life's good.
Running the Gauntlet
I remembered a funny story yesterday when I was reminiscing about China with my roommates. I've already told you about the amount of volunteers at the Olympics, but I haven't talked a lot about their enthusiasm.
Example A
With the help of my accreditation I attended two days of the Track Cycling events. Following the event I decided to join the minions and leave the same way as the hard-working, paying fans. As I approached the exit I could hear singing and screaming and first thought it might be some roudy fans celebrating their country's success. Instead, I found two huge rows of Chinese volunteers lining the exit. They were clapping, singing, and dancing quite enthusiastically. Naturally I wanted to join the fun so I too started to clap and get excited. Not wanting to waste my excitement, I got loud, grunting high-fives from every volunteer as I walked the row. Every single one of them made sure to slap my hand and give me some form of goodbye. To my surprise, I even got a "hasta manana" from one volunteer.
Example B
Following the USA victory over Chinese Taipai (Taiwan) in baseball we exited the stands. I became excited with the knowledge that an enthusiastic goodbye may await me. Sure enough a huge row of Chinese volunteers snaked along the path to the exit. Wanting to change things up I hit the line running. Just as if I was running onto the field for a big game I got low and sped through the line getting low fives. They were no less excited than those at Cycling. It was a gauntlet of volunteers and I had successfully navigated it.
Example A
With the help of my accreditation I attended two days of the Track Cycling events. Following the event I decided to join the minions and leave the same way as the hard-working, paying fans. As I approached the exit I could hear singing and screaming and first thought it might be some roudy fans celebrating their country's success. Instead, I found two huge rows of Chinese volunteers lining the exit. They were clapping, singing, and dancing quite enthusiastically. Naturally I wanted to join the fun so I too started to clap and get excited. Not wanting to waste my excitement, I got loud, grunting high-fives from every volunteer as I walked the row. Every single one of them made sure to slap my hand and give me some form of goodbye. To my surprise, I even got a "hasta manana" from one volunteer.
Example B
Following the USA victory over Chinese Taipai (Taiwan) in baseball we exited the stands. I became excited with the knowledge that an enthusiastic goodbye may await me. Sure enough a huge row of Chinese volunteers snaked along the path to the exit. Wanting to change things up I hit the line running. Just as if I was running onto the field for a big game I got low and sped through the line getting low fives. They were no less excited than those at Cycling. It was a gauntlet of volunteers and I had successfully navigated it.
Monday, September 1, 2008
You Haven't Seen the Last of Beijing
In the midst of a very long flight home, fresh over Fairbanks, Alaska, I wanted to take a little time and look back at my last two months in Beijing, China. First and foremost, a lot of what people hear about China back home is true and a lot is false. The pollution is terrible, Communism is alive and thriving (and a lot of the people like that, one youth told me Communism is the only way to go, and he was younger than me), poverty is huge and there really is an insane amount of people. The people for the most part are incredibly nice, Communism works well in a lot of areas of society and if you look at the percentages not that many people speak English.
A lot of these things have made the last two months one of the best times of my life and also one of the most frustrating. The Olympic Games in general are a fantastic, amazing event. It is clearly the pinnacle of sport for any serious or casual sports fan. No knock on October, my favorite month of the year, or March, but when the Olympics come around it blows both those events out of the water. Well, that is assuming the Braves aren’t in the World Series.
Mark my word, there will not be another Olympic Games that involve so many nice people. It’s long been documented, and maybe I’ve written about it too, but there were an insane amount of young Chinese volunteers, too many in fact. As I’m writing I’ve begun to wonder if there really exist an amount of people that nice or since we were in China they were trained/forced to be nice. Or maybe I’ve just become more cynical in the last two months. Almost everyday I had someone tell me “Welcome to Beijing,” and it even happened a couple times after the Games were over. These kids really had a desire to make things work well and make people feel welcome and happy. And you can’t help but applaud that. I can walk away from China knowing that these people care about other people. How many times are you going to have a cab driver pull over to ask for directions in New York? It happened to me at least a half dozen times in Beijing. We couldn’t communicate beyond a map, but they wanted to get it right so they stopped.
If you are easily frustrated, which a lot of people on this trip were, you either have to snapped out of it real quick or just go home. It is guaranteed that at least once a day some cultural difference will frustrate and annoy you to no end. I’ll vent a couple of my frustrations just because it may seem worthwhile. In China, personal space in non-existent and many typical rules just don’t apply. I’ll relay a story to demonstrate a point. To get out of a subway car one must have some space in which to step off the train, or at least one would think. That’s not really the way it works here and to be honest it really pisses me off. People instead will all stand directly in front of the door and charge in right away without the slightest attempt to let anyone off. So one day, like Custer, I took a stand. After realizing at my stop that the man boarding the train was just going to walk straight in I decided to stand there. I wasn’t going to exit, just not let him in. After attempted to juke me a few times I think he understood my point and stepped aside to let me off. And you quickly have to realize that if you don’t push in a crowd, someone is going to push you. I feel like a terrible person doing it, but there really isn’t a choice. And I would get the biggest laugh when a Chinese person would become appalled that I would push my way around. It’s dog eat dog for a lot of things there.
China is a young country, internationally speaking, and it becomes apparent in regular dealings with people. A lot of people here have a thirst for knowledge about other places. They want to know what I think, they want to know what happens in the US and they want to know why it happens. And they will go to great lengths to continue conversations and friendships. A five minute conversation can easily turn into a lifelong friendship.
I really feel like I have a ton to write about from China and I'm a little disappointed in myself that I didn't relay those feelings and tidbits earlier on this blog, but I would really like to now so please continue to check back.
A lot of these things have made the last two months one of the best times of my life and also one of the most frustrating. The Olympic Games in general are a fantastic, amazing event. It is clearly the pinnacle of sport for any serious or casual sports fan. No knock on October, my favorite month of the year, or March, but when the Olympics come around it blows both those events out of the water. Well, that is assuming the Braves aren’t in the World Series.
Mark my word, there will not be another Olympic Games that involve so many nice people. It’s long been documented, and maybe I’ve written about it too, but there were an insane amount of young Chinese volunteers, too many in fact. As I’m writing I’ve begun to wonder if there really exist an amount of people that nice or since we were in China they were trained/forced to be nice. Or maybe I’ve just become more cynical in the last two months. Almost everyday I had someone tell me “Welcome to Beijing,” and it even happened a couple times after the Games were over. These kids really had a desire to make things work well and make people feel welcome and happy. And you can’t help but applaud that. I can walk away from China knowing that these people care about other people. How many times are you going to have a cab driver pull over to ask for directions in New York? It happened to me at least a half dozen times in Beijing. We couldn’t communicate beyond a map, but they wanted to get it right so they stopped.
If you are easily frustrated, which a lot of people on this trip were, you either have to snapped out of it real quick or just go home. It is guaranteed that at least once a day some cultural difference will frustrate and annoy you to no end. I’ll vent a couple of my frustrations just because it may seem worthwhile. In China, personal space in non-existent and many typical rules just don’t apply. I’ll relay a story to demonstrate a point. To get out of a subway car one must have some space in which to step off the train, or at least one would think. That’s not really the way it works here and to be honest it really pisses me off. People instead will all stand directly in front of the door and charge in right away without the slightest attempt to let anyone off. So one day, like Custer, I took a stand. After realizing at my stop that the man boarding the train was just going to walk straight in I decided to stand there. I wasn’t going to exit, just not let him in. After attempted to juke me a few times I think he understood my point and stepped aside to let me off. And you quickly have to realize that if you don’t push in a crowd, someone is going to push you. I feel like a terrible person doing it, but there really isn’t a choice. And I would get the biggest laugh when a Chinese person would become appalled that I would push my way around. It’s dog eat dog for a lot of things there.
China is a young country, internationally speaking, and it becomes apparent in regular dealings with people. A lot of people here have a thirst for knowledge about other places. They want to know what I think, they want to know what happens in the US and they want to know why it happens. And they will go to great lengths to continue conversations and friendships. A five minute conversation can easily turn into a lifelong friendship.
I really feel like I have a ton to write about from China and I'm a little disappointed in myself that I didn't relay those feelings and tidbits earlier on this blog, but I would really like to now so please continue to check back.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Last Supper
I went out to dinner for my last night in China with Johannes, a friend from Denmark who is working in Beijing for the time being. I suggested we hit up The Little Mermaid, a Danish restaurant hidden down a dark and scary alley in the Sanlitun district. How ironic is it that for my last dinner in China I had Danish food? Just one of those things I thought I would pass along.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Potent Potables
Spurred on by a comment from loyal blog reader Brian Durban, I decided to take the plunge on what you see above. For the last two months I have been intrigued by whatever was in the little brown pottery. They are sold virtually everywhere and you are sure to find a Chinese person sipping one on any given street. I always wanted to purchase one, but could never pull the trigger. Brian told me the story of his friend who raved about them when she spent time here so I felt that I couldn't have a complete trip without going for it.
Whatever sort of concoction that was actually in there tasted good. It was a yogurty texture, but a little bit more bitter than your typical yogurt. It's sealed by the paper over the top and when you're ready to drink you punch a hole with the straw. I could see where it would make for a refreshing drink on a hot day and for 60 cents a pop, why not!
I remembered this picture from a while back. It's a stand selling these drinks on a street next to the Forbidden City.
