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.

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.

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