Waiting to Explore

Life has been pretty calm. My going out and spending have dropped significantly since moving into the dorm. Most of the guys are still adjusting from the time change or doing things that I've already done (like the Silk Market or bar districts). I think I got a little sick from the air conditioning, since it blows on me during the night, but I just have sore throat. It could be that I just caught the beginning of the school year cold. Other kids are getting sick as well. I'm not really feeling sick, just a sore throat. No big deal but enough to be a pain in the butt.

Here are some pictures of the amusement park, my dorm room, and dinner at a place around campus. Tomorrow, Sunday, I have nothing planned except to get ready to go on the trip. This means I have to get a haircut, get snacks, pack, and get to bed early. I can't wait to go, this is the ultimate Chinese adventure.

Happy Valley & Dinner

I Feel Trapped in a 99c Store...

My new dorm is amazing. I have everything I could want. But of course, being in China, they're going to nickle and dime me for everything I've got. Where do I start? Well, when I turn on the lights, I need to make sure the ones I'm not using are off because we only have 400 "units" of electricity a month. This means that if we leave our air condition on for 12 days straight we'll run out of electricity. When I wash my hands in the sink, I better make sure to do it fast because we have 4 tons of hot water and 4 of cold water. We have to pay for any extra that we use. The laundry room is in a different building and there are no dryers. Since it's been pretty hot lately, my laundry only took about a day and half to dry but when winter comes, that's going to be a lot of fun picking my frozen socks off of our balcony. There is no internet in my room. Well, of the two jacks one works (mine), but I can only get on Google. And since Blogger.com is part of Google, I can post. My Skype doesn't work nor do any other sites outside of Google. This isn't terrible right now, especially because we leave Sunday morning for 2 weeks and I'm not bringing my computer. Later on this year, I'll probably be writing about the situation again when I slip on ice and break all of my electronics at once. Our kitchen doesn't have any gas to light the stove, so we have to pay extra for that as well. No pots or pans provided. Jimmy and I were laughing this morning about how frustrating it is to live here sometimes. Everything is so cheap, but I've always said you get what you pay for. Things don't work properly, like the power strip I took from our old apartment. Sure we bought it at the supermarket, but there are 6 outlets on it and only 3 work. The handles on our plastic/cloth environmentally friendly grocery bags have broken already. The internet is a fiasco. Even in the other building (where we have to go to access wireless), it works sporadically. We laugh that we get things so cheap, but when you have to buy 10 of them to finally get one that works, you kind of come out short. It's kind of like being trapped in a 99c store. But, who doesn't like things from the 99c store. You can get pretty cool stuff there sometimes...

Most of the TBC students went to the Great Wall today. Mutianyu. The same exact place that we had gone a few days ago. Devon, Jimmy and I decided to opt out of this one. Good thing we did, the smog is horrible today and the weather is not the best. Plus they all had to leave at 8 o'clock or some ridiculous time. No way. Instead, we decided to go the Happy Valley Amusement Park. I love theme parks. Roller coasters are my thing. This theme park wasn't huge but they had some pretty great rides. We went on a flying coaster, which we got front seats for. Then they had one just like Elitch Gardens in Denver. The Mind Eraser. Almost an exact replica of that one. We went on another spinning one that moved like a pendulum. We had a great time. Admission was $24 and all worth it. It was really expensive though. A bottle of water was Y5. Ridiculous. We usually pay Y2 ($0.30). I took a lot of pictures. The park was divided into 5 different worlds. Atlantis, Greece, Mayan Ruins, Shangri-la, and Ant Kingdom (Kiddie land). We rode a few rides in each part and just enjoyed the day. Camera #2 is still doing alright too.
We're all still getting used to our new surroundings. We're meeting some cool people and a few of us went out last night. We're all pretty stoked for the two week Silk Road trip we're about to go on. Here's the deal, what I know so far at least. There are 120 students at TBC this semester. We're split into two groups. I'm in Group B, which travels from West to East. This means I start in the Gobi Desert. We go to the very end of the Great Wall, and leave the very last gate. It was here that people were exiled. Once they exited the gate, which was underground, they looked ahead of them at the Gobi. There was, and still is, no life on this desert. They looked behind them and the gate would just be a stone wall. Most of the exiled chose to die at the gate, and it is said their bodies still haunt this gate. We are starting our trip here. We are going to go on camels at 4am to watch the sunrise over the sand dunes. Then we begin our journey to Xi'an. It is here that the famous terracotta warriors are. We are unable to go to Tibet on this trip so instead we are going to the Shaolin Monastery also known as the Shaolin Temple. Many of the major martial arts have evolved from this very temple. Here we will watch the monks practice their arts. They recruit boys as young as 8 years old to begin training. On our Silk Road trip we'll be travelling to inner Mongolia and staying in traditional huts with locals. This will not be our only time camping out. In Mongolia, we will watch them race horses and participate in local Mongolian wrestling. I have never ridden a horse and really hope I get to ride one here. That would be an experience. Besides seeing the local Mongolian's customs and rituals, we will be living in their round tents (forget the name) and living with them for a few nights. Our other home stays will be indoors but we will be completely submerged in the real China. If this trip doesn't get me to the belly of the dragon, I don't know what I'll have to do.

Along this trip, I will try and update here, but if I can't I'll be posting pictures up when I return. I probably won't have the time (or the will) to write about every day, so I'll take extra pictures. I will have my Chinese mobile phone, so you can call me on that. To call me from the US you must first dial 011-86-10 Which is the international code for Chinese phone numbers. After dialing that code, you can then dial my cell phone number, which is 13671373273. Make sure you get a calling card if anyone wants to call me. (Probably not but hey, I want to think I have some fans)

Here are some pictures for you to catch up on.

The Great Wall

Track & Field

I forgot to talk about a dinner I went to a few days ago. It the was our orientation day and we had a few host students take me and my neighbor Ryan on a tour around campus. We met up with Jimmy and his host student and we all went out to get some stuff for the room. We got pots and pans and a few packages of instant noodles. Since we're leaving on the Silk Road trip we can't really stock up on bacon and eggs and stuff because it will all spoil. We went out to dinner to a really cool restaurant where we ate like kings. They even had a free show of multiple traditional dances and performances. It started with some girls doing a traditional dance, followed by a mask dance, and ending with a small portion of the Beijing Opera performed by a young lady. The mask dance was awesome. The guy would change his mask within the half second it took for his hand and sleeve to pass over his face. Literally instantaneously. It was amazing. The opera singer was good? I had to ask my host student if the woman was performing well and she said yes. I probably just don't have the ear for opera. Well, I'm already hard of hearing as it is so I know I don't have the ear for it. We had some of the best Beijing Roast Duck I've had out here. They had some cool stuff on the menu that sounded really good. There was this eel pasta dish that looked really delicious but we didn't order it. This bone marrow drink that had bones with straws in the middle looked interesting to try but we didn't. I took a picture. Also, we did order some shrimp rolls dipped in pink cream cheese type sauce. That was delicious. Ryan wanted to try the duck head but we didn't get that so we got some dumplings, broccoli and a fish that was really meaty and tasted awesome.

I have more pictures from dinner, the amusement park, and my new dorm are going to be posted sometime soon.