Friday, August 22, 2008
The Glare is Too Bright
For those of you that don't know, I studied in Arhus, Denmark last semester, January-June, and had an amazing time. I really fell in love with Denmark. Two nights ago I went to Club Bud with a bunch of fellow Mizzou students. Club Bud is a semi-exclusive have-to-be-on-a-list-to-get-in kind of place run by Budweiser. Somebody knew somebody so we were able to get in. The place is packed with Olympians and media types, plus friends and family. Another important note: free beer. Half way through the night I noticed a few guys in sweaters with the Danish flag and Olympic rings. Obviously they were Olympians but I had no idea which sport. I worked up the courage to go talk to them and they were extremely nice, per usual of Danish people. I found out they were Sailers and had won the gold medal in Sailing aboard the 49er. After chatting for a bit I moved on. A little later I noticed another possible Sailer that I hadn't met earlier. And deciding that my chances here were limited I went to talk to him. Turns out he lives in the same area of Arhus that I lived in, Risskov. We chatted for a bit more and I asked for a picture. At this point he takes his Gold Medal out of his pocket and tells me I need to put it on for the picture. This obviously is a stunning turn of events and so naturally I'm stunned. He puts the medal and me and we snap a photo. He gave me some time to inspect the medal for myself: it's decently heavy, shiny, made of gold, had his sport and boat name engraved on it, was inset with jade on one side and had some crazy design on the other side. I didn't want to take it off, but something about it being his persuaded me to give it back up. What's awesome is that I didn't even know he had the medal with him and he volunteered to have me wear it which is sweet. A truly cool experience to be wearing a gold medal!
Lost and Found
Quick story before I head down to the Olympic Green for Athletics tonight (this story will be followed either tonight or tomorrow by the story of the actual game):
On the way to The Denmark, a local Beijing bar frequented by Danish, European and American people alike, after Denmark's win in Handball over Germany the other night, I somehow left my phone in my lap and when I got out it must have fell in the cab unbeknownst to be. I had met a ton of amazing Danish people on the subway and at the game and was riding in the cab with three of them. After getting to the bar and realizing my phone was gone I obviously lashed out in rage and started throwing things. Well not quite rage and throwing things, but I was pretty upset because to get another phone would take way too much time and effort and money and we only had a little over a week left. Let me also say that a cell phone here is COMPLETELY NECESSARY! So the thought of all those things crossing my mind made me quite worried and essential ended the night of revelry that was expected after the Danish victory. So...this is where the kindness of a lot of people come in. I used one Danish girls phone to do the only thing I could think of and call my phone back. Someone answered and in decent English I thought they told me the cab driver would come back to the bar. Well that didn't happen. I used another Danish guys phone to call again, this time the person answered in Chinese. Long story short, over the course of the next hour/hour and a half I continued to use the Danish guys phone and three Chinese people stopped on the street outside the bar to help me translate whatever the person on the other side was saying. Finally after the 3rd guy finished translating he told me to go back to my University and the phone would be waiting there. I profusely thanked the Danish people for their help and hustled into a cab over to Renmin only to find a group of Mizzou students waiting next to two cabs. Sure enough one of the cabbies had my phone! The Mizzou people had tried to explain that they knew me but the women said she would only give it to me, how amazing is that! I tried offering her money but she refused and instead just wanted a hug and a picture. Three other people have seen their phones disappear is cabs here, but after almost 2 hours of calling and pleading and the like, I got my phone back for a hug and a picture. Crazy, crazy stuff!
On the way to The Denmark, a local Beijing bar frequented by Danish, European and American people alike, after Denmark's win in Handball over Germany the other night, I somehow left my phone in my lap and when I got out it must have fell in the cab unbeknownst to be. I had met a ton of amazing Danish people on the subway and at the game and was riding in the cab with three of them. After getting to the bar and realizing my phone was gone I obviously lashed out in rage and started throwing things. Well not quite rage and throwing things, but I was pretty upset because to get another phone would take way too much time and effort and money and we only had a little over a week left. Let me also say that a cell phone here is COMPLETELY NECESSARY! So the thought of all those things crossing my mind made me quite worried and essential ended the night of revelry that was expected after the Danish victory. So...this is where the kindness of a lot of people come in. I used one Danish girls phone to do the only thing I could think of and call my phone back. Someone answered and in decent English I thought they told me the cab driver would come back to the bar. Well that didn't happen. I used another Danish guys phone to call again, this time the person answered in Chinese. Long story short, over the course of the next hour/hour and a half I continued to use the Danish guys phone and three Chinese people stopped on the street outside the bar to help me translate whatever the person on the other side was saying. Finally after the 3rd guy finished translating he told me to go back to my University and the phone would be waiting there. I profusely thanked the Danish people for their help and hustled into a cab over to Renmin only to find a group of Mizzou students waiting next to two cabs. Sure enough one of the cabbies had my phone! The Mizzou people had tried to explain that they knew me but the women said she would only give it to me, how amazing is that! I tried offering her money but she refused and instead just wanted a hug and a picture. Three other people have seen their phones disappear is cabs here, but after almost 2 hours of calling and pleading and the like, I got my phone back for a hug and a picture. Crazy, crazy stuff!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Olympic Spirit
I met a women the other week who if I remember correctly had been to about 7 Olympic Games. The first half of her Olympic experiences were spent working in Press Operations, but after she stopped working the Olympics she's kept coming back. She can't take herself away from the Olympic spirit, the feelings that an event like this brings out.
I've come to realize exactly what she means. And just as she said, it's something special. Bringing the entire world into one place at one time is amazing. It's impossible to be unhappy here right now, or at least as a fan. The joy of others is just way too contagious. I've talked to at least one person from every continent except Antarctica and cheered for countries I probably could have cared less about two months ago. It's the Olympic spirit that has kept her coming back every year and it's that same Olympic spirit that will most certainly bring me back to the Olympics again.
I've come to realize exactly what she means. And just as she said, it's something special. Bringing the entire world into one place at one time is amazing. It's impossible to be unhappy here right now, or at least as a fan. The joy of others is just way too contagious. I've talked to at least one person from every continent except Antarctica and cheered for countries I probably could have cared less about two months ago. It's the Olympic spirit that has kept her coming back every year and it's that same Olympic spirit that will most certainly bring me back to the Olympics again.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
A Bolt of Lighting
The 100M dash is one of the most electric events at the Olympic. And just when you thought it couldn't get any better some guy comes along and completely destroys the field. A lot of us volunteers were lucky enough to get free tickets for Athletics last night and what an amazing time it was. This was my first venture into the Bird's Nest! Never before had I been a part of a crowd that large, 91,000 people packed it in. There really didn't have to be anything going on, just being there was awesome. Feeling the Olympic energy and being a part of the moment. It was also great to really cheer all out for the US at an event since this was my first event as a spectator. But the funny thing was that even though Tyson Gay didn't qualify for the 100 finals, it couldn't have been more exciting. When you have so many great story lines and countries competing you can't help but cheer for everyone. And I had no problem cheering for Jamaica and Usain Bolt. I hope everyone at home saw the race and if you didn't Youtube it because it was insane. He is such an electrifying figure. We all flipped out at the end of the race when we realized what he had done and the building went nuts. Certainly one of the cooler sports moments I've ever witnessed. You couldn't help but scream for Jamaica when you saw him dancing around the stadium after the race. Oh and p.s., the Bird's Nest isn't too bad of a place.
Friday, August 15, 2008
News and Notes
I saw my first ever live boxing match yesterday when I worked at the Boxing venue. Olympic boxing is much different than the heavyweight Tyson-Lennox Lewis boxing that people think of. Everyone fighting is an amateur and they wear padded helmets. It was awesome regardless.
Tonight I'm attended one of the best events at the Olympics: the Men's 100M dash. Hopefully it can live up to the hype and we'll have 3 guys at the tape in a photo finish. It's also going to be my first time in the Bird's Nest so I'm excited about that.
Tonight I'm attended one of the best events at the Olympics: the Men's 100M dash. Hopefully it can live up to the hype and we'll have 3 guys at the tape in a photo finish. It's also going to be my first time in the Bird's Nest so I'm excited about that.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
To Be or Not to Be
There is an interesting, but albeit logical phenomenon at the local markets here. One that makes me want to give up my American label. Vendors at the markets assume that all Americans are rich, which can make things tougher when you’re trying to bargain. The sensible alternative: tell them you’re Canadian. For some reason Chinese love Canadians. Walking around in the market I saw maple leafs everywhere. And the great thing about it is that you can’t tell an American apart from a Canadian, or at least the Chinese can’t.
The Opening Ceremonies are tomorrow and I strongly urge everyone to give up their morning and watch. From what I’ve read and heard they are going to be spectacular. A few of us have a plan now to go down towards the Bird’s Nest and get as close as possible, stake out a spot and chill. Obviously, if I watched it on TV I would be able to see everything, but I could watch it on TV back in STL, I couldn’t be outside the actual stadium. I just want to be around the atmosphere and see the fireworks and feel the excitement. Since I’ve learned here to not follow a lot of my predictions when it comes to China, I don’t even want to imagine how many people might be downtown and how crazy things are going to be. Just pray that everything goes off smoothly and there aren’t any disturbances. No matter your feelings on China, this needs to go off well.
