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.
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