Hello Goodbye

RIP Camera #1. I got a call from the service center telling me that my camera would take 1-3 weeks (more expensive to get it done in 1 week) and would cost at least Y1000. I was pretty disappointed to hear the news. I actually had to give my phone to another person to translate for me, so I was mad when they told me the news. I had to go pick up my old camera at the service center and I put the wounded camera to rest. Since this was many people in my group's last night in Beijing, we were all planning a dinner and going out party for them. Before I went back to our new apartment, I decided to browse around for a camera. I went to one camera store and found my exact same camera. This time it was Y2980. That is about $435. No way was I about to pay that much for Camera #2. Especially because I feel really bad that my old one already broke. I talked with the camera man and I told him that a store by my apartment has the camera for Y2300. He immediately told me OK OK, I give you cheap price. Y2300. I knew right away that I was going to be able to bargain my camera down to the price I wanted to pay. So then I began to pull the guilt card and I explained to him that I'm a student and that someone broke my camera and I don't have a lot of money and that my parents told me I can't spend more than this amount of money and the whole works. I wasn't about to get teary eyed over this, but I have to say my skills worked pretty well and I got him down to Y1600. That is almost half the original price. But I was still feeling greedy so I pulled the "walk away" card, where you begin to walk away and they usually lower it a little bit more. Well, I shouldn't push my luck because he let me go. I went into another camera store and did basically the same thing and got it down to Y1600. They wouldn't go any lower though. I tried the walk away and they didn't buy it. I knew that that was probably the lowest any of them would go. I tried a third place and after much haggling, I still couldn't get it below Y1600. I figured I've reached the lowest I could have gone. Camera #2 is now being safely hauled around in my camera bag that I wear like a tourist around my neck. It's pretty sweet and the ladies love it. I think I look like my dad.
I had to jet back to my apartment and shower before dinner and we headed out. We went to a noodle place that made the noodles in front of you. It was pretty good dinnertime TV watching the chefs in the back toss yards and yards of noodles across the kitchen into the pans. They were slicing balls of dough with sharp knives and chopping thin strips of dough into wide noodles. Pretty cool and great tasting food. We went out to Sanlitun Bar District afterwards where we had a great going away party for the girls. They had to catch an early flight out so they left a little bit earlier. The night ended with me, Jim and Adam sometime in the early hours of the morning.
Having such a late night, moving in the next morning was glorious. I had about 4 hours of sleep and hadn't even finished packing. Kirt, a CYCAN leader, helped move me out. Jim and Devon had arranged to move in in the afternoon, but I knew how long moving in can take, so I figured I'd rather get moved in early. I'm pretty lucky I opted for the early move in because Kirt was a fearless warrior. Had it not been for him, I'm pretty sure moving in would have been hell. First things first, my luggage. I already have hoards of junk to squeeze into to suitcases, not to mention all of the stuff I took from our apartment. These items include: toilet paper, shampoo, body wash, laundry basket, tupperware, iced tea, water, instant noodles, powerstrips, converters and other random stuff. Kirt and I were able to get it down in one trip. When we got to my university, it was pretty hard to find building 5 because none of the buildings have numbers on the sides. But Kirt speaks Chinese, so he figured it out after asking a few people. Then, when I was registering, they couldn't find my name in the computer, but Kirt figured that problem out too. I'm also on the 6th floor of my elevator-less building. See first item. (luggage).
All in all, moving in wasn't tough, but I wouldn't have been able to do it without the CYCAN leader. Also, our apartments are awesome. Imagine hotel room with kitchen. The bathroom is a little bit tight. It is very small, a sink and a toilet. The shower nozzle sticks out from the wall right in the middle of the two, so the water pretty much drains through the sink and gets all over the toilet seat. It isn't as bad as it looks or sounds. The beds are extremely comfortable and we have our own patio outside that we can dry our clothes on. I'm really glad I moved in early because when Jimmy and Devon moved in, I was able to get them moved in fairly quick. We had a TBC dinner that night, and it poured on the way over. We got to meet a lot of people and right now we're just trying to remember names. There are a lot of kids from St. Louis Univ., Loyola Chicago, Loyola Maryland, Loyola Marymount (LA), Fordham, Gonzaga, and a few from Marquette and other schools. The Beijing Center is a great program and we keep finding out more and more details about what we're doing for our Silk Road trip. I'll probably write more about that in the next post. After dinner, Jim, Devon, Devon's roommate Brittany, and I went out to get to know a few more people. A lot of our classmates arrived yesterday so they are all jetlagged and tired. I'm really glad I've been here for 22 days because I couldn't imagine getting here and having to leave soon. Our Silk Road trip leaves at 5AM on Sunday, which is 3PM MST on Saturday. I had orientation today too but I dont have time to write about it now. I'll let you know tomorrow what I've learned.

A Wonder of the World & the End of the Beginning

We woke up at 8:00AM yesterday to go to the Great Wall. I was really stoked to head out of Beijing and finally see the Great Wall. The last time we tried to go to the Wall, the weather was rainy and none of us felt like risking a 2 hour bus ride to be stuck in the rain. Late the night before, we had to search for the best way to get to the Wall. We didn't want to go to a tourist part with tons of people, so we decided to go to Mutianyu. This was probably the best place to go for our first time to the Wall. I looked up directions online and wrote down the Chinese for the names of the cities and bus stations. We left at 9:05 AM, which is way better than any family trip I've been on. I was expecting to leave at 10 or 10:30 because everyone knows the Zamudio's need miracles to leave on-time for a roadtrip. We got cabs to the bus station, where we were the only tourists around. Many tourists have pre-made arrangements when they head to the Wall, so we were definately adventuring when we decided to go on our own. Anytime you do something on your own out here, you can never know what to expect. When we arrived at the bus station, this cab driver wanted to arrange a deal to take us to the Wall. We had heard about taking a taxi to the wall, but we wanted to save money and take public transportation. It is much much cheaper for not too much of an inconvenience. The only problem with saying, "No!" to this guy was he didn't get it. We were trying to find our bus, the 916 to Huairou, but the cab driver wouldn't leave us alone. When I went to ask a volunteer where the bus left from, he even went as far as to tell the volunteer not to tell us and then told us there was no bus to the Wall and we had to take a cab. All that did was make me mad and soon after he got the point that we didn't need a cab. I asked another nearby person where we could catch our bus, and they pointed us in the right direction. Although they pointed us to the non-express bus, we quickly found the express bus and were on our way. Air-conditioning and seats. What more could you ask for? I snoozed a little bit on the bus ride and woke up in Huairou. I didn't know that there were multiple stops in Huairou, but a guy came on the bus (seeing we were tourists) and told us that this was the stop for the Wall. Well, we didn't know that this guy was also a cab driver and not just a helping friend. Either way, I knew we had to take a cab from Huairou to the Mutianyu so it didn't bother me. We bartered him down for a good price, where he took us to the Wall, waited for us, and then took us back to the 916 station to Beijing. Good deal, right? We crammed five of us, me, Jim, Devon, Kelly and Monica, into the cab and took off.

Wow. The Wall is awesome. We took a gondola from the parking lot to the Wall (otherwise we would have to walk 30-40 minutes up to it). Remember the catapult I took on Wangfujing? That was a safety standard 7 or 8. This thing. Not so much. Probably about a 4. Imagine a rickity ski lift, when every time you moved, the boards your sitting on teeterd on their nails. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed every moment of eminent danger. All the way to the top. We walked up the wall, through the gaurd houses and up the stairs. Overlooking the beautiful mountains, you could look at the wall snaking along the moutain sides. It was just like the pictures. Awesome. The best part was we weren't pushing through people to walk up it. We went on a perfect day too. It was a bit hot, but it was clear blue skys all around us. The walking is more like doing a 2 hour stair stepper and it was hot enough to be drenched with sweat in the first 20 minutes. We got some awesome pictures. When we made it to one of the top most gaurd houses (I don't know if that is the correct term), we could look back at the part we had just climbed and enjoy what we have conquered. Some of the Wall is really steep and although it looks like we didn't travel that far, we probably walked about a mile or so down the Wall. One of the best days I've had. It was good to be out of the city, looking at mountains (that I miss very much), and being with some of my best friends to enjoy it all with. We had a good time laughing when people almost fell up and down the steps because they are all uneven. Someone in our group (not naming names) had a few too many scares and ended up falling down a step not on the Wall, but after we had gotten down. Haha. It wasn't me this time. On the Great Wall, you could see many people from around the world too. We passed by two Tai boxers each wearing their Gold and Silver medals. Jimmy got to hold the Gold medal and he got some pretty cool pictures with them. The medals are exremely shiny and looked amazing.

The Wall was great, but possibly the best part of the whole trip was taking the luge down. Jimmy and I were trying to go really fast. You turned with the curves and banked on the sides of the luge track. It was a blast. Unfortunately, there were older people in front of our group, and we had to stop a few times to give them space so we didn't run them over. Monica went first for our whole group and at one point near the end, I kept yelling "Go Mon, Go!" Kind of in a Jamaican accent but mostly because I was catching up to her too quickly. They have a few workers along select parts of the track that yell at you when you're going to fast and of course, being American, I couldn't understand what they were trying to tell me...haha. When we got to the bottom, we were starving. We ate, got ripped off because it was a tourist restaurant, and then poked around a few of the shops. Didn't see anything interesting. A few Chinese style t-shirts and some wooden stuff, but nothing I couldn't find at the Silk Market.

We all crashed on the bus ride back to Beijing. When we got home, we had to all get ready to go to Casas Americas for the Closing Ceremony. Free food and drinks. We're there. I'm sure everyone caught clips of the closing ceremonies. Great great great finish to the Olympics. It actually kind of bummed me out watching the Olympics. Now I'm not going to be able to just go see all of the world's athletes compete and break records. And, most of the people I've been meeting have been from all over the world. Many are going back to their home countries and the worldwide party is going to start coming to an end. In a way, it is kind of a good thing. Soon, I'll be starting a new part of my life in China. I'll actually have a set schedule every week and I'll be living in an apartment permanently. I was talking with a lady at Casas Americas during the Closing Ceremony and she turned out to be a tour leader. She worked for a company that plans 10-30 day excursions throughout China. Devon and I got to talk with her for hours about all the cool places in China to visit. She was a living book of knowledge. We got some valuable advice. Such as, when flying to Hong Kong, fly to Shenzhen and take a bus into Hong Kong. You'll save money that way. Also, Shenzhen's market isn't as good as Beijing's Silk Market. The Yangze River cruise I wanted to do. Not a great idea. Boring and you're stuck on a boat for 3 days with nothing to do except for play cards. Plus the food is terrible she said. Also, she gave us tons of advice about Vietnam. We're taking a 10 day trip the first week of October to visit Thailand and Vietnam. She gave us plenty to do in Vietnam. It was great to meet her and it was finally a turn of luck.