Road Cycling starts on Saturday and it is the first marquee medal of the Games. The men ride on Saturday, followed by the women on Sunday. After two days off, both the Men and Women race their time trials on Wednesday
The Opening Ceremonies are tomorrow and I strongly urge everyone to give up their morning and watch. From what I’ve read and heard they are going to be spectacular. A few of us have a plan now to go down towards the Bird’s Nest and get as close as possible, stake out a spot and chill. Obviously, if I watched it on TV I would be able to see everything, but I could watch it on TV back in STL, I couldn’t be outside the actual stadium. I just want to be around the atmosphere and see the fireworks and feel the excitement. Since I’ve learned here to not follow a lot of my predictions when it comes to China, I don’t even want to imagine how many people might be downtown and how crazy things are going to be. Just pray that everything goes off smoothly and there aren’t any disturbances. No matter your feelings on China, this needs to go off well.
Road Cycling starts on Saturday and it is the first marquee medal of the Games. The men ride on Saturday, followed by the women on Sunday. After two days off, both the Men and Women race their time trials on Wednesday
Monday, August 4, 2008
I Saw the Sign
When you think of going to China, one may look at the Great Wall, Forbidden City or Xi’an Clay Soldiers as the coolest thing one can do. Well they are right, the Great Wall is outstanding (more later on that) and really awe inspiring in many places. However, the best night of our trip belongings to July 24th, the night before the last Olympic tickets went on sale at the main ticket office. Olympic tickets were sold in four flights and it was announced five days prior that the fourth and final flight would go on sale starting at 9am on July 25th. Although tickets would be available at all venues, the main ticket office near the Olympic Green was selling tickets to some of the most sought after events: athletics, basketball, baseball and handball (well maybe handball isn’t an overall hot seller, but I wanted the tickets). A group of us was made privy to this clearly public information on the 24th and decided to camp out in line in order to secure tickets on the 25th. Several people went ahead of me and bought the essentials (yoga mats, pizza slices and beer) at Wal-Mart. Clearly we were experienced line waiters, forgetting that in the 12 hours or so we planned to sit there that maybe water might be a good option in the humid Beijing night. I joined the group at the subway and we made it down to the ticket area at about 7:00pm, strutting out of the subway station fairly confident that only a short 12 hour wait stood between us and some great, cheap tickets. Naturally we weren’t shocked to see an already long line forming, one we guesstimated to hold a couple hundred people. After all there are almost 20 million people in this city, some of them must have free time to get tickets. As we followed the giant snake of a line our fears continued to increase that maybe we might not get tickets, perhaps our best efforts were for not. And it only took one look around the corner of the next street to at the same time completely dash our hopes and make our jaws drop in astonishment. There lay before us tens of thousands of Chinese stretching out into the distance. The rest is history…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/gallery/2008/jul/24/olympics2008.china.beijing?picture=335958099
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/jul/24/olympicgames2008.china1
http://www.mingpaonews.com/20080725/spb1.htm
The captions says: A group of American volunteer came to buy ticket, but after seeing the scene they opt out (or maybe something like chickened out?) They also made a "the line starts here" sign to entertain themselves.
It says in the article: A few American volunteers hoped to get baseball tickets, they brought yoga mats, beer and food hoping to be first in line, but when they arrive at 6pm, they realized they were too late.
Eric was quoted: This is too scary! We came too late! Even if we start lining up now, we still won't get ticket, so we're just having a picnic here and have a look at the scene of lines."
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Our legend is too big to describe is a few measly words so I will say only that for a solid 3 hours we were the party, we were “it”, we were the news, we were what the French call a certain – I don’t know what, we were the stars (and oh how thankful the Chinese were to see stars because you sure can’t see them in the sky), we were Westerners, we were ‘those guys’, we were causing so much of a distraction the police broke it up…and it was AWESOME!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/gallery/2008/jul/24/olympics2008.china.beijing?picture=335958099
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/jul/24/olympicgames2008.china1
http://www.mingpaonews.com/20080725/spb1.htm
The captions says: A group of American volunteer came to buy ticket, but after seeing the scene they opt out (or maybe something like chickened out?) They also made a "the line starts here" sign to entertain themselves.
It says in the article: A few American volunteers hoped to get baseball tickets, they brought yoga mats, beer and food hoping to be first in line, but when they arrive at 6pm, they realized they were too late.
Eric was quoted: This is too scary! We came too late! Even if we start lining up now, we still won't get ticket, so we're just having a picnic here and have a look at the scene of lines."
----------------
Our legend is too big to describe is a few measly words so I will say only that for a solid 3 hours we were the party, we were “it”, we were the news, we were what the French call a certain – I don’t know what, we were the stars (and oh how thankful the Chinese were to see stars because you sure can’t see them in the sky), we were Westerners, we were ‘those guys’, we were causing so much of a distraction the police broke it up…and it was AWESOME!
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Lookin' Good
Rockin out my sweet Adidas volunteer uniform, I know Mr. Clark would definitely tell me I am "lookin' good today."
Faith and Geography
So after going to mass again this week at the South Cathedral, I thought I would finally blog about our interesting experience at last week's mass. Each mass we've made sure to sit at the front just cause you feel like a bigger part of it, mostly because that church seating is oddly arranged and has a ton of blind spots. Anywho, luckily we were sitting in the front last week because there happened to be a baptism and confirmation that day. The girl sitting in front of us, middle 20's maybe, was the new Catholic. It was very interesting to see how they did things. It was unusually slow because of the language barrier (everything was done in English, and I'm pretty sure the girl wasn't fluent by any means), the priest seemed to be hesitant about things in English. There also was no baptismal font, replaced instead by a plastic bowl on a table that was brought to the front. It was cool to see something like that in a foreign country.
After the long mass, Regan, a mizzou girl on the trip, and I decided to sit in the courtyard outside the church. It was here we met our special friend "Eric." And I'm only calling him Eric because we bestowed that English name on him since he didn't previously have one.
Within 2 minutes of us sitting down on a bench Eric popped in front of us to ask where we were from. Safe knowing that we were Americans, Eric proceeded for the next 30 minutes to display his vast knowledge of American geography. After mentioning St. Louis, he immediately came back with The Arch (and also claimed there to be an arch in Atlanta, I must have missed that one). Regan and I went back and forth naming States and he would fire back their respective capitals. Eric talked so much we could never get a word in. Like many Chinese I've run into, he wanted to practice or show off his English, and in particular show off his knowledge of American geography. On a couple occasions when he couldn't come up with the capital right away, he would walk away and blatantly consult his book of notes, only to come back and content he knew it all along. We had fun with him for a while and it was cool to see that he knew so much, but there came the time when we just had to say bye and head out. I had every reason to believe that Eric could have kept us there for a couple more hours if we were willing.
That story ties into another story from this Friday night when a couple of us went to English Corner. Located by the East gate of campus, English Corner is held every Friday night from 7pm till the last person leaves. Chinese of all ages gather to practice their English and keep on the lookout for any white person that comes by. I had wanted to attend the previous week, but missed out so I was glad to be able to make it for a couple hours this night. For the 2 hours I was there I had a consistent group of about 5 guys, ranging from 20-55, gathered around me wanting to talk about a wide range of things: including American politics, the Olympics, Chinese VISA issues and the reason why a lazy susan is called a lazy susan. One of the younger guys actually provided me an answer to this last question, when I wasn't able to give him one. Each of the guys spoke a different level of English, all of them trying to get a question in whenever possible. It was a ton of fun to talk with them and even asking them some questions myself. I got some interesting responses when we talked about the Chinese government and freedom of press and recent issues in that one region to the west. They seemed to speak very honestly about the issues which I was glad to see. Per Eric, I could have been kept there all night by my group, but I eventually had to call it a night. They all thanked me for coming and wished me to come back next week. The English Corner is one of the more special things about this place, people so eager to learn English and so excited and fired up when a native speaker comes to talk with them.
After the long mass, Regan, a mizzou girl on the trip, and I decided to sit in the courtyard outside the church. It was here we met our special friend "Eric." And I'm only calling him Eric because we bestowed that English name on him since he didn't previously have one.
Within 2 minutes of us sitting down on a bench Eric popped in front of us to ask where we were from. Safe knowing that we were Americans, Eric proceeded for the next 30 minutes to display his vast knowledge of American geography. After mentioning St. Louis, he immediately came back with The Arch (and also claimed there to be an arch in Atlanta, I must have missed that one). Regan and I went back and forth naming States and he would fire back their respective capitals. Eric talked so much we could never get a word in. Like many Chinese I've run into, he wanted to practice or show off his English, and in particular show off his knowledge of American geography. On a couple occasions when he couldn't come up with the capital right away, he would walk away and blatantly consult his book of notes, only to come back and content he knew it all along. We had fun with him for a while and it was cool to see that he knew so much, but there came the time when we just had to say bye and head out. I had every reason to believe that Eric could have kept us there for a couple more hours if we were willing.
That story ties into another story from this Friday night when a couple of us went to English Corner. Located by the East gate of campus, English Corner is held every Friday night from 7pm till the last person leaves. Chinese of all ages gather to practice their English and keep on the lookout for any white person that comes by. I had wanted to attend the previous week, but missed out so I was glad to be able to make it for a couple hours this night. For the 2 hours I was there I had a consistent group of about 5 guys, ranging from 20-55, gathered around me wanting to talk about a wide range of things: including American politics, the Olympics, Chinese VISA issues and the reason why a lazy susan is called a lazy susan. One of the younger guys actually provided me an answer to this last question, when I wasn't able to give him one. Each of the guys spoke a different level of English, all of them trying to get a question in whenever possible. It was a ton of fun to talk with them and even asking them some questions myself. I got some interesting responses when we talked about the Chinese government and freedom of press and recent issues in that one region to the west. They seemed to speak very honestly about the issues which I was glad to see. Per Eric, I could have been kept there all night by my group, but I eventually had to call it a night. They all thanked me for coming and wished me to come back next week. The English Corner is one of the more special things about this place, people so eager to learn English and so excited and fired up when a native speaker comes to talk with them.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
So Many Jobs, So Little Time
A co-worker of my Dad recently commented about the amount of people that China is attempting to employ for the Games. I haven't looked for any official numbers, but he says a number around 1.3 billion. This actually has been something I've been talking about a lot recently with people on the trip. So thanks to Bumwrap for motivating me to actually put down my thoughts.
