SORRY!!! But I will finish it all!

Hello everyone!

I know that I am extremely behind on my blog. The Olympics and all the excitement I have had kept me busy! I still want to share all my memories with you however and since I am leaving China tomorrow I will just have to finish all my entries when in the US.

So I hope you all keep reading and checking! More pics and stories are yet to come!!!!

Thanks so much for keeping up with me and I can't wait to be back in the states, but at the same time I am going to miss this and the experiences, the Olympics and the people!

I am so happy the Lord gave me this chance!

August 8th in China, LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!! OMG!!!!

So I woke up today pumped because it was 8-8-08! OMG The Olympics finally were here! WOW! I had to get to work at like 8, I had some breakfast and did some posters and organizing of the help desk and venue before lunch time. We had the usual chinese airline food! haha During lunch Jashin and I decided we were going to try and get on the Olympic green so that we could at least see the birds nest during the opening ceremony! We had to wait until 4 to leave though. We didn't have much to do after lunch but me and some of the other volunteers took a walk around the area where the start point was and the result of this walk was about 1,000 pictures of us near the start point! haha

After taking lots of pictures with the other volunteers I was able to walk over to the post office tent and purchase some Olympic Postcards with the postage date of 8/8/08. I thought those were pretty cool so I picked up a batch for Jashin too. Well after work she and I got on the bus and headed to the nearest subway. We got off the subway line 10 and plopped right into the HUGE opening ceremony crowd!!! It was amazing, as we transfered to line 8 (The Olympic line) we saw all kinds of people from different countries and cultures! It was awesome and the energy was like electricity!

Once we got off the subway we had to go out of the station and up to the ground and go through security to get into the Olympic Line. Because the Olympic line 8 takes you directly into the Olympic Green. We stood in line for about an hour and by that time it was already about 5:30 pm. We got to the front of the line and then were told we were in the wrong line! Good grief...so we had to go to the end line, which was the "volunteer" entrance line. We stood in this line, talking to people surrounding us. There were several chinese people of course, but also people from Hungary, Mexico, Brasil and America among many many others. I was able to also trade a lady for a coca-cola pin while standing here. We were in that line for about 45 mins so by the time we reached the front it was near 6:15. We got angry because we were rejected entry to get on the Green. We seriously were the only volunteers that had been turned away from getting into the green from that line. It sucked that we didn't get in and on our way trying to get into the green we met a girl from Slovakia (or something like that) and she wasn't able to get in either. Her name was Anna. Anna left us shortly after we were rejected from the green line so that she could try to get in another way. Well Jashin and I were rather angry but we hadn't gave up yet, so we headed out to try and get around to another gate and while we were walking some people from Michigan and another few people from Canada decided to follow us. We all tried to walk around but by this time guards and cops had all the roads blocked off and we couldn't get around to another entrance. Then the cops and guards wouldn't even let people stand out on the sidewalk where you could sort of see the birds nest. No they were pushing the crowd to move in the opposite direction, away from the green and the Birdsnest. We felt bad that the other people who had followed us were kind of betting on us to find them a way in to. By the time 7 pm rolled around Jashin and I had no luck even getting close to be able to see fireworks. So we had to say sorry and goodbye to the guys who were following us and then we got in a cab. Jashin and I got back to Renmin about 7:50, we had 10 mins until the start of the ceremony. So we tried to go next door to the hotel where a bunch of people were going to watch it on a projector screen. Funny enough, the way our luck would have it, the projector broke just as we entered the room. So we had like 5 minutes to get to my room! We hurried to my room and caught the beginning of the countdown for the ceremony! We sat in my hotel room and watched all of the opening performances and once the athletes parade started Jashin went to order us pizza. I was able to watch the entire show and then once our pizza got here I was able to enjoy some Papa John's!!! YUM!!! After the athlete parade, Blair, my roomie came back to the room and Jashin left to go finish watching in her room. I sat and watched the rest of the ceremony straight up to the lighting of the torch and the very last broadcasted moment. I was blown away by all the fireworks, cool effects and the dancers and performers. I loved the giant scroll that was the center of the performance! How cool! After the broadcast was over I got in the shower and tried to get to sleep fast because I had to be up and at the bus at 5:30 am the next morning because it was the Men's Cycling Road Race!

August 7th in China, Hanging out and going to Pyros!

Today was a lazy day, I wasn't feeling well again...the food I think. So I just stayed around the room, went to the diner next to the hotel to grab a sandwich and pretty much just watched some movies and got on facebook. I sent out a few e-mails too. Around 5 Allie called me and her and Whitney wanted me to go to Pyros pizza with them. So I got cleaned up and headed out with the group. It turns out Pyros pizza is a lil pub/pizza place that many international visitors go to. It was fun to just hang out, chat with everyone and listen to the music. Heck, I even got up to do the soulja boy dance with Allie! HAHA Yes I am a dork. But I stayed there for a couple hours, just enjoying myself and munching on some great pizza breadstick things and then I took a cab back to the hotel with another girl from MU, named Wendy. Wendy is pretty cool she and I talked about our majors and events we were working and since she has already graduated she is going to get to stay and work the paralympics. I got to bed shortly after getting home and was prepared for the next day because it was 8-8-08!!!!! TIME FOR THE GAMES TO BEGIN!!!!!

August 6th in China, THE TORCH RELAY!!!