This morning I went to take my camera to the Nikon store to get it fixed. I handed the cab driver the paper the camera guys had given me and he took me to Wangfujing. The Nikon shop was actually in an office building on the third floor and when I entered there was crazy guy who was extremely pissed about his camera. Thank God I don't speak Chinese fluently because I wasn't about to listen to this guy go off forever about whatever was wrong with his camera. Some part must have been loose because he kept telling everyone in the room to listen as he shook his camera. He would go up to everyone, asking them questions and yelling about things. When I got there there were 3 people in front of me, but I got there just in time because shortly after I arrived the small room was full of people. A guy tried to cut everyone in line and someone yelled at him. I stood in line and waited my turn. Luckily the girl at the counter was pretty understanding. Of course she went off speaking Chinese, so I just smiled and nodded and they said they'd call me when it was done. Total price: Y280 plus labor. So hopefully it's around Y500. Much cheaper then buying a new one. I'm still waiting for a phone call.

We also had to consolidate apartments today, so Jimmy and I moved to the 11th floor of our buildilng. This room is way nicer than our old room but unfortunately we leave to move into the school dorms tomorrow morning. I'll let you know what happens when I get pictures.

Hatching History in the Bird's Nest

Alright. It's pretty late here but I have a lot to tell you and a big day tomorrow too. I just got back from the Bird's Nest tonight. We saw Men's and Womens 4x400m which USA took first in both. Two gold medals and an olympic record for the men's team. We saw it live. We saw Belgium break a national record in high jump and javalin olympic record for the men broken by an Eastern European man. It was probably one of the coolest events I've seen thus far. Not to mention, the Bird's Nest is one of the largest venues I've ever seen in my entire life. I am only 20 years old but this thing is MASSIVE. Thousands and thousands of people filled the stadium. It was sold out. And although we were pretty high up, our views were spectacular. We were just opposite of the finish line. We had a perfect view of the Women's high jump and the javalin field. The crowd was intense with energy. I can't even belive how many people were there from all different types of nations and lifestyles. Walking to our seats, people were praying to Mecca inside the stadium. A group of Bahama fans cheered for their runners a few rows in front of us. And the sea of American flags when we won was priceless. There probably wasn't a better time to come to the Olympics than this year. To top it off, listening to the our national anthem twice, echoing through the Bird's Nest made me damn proud to be an American!

Jimmy, Devon and I went with some other kids from our group and we all sat together. I brought my flag and we all waved them around to support our teams. Walking out of the Bird's Nest at night, it was cool to look through the tangle of steel out on the Olympic Green. The Water Cube, just across the plaza from us, was glowing blue and there were thousands of people milling around like ants on the green. The fountains we going off, the lights were flashing, and music was playing on the speakers. Great time. I have to get the pictures from Devon since my camera broke but still. Amazing.

Speaking of my camera, I spent 3 hours today trying to figure out what to do. Buying a new camera out here costs the same as buying one in the states. I could go to the Silk Market and try and get one there, but honestly, with my luck do you think that would be a great idea? I probably shouldn't risk it because I'm sure that I'd buy a camera and plug it into my laptop and start an electrical fire and burn my hard drive. So, I was wandering around our neighborhood with Rachel trying to find an electronics store. The first one had my camera, and the price was Y2600. I asked him if that was the real price (well I tried to ask) and he said something back. And then he wrote down Y2390. I was kinda confused because I'm pretty sure bartering isn't typical in stores. But little did I know. I decided that was still too expensive to make an impulse decision so we decided to go to another store. At the next store, the guys had my camera for Y2500. I told them that mine was broken and I wanted to get it fixed. Well, I dont know what I said exactly but they kind of got the point. All of a sudden there are 3 camera guys all speaking to me in Chinese and of course I'm just looking around like what the heck is going on. I waited until they all finished jabbering and simply said (in Chinese), "I don't understand." They thought that was funny and then they pulled out a Nikon box and found a map of something and pointed to it. They kept pointing to it but I apparently wasn't getting it. Because I had told them I had recently purchased the camera in the US last month, they knew that it was under warranty. These smart camera guys were pointing to a service center. So I asked them what would be cheaper, buying a new camera or getting it fixed. They said they didn't know exactly how much it would be but they knew for sure the person could fix my camera. They think it could be as cheap as Y400-600. But, the place doesn't open until Monday. 7am. Well, I gotta do what I gotta do. So I'm waiting until Monday. They wrote something down on a piece of paper (most likely the address of the service center) and they told me to give it to a taxi and they will take me there. I'm predicting another Chinese Adventure here, but I could be wrong. I really am done with breaking all my stuff. It just gets me frustrated.

We're heading to the Great Wall tomorrow. To a non-tourist part called Mutianyu. It is going to be spectacular. The weather should be great as well. Don't worry, I'll steal pictures from all my friends and we will all be happy. In the meantime, have a great day and I'm going to bed.

My Second Chinese Adventure

Well, the Silk Market was good. I got some new shoes for Y100 which is about $15. I didn't want to buy anything else but I somehow managed to get some t-shirts for Y30-40. I also got a hat. You will see pictures. After the Silk Market, we went to Wangfujing to get some stuff too. I never found a cheap place for shorts so I ended up going to the mall. The malls here have American prices and I went to Nike and picked up some overpriced shorts. Now I have them so I'm happy. We ended up eating at the Duck Dinner again. Did I mention that at the last dinner we ate turtle? And the girls ordered a special "woman's soup" that had frog ovaries in it. It is supposed to make girls more beautiful. I took pictures, but this time at dinner we stuck to more traditional dishes. After eating we headed out to one of the bar districts. While we were out at Sanlitun, we ran into some people from West Africa. They spoke spanish (surprisingly) and one of the guys was an ambassador's son. They invited us to another club, China Doll, with them and we headed over. I think we got in VIP or something because we took a different entrance into the club. This club also has 6 floors. It was a ton of fun but we were missing a few people from our group so we decided to leave.

Meeting all of these people from around the world is pretty cool. You can meet them anywhere, just ask. That night was probably the beginning of my second adventure. Yesterday I woke up and knew that I had to send my dad my broken laptop keyboard. I didn't have a clue where a UPS store was and I tried to look it up on UPS.com. Well, they have 5-6 locations in the Beijing area, I just didn't know which one was closest to me. Looking up a map of Beijing is another thing. If you can even find a decent one, its either going to be in Chinese or it will be incomplete. Most of the smaller areas with small streets are unlabeled. It took me about 45 minutes to find the first location, and I didn't really feel like trying to look up all of the locations so this was going to be the one I'd use. I took the subway there, and when I got out of the subway I was a little disoriented. I had a general idea where to go, but back to the map thing, I wasn't quite sure exactly where to go. I knew I had to walk west of the subway line, which I did, but after walking for a while I knew I should have passed it by now. I turned around to look at the buildlings. Everyone who doesn't know, I like looking at buildings and taking pictures of skyscrapers. A majority of my time in NYC, I orient myself based on skyscrapers and can get my friends and I around the city pretty well. Even in a part of town we've never been too. I turned around and saw the building I was supposed to be at. When I arrived at the UPS store, they spoke enough English to understand what I wanted to do. The only problem was this was a UPS Express store. I didn't want to burn a huge hole in my wallet, but I guess I really didn't have a choice.

The lady working at UPS didn't know how to package my keyboard. I told her it was already broken, it just couldn't break in half. They didn't believe me when I told them a few wraps of bubble wrap would make it sturdy enough, so they tried to put it in a box. It didn't fit in any smaller boxes, so they had to bubble wrap it like I said. Once the package was ready, I started to fill out the paperwork. Apparently, everyone in China needs to have a passport in order to ship things overseas. Well, I don't carry my passport in my pocket so I had to go get it. I caught a cab back to the apartment, got my wallet and took a cab back. I get back to UPS and fill out more paperwork and got it paid. But of course they don't take credit card at UPS China, and I didn't have Y288 in cash. Back out again to try and find an ATM. I took out more Yuan and walked back to the store. Paid and left. Finally. It was a short first part of my adventure but overall really a fiasco. Total time to ship a package in China: 2 hours and 45 minutes. Normally, I wouldn't even bother with this process, but I had to get the shipping done. And now I know where at least one UPS store is.

I was taking some phenonmenal pictures of downtown Beijing and the central business district, until my camera battery died. The cab driver even slowed down when we passed the twisted doughnut building and pointed to it and did camera motions, but I had to point to mine and try and use my 3 yr old vocabulary to explain that the battery died. He got the message I think, and I got a few good ones in before it died. I'll have more time to take others too.

When I got back to the apartment it was already 3:30 in the afternoon. I made some instant noodles for the apartment and took a break. Jimmy and I had basketball semi-finals that night so I had to rest up for the big game. We went all out. When I woke up from my snooze, I was all ready to take a shower and get my face painted. Thats right, stars and stripes on my face, bright red t-shirt, white Nike basketball shorts, and an American flag cape. It was glorious. I looked like Captain American. The only thing was, I didn't want a bunch of white dots on my face for the stars, so I asked Rachel to just do one big star and people would get the point. Yea yea, all of you may know that the flag of Liberia only has one big star, but I didn't know. Although the Liberian flag was on my face, I was decked out in other American apparel. I'm pretty sure people knew I was rooting for America and not Liberia.