There are TOO MANY PEOPLE WORKING HERE! Everyday that I'm out I find someone else doing a pointless job. And I don't mean to be negative about the situation, but they're currently employing 20 people to do the job of one person. For example, at one of the subway stations, I witnessed three women wiping down the individual bars that line the railings leading down the steps. I also saw one guy just wiping down one spot on a wall for about 5 minutes as I waited for another train. Perhaps most interesting was the woman wiping down the exterior of the trash cans on a small side street. And yesterday we walked behind one guy whose sole job was the pick up cigarette butts off the sidewalk.
Although the cigarette guy was wearing a volunteer uniform, I assume the rest of the people were getting paid, all be it not well. Migrant workers probably make up a large portion of those currently being employed, which will cause problems when the Olympics are over and everyone leaves. It's inevitable that they city will hit it's peak in August. In all likelihood, it will never be as clean, efficient or organized. Honestly, it doesn't really have to be.
Unrelated hilarity
"Ribbon dancer, dancin' for money, do what you want me to do"
There are TOO MANY PEOPLE WORKING HERE! Everyday that I'm out I find someone else doing a pointless job. And I don't mean to be negative about the situation, but they're currently employing 20 people to do the job of one person. For example, at one of the subway stations, I witnessed three women wiping down the individual bars that line the railings leading down the steps. I also saw one guy just wiping down one spot on a wall for about 5 minutes as I waited for another train. Perhaps most interesting was the woman wiping down the exterior of the trash cans on a small side street. And yesterday we walked behind one guy whose sole job was the pick up cigarette butts off the sidewalk.
Although the cigarette guy was wearing a volunteer uniform, I assume the rest of the people were getting paid, all be it not well. Migrant workers probably make up a large portion of those currently being employed, which will cause problems when the Olympics are over and everyone leaves. It's inevitable that they city will hit it's peak in August. In all likelihood, it will never be as clean, efficient or organized. Honestly, it doesn't really have to be.
Unrelated hilarity
"Ribbon dancer, dancin' for money, do what you want me to do"
Touring Beijing
Our 3-day touring weekend was filled with long days, lots of traditional Chinese food and cool sights. In light of the whole “long days” thing I’ll just share the major highlights of the tour that included the Great Wall, Beijing Water Treatment Plant, Beijing Suburbs (a.k.a. ideal Communist community) Ming Dynasty Tombs, Summer Palace, Winter Palace, Beijing Opera and copious amounts of Chinese food:
The Great Wall
On Saturday, we bused out to the Badaling section of the Great Wall, a.k.a. the section with the most tourists. We could see the wall from the street, but it was just a tease for about 30 minutes. Luckily for us, Mexican President Felipe Calderon decided to pay a visit right before we got there. His presence essentially shut a major portion of the wall down for about 45 minutes while he could do a photo-shoot and his own personal tour. I have however, decided to harbor no ill feelings towards our neighbors to the South. After finally getting through the yellow tape and to the entrance, we were held up there again while Calderon got tea and had a picnic lunch (maybe a slight exaggeration on his actions). My feelings towards umbrellas in China need to be saved for another post, but lets just say they are ridiculous. After being completely smushed against other students for another 30 minutes we were finally let in, and IT WAS WORTH IT. Everyone’s heard the stories about seeing the Wall from space, but until I got to see it first hand, I wasn’t truly aware of its size. The terrain in the Badaling area was incredibly mountainous and the fact they were able to build such a structure against those natural barriers was perhaps the most intriguing thing. Add to the fact that it was basically all built with unskilled labor and it turns into one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Some areas are very steep and it was interesting to see that the step sizes varied widely up an incline. One step might go up a foot, but the next one is just a couple inches. Paying attention then becomes necessary.
Summer Palace
We visited the Summer Palace on Sunday and it quickly became one of my favorite spots in Beijing. Built specifically as a get-away place for past dynasties the Palace essentially is a huge park with tons of water and willow trees. And mixing water with willow trees always turns out well. One of the emperoresses even blew all of the country’s naval money way back when and built a huge ship out of marble, which is on display in the palace. It was her personal playground. An incredibly beautiful place. Also, I had my second photo shot with a Chinese person. I’m guessing this time she recognized me from my leading role in “A Simple Twist of Fate” alongside my close friend Steve Martin. Luckily, I was able to get away without signing too many autographs.
Beijing Opera
The last event on our weekend tour was the Beijing Opera. Let me preface this paragraph by saying I’ve never been to an opera and had no idea what an opera was supposed to look like, but I’m guessing it’s not the Chinese version. Filled with hilarious translations on a side screen, really loud sound and unusual movements, the Opera was certainly a first. The plot went no-where and took forever to get where it was trying to go. Along the way it became impossible to follow. The costumes were quite humorous and people singing opera in Chinese was also funny. According to some Chinese we talked to, even they can’t understand what’s going on or what the characters are saying. Lucky for us, we had simultaneous translation on two screens next to the stage. The translations were a show in itself. I continue to firmly believe that someone could make an absolute killing here by going around and correctly translating things into English. They just can’t seem to do it correctly 90% of the time.
Another thing to note about the weekend tour was the 6 consecutive traditional Chinese meals that we ate. For lunch and dinner everyday we ate family style and were served essentially the same thing at each place. I can’t pass up free food, but
The Great Wall
On Saturday, we bused out to the Badaling section of the Great Wall, a.k.a. the section with the most tourists. We could see the wall from the street, but it was just a tease for about 30 minutes. Luckily for us, Mexican President Felipe Calderon decided to pay a visit right before we got there. His presence essentially shut a major portion of the wall down for about 45 minutes while he could do a photo-shoot and his own personal tour. I have however, decided to harbor no ill feelings towards our neighbors to the South. After finally getting through the yellow tape and to the entrance, we were held up there again while Calderon got tea and had a picnic lunch (maybe a slight exaggeration on his actions). My feelings towards umbrellas in China need to be saved for another post, but lets just say they are ridiculous. After being completely smushed against other students for another 30 minutes we were finally let in, and IT WAS WORTH IT. Everyone’s heard the stories about seeing the Wall from space, but until I got to see it first hand, I wasn’t truly aware of its size. The terrain in the Badaling area was incredibly mountainous and the fact they were able to build such a structure against those natural barriers was perhaps the most intriguing thing. Add to the fact that it was basically all built with unskilled labor and it turns into one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Some areas are very steep and it was interesting to see that the step sizes varied widely up an incline. One step might go up a foot, but the next one is just a couple inches. Paying attention then becomes necessary.
Summer Palace
We visited the Summer Palace on Sunday and it quickly became one of my favorite spots in Beijing. Built specifically as a get-away place for past dynasties the Palace essentially is a huge park with tons of water and willow trees. And mixing water with willow trees always turns out well. One of the emperoresses even blew all of the country’s naval money way back when and built a huge ship out of marble, which is on display in the palace. It was her personal playground. An incredibly beautiful place. Also, I had my second photo shot with a Chinese person. I’m guessing this time she recognized me from my leading role in “A Simple Twist of Fate” alongside my close friend Steve Martin. Luckily, I was able to get away without signing too many autographs.
Beijing Opera
The last event on our weekend tour was the Beijing Opera. Let me preface this paragraph by saying I’ve never been to an opera and had no idea what an opera was supposed to look like, but I’m guessing it’s not the Chinese version. Filled with hilarious translations on a side screen, really loud sound and unusual movements, the Opera was certainly a first. The plot went no-where and took forever to get where it was trying to go. Along the way it became impossible to follow. The costumes were quite humorous and people singing opera in Chinese was also funny. According to some Chinese we talked to, even they can’t understand what’s going on or what the characters are saying. Lucky for us, we had simultaneous translation on two screens next to the stage. The translations were a show in itself. I continue to firmly believe that someone could make an absolute killing here by going around and correctly translating things into English. They just can’t seem to do it correctly 90% of the time.
Another thing to note about the weekend tour was the 6 consecutive traditional Chinese meals that we ate. For lunch and dinner everyday we ate family style and were served essentially the same thing at each place. I can’t pass up free food, but
Friday, July 11, 2008
Food Network X
Two nights ago a few of us ended our day at the Night Market downtown. Close to Tiananmen Square, in sort of a Times Square type area, the Night Market is open for a few hours every night. Essentially it's a very long row of booths selling a WIDE variety of foods. According to the sign, it was arranged to give people a chance to eat some of the more unusual Chinese cuisine. It's a regulated thing and so I think there may be some guidelines or codes they have to follow. Anyway, let's just say that I upped the ante a little bit from the last food pictures. Without further adu, the things I ate:
Chicken Heart - the best one
Snake - the worst one
Sea Snake - very chewy
Silk Worm
Cicada - surprisingly tasty
Seahorse
Scorpion
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Food Network Stuff
As requested by a friend of Eric Abroad, the pictures I've so far taken of my interesting food. I'll make sure to take more in the future.