I woke up around 9 and got ready to leave the hotel because Jashin and I were going to try to go see the torch relay! This was the first of 3 days that the torch would return to Beijing and make its way to the Birds Nest on the 8th. So we got in the subway and headed out toward the Temple Of Heaven because we knew that was the ending point. We got to the North gate and were told that the torch was actually going to be entering the East gate of the Temple of Heaven (this refers to the huge park surrounding the actual temple so it is HUGE). So we started to head to the east gate which was quite a long walk, but it was ok because we were joined by a couple who is from Kansas! Small world huh? They were very interesting people to meet and talk to. They used to be cheerleaders at Wichita State. They were only in China for a couple of days because they were moving to Korea to teach at a Christian school there and China was just a pit stop. So our group made it to the correct gate that the flame was going to enter the temple of Heaven through and we waited and took in the crowd. While standing there my friend Jashin started to talk to another couple, the husband was english and the wife chinese. They were pretty cool. After a little while this couple informed us that they heard the flame may be driven into the temple of heaven so we might not get to see it, so they lead us and the Kansas couple to another location where the relay would be passing. Jashin and I found a spot along the road when we got to the torch designated pass route. We all stood there for a long time because it was only about 12:30 or 1 and we were told it could be 3 pm before the relay actually passed by. We had pretty good spots until the coca-cola volunteers lined up in front of us with all their flags. I leaned over to Jashin at this point and told her to save my spot because I had an idea! You see just across the street on the corner was a roped off section just for press and media. I had my business cards from KOMU and also my BOCOG credentials that said I was allowed into press areas (even though it really only applied to the cycling road course)! haha Well I showed the guard near the roped off section and he just let me right in, so I hollered to Jashin and she and I were able to be 2 of about 5 reporters in this about 20 foot by 20 foot roped off section. It was sweet!!!! I had a great spot for pictures and we didn't have to be in the crowd! Because the crowd was nuts! There were so many people! People were pushing and shoving and crammed every where just to see the flame!

Jashin and I were in the press area for about an hour when I went and got us some water! It was hot, and we were standing around for a few hours but finally the torch relay party started coming by! As the relay approached we could tell because the cars were stopped from traveling on the roads, even more guards and soldiers were brought in and then the buses carry the people who would be the torch bearers brought them around and dropped them off at the designated passing points! There was one right in front of us! They were marked with stickers on the ground...haha. After the buses then came the vehicles with cheerleaders and load music a cop car and then bam! WE SAW THE FLAME!!! It was amazing we saw the flame being passed from one girl to another then the woman in my picture passed it on to an old man in front of us! THe crowd was going wild, pictures snapping everywhere, cheering, helicopters overhead, camera guys shooting footage! IT WAS AWESOME!!! My best picture is here


After seeing the torch I could really feel the Olympic spirit flowing through me! I was so pumped! Eventually Jashin and I were able to get away from the crowds but not without more than a few pictures! I actually had her take a picture right on the spot where the flame was passed and then I peeled the sticker off the road and kept it! It say on it, number 387 official torch relay Beijing 2008 Olympics!!


So that was a pretty neat momento! After Jashin and I got back toward the subway we decided that we should probably eat something since we had not really had any food for awhile and it was nearing 6 pm!! We went and ate at a KFC nearby and her and I put away an entire family meal! The meal was huge too, haha so I think we scared the chinese people around us with how much we ate, we had 4 hot wings, corn on the cob, 2 breadsticks, 2 drumsticks, 2 wings, and 2 thighs plus a 2 liter of pepsi!!!!
After I got back to the hotel I was wiped out and pretty much just showered was lazy, watch a bit of tv and then called it a night!

August 5th in China, Introducing Multi-tasking!

The next day was just another day of work. I was tired and work ended up being a whole lot of nothing as usual. haha One thing did get on my nerves however, apparently one of the managers had a different idea of teamwork than I did. I had to sit with the other help desk volunteers and the manager told me that she thought I could do a better idea of fitting in with the team. I was upset at this because what they thought was me not doing teamwork was me actually getting tasks done. One thing I have noticed is the definition of team work and how people here view working. We don't all get tasks delegated out and then each complete one to help get everything done faster, no the managers thought because I would do things on my own that I wasn't working as a team. You see working as a team means everyone works on one thing apparently. So if there was a sign needing made on a computer that obviously could only be worked on by one person, the managers thought everyone should help. So many times you would see like 8 people standing around doing nothing while someone did a task to work as a "team". I had to explain to my manager, Christy, why I though it was better for everyone to work on different things. I had to explain the idea of multi-tasking and teamwork like it is in the USA. I was not going to let them think I wasn't working, or doing work the right way. After our discussion I was able to convince them that it was in fact better for everyone to put their time to use and that it was possible to do several tasks at once. This was the most productive day we ever had!!

After a long day of training, and the training meals I was ready to go home. Did I mention this whole time that the meals we have been eating are chinese airline meals? Yeah they are absolutely awful.

Jashin and I left early, around 5 because we were done with work and did not want to sit and wait for the shuttle bus that came at 7 pm. Instead we were able to get ourselves back to the University on our own using public buses and the subway. We only messed up once and missed one subway stop. While on the subway we ran into Matt H. and Justin, 2 other MU guys here. They had been shopping at yashow market so we talked with them as we headed back to the hotel.
Once we got back to the hotel, me and Blair and Quinn walked toward the grocery store and KFC. Blair and Quinn went to the store but I left them as we got near KFC and I went in and bought myself some dinner.
I watched a couple movies then and relaxed because the next day was my day off. Thank goodness!!

August 4th in China, Practice Road Cycling Race!!