On the way to the game, we met other Americans from Texas who had moved to China and were now working there. The guys were 27 years old and one was a lawyer in Hong Kong and the other worked in Beijing. One guy said his parents worked for Haier (a Chinese GE), and he had lived in Tokyo for most of his life. They only spent a few years in the states but they spoke perfect English. It was good to meet up with them and hear their stories and we exchanged contact info. So now when we go to Hong Kong we have someone to show us around. Arriving at the stadium was insanity. We were swarmed with people wanting to take pictures of our American group. Me and Jimmy had our faces painted, three of us had American flags on our shouders and all the girls were in either red or white. Everyone wanted tickets. Our tickets, in the 3rd tier, were fetching for about Y4000. That would be a nice chunk of change to have, but I'm pretty sure the memories are worth far more. When we got to our seats, naturally someone was already sitting in them, so we moved down a bit. Well, the only place to move was down because we were in the very last row in the highest section. It was so high up I thought I was going to hit my head on the air ducts or something. (Not really). We watched the Spain and Lithuania game first. It was a good game. I didn't think that Spain was going to win. They have Paul and Mark Gasol, but Lithuania has a huge team. Lithuania had better offense and although their defense was decent, Spain had a hard time breaking through. It was a close game, but every time Spain would score, Lithuania would come back with a matching point. Eventually, Spain worked their magic and pulled ahead. Lithuania couldn't catch up so they play for the bronze on Sunday. Then the real fun began.

When the first game was over, we all went down to the first section to try and bum tickets off of people leaving early. Jim was lucky enough to have a Lithuanian hand him his ticket...which was a behind the basket floor seat. Incredible. Of course, we passed the ticket back and got everyone through to the floor section, but security was too tight to get us any further. We spent the rest of the game standing on the railing watching the US and Argentina game. It was awesome. Not only did I get to see Kobe, LeBron, Carmelo, Dwight Howard, Dwayne Wade, and all the other all stars, I could actually see them from a great spot. We were standing next to some big shot guys. They wouldn't tell us what they did, but one lived in Miami and the other in Milwaukee. Of course the US team beat Argentina, 101 to 81 and the whole stadium erupted for America. Within 10 minutes we had a crowd of people lined up to take pictures with us. People were bringing their kids with us, we got a USA chant going and a Meiguo Jiayou chant too. We were interviewed by a German radio station and I got to speak for about 3 minutes about my opinion of this years national team. It was awesome.

Of course, no Chinese adventure would end probably without something typical happening to me. With all of the hub bub and excitement going on, I would love to snap a few pictures of the moments. I was handing my camera to a Chinese lady and somehow it slipped through both of our fingers and fell on the floor. Naturally, the camera was on and now there is a lens error. The camera turns on but the focus is off and it doesn't retract into the camera fully. I'm getting pretty sick of all my broken electronics and I didn't feel like going out to celebrate the US victory. When we left the stadium, it took my friend and I about 40 minutes to try and catch a cab, but eventually we did. We got back to the apartment, and I washed off my face paint. I woke up early this morning to write about my adventure but now I have to go to the same electronics store I bought my keyboard from and ask for a camera. Who knows, maybe they can fix the broken one (which my parents bought for me just about a week before I came over here). Who knows. Hope all is well in America. I'm going to Track & Field finals tonight at the Bird's Nest.

Orphanage and Downtown

US Basketball Game

A Chinese Orphanage

Alright, I haven't written in a while but the past few days have been pretty relaxing. We're taking it easy. We've had about half of the volunteers go home. They were all signed up for the 14 day program and so now these next six days we're consolidating apartments (we are getting two people). During the day I can't really remember what we did, but I know that we went to the dumpling dinner that we missed before. This was delicious. I tried jellyfish, which was actually like hard gelatin. It had a little sour bite but it was kind of bland and bitter. At least I tried it. Other than that we had tons of dumplings and other dishes. It was Andrew's last night, so he came with Jimmy and I to dumpling dinner. Afterwards we talked about travelling aroudn China back at the apartment. Andrew has been a lot of places while he was in China this summer. He had a lot of information and we're definately going to use him as a resource when we need to find out what to do in certain places. Not to mention, a lot of CYCAN students (our Chinese leaders) live in various cities around China. One leader, Serena, lives in Shanghai, another lives in Shenzhen (her English name is Rain), and another leader Sophia, lives in Wulan? It is somewhere in southern China, but she studies in Beijing. We hung out at the house and I'm pretty sure I was out by 11:30. Rachel and Kelly had a track and field event at the Bird's Nest and they got back around midnight. They had really good seats and had a great time. It was fun to listen to them tell their stories about getting paparazzied by Chinese and other foreign tourists.

I went to the orphanage yesterday. It really exists. It was about an hour away from Beijing by bus. It is out in a rural part of China, but not too rural. The facility is actually really nice and modern. The program is called Philip Hayden Foundation and the director's name is Leah. After showing us around the grounds a bit, me and the 3 other people I was with got to meet some of the orphans. All of the orphans at PHF have some kind of special need. Most have cleft pallett, severe heart conditions that require surgery, or brain issues. The children we worked with were all under the age of three. This was a little bit out of my comfort zone because I am not used to working with such young kids. Also, it is a lot different when you are working with special kids. One of the girls had her stomach born in a pouch on her stomach. The skin of the pouch was very very thin, almost transluescent. You could see her heart beating inside of the pouch, moving the skin up and down with each beat. Another girl had a brain condition that filled her with head with water. She had an enlarged head. The one thing that made me uncomfortable at the ophanage was how tempremental the children were. They were easily upset and there was one girl, Ruby, who we were told isn't fond of others. One of the children loved to be tossed up and down, and Leah encouraged us to do so, but somehow it didn't seem right for me to toss them up in the air. Had it been any of my younger cousins, I would have loved to, but considering these children were special and not related to me, I didn't want to take the risk of something happening.

There was one kid, Tristan, who had cleft pallet and a underdeveloped hand who was awesome. He was probably one of the most happy babies I've ever seen. All you had to do was bounce him up and down and he would giggle and smile. I enjoyed my time with the kids and could see myself becoming attached to these kids had I actually come to the orphanage more often. When the children went to take a nap, we ate lunch and began painting a few classrooms for the orphanage. Painting was fun. I'm not a professional but I can say that my walls looked decent enough. I got a lot of paint on the ceiling though. But she said that didn't matter. We headed back around 3:30 PM. Before we left, we were walking around outside and we saw two puppies that had been abandoned at the orphanage. They were the only things I took pictures of and they reminded me of home. They were really cool puppies that were small. One of them literally fell inside a small hole while they were following me to the other building.

When I got home from the orphanage, I hung out at the apartment and relaxed. My shorts had paint on them and my shoes had drips on them so I'm heading to the silk market today to pick up some shoes and shorts. Also, my gym shorts mysteriously disappeared so I need to get a pair of those too. We had duck dinner last night too. We weren't signed up to go, but since people left early there are a lot of open slots. This is a chance for us to get free food and have fun with our CYCAN leaders. Jimmy, Rachel and I had turtle and some delicious Beijing roast duck. Also, we had this catfish that they brought out for us to see before it was cooked. The waiter held it up for us to inspect and it was huge. The whole meal was delicious.

Last night we hung low because we were supposed to go to the Great Wall this morning. Unfortunately, we woke up to rain and I had an upset stomach. We decided to nix the trip and reschedule for another day when the weather is better. Probably on the 24th or 25th. I'm going to the market now. Have a good one everyone.

Living Like an Olympian

If anyone was watching gymnastics last night, they were awesome. China raked in 5 more medals and the US got a silver. I saw a lot of great Olympians. During the Men's Rings Final, Yang Wei (CN) took gold, Chen Yibing (CN) took silver, and Oleksandr Vorobiov (Ukraine) took bronze. We were a little late for this one so we didn't get to see Ukraine, but watching both of China's performances were amazing. Rings was one of my favorite events. I wish we had closer seats because Devon kept having to tell me to stop watching the TV screen, we can see it live right in front of us. The Women's Uneven Bars was the most competitive of the events we saw. There was Nastia Liukin from the US who tied with China for gold. Because her difficulty score was slightly lower (by .1) she had to take the silver instead. He Kexin and Yang Yilin both had awesome performances despite some surrounding controversies. A girl from Russia fell off the high bar blowing her chances at any medal but that was the only major mistake. The third event we saw was Men's Vault. This was a crazy one. Each guy had two chances to land their jump. Most of them couldn't stick their landings and a few of the even lost balance off of the landing mat. Poland won the gold for this event (Leszek Blanik) and his jump was awesome. Well worth the gold for sure. We had a surprise fourth event that wasn't posted online that we got to watch. That was Women's Trampoline finals. This was one of the more entertaining events and we all enjoyed watching the girls jump really high and spin around in the air.