First lunch on campus
Before eating
After eating, not sure what the stuff in the middle was but it kind of tasted like fig
An assortment of Chinese food and a slice of pizza, a little known fact that pizza was invented in Beijing
Feel free to guess what this might be
A whole table of mostly unidentifiable foods, which for the most part were good
First lunch on campus
Before eating
After eating, not sure what the stuff in the middle was but it kind of tasted like fig
An assortment of Chinese food and a slice of pizza, a little known fact that pizza was invented in Beijing
Feel free to guess what this might be
A whole table of mostly unidentifiable foods, which for the most part were good
Monday, July 7, 2008
American in Beijing
Wow, where to start on this blog! It has been a couple days since my last post and it that time there's been a lot going on.
Saturday
An early morning wake up got us going on a guided tour day with Steve, our Chinese tour guide. Steve, that's his English name, was awesome! On our bus ride to Tiananmen Square he filled us in on some Chinese history. The Square really just seemed to come out of nowhere and it's extremely big. If you're a people watcher then you would be in heaven at this place. So many interesting people wandering around. We walked around the square for a while looking at the buildings, including Chairman Mao's mausoleum, which I plan to go to sometime later. For some reason, there are just randomly placed Chinese guards who didn't really look to serve a purpose aside from standing there and looking intimidating (which didn't work either). We weren't even there for 5 minutes and I got stopped by a Chinese guy wanting to take a picture with me. Obviously he recognized me from all the Braves games on TBS. So after a photo shoot and autograph session I was back on my way touring around. It was amazing how many people wanted to take pictures with us. There is a tall blond girl on the trip and needless to say she drew a lot of stares. I even watched some older man inconspiciously (lol) walk next to her without saying anything to get a picture. So slick. After a while we headed into the Forbidden City, which is vast to say the least. It reminded me of the Louvre, one of those places you can go and literally spend days there attempting to look at everything. The architecture was fascinating and the whole place seemed very overwhelming. You just continue to pass from huge courtyard to huge courtyard. I learned some interesting info about some of the buildings and their use in olden times.
After the Forbidden City, we took a short bus ride to the Hutong District. We got to go up into this Drum Tower which use to be used as a clock, with people striking the drums to signal different times. While in the tower we caught a drum show. Five Chinese people played on the huge cylinder drums lining the walls. The tower also provided a great view of the city. Luckily, the smog wasn't too bad that day so we were able to see a good distance. After a climb down the steep tower stairs we all got an awesome ride in a rickshaw. It was my first ever ride in a rickshaw which added to the high levels of excitement. We also got to go to a tea tasting session which was great. Groups of us sat around tables as the ladies explained the different teas, how to drink them and general tea culture in China. We tasted 4 teas, I thought the jasmine was the best.
Sunday
This was technically our first official off day so we were free to do whatever. The day started with a very cool experience. I went to Catholic mass at the South Cathedral with three other people in group. The South Cathedral was the first Catholic Church in Beijing. It's as tucked away off the street as someplace can be in Beijing, with a nice courtyard in front and several side courtyards. A beautiful area in downtown Beijing. The inside of the Church was very interesting, including a very busy sanctuary.
I was surprised at the large amount of Chinese people at the English mass. Overall, the mass wasn't much different than home. The entire congregation held hands for the Our Father and they did this cool clapping thing at one point. Also, for some reason they read both the readings in French as well. Not really sure why that was. Do you have any clue Uncle Charles? It was a very cool experience and we plan on going back.
Following mass, a group of us splurged a little bit and had a buffet lunch at the Shangri-La Hotel. This buffet was insane! I had lobster, shrimp, salmon, lamb chops, sushi, beef, duck, proshiutto and melon, a crepe and several other delicious desserts. Turned out to be my only meal of the day because I ate so much. It was definitely one of those kid-in-a-candy-store kind of moments.
Later that day I took a walk through a random neighborhood. It was a place where tourists wouldn't go and it was incredibly interesting to see how some people were living and the various stores and food places. For so many things here it seems as if there aren't any guidelines or codes.
Monday
After a lengthy morning lecture, we caught lunch at one of the campus cafeteria's. It was good and incredibly cheap. For a drink and food I paid maybe a little over $1. Beat that. Food on campus is insanely cheap. The only draw back is the point and eat system. As in, I don't really know what I'm getting I just point at what I think looks good. Therefore, there is a little trial and error involved, but I don't feel as bad knowing that I can try something and if I don't like it I'm only down 10 cents. Following lunch we decided to visit the Pearl Market, one of the main indoor markets. This kind of thing is an experience that everyone needs to have. Basically, it's stalls and stalls of people selling essentially the same things all trying to get you to buy theirs. It was awesome and incredibly funny. These are the kinds of places where you bargain for the price, which can become slightly tiring. I never knew I was so good looking until I heard it from every other lady selling clothes, "you are so handsome, this shirt would look great on you." We had a great time bargaining with these ladies. I ended up not buying anything on this visit, partly because I was a bit overwhelmed by it all. I need to work on my bargaining skills. One of the more interesting moments was the lady who was selling Olympic t-shirts. Apparently, they are really cracking down on illegal Olympic gear so as we passed she whispered to us that she had some t-shirts. After we stopped she moved some things aside and pulled out a non-descript black bag full of Olympic t-shirts. The crazy thing was that she actually got caught by guards walking around. We're not sure what happened but it was obvious that she wasn't too happy. She saw the guard coming and quick tried to play it off like nothing by quickly zipping up the bag, but he had already seen what was going on.
Last night we had a formal dinner hosted by Renmin University. I had no idea what I was eating the whole night. Some of it was good and some was quite interesting. I tried a few funny looking things.
I need to blog more regularly to avoid more posts of this size. I apologize for it's length. The last two times I tried to post I feel asleep on my bed with the computer next to me.
Beijing is a fascinating and intriguing place and I've only been here for 5 days. More to come!
Saturday
An early morning wake up got us going on a guided tour day with Steve, our Chinese tour guide. Steve, that's his English name, was awesome! On our bus ride to Tiananmen Square he filled us in on some Chinese history. The Square really just seemed to come out of nowhere and it's extremely big. If you're a people watcher then you would be in heaven at this place. So many interesting people wandering around. We walked around the square for a while looking at the buildings, including Chairman Mao's mausoleum, which I plan to go to sometime later. For some reason, there are just randomly placed Chinese guards who didn't really look to serve a purpose aside from standing there and looking intimidating (which didn't work either). We weren't even there for 5 minutes and I got stopped by a Chinese guy wanting to take a picture with me. Obviously he recognized me from all the Braves games on TBS. So after a photo shoot and autograph session I was back on my way touring around. It was amazing how many people wanted to take pictures with us. There is a tall blond girl on the trip and needless to say she drew a lot of stares. I even watched some older man inconspiciously (lol) walk next to her without saying anything to get a picture. So slick. After a while we headed into the Forbidden City, which is vast to say the least. It reminded me of the Louvre, one of those places you can go and literally spend days there attempting to look at everything. The architecture was fascinating and the whole place seemed very overwhelming. You just continue to pass from huge courtyard to huge courtyard. I learned some interesting info about some of the buildings and their use in olden times.
After the Forbidden City, we took a short bus ride to the Hutong District. We got to go up into this Drum Tower which use to be used as a clock, with people striking the drums to signal different times. While in the tower we caught a drum show. Five Chinese people played on the huge cylinder drums lining the walls. The tower also provided a great view of the city. Luckily, the smog wasn't too bad that day so we were able to see a good distance. After a climb down the steep tower stairs we all got an awesome ride in a rickshaw. It was my first ever ride in a rickshaw which added to the high levels of excitement. We also got to go to a tea tasting session which was great. Groups of us sat around tables as the ladies explained the different teas, how to drink them and general tea culture in China. We tasted 4 teas, I thought the jasmine was the best.
Sunday
This was technically our first official off day so we were free to do whatever. The day started with a very cool experience. I went to Catholic mass at the South Cathedral with three other people in group. The South Cathedral was the first Catholic Church in Beijing. It's as tucked away off the street as someplace can be in Beijing, with a nice courtyard in front and several side courtyards. A beautiful area in downtown Beijing. The inside of the Church was very interesting, including a very busy sanctuary.
I was surprised at the large amount of Chinese people at the English mass. Overall, the mass wasn't much different than home. The entire congregation held hands for the Our Father and they did this cool clapping thing at one point. Also, for some reason they read both the readings in French as well. Not really sure why that was. Do you have any clue Uncle Charles? It was a very cool experience and we plan on going back.
Following mass, a group of us splurged a little bit and had a buffet lunch at the Shangri-La Hotel. This buffet was insane! I had lobster, shrimp, salmon, lamb chops, sushi, beef, duck, proshiutto and melon, a crepe and several other delicious desserts. Turned out to be my only meal of the day because I ate so much. It was definitely one of those kid-in-a-candy-store kind of moments.
Later that day I took a walk through a random neighborhood. It was a place where tourists wouldn't go and it was incredibly interesting to see how some people were living and the various stores and food places. For so many things here it seems as if there aren't any guidelines or codes.