We got up early and loaded on the buses at 5:30 am. I made it to the start point where I first grabbed some breakfast and then completed some tasks before our mock cycling race. The other volunteers and I got all our work dome before we opened the media workroom at 8. The mock race start time was 11. So from 8 to 11 we answered questions and helped the other volunteers as they role-played that they were journalists. We had to make sure that everything would run smoothly when the real journalists needed help on the 9th. I was allowed to go get some lunch at around 10:30 and then I had to get ready to lead the journalists to the media shuttle. I waited in front of the media tent and had them all meet there around the start of the race. I was able to see the racers who were going to be riding the course that day as they took off.

After the race started we headed to the media transfer buses that were the only way of transportation to get the journalists to the finish point. Once I arrived at the finish point I was allowed to switch roles with a few other volunteers and I was then playing the part of a journalist. I was able to watch some of the race, enjoy some cookies and coffee in the media lounge, as well as watch an episode of the office on my computer. After the race had been going on for a little while I was able to get into one of the press vans that followed the racers and I was able to see the race take place as well as the full course. The course had to be a killer on the racers, it was so steep and curvy!
After the race had finished I was able to sit in the press conference room and attend the false press conference. I told you we did everything as if it were the real thing. haha, We left nothing out.
After the false race we were allowed to get on the shuttles and head back to Beijing. I was a little lazy that night and pretty much just ate and showered and then got to bed. I had to train and work again the next day.

August 3rd in China, dinner with April and Sophie!

I got up early again today and got out to the parking lot next to our hotel. Today we were all heading out to the Finish point again to train. We tried to get a little organizing done, and a little decorating. This day was pretty slow, I tried my best to keep occupied but they don't have organizational skills at our venue and are not very good at delegating tasks and then also getting them executed. The most I got done today was helping to cover up brand names on outlets with stickers, I am not kidding you. We can't have any brands showing that aren't a sponsor so this is what I did. Then I was asked by the venue manager to make 10 posters to hang up around the venue for the next day. For one, I didn't have any stuff to make posters with and for two I knew I couldn't get 10 done by the next day but I told them I would try. After we finally were allowed to leave the finish point we took the shuttle back to the Renmin Hotel. I then headed to a market with Sophie and April, the two chinese volunteers who had visited me a couple nights ago. They took me to the market to buy markers and pens and paper for the posters. It was nice to walk around and talk with them. After the market Sophie asked if I wanted to join them for dinner. So the two girls and I headed to the Paradiso Cafe. This cafe is the one across the street from my hotel and under the business school. Sophie ended up buying my dinner for me which was extremely nice, and extremely delicious. :) I had a philly cheesesteak sandwich. It was awesome.

The girls and I mostly talked about food, differences in America and China and small talk about work. The girls were very interested in something I told them about... mozzarella sticks! hahaha They had never heard of em, and actually because China doesn't have much cheese they found it really funny that when I was asked about my favorite foods that they all included cheese! LOL

After dinner we headed back to the hotel, where I went to my room and they headed back to their dorms. That night I just relaxed, watched a movie, drew a couple posters of pandas and then got to bed early. The next day was going to be a complete mock rehearsal of the road cycling race! So we could make sure we were fully prepared for the real deal on the 9th!

August 2nd in China, An exam and training at the finish point!

We all loaded on the buses to head to training at the finish point. Blair and I had to prepare ourselves the night before for an exam that we were going to take. So when we got to the venue that was the first thing we did. Let's just say we didn't prepare enough! haha! The exam was all over trivia of Olympic History, and it was rather hard. It was kind of funny though because Blair and I were sitting next to each other when we turned over the exam and we both started laughing at the first question. We looked up from the paper, looked at each other and knew that we were going to be in trouble! But oh well, we weren't really worried because we knew they wouldn't fire us or anything. I mean we speak english and we are needed! HAHA! After that we grabbed lunch, it was airline food, and not just that but chinese airline food. So yeah the food we get during training is not very good. After the lunch we were able to take another tour around the venue which was the exact same tour I had taken a week ago, but oh well. We walked around, looked around the road course and all the buildings and were told after training we could climb the wall. Most of us decided against it because this particular section of the wall is the steepest part and we were just wanting to get home. Before we could leave, however, we sat through a lecture from an Australian photographer who is in charge of photo services. I had to pretend to be a photographer for one of his demonstrations! HAHA Yes it was exciting. Not really. After that training was pretty much over and we were able to get on the bus and head back to Renmin. I was still kind of down on myself a bit and a little tired so I didn't do much that night except eat some papa john's pizza with Allie and Whitney.

August 1st in China, sick day, sorting things out and some visitors!

Today was suppose to be my first day of training at the cycling venue with it all complete and up and running. But in the morning I was so sick still, because I hadn't slept really, that I missed the first day. My managers were ok with it so it was fine. I got up and gathered my composure in order to start trying to work something out to get my money back from the scam artist. I spent most of the morning on the phone with no luck. This woman, or person, whoever they were, they were professionals at this. It was somebody's job to try and get money out of people and they were very thorough with making sure they were untraceable and that I couldn't get the money back. After all my hope was lost again, I couldn't do anything but cry and be upset. I was so upset and felt so dumb for being caught in a scam like this. I made sure to send an e-mail out to the group to warn them against the false adds and the false seller. That is how I found out that she had already got money out of 4 others in our MU group. I went to lunch at the little restaurant next to the hotel again and I had a little bit of a peace come from God. I was sitting in the restaurant and all of a sudden I heard the "Heart of Worship" song. I sat and realized every song playing was a christian song, then I realize that on the wall there was a poster with a bible verse on it. I found a place that was a christian restaurant. So that helped me to relax. After lunch I went back to the room and talked to my mother to let her know what calls I had made and the news I had. My parents weren't mad at me so that was good.