When the events were over we walked around the Olympic venues. I can't even describe how cool it was to walk inbetween the Water Cube, the Bird's Nest, and the National Indoor Stadium (where we watched gymnastics). These buildings are amazing. The pictures can't even do it justice. Not to mention, the pictures can't capture the glow of the lights in peoples faces, the roaring of the crowd in the Bird's Nest or any of the excitement that seems to run through the milling crowds walking through the plaza. It was really the coolest feeling. I know you guys are really jealous of us and it wasn't until last night that I could really feel myself being part of history.

We headed back to the apartment where everyone was getting ready to have our final night out with the 14 day volunteers. Once again we went to the place that treated us like royalty and had a good time. I woke up this morning at 8 AM to go to the Llama Temple. This is a Buddhist temple that has 5 Buddhas the largest of them is 18m above ground with an 8m underground base. It is carved out of a single tree that took 3 years to ship from Nepal. The tree is native to India. On this trip it was only Devon and I and a leader. Half of our leaders are part of a Chinese program called CYCAN. They are all Chinese students that are working with CCI to help us adjust to living in Beijing. The other half are American and they are members of CCI. This leader was a CYCAN member and the Llama Temple was very close to her neighborhood. The temple didn't take very long so afterwards we walked around and she showed us some cool streets and local neighborhoods. We ate at a restaurant and headed back to the apartment. I think I'm just taking it easy for the rest of the day and since I ended up not getting a massage yesterday I might go today with Jimmy. We'll see.

Oh and random info: We found a place close to us called Carrefour (French Walmart) and it was amazing. Every western good you could ever want. Now, if I'm ever craving anything from the US, I'll just go there. I bought a matress for my bed (if you didn't know, we all sleep on a piece of plywood with a blanket on top). Last night's sleep was one of the best I've had on my trip. Oh, and below are some pictures I've stolen from Rachel's camera too. Sorry there aren't many of the Llama Temple. You can't take pictures inside and the outside of the buildings all look the same.

Rachel's Photos

Gymnastics & Llama Temple

Summertime Cookout at the Summer Palace

Last time I wrote, I was able to post a few extra pictures of random things from around town. We went out to a place near the Worker's Stadium (an Olympic event) and had a really fun time. Most of the Chinese are really excited when foreigners enter their shops or clubs because they know most likely we'll be spending money there. For this reason alone, they treat you like royalty. At the club we went to, a few of the girls were approached by the manager and shown a special VIP room and given cards to received half-off drinks M-Th. Also, after showing the girls the room, the manager came over to our table and asked us to come back. I think it is easy to get used to this part of China.

The next morning we got up bright and early to go to the Summer Palace. The only people from my apartment who went were Rachel, Jimmy and myself. We met up with Devon at the group meeting spot. Devon hadn't gone out with us the previous night, so she was pretty well rested. The rest of us had to deal with the 8 o'clock wake up call. Heading to the Summer Palace, which was a place where the empress vacationed, isn't too bad. It used to be considered a very remote place outside of Beijing, but just like any other city, the far suburbs eventually get swallowed by the urban sprawl. We took the subway from one end to the other and got off. When we heard we still had a bus ride to go, we asked our leader if we could grab a bite to eat and take a cab and meet them later on. She said this was fine and this gave us a chance to eat and rest before we walked around all day. We were all glad to separate from the group. They usually go at a slower pace and everyone knows its much easier to do things like this when your not in a large tourist group. Don't worry, our leader isn't a tour guide, so we didn't even miss any cool facts. We ate at a noodle place, and it was more difficult than usual to order food because we were in a very non-tourist part of Beijing. Eventually we got our noodle bowls and ate and caught a cab to the Palace.

The Summer Palace is awesome. It sits right on lake and has many different places to walk around and enjoy the weather. The views are spectactular and it is amazing to think that the ancient Chinese rulers used to walk around the same place, enjoying the same scenery. They lake was full of paddle boats, so we decided to rent one out. Another thing I really love about this country is the exchange rate. It allows for us to do all of the things and not really have to worry about money. The boats were really cheap and we went off wandering around the lake. It was sunny and pedaling around make it really hot. We went to the other side of the lake and looked at all the grass and trees. There were bridges and people with their families and it looked like a great place to have a Summertime BBQ. We returned the boat after an hour and a half and walked over the the Tower of Buddhist Incense. this is one of the tallest points at the Summer Palace. To get there we had to walk through one of the longest covered walkways in the world. It has thousands of hand painted pictures on the ceiling and goes on forever.

When we get to the Buddhist tower, we had to walk up a few long flights of stairs before we got to the top. The views were amazing. You could see the outskirts of Beijing and all of the boats on the lake. Inside the Tower of Buddhist Incense was a bronze casted gold guilded 1000 armed Buddah. It was awesome even though we couldn't take pictures. Inside, a few people were praying. We walked a little further up to a smaller building with a golden Buddah statue. That was really cool. Again, no pictures, but it was big.

We poked around at the top for a bit. Stopped to rest on some rocks and look out at the view. We headed down and took a rickshaw back to the subway stop. That was a fun ride back. A rickshaw is a two seat carriage pulled by a bikeman. Our man was older but he did pretty good. It was a nice relaxing ride, except for the time we went through an intersection and the other time we went one way on the highway. I was glad that Jimmy and Rachel were in front of Devon and I because they were the ones that were getting honked at. Some of the oncoming traffic were flashing their lights at us too. We made it safely to the next exit ramp and even though we were still going the wrong way, there was far less traffic. We got to the subway, took it back to our apartments, and decided to look around a new mall they just built by us. We were all exhausted. We had been walking around all day outside. We hadn't eaten since the noodle place and we just wanted to relax. The mall was really nice. It wasn' crowded at all and a lot of the stores were American priced. We ate again and went back. I just relaxed at home and crashed.

The game plan for today is to get another massage with the roommates, going to see Gymnastics finals today and when I get back we're having a huge going away party for all of the 14 day volunteers. Oh-- and speaking of volunteering, I'm going to the orphanage soon.

Media links: Video of Me, Rachel, and Kelly on Wangfujing Catapult!

Summer Palace

Hotpot Dinner and Photos

Hotpot dinner was really good. It's not fondue but actually three types of sauce that you put your vegetables and meat in. You keep them in until they are finished cooking and then you pull it out. It was an experience. There are a lot of meatball type things that are made of different types of meat. Fish, beef, and lamb. They also give you rolls of raw meat (almost like lunch meat rolls) that you can put in with lettuce and stuff. My camera battery was charging so I couldn't take pictures but I hope you got the point. It was a good meal, but there were a few times when I pulled the meat out and it wasn't cooked all the way. I'm sure it's ok.

We are all going out to Sanlitun bar area tonight but I found some pictures I thought I'd post before tomorrow.

Life in Beijing

The Same Thing I Always Do

After my adventure with Jimmy it was pretty hard to go back to normal life in Beijing. I got to sleep in the next day because I had nothing planned for the day (again). Jimmy and Rachel had tickets to water polo, so Devon and I went down to the Olympic venues to see if we could scalp tickets for something good. There weren't any really awesome tickets, so we just settled for some more volleyball. Actually it's Olympic Volleyball, so it was really awesome. We saw Brazil and Russia and Serbia vs Poland. It was great to watch, but we were volleyballed out. The major plus is that not only do Chinese people not form lines, they also don't care where their official seat is at a venue. This means that during breaks, everyone moves around until they get moved. After the Brazil/Russia game (which Russia won), we moved really close to the court. So close that we got to see the Serbia/Poland teams come out of the locker room. The Serbia/Poland teams are HUGE. You can see by the pictures most of the guys are over 2m tall. Which I assume is around 6' or over. After the second game of Poland and Serbia, Devon and I called it quits. Too much volleyball.





We left the venue and it was pouring. It has rained a few days here and there is one thing we learned. If it rains, you'll see the sky tomorrow. But it's not that great when your in flip flops and a t-shirt. We ran around in the rain trying to find the subway station but the directions we were given we apparently didn't understand to the fullest. We asked someone else and took a bus to the subway stop. When we got off we saw a huge mall and decided to check it out. The malls here are nice but really expensive (for China). Although you'll pay American prices, you can find some pretty cool Chinese brands. I'm really into the whole Chinese brand. I'm probably one of the only people in our group that hasn't eaten KFC, McDonalds, or 7-11 food. I'm eating some American snacks, but I try to avoid the name brand American meals. I really like their fast food noodle places and I think they're really good.





At the mall, everyone loves foreigners. You can't go into a store without someone following you around asking you to try everything on. And since I'm a good lookin guy, OK really good looking guy, haha, all of the girls want me to talk to them for a little while. When I was checking out, one of the workers, who I wasn't even talking to, just said "Dong dong." I was kinda confused because she said it kind of loud and I thought I was doing something weird. I looked at Devon and she didn't know what was going on either. Our confusion must have shown on our faces because the girl I was talking to let me know what was going on. "Her name is Dongdong" I thought it was pretty funny.