Monday
After a lengthy morning lecture, we caught lunch at one of the campus cafeteria's. It was good and incredibly cheap. For a drink and food I paid maybe a little over $1. Beat that. Food on campus is insanely cheap. The only draw back is the point and eat system. As in, I don't really know what I'm getting I just point at what I think looks good. Therefore, there is a little trial and error involved, but I don't feel as bad knowing that I can try something and if I don't like it I'm only down 10 cents. Following lunch we decided to visit the Pearl Market, one of the main indoor markets. This kind of thing is an experience that everyone needs to have. Basically, it's stalls and stalls of people selling essentially the same things all trying to get you to buy theirs. It was awesome and incredibly funny. These are the kinds of places where you bargain for the price, which can become slightly tiring. I never knew I was so good looking until I heard it from every other lady selling clothes, "you are so handsome, this shirt would look great on you." We had a great time bargaining with these ladies. I ended up not buying anything on this visit, partly because I was a bit overwhelmed by it all. I need to work on my bargaining skills. One of the more interesting moments was the lady who was selling Olympic t-shirts. Apparently, they are really cracking down on illegal Olympic gear so as we passed she whispered to us that she had some t-shirts. After we stopped she moved some things aside and pulled out a non-descript black bag full of Olympic t-shirts. The crazy thing was that she actually got caught by guards walking around. We're not sure what happened but it was obvious that she wasn't too happy. She saw the guard coming and quick tried to play it off like nothing by quickly zipping up the bag, but he had already seen what was going on.
Last night we had a formal dinner hosted by Renmin University. I had no idea what I was eating the whole night. Some of it was good and some was quite interesting. I tried a few funny looking things.
I need to blog more regularly to avoid more posts of this size. I apologize for it's length. The last two times I tried to post I feel asleep on my bed with the computer next to me.
Beijing is a fascinating and intriguing place and I've only been here for 5 days. More to come!
Friday, July 4, 2008
Welcome the University of Missouri
So the 4th of July has come and gone for me, but as of post time you folks back in the States are probably gearing up for a some fireworks displays. Our fireworks here was a huge rain storm and a trip to McDonald's in that downpour. Nothing says "Go America!" like eating McDonalds in wet clothes, truly a 4th to remember.
As it has been less than 72 hours since we've been here, I'm still very much in the awed by everything phase. The amount of people, the amount of buildings, the amount of smog. And I must just say that anything you've heard about on the news in reference to how bad the smog is, it's all true. Yesterday was by far the worst, and when I say worst I mean that I had a hard time trying to locate where the sun was in the sky. It was just a little yellow spec and you can see for yourself in the picture.
Our second night, about 15 of us went to a karaoke bar close to our place. You have not done karaoke until you've been to China. Each groups receives their own room decked out with comfortable sofa's, a disco ball, and a couple huge screens playing the videos. It was certainly an experience to say the least. It's like a hotel, and a marble hotel at that, where all the rooms are just party rooms. Attendants there to take any order you may have, and obviously for us the ordering turned out to be quite comical. In fact much of our communication here so far with Chinese people has been quite comical. You can't really get frustrated you just have to laugh at it.
Today we're doing a bit of sightseeing, including the Forbidden City, so that should be exciting. Oh, and I almost forgot. Our trip to the supermarket yesterday was quite amusing and an eye opener into more Chinese culture. It's amazing how much you can learn from the aisles of a supermarket.
Vi ses from Beijing!
As it has been less than 72 hours since we've been here, I'm still very much in the awed by everything phase. The amount of people, the amount of buildings, the amount of smog. And I must just say that anything you've heard about on the news in reference to how bad the smog is, it's all true. Yesterday was by far the worst, and when I say worst I mean that I had a hard time trying to locate where the sun was in the sky. It was just a little yellow spec and you can see for yourself in the picture.
Our second night, about 15 of us went to a karaoke bar close to our place. You have not done karaoke until you've been to China. Each groups receives their own room decked out with comfortable sofa's, a disco ball, and a couple huge screens playing the videos. It was certainly an experience to say the least. It's like a hotel, and a marble hotel at that, where all the rooms are just party rooms. Attendants there to take any order you may have, and obviously for us the ordering turned out to be quite comical. In fact much of our communication here so far with Chinese people has been quite comical. You can't really get frustrated you just have to laugh at it.
Today we're doing a bit of sightseeing, including the Forbidden City, so that should be exciting. Oh, and I almost forgot. Our trip to the supermarket yesterday was quite amusing and an eye opener into more Chinese culture. It's amazing how much you can learn from the aisles of a supermarket.
Vi ses from Beijing!
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Putting the Chin in China
Hello All!
Made it to China no sweat! Aside from the 13 hour flight, the loss of an entire day and backing up on the highway in a tour bus, things are great. We had a nice little dinner and a short meeting, which everyone was falling asleep in. Then back to the hotel.
An attempt at sleeping following, hindered by the constant clicking of an outlet next to my bed. We are going to have to get that fixed somehow. I believe we have a full schedule today going over mostly logistical stuff and passing out necessary papers and handouts.
The humidity here is just as bad as St. Louis and the smog and haze are certainly noticeable. I was told we are looking at 97 degrees here today. Should be interesting! Luckily one of the things that the Mizzou organizers felt necessary was to put us up in a place that has air conditioning. So it make things much easier.
Anywho, I'm heading out to our first meeting. Hopefully I can post longer tonight when we have time. Give some cool details because there were plenty just on the ride from the airport.
By the way, the Bird's Nest is just as cool as you think it would be! I'll end things there.
Made it to China no sweat! Aside from the 13 hour flight, the loss of an entire day and backing up on the highway in a tour bus, things are great. We had a nice little dinner and a short meeting, which everyone was falling asleep in. Then back to the hotel.
An attempt at sleeping following, hindered by the constant clicking of an outlet next to my bed. We are going to have to get that fixed somehow. I believe we have a full schedule today going over mostly logistical stuff and passing out necessary papers and handouts.
The humidity here is just as bad as St. Louis and the smog and haze are certainly noticeable. I was told we are looking at 97 degrees here today. Should be interesting! Luckily one of the things that the Mizzou organizers felt necessary was to put us up in a place that has air conditioning. So it make things much easier.
Anywho, I'm heading out to our first meeting. Hopefully I can post longer tonight when we have time. Give some cool details because there were plenty just on the ride from the airport.
By the way, the Bird's Nest is just as cool as you think it would be! I'll end things there.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Looking Back - at 36,000 feet!
Flying coach isn't the best mode of international travel, but hey at least I made the flight. Leaving from London, where Maria was really surprised to see me!, turned out to be an adventure. After missing the first flight, where no non-revs got on, I nervously made the cut for the second and last flight of the day. No matter, I still got on and I'm headed home.
It's the culmination of one of the craziest weeks of my life. Never have I spent almost 6 consecutive months away from home, and in a foreign country no less. And in those 6 months it's amazing how many emotions can be shared. For those of you that don't know, I don't really share my feeling very well but when it comes to certain situations then well, let the river flow.
After returning from Iceland I was faced with my final week in Arhus, a scary prospect. Although I knew my departure time when I arrived, it's definitely not something you think about until your rushing to the car for a drive to the airport. Well, after 2 days of finalizing my final project, school was officially over here. I can't say I was all that sad about that part though, :).
When coming together with such a varied group of people, you're bound to find at least one person who you can get along with. Lucky for me, my entire class was great. A popular topic of discussion at the end was how much better our class was compared to the other international classes (in your humble narrators unbiased (?)opinion, we were better). It's something when you can dance around with people from over a half-dozen different countries, all singing the same song and enjoying each others company. It's at one of those points when you say this is pretty cool.
The last days were amazing and tough at the same time. To be honest, I can't remember the last time I was so overwhelmed with things. I'm thinking about freshman year of high school. Packing, cleaning, saying goodbye to people, arranging flights, packing, cleaning, saying goodbye to people, doing fun things and saying goodbye to people all snowballed into a huge snowman. The hours ticked away and the responsibilities seemed to grow. It's funny because they tell you these things will happen in the pre-departure meetings and booklets at Mizzou, but honestly who believes it. I didn't. Boy was I wrong. Luckily, a good talk and a great message brought my spirits up enough to not completely loss it. Having great people in Denmark and at home, that's pretty cool.
I'll certainly always be smiling about my time in the City of Smiles, ARHUS, DENMARK.
I was privilidged to spend time in 8 countries this past semester - Denmark, Italy, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Ireland, Iceland - having spent my previous 20 years in one. Something like that is impossible to sum up in one blog entry, but maybe a few words to shed some light: amazing, awesome, spectacular, cultural, educational, fantastic! (maybe I'll get out my thesaurus when I get home to find some more) Speaking of home, I am very excited to see my family and friends, as well as indulge in the sorely missed "finer" sides of St. Louis livin'. And speaking of handbooks again, they say the reverse culture shock will get ya, so I'm a bit nervous about that. Does one week give me enough time to adjust again? We shall see.
Don't think though that this is the end of my blogs about Arhus or the end of EricAbroad08. On the contrary! Following my sure to be crazy week at home, EricAbroad08 in Europe becomes EricAbroad08 in Asia as I travel to Beijing, China for two months to do volunteer journalism work at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Hot, new, fresh, crazy material is sure to pop up on this blog in the months to follow so stay tuned!
EricAbroad08 would sincerely like to thank all those who have read entries or made comments concerning said entries. Although there were times when I was a a bit lax in my rate of entries (including my unfortunate 1+ month of broken computer time), it was exciting to relate stories, thoughts and ideas.
Your Humble Narrator,
EricAbroad08
It's the culmination of one of the craziest weeks of my life. Never have I spent almost 6 consecutive months away from home, and in a foreign country no less. And in those 6 months it's amazing how many emotions can be shared. For those of you that don't know, I don't really share my feeling very well but when it comes to certain situations then well, let the river flow.