My roomie Blair got back from the first day of training and filled me in on what I had missed, she also informed me that two of the volunteers were going to come by and visit us later. Sophie and April visited our room and were so excited to meet me. They even brought us 4 peaches, half a watermelon and some noodles! how nice of them! They stayed and talked for about an hour. While they were here I also got a visit from a few people in our group. Ted, Beth, Laura, and Elle all brought me some oreos, some chocolate and a jar of orange juice and a jar of apple juice plus some other snacks. It was really nice of them to do that for me and I heard also that a few others had pitched in to buy this food for me. It was nice to know that people cared and were thinking of me. Ted stayed and talked for a while with me, while Blair entertained our two chinese guests. He and the others all were thinking about me and praying for my situation and for my family's loss. This act alone really helped me to recover from the sadness of the previous day.
After everyone left Blair and I were pretty pooped, we watched a little bit of the office and decided to hit the hay.

July 31st in China, sick, sad and scammed!

Today was by far the worst day of my entire trip. I was still sick from the day before, I was able to eat some eggs at breakfast but that turned out to be a bad idea. I tried again for supper to eat some soup and it was ok. I also heard terrible news about one of my second cousins and her family today from my mom. My cousin and her husband were in a car accident with their 2 young daughters 6 and 7. The 6 year old was the only one who survived. It was awful and it happened in Mississippi where they lived. So my mom said her and her sisters were going to drive down to the funeral. This was terrible news that ended up being followed by other awful news. I had been trying to purchase swimming tickets through a site like ebay online and I ended up being scammed by a professional con artist. She had duplicated a site and made it where even though the transaction looked as if I were using paypal, the money actually went right to her account. So I lost quite a bit of money through that. Later I found out that four other people from MU that are on this trip, were scammed by the same lady (well if she is even really a lady) her alias was Beatrice Sanchez so be warned.

This day was just chock full of upset and I really couldn't handle it. I called Micah and my mom upset and just so angry at myself for the ticket scam, and sad about my family and yeah it was bad.
I think I ended up finally calming myself down and trying to prepare my self for things I had to do the next day. I had the number and the way to reach my credit card company as well as the police. I also was going to contact the real website that the lady had duplicated and tell them what happened to let them know someone was pretending to be their site.
After that I was able to kind of get to sleep even though I didn't really sleep, more like just laid there and thought about stuff. Which also in turn did nothing to help my health situation.

July 30th in China, SICK!

So today I woke up in the morning throwing up. Yeah sounds terrific right? Well I pretty much just laid around all day because I didn't feel well. The only time I left the room was to go to the restaurant next to our hotel to get some soup. I was able to get lots of sleep and just relax and recover. I am pretty sure it was the shrimp dumplings from the night before that made me ill.
So yeah not an interesting day.

July 29th in China, Yashow Market with Allie!

Today Allie and I decided to head out to the Yashow Market. We left in the afternoon after Allie got off work. I ate at the Steak Pizza Cafe while I waited for her to get ready and then we headed out. We took the subway down to Yashow which I had to direct us to. It was my first adventure where I was the one leading. Allie had never been to Yashow and I was able to guide us there just by memory!! After we got to the Yashow Market and the area around it we went into the HUGE Adidas store and shopped around a bit, it was 4 floors high so there was a bunch of neat stuff to see. We also shopped around an Olympic store there. When we got into the Yashow Market we looked through clothes, purses, and jewelry...not really buying anything but just having fun and looking around. While we were there we also were able to buy some dvds for cheap. That is one good thing about China, everything is CHEAP! I think dvds are around 1.40 USD each. We ran into a couple guys from Canada and Allie talked to them a bit because she is also from Canada. Then Allie and I looked at the webcams because I have been wanting to buy one for awhile now. After that we headed to the 5th floor of the huge Yashow Market and ate at the canteen on that floor. I had some shrimp dumplings. It was a fun day just shopping around. looking around and being with a friend. After leaving to go home, we took the subway to the hotel and then I watched a few movies and just stuck around the room until I went to bed.

URGENT UPDATE

TOday I am working at the Finish point for the road cycling course and I have just found out that an American was murdered today at the Drum Tower in Beijing. It happened about an hour or so ago. I first learned from one of the journalists whom I am working with. 2 Americans were attacked, 1 died and then the killer committed suicide.

He was a chinese man around the age of 47. I am writing this quick post so that everyone knows I am safe and nowhere near that area! I am also in a very very secure place with guards everywhere.

I will post again about my full day later!
Please send prayers to the family of the murdered American.

July 28th in China, Hair cut and a video!

First thing was first today, I needed to take my laundry to be done. So I got around and gathered all my clothes and headed off to the laundromat. I left there around 11 and decided to go ahead and take a walk to KFC for lunch. I frequently go to KFC, it is cheap, good and really close. Plus I like the walk there. I got my usual too, haha, I get the same meal because it is easy to communicate, I just point to the picture. LOL After getting my food I walked back to the hotel and started a couple projects because I was bored. First I decided to cut my bangs and trim my hair because it was desperately needed! I do this back home though so I wasn't too worried and I also was able to buy a pair of scissors at the market near the laundromat so I was set. Then after my self-haircut, I made a slideshow sort of video for Micah. It wasn't much but it kept me busy for about 2 hours, because I had to go through my pictures and edit it all together. It was fun, I actually enjoy editing video, and audio and all that jazz. I guess I am in the right major for that huh?? Broadcast allows me to do ALL the editing I want. HAHA The only thing that was kind of bad was that while looking through pictures I found one of my friend Kendall. It made me sad because just a couple weeks before I left the US, he was killed in a car accident. :( I miss that kid. So after I found his picture I was glad I had the video to distract me. I finished the video and e-mailed it to Micah and then got a phone call from Allie asking if I wanted to go eat, she was on her way back from work and said she would call when she was ready to leave. After about an hour I called back and Allie had forgot to call me, she felt so bad, but it was no big deal. I walked over to the little restaurant that is located under the business school right across from our hotel and because I had never ate supper there I stuck with something simple. I got a BBQ chicken sandwich and it was actually really good, I will definitely have to go back to that place! After getting back to the hotel I was able to write my mom a big ol' e-mail as well as answer a few that I was behind on, one to my grandma and my little cousin Jessica. I just relaxed and loaded pictures onto facebook and watched a movie after that.