When I got home, we ate and went out to the Houhai bar district. I really liked this place. It is a bit expensive but it overlooks a small lake. You can look out and see all the bar lights reflecting on the lake. It's a good vibe and the people are fun.

The next morning we all woke up and everyone had stuff to do except for me, Rachel, and Kelly. I made an American breakfast (eggs, toast, and ham) and we decided to go out and explore a different part of the city. We planned on going to see the Olympic gardens, but instead we ended up at Wangfujing street market. Kelly ended up having a pretty bad day and it all started when we got on the subway to go the Wangfujing. Getting on the subway, Kelly's flipflop hit the door step and it got kicked into the crack. It was lost forever and she had to walk barefoot through the subway station and through the street. She finally got another pair in one of the stores but no one really likes to walk barefoot. It was pretty funny and she got some stares. When we got there we met up with Andrew, Monica, and Devon. Some people bought things at the official flagship store and afterwards we ended up just poking around. The weather was the best it has ever been here. It actually looked like a normal city in the world. You could see clouds, the blue sky, and even airplanes. Further down on the Wangfujing street market there was a carnival ride. Y100 to go on one of those rides where you sit in a ball on the ground and it bungees up into the sky. I took pictures but it was amazing. Rachel was hilarious. Right before we were about to go she asks, "How safe do you think this ride is? 10 being American standards" I would say about 7 or 8. When Rachel asked to get her seatbelt tightened, they said no. It was a fun 10 minute ride and by the time we launched we had attracted quite a big crowd. So many people were watching us that people had to cross the street to walk on a sidewalk.

After our ride, I headed back. I had nothing to do so I slept for a bit and then we went out as an apartment to dinner. We of course had a good dinner. Ate some duck feet. Nothing special. Everyone let me order dinner and of course everything looks good when you're ordering off a picture menu. haha. Other than being really spicey, the duck feet had 3 toes and the small bone/cartlidge in the toes felt like undercooked rice. The ankles had a lot of bones and weren't good. The webbing was the best part. Look at the pictures.


When I got the apartment, I was reading some e-mail and I had just poured myself a nice glass of cold Coke. With my luck, I break cameras and cell phones and all of that so naturally my computer had to have something happen to it while I'm here. You can probably put the two together before I tell you, but someone bumped into the table and the Coke sloshed out of the cup and onto my keyboard. It short circuited the keyboard. After that happend, I went to bed. I knew I wasn't going to be in the mood for anything exciting. This morning, I went out with Kelly to the computer store and bought a keyboard. We also got more eggs and some bacon. We made breakfast and it was delicious.



Today, August 16, I was supposed to go to the Temple of Heaven, but Jimmy met some Chinese guys who are going to UIBE (The Beijing Center) with us this semester. They are volunteering for the Olympics and get tickets to events. From what Jim understood he had three tickets to basketball, but what he really had was three tickets to different events on different days. I wished I would have seen the Temple of Heaven, but Jim reminded me that we're here for a while. We have time. Plus, Devon said it was awesome, but she doesn't need to go again. Which is just like T--nanmen square.



Tonight is Hotpot dinner. We'll see what surprises come from that.

Around Beijing

My First Chinese Adventure

Beach Volleyball was awesome today. Besides the fact that CCI makes us meet up two hours before the event starts, Devon and I had a great great time. I didn't know it at the time, but the events are really close to our apartment, so getting to them doesn't take two hours. Regardless, waking up at 4:45AM wasn't fun. When we got there, the gates hadn't even opened and we were stuck outside in the humid morning air. When we did get in, it was empty. I slept for a few hours before the games started and woke up just in time to see that the Chaoyang Beach Volleyball stadium had started to fill. We were pretty close to the court as well. The US men's team started the day off with a victory over Argentina, and that was only the beginning. We saw team Georgia beat Russia in the country's first Olympic Beach Volleyball Match ever. Georgia has never had an Olympic team for beach volleyball. After that game things really got good when China played against Norway. The China team won and the crowd was going wild. "Zhong guo jia you!" was all you could hear (Go China!). It was awesome. The next game we saw was Brazil and Australia. This was an intense game and Australia barely got a victory. Everyone moved on from these games as they were prelims. By the time the Australia/Brazil game finished the heat and humidity were making me irritable. We decided to leave early and enjoy the rest of the day. We headed back to the apartment where I took a nap and woke up just in time to get a few things done.

Beach Volleyball--August 13, 2008

I was sitting at my laptop and just hanging out when Jimmy came home from his daily activities. First thing in the door, he asks me what I was doing. Well, I was thoroughly enjoying doing nothing online (the afternoons are killer because it is the middle of the night in the US). But, I wanted to entertain the thought of doing something so I asked whats up. Jimmy had gone looking for scalped tickets earlier in the day and got football tickets. I was kinda tired but after the World Cup in Germany (2006) I knew how much fun it could be. I said I would like to go but I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Right away Jimmy tells me that the tickets are for a game in a nearby city Tianjin and we have to catch a bullet train there immediately. Well, you only live life once and the train isn't going to wait. We got a cab and headed over to the Beijing South Station.

Here, it was a mess. Tons of people everywhere. The Chinese don't queue

in lines and neither Jimmy nor I had any idea where to go or what to do. Luckily, there are tons of Chinese volunteers around the city that speak decent English. We asked one of them what to do and the girl was phenomenal. She told us that all of the trains are sold out until 6:00, and the game started at 5:00 PM. I figured it would be like this but she said don't worry I'll get you a ticket. She went up to the counter, squeezed to the front, spoke some Chinese, and there we go. Two standing tickets on the next train that leaves in 15 minutes. We'll get there are 5:00 PM which was in 30 minutes and by the time we get to the stadium we shouldn't have missed much. The fun part was getting on the train. They don't form lines, making it every man for himself to mob the train for a good spot. Jim and I got a place by the door and we sat down for the train ride. The bullet train is awesome. It's a wonder that they don't have it in America. 240 MPH Beijing to Tianjin in 30 minutes. While on the train we were talking...well trying to talk with the guy next to us. Turns out he is the Director of International Trade in China (or something like that). From what we could talk about, it sounds like he imports oil and "chemicals" from other countries. He said mostly from Africa and the Middle East but also from Canada, USA, and South America. I was awed while talking with him. What are the chances of meeting someone who does something along the lines of what I want my career to be. He gave us his card and invited us to visit him at his Beijing office. We got to Tianjin and thought we would kinda plan ahead and get return tickets before the insane crowds got out from the game. While waiting in line there was an Australian, Brian, who also was buying a return ticket to Beijing. We got to talking and found out we were both going to the soccer match. And we also found out that there were two games that night. Italy vs Camaroon and Ivory Coast vs Australia. We decided to adopt Australia as our home team for the night. On the cab ride over however, our little adventure received a fun little twist. We asked Brian the Aussie where he was seated. 1 seat away from us in fact. Small world or coincidence we all thought that was pretty hilarious. When Jim described the guy he purchased the tickets from they weren't even sure it was the same person. After getting to the stadium, we still had to walk around to get to our entrance gate. On the walk over we met fellow Australians and one of them claimed to be the father of #16 on the Australia National Team. I haven't had time to check who it is but we wished him the best of luck.

Alright, to wrap this one up, we had a great time watching the games. The Italy and Camaroon game ended up as a stalemate and the Ivory Coast beat Australia 1-0. We had a few beers, of course met tons of new people, including the little girl next to us, and wrapped ourselves in American flags that we had purchased earlier. We got back home around 12am and crashed. It was a great day.

What an adventure.

Tianjin Soccer Games

Today had a Happy Ending (not like that)

The Traditional Dinner that we went on with our group was awesome. We went with a group leader who ordered all of our food for us. We had corn and fish and bullfrog and sweet buns and other tasty treats. It was really good and all of us had a good time. We really have a great group. There was a really annoying bird at the restaurant that we wanted to kill. This thing sounded like a car alarm. We were going to cook it until we left the restaurant and the bird squawked "Ni Hao!" That was the only reason we let it live. It was really cool. We didn't do much after dinner. We watched some of the Olympics on TV and went to bed. I had to wake up really early to go to T--nanmen Sq.

The F--bidden City was awesome! It is huge and you can easily get lost inside of it. With my typical luck, my camera died after we walked through the first gate. Luckily Devon was looking out for me and we're going to trade pictures. Walking through the City was awesome. Thinking about how thousands of years worth of Chinese rulers have walked through the same grounds is a cool experience. The pagodas have beasts on the corners of the buildings to show the significance of the building. The more "beasts" the more important the building is. You can see the beasts on the roof in the pictures. Also, they have huge stone carvings and walkways that only emperors could walk on. There is a 102m moat around the whole place and there are many gardens that the emperors used to woo concubines. They said that all the trees within the City are well over 300 years old. Underneath all of the building overhangs, intricate carvings of dragons, flowers, and landscapes are painted with green, blue, and gold paint. There was one room that had some of the largest hand sewn rugs I've ever seen. They had golden threads weaved in really intricate patterns. It was a really great experience overall, but after walking around for 3 hours we were all pretty tired. We went to a dumpling restaurant afterwards and ate delicious dumplings. Our leader ordered us some traditional food, but we pretty much stuck with the meat dumplings. The place was supposedly notorious for their dumplings and had my camera been working, I could have taken pictures of the people hand-making the dumplings in the back.