After returning from Iceland I was faced with my final week in Arhus, a scary prospect. Although I knew my departure time when I arrived, it's definitely not something you think about until your rushing to the car for a drive to the airport. Well, after 2 days of finalizing my final project, school was officially over here. I can't say I was all that sad about that part though, :).
When coming together with such a varied group of people, you're bound to find at least one person who you can get along with. Lucky for me, my entire class was great. A popular topic of discussion at the end was how much better our class was compared to the other international classes (in your humble narrators unbiased (?)opinion, we were better). It's something when you can dance around with people from over a half-dozen different countries, all singing the same song and enjoying each others company. It's at one of those points when you say this is pretty cool.
The last days were amazing and tough at the same time. To be honest, I can't remember the last time I was so overwhelmed with things. I'm thinking about freshman year of high school. Packing, cleaning, saying goodbye to people, arranging flights, packing, cleaning, saying goodbye to people, doing fun things and saying goodbye to people all snowballed into a huge snowman. The hours ticked away and the responsibilities seemed to grow. It's funny because they tell you these things will happen in the pre-departure meetings and booklets at Mizzou, but honestly who believes it. I didn't. Boy was I wrong. Luckily, a good talk and a great message brought my spirits up enough to not completely loss it. Having great people in Denmark and at home, that's pretty cool.
I'll certainly always be smiling about my time in the City of Smiles, ARHUS, DENMARK.
I was privilidged to spend time in 8 countries this past semester - Denmark, Italy, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Ireland, Iceland - having spent my previous 20 years in one. Something like that is impossible to sum up in one blog entry, but maybe a few words to shed some light: amazing, awesome, spectacular, cultural, educational, fantastic! (maybe I'll get out my thesaurus when I get home to find some more) Speaking of home, I am very excited to see my family and friends, as well as indulge in the sorely missed "finer" sides of St. Louis livin'. And speaking of handbooks again, they say the reverse culture shock will get ya, so I'm a bit nervous about that. Does one week give me enough time to adjust again? We shall see.
Don't think though that this is the end of my blogs about Arhus or the end of EricAbroad08. On the contrary! Following my sure to be crazy week at home, EricAbroad08 in Europe becomes EricAbroad08 in Asia as I travel to Beijing, China for two months to do volunteer journalism work at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Hot, new, fresh, crazy material is sure to pop up on this blog in the months to follow so stay tuned!
EricAbroad08 would sincerely like to thank all those who have read entries or made comments concerning said entries. Although there were times when I was a a bit lax in my rate of entries (including my unfortunate 1+ month of broken computer time), it was exciting to relate stories, thoughts and ideas.
Your Humble Narrator,
EricAbroad08
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Icelandic Observations
Just some post-Iceland observations (an always growing list):
- I took my shower's in geothermally heated water...and the fantastic thing about that is, you never run out of hot water...imagine if we had this during the holidays for our family; needless to say things would be a little bit better.
- Although I was technically in the country of Iceland, I spent time during the past week in 3 different areas: North America, neutral Iceland territory, and Eurasia. How you may ask? Iceland has the North American and Eurasian techtonic plates dividing the country and there is an over mile wide region in between them that is officially neither and just Iceland.
- The week before I came the town Reykjavik experienced a 6.3 earthquake...and as it turns out I was experiencing plenty of earthquakes during my stay, I just couldn't feel them because they were so small.
- Icelandic Coca-Cola is outstanding! It blows away the others I have tried in Europe and that can be credited to the equally outstanding water that they drink...pure water straight from the tap.
- There are virtually no trees in the country. The trees that did use to stand were wiped out way back when, during the settlement.
- Despite the typically bad weather, bananas are grown 30 minutes outside Reykjavik. There is a town famous in the country for their greenhouses and that is where they apparently grow bananas, among other things.
- I was only 10,500 miles away from Antartica, beat that!
- Jules Verne's "Journey to the Middle of the Earth" was said to take place in an Icelandic volcano, which I saw in the distance on one of my tours.
- Volcano Hekla, which I also saw during a tour but at a much closer range, was previously thought by many Europeans to be one of the two entrances to Hell.
- Hella, Iceland was hella tight.
- Because of the consistent wind, umbrellas are typically useless in Iceland as the rain falls at an angle.
- Iceland Air really knows how to do things! On both flights I had a small meal which included as much bread as I wanted. Going back to Denmark, there was even a chocolate bar included with dinner and I took advantage of the free soft drink rule and had TWO FULL CANS of Coke. Can you imagine the fuss that would created if you had the audacity to ask for TWO FULL CANS of Coke on any American domestic flight. You're asking to get kicked off the plane, if that's possible. Also, they had a movie planning on both flights: Jumper and 27 Dresses (the later, I admit, wasn't too bad).
- I took my shower's in geothermally heated water...and the fantastic thing about that is, you never run out of hot water...imagine if we had this during the holidays for our family; needless to say things would be a little bit better.
- Although I was technically in the country of Iceland, I spent time during the past week in 3 different areas: North America, neutral Iceland territory, and Eurasia. How you may ask? Iceland has the North American and Eurasian techtonic plates dividing the country and there is an over mile wide region in between them that is officially neither and just Iceland.
- The week before I came the town Reykjavik experienced a 6.3 earthquake...and as it turns out I was experiencing plenty of earthquakes during my stay, I just couldn't feel them because they were so small.
- Icelandic Coca-Cola is outstanding! It blows away the others I have tried in Europe and that can be credited to the equally outstanding water that they drink...pure water straight from the tap.
- There are virtually no trees in the country. The trees that did use to stand were wiped out way back when, during the settlement.
- Despite the typically bad weather, bananas are grown 30 minutes outside Reykjavik. There is a town famous in the country for their greenhouses and that is where they apparently grow bananas, among other things.
- I was only 10,500 miles away from Antartica, beat that!
- Jules Verne's "Journey to the Middle of the Earth" was said to take place in an Icelandic volcano, which I saw in the distance on one of my tours.
- Volcano Hekla, which I also saw during a tour but at a much closer range, was previously thought by many Europeans to be one of the two entrances to Hell.
- Hella, Iceland was hella tight.
- Because of the consistent wind, umbrellas are typically useless in Iceland as the rain falls at an angle.
- Iceland Air really knows how to do things! On both flights I had a small meal which included as much bread as I wanted. Going back to Denmark, there was even a chocolate bar included with dinner and I took advantage of the free soft drink rule and had TWO FULL CANS of Coke. Can you imagine the fuss that would created if you had the audacity to ask for TWO FULL CANS of Coke on any American domestic flight. You're asking to get kicked off the plane, if that's possible. Also, they had a movie planning on both flights: Jumper and 27 Dresses (the later, I admit, wasn't too bad).
Monday, June 9, 2008
Ice Time
I'm hanging out on a glacier today, but wanted to quickly pass along a cool picture from my adventures on Saturday.
Friday, June 6, 2008
The Land of Fire and Ice
Hello all from the isle of Iceland!
My birthday was pretty laid back which was cool. I went to the National Museum in the morning and then walked around town the rest of the day. I had some great meals though. For lunch, we went to this popular seafood place by the water. In addition to some fantastic lobster soup (the Icelandic lobster tastes different), I tried something not many of you would guess...whale. It was minke whale on a kabob and it wasn't too bad, tasting sort of steaky. For dinner, the Frigge's (the great family I'm staying with) made Icelandic lamb (which is an Icelandic staple). It also was fantastic. The Frigge's made the day nice which was great!
Yesterday, I went on the Golden Circle Tour. It was absolutely amazing! The scenery is breathtaking and the nature wonders are spectacular.
I took a bus along with countless other people from around the world, and we ventured East to the Gullfoss waterfall, the Geysers, and the old Icelandic Parliament area. I'm amazed by all of the scenery here so I was glued to the window the entire time. After about an 1:30 hr bus ride, we arrived at Gullfoss waterfall.
It was quite windy yesterday and what was so awesome about it was that once I stepped off the bus I could feel the mist from the water. Unlike a lot of places at home where they don't let you get anywhere close to the edge, here u can just walk right up to the edge. It was during this stop that I realized how much I enjoy waterfalls. Just the sheer force and beauty of them. For that reason I am looking forward to hopefully seeing two if Iceland other great waterfalls this weekend.
Our next stop was the hot spring geysers. It is such a strange phenomenon to watch these things in action. The only one that has been active for sometime now, went off approx. every 5 minutes. It was no exact science though, because sometimes it would go off big twice in a row and other times it would be just one small outburst. Needless to say this was quite frustrating for those trying to capture the moment on their cameras.
Although I eventually joined in, it was funny to see so many people surrounding the geyser with their cameras held at the ready for over 5 minutes. I had to use two hands after a while because my one hand started shaking from being up so long. All across the fields next to the geyser were mini geysers either emitted mist or bubbling up slightly. It was strange to look over the field which looked like it was smoldering from an ousted fire. Some of the water for scolding hot and they made u aware by tiny signs that blended in with the surroundings. Obviously, you were expected to know it was hot, but people put their hands in, including me, and luckily the water I choose wasn't scolding. The water felt kind of slimy on my hands because of all the minerals that are in the water. It was an interesting feeeling.
Our final stop was at the old site of the Icelandic Parliament, which was actually the first Parliament in the world to encompass an entire nation (fun fact). The scenery here was extraordinary! We didn't actually go to the building, just walked around the area. It was only a small housing look place which didn't look anything special per say. But surrounding it was mountains on three sides and a huge lake on the other. One of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. Vast green space, mountains, and water all added to a pretty awesome place!