July 27th in China, A walk around the East side!

Today I felt adventurous and felt like exploring a bit of campus that I hadn't seen quite yet. I took off around 11 to head to my favorite dining hall at the Foreign Students building. I had some Kung Pao chicken and it was awesome as usual. This dining hall has the best Kung Pao chicken I have ever had, it is a pity that it will be closing soon during the games. :( After lunch I headed out the East gate and just went in and out of a lot of different shops. I looked at clothes, electronics, shoes, office stuff haha, and several other clothing stores. My favorite stores I found outside this gate were the Olympic store and a bakery. This bakery has the coolest looking cakes. They are so awesome, that I think one day I will go back and take a picture of them! haha After the bakery I walked on down the way to one of the Official Olympic stores. I actually spent quite a bit of time in here and bought some souvenirs for myself as well as quite a few for my friends and family. I bought myself a set of stuffed Fuwa, which are the Olympic mascots. I have kind of been wanting a set of them so I just went ahead and bought them. On my stroll back around 5ish, I got a call from Whitney asking to go eat and I didn't have enough time to get back so I had to decline. Before I got to campus I stopped into one of the electronics stores and bought myself a cheap webcam. I came back to the hotel and tried for about an hour to get the stupid camera to work with my mac, but sadly it didn't, which means I have to return that camera now. Oh well, at least before I bought it I asked to make sure I could take it back. After that I was sort of hungry but not enough to go to a restaurant so I ate a PB and J sandwich and just kind of snacked the rest of the night. I worked on my blog a bit that night to try and get caught up and then I headed to bed a little early that I would have, probably around 11, but I was kind of pooped from walking around and shopping and just exploring all day.

July 26th in China, KTV also known as Karaoke!! :)

Today I didn't do much but clean and e-mail people during the day but in the afternoon I made myself some noodles again. Yeah this was the third time for me to show off my noodle making skills in the water boiler. LOL But that afternoon I started to get ready because our group was going to a KTV club here. KTV means Karaoke and it is beyond popular here. These clubs are everywhere and are very very nice. We all met down in the lobby and altogether there were about 20 of us including our teacher Larry, another study abroad coordinator Emily and Larry's 11 year old son, Jordan. We all started walking our way across campus to the east gate because we had to catch a bus to the KTV. We were all able to get on one bus, which is sort of amazing. LOL The bus system here is also very popular and always crowded. We arrived at a club called "Melody", and were led to our own room. Yes you get your own private fancy room when you go to a KTV club. They are really cool. We all ordered some snacks and drinks and then the singing began. I think I was one of the first, if not THE first to sing a song. I sang "Wanna Dance with Somebody", by Whitney Houston and I think I surprised everyone. For the rest of the night I received comments on my voice and it really made me feel good. We were there for 2 hours and it was non-stop fun the whole time. For the most part we picked songs that everyone knew and so we all just sang and danced and goofed around. Every once in awhile someone would grab a mike and sing on their own but not often. We finished out the night with me and Aja, another MU student on the trip, singing "Bugga Boo", by Destiny's Child. If you don't know that song, just know that it is really, really, really fast. LOL It was fun though and I remembered most of it. After our time was up for our rented room we all headed out to catch the bus again. The singing however didn't stop because it seemed all of us had the song Bye bye Miss American Pie, stuck in our heads! LOL I am sure the chinese people on the sidewalk as well as on the bus thought we were crazy!! After we got back to the University we had to walk back to the other side of campus. Before I went to the hotel me and my friend Ted walked across the street to a mini-market to grab some sodas and snacks. By the time we left there and I got to my room it was around 11ish. My roomie was still gone because she left to go to Shanghai the next day so I watched some tv and enjoyed the room all to myself!!

July 25th in China, Lazy day!

Today I was pretty tired from the activities the night before as well as training so I decided to take it easy. I did some stuff online, uploaded and edited some photos and only left the room once to go buy a coke. I watched a couple movies on my computer and hung out in the room all day. I did have another success of making myself noodles in the water boiler room and just had a nice relaxing day. I also searched for some Olympic tickets online. I was able to be this lazy and such because the day before after training my roomie, Blair, left to go spend four days in Shanghai. I would have went but I couldn't afford it. I was fine with not going though because I would rather buy Olympic tickets with the money I do have, then go to Shanghai, I mean...there is still plenty I haven't seen in Beijing so why would I need to go to a different city. Plus having the room to myself was also quite nice, not that Blair is a bad roommate but sometimes alone time is good. That was about all I did! Like I said this was a lazy day!

July 24th in China, Camping for the final round of Olympic ticket sales!