When we got back to our apartments, Devon and Kelly went to the Silk Market and Andrew and I went to get our haircut. We were laughing at lunch when we were talking about getting a haircut or a massage out in China. Our leader was not shy to tell us the real deal when looking for one of these services. The main point: watch out. China still relies on the sex industry to make a little money, so naturally massages and haircuts are used as fronts for the dirty business. We joke that be careful where you go to get a massage because it might just come with a happy ending. Our leader assured us to never say "special massage" because it implies sexual favors. Also, when looking for a massage place, never go to a place with pink lights outside of it. Those are a common sign for special massages. When you want to get a haircut, they usually massage your head for free. But it is also very easy to ask for a happy ending when your haircut is finished. Everyone thought it was funny when someone asked our leader how much for a happy ending, and she simply said "It depends on the person!" This is probably a really taboo subject for most people, but it is probably good that we talked about this with our leader before we ventured out looking for anything. A Chinese massage is very well known for being inexpensive and thorough and we all really wanted to get one eventually.

Back to the story, Andrew and I went to get a haircut and thought we'd bring along our leader just in case. For my first time, I definately wanted a translator for this adventure. We found a place in an apartment building next to ours for only Y20 which was supposedly really expensive. (That is about $4). I've gotten my haircut in many different places but by far China is the cheapest I've ever seen. I got an excellent haircut, shampoo, and mini-head massage for Y20. Amazing. After the haircut, all of the 20 day volunteers got a call to head to Steve's apartment (the CCI director)to pick up an extra Olympic ticket. I got a ticket for the Men's Pentathalon the morning I have Men's Basketball Semifinals. That should be awesome.

When I got back to the apartment, everyone was pretty bored and we had nothing to do until dinner so we decided what the hell, let's go get a massage! We had talked about it the night before, but after our conversation at lunch we felt prepared to venture out on our own. Not to mention, we're all pretty stressed out around here, so what the heck. Me, Jimmy, Rachel and Kelly went outside and asked a gaurd where one was. He took us right to an apartment building across the street and on the first floor, through the back door, and down a dark hallway there was a massage place. 1 hour massage. Y68 ($11). Total awesomeness. We felt like new people afterwards. I don't really think I need to say anymore but yea. Imagine little Chinese ladies walking on your back, x10. It was great. They did my back, neck, shoulders, butt (which was a little weird at first but you just have to go w/ it), hamstrings, quads, calves, arms and hands. Feet cost a little extra so none of us did that. It was a good experience and it wasn't "special" so we think we'll have to go there again next week.

After the massage, we headed over to stuff our faces. We were really hungry after all that hard work. We sat down and ordered food. That night we decided to get a whole duck (not Beijing Roast Duck). It was really good and we had other dishes to compliment it. I ate the eyeball. It wasn't that great. Don't think I need to try it again either. By the time we were done with dinner it had already gotten dark outside. We decided to head back. Personally, I was done. I had walked around all day, was sore from my massage, and had been up since 7am. I had to wake up really early for beach volleyball the next day and I wasn't looking to have a big night. On the way back we became tourists and saw this dog that seriously looked like a lion. I don't know how to describe it other than it was medium sized, long red/brown fur, with a mane and everything. He sat just like a lion and he looked like a stuffed animal. The old man who owned it said that it was very rare breed. It probably isn't but we loved it anyway.

Random notes: I'm having a great time out here. There are too many times I think of people back home when we're out having fun and I wish I could remember all of them. But here's an embarassing moment. Giro has the habit of making friends wherever we go. He talks to the locals even though he doesn't speak Chinese and he entertains them by taking pictures with them and flashing peace signs. We were walking around our neighborhood to get Olympic tickets and there is this woman sitting on the sidewalk with tons of chihuahuas. Long haired and short haired all with brown, brown/red fur. He approaches the woman cautiously and doesn't want to scare any of the dogs that are laying down licking their paws and sleeping. He stops a few feet away and waves at the lady and looks at the dogs. The lady smiled back very friendly and Giro took another step closer to try and get to know her. Wrong move. It was like attack of the wolves. All of a sudden, the dogs get up as if an alarm had just gone off and it was WWIII. Imagine at least 7 ankle-biters barking like crazy and chasing after a screaming white guy from the states. It was hilarious. The dogs made so much noise that everyone else in the plaza stopped what they were doing to watch the scared guy run away. All of us were actually pretty afraid of the vicious dogs and we left the square before we caused any more trouble.

Tiananmen Square & Forbidden City

A Weekend Around

The past few days have been a whole lot of fun. Saturday we decided to go out to lunch after our meeting. Of course we think it is a great idea to take the subway to a random stop, get off and find a restaurant. Well that may sound like a great idea, we should have remembered the some stops are in business areas and some are in shopping districts. Well, naturally, we choose one of the stations that is in the middle of an industrial park. We get out of the subway to look aroudn and see nothing. A small landfill dump and a nearby factory were pretty much the only things besides some office buildings. I asked a girl if she knew of any good places to eat nearby and she was able to point us to a street that she said "had a lot of restaurants." When you are hot, sweaty, and hungry, the last thing you want to do is walk aimlessly trying to find a place to eat. Especially a place that doesn't have some weird food. After walking for a while we found a restaurant. They took us to the basement where we had a private room. We sat a huge round table, ordered 5 dishes and feasted. It was one of those delicious authentic Chinese meals. We had bak choi and musrooms in delicious sauce, bak choi and meat stuff w/ another delicious sauce, a peanut-something spicey dish (not my favorite), some sweet red bean squishy things, and some cooked bamboo w/ delicious sauce (again). All that may sound good but the best part was the fish we got. I took pictures of it. I think a few people were apprehensive about being served a whole fish w/ the head and tail and everything, but I assured them. 1. We aren't going to find a place that doesn't serve the head and tail. 2. It will be delicious. And it was. After we were fat and happy for $4 a person we walked back to the subway stop. On the way, Jimmy bought a sweet bike that folds in half for storage. I think it was around $30-40 USD.

Saturday night we went out again to the bar district. I was pretty tired from the whole week so we didn't have too much fun. It was good to just have a low key night. When we woke up on Sunday we had to have a meet at 11 am to go to our assignment. I was paired up with Jim and Bill, two of my roommates, and we thought we were going to the orphanage. Apparently the orphanage doesn't take volunteers on Sunday's so instead we were doing a survey for the International Olympic Committed (IOC). We had to go out to a tourist attraction, (ie Silk Market, T--nanmen Square, etc.) and find English speaking people to see if they knew anything about the IOC. The way it was presented to us was very laid back. If you get hungry, eat, if you want to shop around, shop around. We got the jist and headed over to the Silk Market. Jimmy hadn't been yet. After this trip, I'm pretty sure I'm putting myself on Silk Market intervention. I'm not going to let myself go there because you can't leave without buying stuff. I magically ended up with a button down for Y100 and a wallet for Y40. Total purchase: $20. Also, walking back to the subway I went into a Chinese CD/DVD store. Picked up a few Chinese hip hop CDs. Tracy, a Chinese roommate of mine, said that she doesn't think they are authentic but it doesn't really matter because it comes in a pretty official looking case and everything. Overall, I'm glad I got to go back to the area and get some stuff. This doesn't even count the stuff that I decided I had to purchase before the end of the trip. I'm glad I didn't bring any winter clothes because there are really nice sweaters and coats for really cheap.



Like usual, walking down the isles was intense. People love bargaining and I like practicing my Chinese so I got prices down easily. It is funny to see their reactions when I speak a little Mandarin. Most likely they ask if I'm part Chinese. They must not think American's are cool because if they have to guess a western country they choose Canada or England. I had a lady argue with me that "surely you must have some Chinese!" to which I responded and then she pointed to her eyes, touched her index to her thumb, and pointed at my eyes. ha-ha. I had forgotten the Chinese word for Mexico until now. I always say my dad is "Mo xi ge" which means Mexican and my mom is "Fa guo" or French. I don't even think my mom is French but its one of the only countries I know how to say and I don't want to spend another 10 minutes explaining I don't know my countries.



After coming back from the market, everyone took a much needed nap. Our roommates Kelly and Rachel went to go see gymnastics. The orphans get to attend the games with us, so they had a little girl and boy. Everyone enjoyed it. When we woke up, we got a quick bite to eat and realized it was our roommate's birthday. We decided to go out. Somehow a huge plastic bottle of "bai jiu" ended up in our freezer...which is a Chinese liquor. I don't know what it is, but I'll just say a little goes a long way.