After returning to Reykjavik, I got two Icelandic hotdogs for dinner at the city stand that rumor has it, sells the best hotdogs in the world. Can anyone guess the reason they are the best?....they are made of lamb. That's right, lamb hotdogs. And they were outstanding! They are served on a bun with raw onions, fried onions, ketchup, sweet mustard and remoulade. It is a very mild tasting dog, which actually seems to make it more tasty.
Today, I'm headed to a town known for there elf/gnome/hidden people population and strange dealings with them. The info site describes the lava in the town as "especially alive with more than 20 types of dwarfs, four types of gnomes and all manner of elfin beings." Collectively, they are called "Hidden Folk." Also, there is the volcano show. And who knows...
I'll try and report back in the next few days. Vi ses!
My birthday was pretty laid back which was cool. I went to the National Museum in the morning and then walked around town the rest of the day. I had some great meals though. For lunch, we went to this popular seafood place by the water. In addition to some fantastic lobster soup (the Icelandic lobster tastes different), I tried something not many of you would guess...whale. It was minke whale on a kabob and it wasn't too bad, tasting sort of steaky. For dinner, the Frigge's (the great family I'm staying with) made Icelandic lamb (which is an Icelandic staple). It also was fantastic. The Frigge's made the day nice which was great!
Yesterday, I went on the Golden Circle Tour. It was absolutely amazing! The scenery is breathtaking and the nature wonders are spectacular.
I took a bus along with countless other people from around the world, and we ventured East to the Gullfoss waterfall, the Geysers, and the old Icelandic Parliament area. I'm amazed by all of the scenery here so I was glued to the window the entire time. After about an 1:30 hr bus ride, we arrived at Gullfoss waterfall.
It was quite windy yesterday and what was so awesome about it was that once I stepped off the bus I could feel the mist from the water. Unlike a lot of places at home where they don't let you get anywhere close to the edge, here u can just walk right up to the edge. It was during this stop that I realized how much I enjoy waterfalls. Just the sheer force and beauty of them. For that reason I am looking forward to hopefully seeing two if Iceland other great waterfalls this weekend.
Our next stop was the hot spring geysers. It is such a strange phenomenon to watch these things in action. The only one that has been active for sometime now, went off approx. every 5 minutes. It was no exact science though, because sometimes it would go off big twice in a row and other times it would be just one small outburst. Needless to say this was quite frustrating for those trying to capture the moment on their cameras.
Although I eventually joined in, it was funny to see so many people surrounding the geyser with their cameras held at the ready for over 5 minutes. I had to use two hands after a while because my one hand started shaking from being up so long. All across the fields next to the geyser were mini geysers either emitted mist or bubbling up slightly. It was strange to look over the field which looked like it was smoldering from an ousted fire. Some of the water for scolding hot and they made u aware by tiny signs that blended in with the surroundings. Obviously, you were expected to know it was hot, but people put their hands in, including me, and luckily the water I choose wasn't scolding. The water felt kind of slimy on my hands because of all the minerals that are in the water. It was an interesting feeeling.
Our final stop was at the old site of the Icelandic Parliament, which was actually the first Parliament in the world to encompass an entire nation (fun fact). The scenery here was extraordinary! We didn't actually go to the building, just walked around the area. It was only a small housing look place which didn't look anything special per say. But surrounding it was mountains on three sides and a huge lake on the other. One of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. Vast green space, mountains, and water all added to a pretty awesome place!
After returning to Reykjavik, I got two Icelandic hotdogs for dinner at the city stand that rumor has it, sells the best hotdogs in the world. Can anyone guess the reason they are the best?....they are made of lamb. That's right, lamb hotdogs. And they were outstanding! They are served on a bun with raw onions, fried onions, ketchup, sweet mustard and remoulade. It is a very mild tasting dog, which actually seems to make it more tasty.
Today, I'm headed to a town known for there elf/gnome/hidden people population and strange dealings with them. The info site describes the lava in the town as "especially alive with more than 20 types of dwarfs, four types of gnomes and all manner of elfin beings." Collectively, they are called "Hidden Folk." Also, there is the volcano show. And who knows...
I'll try and report back in the next few days. Vi ses!
Friday, May 30, 2008
"On a Tuesday In Amsterdam Long Ago"
Important News Bulletin:
I am in Holland for the weekend seeing Counting Crows!
I am in Holland for the weekend seeing Counting Crows!
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Halloween on Crack
I spent last weeked in Aalborg, Denmark, the fourth largest city in the country with about 250,000 people.
However, it would be an injustice to place the population at that number for the weekend I was there. That's because I was attending the Aalborg Carnival, the largest carnival in Northern Europe, or as I like to refer to it as: "Halloween on crack."
The amount of people in the small town that weekend was staggering; not only Danish, but from what I encountered several other countries as well.
For those uneducated in my recent Halloween attire, I have been wearing a cow costume for the last 3 holidays. To bask in the fullness of the costume, see pictures + Harry.
So it's only natural that I have the costume with me here in Denmark and likewise a perfect fit for this carnival atmosphere. There happened to be several other people with great taste like me who were also decked out in the black and white, see pictures as well.
Everything went down on Saturday and that called for a 6:30 am wake up call. Just enough time to make the bus at 7:30 and get to the pre-parade party for its 8:00 am start. Now Danes don't fool around with alcohol with it's early in the morning. A typical early morning drink in Denmark is a shot of a hard alcohol called 'Bitter.' Take a guess what it tastes like because I'd rather not relate its vileness. Imagine that at 8:00 am. Fortunately, someone concocted a homemade version of the popular schnapps 'Aalborg,' namesake of the carnival town. Honey, sugar and Aalborg combined to produce something that necessary wasn't tasty but at least was bearable. The party was a nice group of people who all brought things to contribute, including the typical breakfast bread of Danes, bread with some kind of seed on top. In addition to the typical butter or jam that tops this bread, the Danes also like to put thin slices of chocolate on top. This form of breakfast chocolate kills Cocopuffs. I'm quite proud to say I got pretty Danish as this party.
After all the general revalry at the party, we started walking to our starting point for the 10:30 am parade kick-off time. This isn't your grandmother's carnival parade though. Building off of the year's theme of 'Magic in the Air', students, starting from 3 different points in town, merged into a huge conglomeration of animals, space people, fairies, santa clauses and any other costume imaginable. As I said "Halloween on crack." It was me that people hung out their windows and fought for spots on the street to see. It's cool being the one to entertain the people and the people in this parade were entertaining to say the least. Entertaining as well as extremely clever. It really was a case of sensory overload. So many bright colors, so many different sounds combined for a tour de force on the downtown streets of Aalborg. The approx. 2 mile walk took about 2 hours. The parade spilled out into a couple parks downtown where we chilled for a while talking to other cows and fairies. There was a music festival in the park next to us but we chose not to attend because of money and time constraints. I felt no less a part of the experience though.
Regardless of the carnival it's a very nice city. I spent all of Friday just wandering around checking out the entire place. A very cozy place.
However, it would be an injustice to place the population at that number for the weekend I was there. That's because I was attending the Aalborg Carnival, the largest carnival in Northern Europe, or as I like to refer to it as: "Halloween on crack."
The amount of people in the small town that weekend was staggering; not only Danish, but from what I encountered several other countries as well.
For those uneducated in my recent Halloween attire, I have been wearing a cow costume for the last 3 holidays. To bask in the fullness of the costume, see pictures + Harry.
So it's only natural that I have the costume with me here in Denmark and likewise a perfect fit for this carnival atmosphere. There happened to be several other people with great taste like me who were also decked out in the black and white, see pictures as well.
Everything went down on Saturday and that called for a 6:30 am wake up call. Just enough time to make the bus at 7:30 and get to the pre-parade party for its 8:00 am start. Now Danes don't fool around with alcohol with it's early in the morning. A typical early morning drink in Denmark is a shot of a hard alcohol called 'Bitter.' Take a guess what it tastes like because I'd rather not relate its vileness. Imagine that at 8:00 am. Fortunately, someone concocted a homemade version of the popular schnapps 'Aalborg,' namesake of the carnival town. Honey, sugar and Aalborg combined to produce something that necessary wasn't tasty but at least was bearable. The party was a nice group of people who all brought things to contribute, including the typical breakfast bread of Danes, bread with some kind of seed on top. In addition to the typical butter or jam that tops this bread, the Danes also like to put thin slices of chocolate on top. This form of breakfast chocolate kills Cocopuffs. I'm quite proud to say I got pretty Danish as this party.
After all the general revalry at the party, we started walking to our starting point for the 10:30 am parade kick-off time. This isn't your grandmother's carnival parade though. Building off of the year's theme of 'Magic in the Air', students, starting from 3 different points in town, merged into a huge conglomeration of animals, space people, fairies, santa clauses and any other costume imaginable. As I said "Halloween on crack." It was me that people hung out their windows and fought for spots on the street to see. It's cool being the one to entertain the people and the people in this parade were entertaining to say the least. Entertaining as well as extremely clever. It really was a case of sensory overload. So many bright colors, so many different sounds combined for a tour de force on the downtown streets of Aalborg. The approx. 2 mile walk took about 2 hours. The parade spilled out into a couple parks downtown where we chilled for a while talking to other cows and fairies. There was a music festival in the park next to us but we chose not to attend because of money and time constraints. I felt no less a part of the experience though.
Regardless of the carnival it's a very nice city. I spent all of Friday just wandering around checking out the entire place. A very cozy place.
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