Today I got up and got around for a short day of training. I was sooo tired but we got to our training site and had a lecture and 2 power points and then we were done. So it only took an hour or so and I was fighting sleep the whole time! haha After that we had the choice to leave or to stay for the free lunch for volunteers half of us stayed. The food was ok, I have had better, but it was free so I can't really complain. After that me and another MU volunteer Furquaan took the bus to head back to Renmin. It took us about an hour to get to the University but that isn't that bad. We talked a lot about what our majors were and what we hoped to do with our degrees after. When we got to the gate of the University we ran into a couple other girls from our group who were heading to an Olympic store nearby. After I got back to the hotel I rested a little before I received a phone call from Allie telling me that her and Whitney heard a rumor that people were already lining up for tickets at the tennis venue, even though they weren't going on sale until the next day at 9 am. Well we thought that we should probably get to the main ticket venue then, because we were wanting baseball and swimming tickets and for sure more people would want those than tennis. So I packed a bag ready to camp out over night and met Whitney, Allie, Mark and Matt in the lobby. We got on the subway and headed first to Wal-mart. We bought some food, some drinks, and some mats to sit on at wal-mart and then we headed out to the main ticket venue. While on the way our friend Eric caught up to us. It was CRAZY! There were people everywhere when we got off the subway and then we turned the corner and our minds were blown! I would say there were between 50,000-70,000 people there. The first person in line had already been camping out for 2 days. It was surely something unlike anything I have ever seen before. We all decided that there was no way, even if we stayed all night, that we would be able to get tickets. So we decided just to sit down on the sidewalk and take in all the energy and the atmosphere. Pretty soon we were a spectacle all on our own! Camera guys were recording us, photographers were taking pictures of us and journalists were interviewing us. Here we were the only non-chinese kids sitting in a group on the sidewalk. Everyone could spot us in that crowd! HAHA Way to go America! So after a little bit one of the guys in our group, Eric, made a sign that said "Line Starts Here", we got a few laughs but not as many as we did once our sign was in Chinese! LOL We asked the help of one of the journalists to write "Line Starts Here" in mandarin on our sign and people were cracking up! I think we even fooled a couple! It was awesome, we definitely felt like celebrities. We were surrounded by a group of like 30 people and we were definitely being targeted by the press paparazzi! I have to say our biggest accomplishment however was getting interviewed by a reporter from the Guardian! Which is like the biggest newspaper in the UK. Our picture made it online as well as 2 quotes from the guys in our group! It was just so amazing, after a few hours me, Allie, Matt, Mark and I all headed back to the hotel. It was surely a night to remember!!!

July 23rd in China, Trip to the Training site!

Today we got up ready to go take a tour of the Finish point venue and area. It is located at Juyong pass at the Great Wall. It was so beautiful. I believe that our event has the best course/venue location. It has been said that this is the postcard event for the Beijing games because throughout the course the cyclists will pass several locations that are historic landmarks of Beijing and the surrounding districts. If you want to read all about the cycling event then click here. At the training site we took a tour of the whole venue, from the media work room to the press conference room and then outside to the press tribunes and finish line. The walking tour took up most of the day. While we were on it we met a lady who was in charge of BOB (Broadcast for the Olympics) she was an interesting lady to talk to, she spoke 6 languages, was from New Zealand, and has been all around the world working on games and championships and things like this. I was able to chat with her about the behind the scenes broadcast set-up. I gave her one of my cards and then we finished our tour which included walking on the course, seeing the finish line and standing on the medal podium, but we couldn't take pics of the podium for some reason. Security guards were everywhere and were very strict about the picture taking. We got to have lunch for free at the finish line restaurant while we were there and it was not bad. It was catered in. After lunch we were allowed a rest, well at least me and Blair were because we are working for VMC (Venue Media Center) not ONS (Olympic News Service). The volunteers working ONS were being trained and Blair and I actually haha, took a nap! LOL Yeah we took a nap on the new carpeted floor of the finish line venue.

We then were able to hear a little about what we would get to do from our really cool boss, named Candy. She is so cute and pretty much my favorite. :) We finally were allowed to leave after the ONS kids were finished with their training. So the whole MU group headed to the shuttle bus around 4ish but haha umm we sort of got lost. We ended up walking about half a mile the wrong way from the bus stop but eventually found it. We rode the bus for about an hour and then moved to a subway and eventually made it back to our University around 6 or so. I got cleaned up from the long day and then made myself some noodles with pasta. Now this was kind of interesting because all we have in the room is a water boiling pitcher. There is not a stove or anything like that. You just plug this pitcher in to the outlet! Haha so I kept having to add water and restart it over and over again to cook my noodles. I was able to find this bag of pasta and single serving sized pouches of Hunt's spaghetti sauce at the local grocery store. But all in all the pasta was a success and some familiar food was just what I needed. After my pasta meal I was able to do some internet stuff and then I watched the movie Wanted before heading to bed.

July 22nd in China, Beach volleyball and a Bible study!