Today, which is Monday, I had volunteer duty again. Jimmy, Giro, Bill, Devon, Andrew, and myself met at 11 am to get our assignment. Since I had survey duty before, I didn't have to do that again. Instead, I got to go to Wang Fu Jing Shopping district to work at an internet cafe for something. Well, when we got to the district we all wanted to go to the official Olympic flagship store. It is the biggest in Beijing. I got some refridgerator magnets and a t-shirt for myself and my dad. The line was so long that the group must have moved on while I was in there and there is no way I could find them. So I decided to give myself the day off and take a look around. I went to the Adidas store and got another shirt (Y180) and I found a local type store that had nice shirts with Chinese writing. I got a really cool one with "xiong" on it. I think it has something to do with gymnastics maybe because there is an upside person kinda drawn on it. Well, it wasn't that exciting. I got bored really fast and went to find a place to eat. I found this back alley with tons of food and got a dish that was called "nu mian" nu is beef and mian is noodle. It was kind of like Vietnamese pho. Hopefully I don't get sick from it, but it kinda looked safe enough. Sorta. I really want to try these Chinese candied fruits. They are dunked in a sugar glaze or something. Once I'm more established I'll have plenty of time.

I just got back to the apartment and no one is home. That's probably why this post is so long and it actually makes sense. I'm waiting to go to a "Traditional Chinese Dinner" tonight with CCI. That will be a story for next time.

Opening Ceremony

Yesterday was the opening ceremony for the Olympics. I am pretty sure that everyone was either at work or sleeping during the ceremony. It lasted about 4 and a half hours. We left in the around 5:00 to head to the park. China had many parks set up throughout the city for viewing on large screen TVs. When we arrived, there were hundreds of people. It was an awesome experience except for the fact that no one ate beforehand. After an hour in the heat, I was done watching the ceremony and just wanted to go home. It was at least 85 degrees outside and humid. Not to mention, I was tired from last night, hungry, and uncomfortable. Sitting on the ground eventually led to falling asleep on my back. I didn't sleep the whole entire time, just the last 2 hours...and I know most people would have killed to watch the opening ceremony at a park a few miles from the actual Olympic village, but really. Heat, humidity, tiredness and hunger, don't really mix too well for me. Actually, everyone fell asleep but one girl, Rachel. Needless to say, it was amazing to watch the people all around me. There had to have been people from over 12 countries. Brazilians, Australians, Europeans and Chinese were all around me.

Random facts: Devon today got her subway card stuck in the machine while we were going home from lunch. That was a fiasco. The subway workers actually thought that she broke the machine. That was funny. They laughed when I told them that we didn't want the card and we would just take 100 kuai, which is about 15 bucks. Also, during the opening ceremony, you would be surprised who the people cheered for. The biggest cheers came for: Cuba, Pakistan, Palestine, Iran, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and a big boo for Bush. Ha. Funny thing is I've had three bloody noses so far. I can't figure out why I'm getting them considering the air is as humid as a steaming sauna. And my feet have attracted a swarm of mosquitoes and they itch whenever they get hot. I think I got bit by something else too because it was swollen and red for a day. I'll keep a watch on it but I'm sure it's fine. If I dont write about it anymore, it's fine. I almost got sick last night too. My stomach was pretty upset so Devon and I took a cab home early. So, now I have to keep an eye out on what I eat. I didn't get sick, but it was upsetting to say the least.

I love watching the people here. They are amazing. Everyone is so nice and willing to meet you half way. My Chinese is improving rapidly. Today, we finally got our official tickets. I also scheduled my trip to the Forbidden City, Great Wall, Lama Temple, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace and a few special dinners that include Beijing Duck dinner, Hot Pot (fondu) dinner, Dumpling dinner, and a Traditional Chinese dinner (we'll see). I can't wait for everything that is coming up in the following weeks. We got our assignments today and I'm pretty sure I'll be working with an Chinese orphanage. My schedule is very loose and basically if I am not up for working that day, I don't have to work. Even though I'm volunteering for 20 days, with all of our trips and excursions I will probably only be working 7 days. Which I'm not really complaining. I have also found the link to my appearance on CBS. Here it is: CBS News Appearance . I look dumb and touristy but thats because I just got off of a 12 hour flight. Also, here are some pictures. Enjoy.

Olympic Beginnings

Out and About

Alright. I've been in Beijing for a whole day now. My friend Jimmy came in last night while we were at dinner. The menu at dinner had shark fin soup, octopus, donkey meat, and a special "mixed meat" dumpling. We got pork and celery dumplings and chicken skewers. There was also an awesome pineapple pork dish we had which was AWESOME. Whoever said the food is gross, they were wrong because I'm eating tons of great stuff. It really helps that almost everyone speaks English so my Chinese can at least meet them half way. I've decided that I'm going to have to become an expert chop sticks user. This is because there are no forks. And you have to pay for napkins.

During the day yesterday, my friends and I explored a bit of the city. We took the subway two stops and ended up at the Silk/Pearl market. This place is like Wal-Mart on steroids with a bit of Macy's. Everything you could ever imagine. Hand painted scrolls, paintings, hand carved masks, fabrics for custom tailored suits, shoes straight from the factory (Converse, Diesel, Nike, Ugg, and others), jackets, shirts (Polo Ralph Lauren, Burberry, Puma, Tommy Bahama, etc), silk for dresses, toys, games, trinkets, plates, hand carved stamp sets, and everything else you can image. I got a 5 polos for $12. And they are really good quality. I probably won't be able to tell the difference when I get home.

After the market, we went to eat, came back to our apartment to find our AC was broken. Again. But no worries we were ready to head out anyway. We went out to San Li Tun (one word) Bar street. This place was full of foreigners. Russians, Brazilians, Americans, Australians, Britians, and the works. We went out had fun and took a cab back to our apartment. When we returned we picked up some stuff from a store (it was probably 3 am!) and outside while we waited I started talking to one of the workers who was sitting outside playing a game with his coworker. He was eating something, so I asked if it was good. He said yes, and I asked what type of meat it was. He said "ya rou" which I thought was duck. Then, he told me to try it! I said no, thank you but nope. My curiosity was taken as hunger so he repeated that I try some. I finally gave in, and he took out a chunk of meat (a little bit of cartlidge and bones still in it). I said what the hell and took a bite. Delicious. It was actually spicy, which I wasn't expecting. Then, this is the best part, Devon asked to have a bite! She is the one supposed to keep me from eating random food from strangers on the street at early hours in the morning. Well she enjoyed it too, and neither of us are sick. Yet.

The weather here is like a sauna. Extremely hot and very very humid. The smog is so bad you can look at the sun and see it as if you were looking through a cloud. My roommates are cool. One is from Miami. Small world but when I went to visit a friend at University of Miami, my friend lived next door to this guy. I wouldn't be surprised if I was introduced to him and just don't remember his face. Crazy right?

Zai Beijing

I'm here. The flight to Vancouver was good. It was really hard to stay up the whole time because all I wanted to do was sleep. Then, I had 3 hours to do nothing at Vancouver International. I'm glad that the airport had free internet, or I would have died. Here's a story that will make people laugh. Right before I get on my 12 hour flight to PEK, I decided to buy some snacks. The nice little Canadian Asian asked me where I was going and I told her Beijing. Then she asked if I was going home...and I laughed. Not exactly lady. First, I'm American, not Chinese. Second, I can't believe she asked me that. When I boarded my flight, I sat next to a Chinese lady who had just immigrated to Vancouver. She started speaking Chinese to me. She called me a "green something" that meant I was new to China. Then she gave me her phone number and told me to call her and she'll take me and Devon and Jimmy out to "pub." Dancing and fun. After talking for a bit and practicing my Chinese, I passed out. I woke up, surprisingly, with 4 hours left of the flight. I watched a movie, read, and that was pretty much it. It wasn't bad at all. I got to the airport, which was clean, spacious, and brand new. I looked out the window...SMOG. It's really as bad as the pictures portray. I got my bags and met up with CC Interntional. Devon had arrived right before me and she was there too. I hadn't been out of customs for more than 5 minutes when I get approached from a CBS person to do an interview about the VISA process. So if you saw me on the evening news tonight...haha, what can I say?

We left the airport by subway, which puts NYC Subway system to shame. Here the subways are clean, electronic, quiet, and fast. Everything is brand new. We got to our apartment. I have pictures. It's really cool. I'm on the 24th floor. Most of my roommates haven't arrived yet. I ate last night a quick meal. It was really delicious. Had eggroll things and dumplings. Not bad.

Today, I plan on getting a Chinese cell phone, walking around and exploring the neighboorhood. Jimmy comes in today too, so we'll help get him settled in. Tonight, we're going out.

It's Go Time!

Well, this is my final good bye. I'm almost done packing. I'm trying to keep my bags under 50lbs. My school books weigh a ton. I've officially packed 12 t-shirts, 2 light track jackets, a rain jacket, a dress suit, dress shoes, sneakers, undershirts, socks, shampoos, conditioners, 4 sticks of deoderant, 3 bottles eye solution, 3 pairs of jeans, and other things. Some of my friends stopped by tonight to say their final good byes. I called my friends out East and reminded them that I won't be seeing them until January. Other than that, my night was pretty uneventful. Just packing away, eating my last meals and saying goodbye. I'll let everyone know when I arrive.