I got up early today because Whitney and I were going to try out a new place we had heard of on campus that makes french toast and fried eggs for breakfast. We started to head out to breakfast when we ran into Leslie and we invited her to go with us. We had to wait for Leslie because she was going to pay a guy for some Olympic tickets and would be right back. When she got back we got to talking and she actually had 1 more ticket for the Semi-Finals of Beach Volleyball, so I bought the extra ticket off her.
Breakfast was great, I bought 2 pieces of french toast, 1 fried egg and a cup of coffee for 9 Yuan, which is like 1.33 USD. After breakfast I came back to the room and actually went back to bed and took a small nap. After a half hour snooze I got up and gathered my books, my computer, my bible and my laundry. I dropped off my laundry at the laundromat then headed to Water Stone Coffee (a great little cafe on campus) and sat up shop to relax and get some stuff done. While I sat there I ordered a iced coffee, then a bubble tea while I read my bible and eventually had a tuna sandwich for lunch. I sat at Water Stone for about 4 hours and while I was there I enjoyed more than just a couple glasses of coffee and tea, I was able to witness something really terrific. As I sat at my corner table I couldn't help but overhear a couple of boys about my age, witnessing to a couple older Chinese gentlemen. Then 2 boys that were sharing their faith were both from New York as I found out later. It was refreshing to hear them tell these other guys their stories and to tell them about God and Jesus. I listened to most of their conversation and it was just nice to hear someone talk about the Holy Spirit. Sometimes I feel like I am not getting enough to feed me spiritually here in China. So I like the moments when I can talk about Jesus, or hear about him. After these young men got up from their coffee I stopped them and just told them I appreciated what they were doing. I shared my support and encouragement and told them if they had a bible study or anything here that I would love to join. They told me they were actually only here for 1 more week but it was still nice to meet them. After they left I read in my bible a little more and then packed up my stuff to head back to the hotel. I went back to the and just chilled and watched the movie "The Happening" and also found the "Dark Knight" on the internet. They don't have it in theaters here but it was on the internet. After that I got some sleep because the next day was when I got to visit the ending site for the cycling event that I am working.

July 21st in China, Business cards and a day with Allie!

I woke up first ready to set my mind to creating something I had planned on making for a few months. You see my friend Nichole is getting married while I am away from the U.S. so I wanted to make her and Clay a video to play at their reception since I wont be there. That task took me quite a bit of time, but I think it really turned out great. :) After I made the video I got hold of my friend Allie, then her and I headed out to find a Kinkos where I could get some business cards made. Our cab driver was retarded and dropped us off about 10 blocks away from where we needed to be, so we had a little adventure trying to find the store. We just kept stopping people and showing them the paper with the Kinkos address written on it in Chinese. We eventually found the store and funny enough ran into 2 other people from our group. Sarah and Matt, apparently they were there to ship a package but found out you need your passport to do so. So the other girl that was with them took a cab back to the hotel to get their passports. One problem though, she couldn't find Sarah's passport anywhere. So they had been there for about an hour while the other girl searched for Sarah's passport when all of a sudden Sarah asked to see the package she was shipping, and when she opened the box (which was full of purses and clothes) she found her passport INSIDE one of the bags she was about to ship to the USA. Good thing they asked for her passport in the first place or she may have not realized that she mailed it to the US before it was too late. So after witnessing that little adventure I was able to get some business cards made. I had to use a template that KOMU has ready for reporters so it was an easy process. The guy just had to load the template from my zip drive and then add my information. It was really cheap too! I got 100 colored business cards for 100 Yuan, which is like 15 dollars in America. So that was cool, Allie ended up not getting her cards because they were going to charge her 20 USD just to design them. So instead she decided to just design them herself back at the hotel and come back to Kinkos another day when she was ready to print them. We grabbed a cab outside Kinkos and headed back toward campus. Before we went to the hotel however we stopped at the grocery store that is right next to the University. I was able to buy some pasta and pasta sauce, that I am going to try cooking in the water boiler in our hotel rooms. I also bought some peanut butter, a plate, a bowl and a fork so I was set! After the grocery store I came back to the room, put my stuff away and then Allie and I headed to a canteen on campus where we split an order of spring rolls and some Kung pao chicken. It was pretty great. After dinner I headed back to the room to search around to get some information about Olympic tickets and to send out a few e-mails and things online. I also watched the movie "Made of Honor" and then decided to walk to McDonalds for a late night snack. After I got back I watched part of "Sweet Home Alabama" and went to bed.

July 20th in China, THE FLYING CHINESE ACROBATS!!!

Sunday I woke up and was able to talk to Micah for quite some time. Then he was able to figure out how to download Skype and he and I were able to call each other through our computers. It was fun, and I also got to see him because he has a webcam. After chatting with him I ate a jelly sandwich and then watched the movie Wall-E. After I watched the movie, which is so cute and one of my favorites (I saw it in theaters before I left the states, I started to get ready because our group had tickets to go to the Flying Acrobats Show. We rented a bus to take us to the theater and we arrived there about an hour early. So we had a chance to go get some food before hand if we wanted to. So Whitney, Allie, Eric, Dan and I decided to take a walk to go look for some food. We walked down a residential area and ended up finding some food from a local vendor. Whitney and I split a sort of beef quesadilla thing before the show. We walked back to the theater just in time to be seated. The show was amazing, It was theatrical, so there were laser shows, lights, colorful costumes, music, live birds, cool special effects with the stage either having the middle drop out, or having things raise out of the center. IT WAS SO COOL! The whole show was an incredible display of strength, flexibility, grace, aero-stunts, and acrobatic skills. So cool. I loved it so much that I could not describe how amazing it is! YOU MUST SEE THIS SHOW, if ever you are in Beijing, call me up, I will give you the name of the theater! HAHA! Some of the highlights were bike tricks, where at the end there were about 25 women balancing on one bike, another lady was so flexible she sat on her own head! Yes that is what I said. haha, Another cool stunt was where these two men brought out this huge structure that looked like a sort of ferris wheel thing with only 2 round hamster like wheels on either side opposite of each other. The guys ran inside these rings while the entire thing spun around! I will have to add a picture to show this.

It was so cool. I was so thrilled to get to see this show, after about 40 mins the curtain dropped and we all were like! NO!! it can't be done yet...haha it was just a 10 min. intermission though so that was good. I went and bought some popcorn and then headed back in to watch the show. The finale was a combination of all kinds of tricks, constumes, live parrots flying around and of course drums and music! I was blown away by this show! After the show was over I got ready for bed and watched Indianna Jones to put myself to sleep.

July 19th in China, 6 MONTHS with Micah and a little shopping! :D

Well I woke up and immediately went to my facebook to wish my boyfriend a happy 6th month anniversary! haha! Half a year has gone so fast! Then I had to go down to go downstairs to meet a reporter from a local paper for an interview. He did I story on me because I am a foreign volunteer. After that I decided to call my family. I called my mom and dad and talked to them until I ran out of minutes! When mom picked up the phone first however, I said, "quick hand it to dad for a second!" As dad said hello I quoted one of our favorites movies to him to make him laugh! haha Just in case you were wondering, the movie is "The Golden Child", with Eddie Murphy. So it was fun to talk to my parents, and then after the phone card ran out of minutes I was able to talk to my mother on AOL messenger. Which was a funny experience, she took a little bit to sign on, and even longer to figure out how to answer what I was typing to her. But she caught on pretty well, except I think my fast typing and replying kind of made her nervous! haha
After my chat with mom I got a call from my friend Whitney asking me to join her for some Pizza at Pizza Hut. Even though I had just ate there the day before I was still ready for some good ol' pizza! We walked to Pizza Hut and chatted, and we spilt a pepperoni pizza and an order of chicken wings (which were magically by the way haha) after our dinner we sat there drinking our tea and decided what the heck, let's get some cake too! However it was disappointing. Oh well, can't have a good pizza, amazing sweet tea and terrific cake all in one place I guess. After lunch I headed to the hotel and was stop in the lobby by my teacher Mr. Powell, who wanted to know how my interview with the Beijing Youth Daily newspaper had went earlier. While I was talking with Larry a couple girls from our group, Elle and Jashin, walked up. After talking a bit with the girls we headed out to get on the subway and went to the Yashow Market, where we got some clothes, and dvds that were like 1.40 USD. It was fun to go out on an adventure and just do a little shopping. We also stopped by the brand new Apple store, that had just opened earlier that day. It was cool and neat to see the grand opening.
We ended up running into another guy from our group at the Market, Matt. So Matt joined us and we all ate at the food court at the Yashow market where I had sweet and sour shrimp that was awesome! :) We headed back to the hotel via the BRAND NEW SUBWAY! Yeah forgot to mention that earlier, the subway line we took getting to and from the market was just opened that morning so we were some of the first people to ever ride on it.
Once we got back to the Hotel the girls and I watched Hancock in my room and drank some tea. It was late when the movie was over so then we called it a night.

July 18th in China, Meeting new people-Amber and then some Aussies!

I woke up and kind of felt like taking a little time to myself this day. I went to Pizza Hut by myself where I sat and ate a 9 inch pepperoni pizza and drank some nice good ol' iced sweet tea. It was rather relaxing and I enjoyed just taking my time and being on my own for a little change. After enjoying my quiet meal I headed back to the hotel and filled out a few postcards and headed out to find a cab to take me to the post office. I had a piece of paper with post office written in chinese on it. I must have approached 3 or 4 different taxi drivers and none of them would help me. They just kept waving me off, so I was a bit discouraged. Luckily next to the west gate, which is where the cabs are always waiting, there is a olympic volunteer host booth where locals can volunteer to be a representative of Beijing and show hospitality to visitors. So I walked up to the group of volunteers that were hanging around the booth and asked about the post office. One of them actually walked me completely across campus to the Post office. Her names was Amber, she is a chinese girl my age but is not originally from Beijing. She is here studying literature. She and I had a pretty good conversation, I was very impressed with her English and she apparently was very impressed by my pale skin, saying, "You are very beautiful." HAHA here in China the whiter you are the better. LOL After we got to the post office I traded my phone number with Amber because she said that her and a group of friends get together every week a few times a week to play volleyball and I had told her that I played. So I was excited to make a new friend. :) Hopefully I will get to join in on a game of volleyball. After she left I went into the Post Office and was able to mail off 7 postard for 31.5 yuan which is like 4.60 USD. After I left the post office I was able to find my way back to the hotel with no problems and I stopped to get myself a cold coca-cola on the way. When I got back to the hotel room I had an idea, because the day before I found out I would only be working for part of the games until cycling was over and then I am done. So I had an idea to try and contact the coaches and PR people for the USA baseball team. I have worked the past few years as a coaches assistant to the MU coaches so I thought why not try? What could it hurt?? So I e-mailed all my bosses at MU as well as a few sports broadcasters that I know and I also was able to find the e-mail of a USA assistant coach and the team's PR guy. It was worth a shot. After sending out those e-mails I got ready to go out with Allie because I ran into her while on the way back from the post office and she invited me to come to a get together that was with all the Aussies and people that Allie is going to be working with in the water cube. it was fun, I had nothing to wear so my roomie let me wear some of her clothes and we got ready and caught a cab to head to the pub where the get together was. I met several people from Australia as well as Allie's boss. It was fun to chat and mingle and hang out with everyone but I was getting tired around midnight so Allie, Whitney and I took a cab home. The only problem was the cab driver didn't understand us and instead of dropping us off at the West gate of Renmin University, he dropped us off at the East gate. But we thought it was fine, we could just walk across campus. We failed however to realize that the driver also dropped us off on the wrong side of the road and there are like chest high fences between the traffic lanes...haha. So umm instead of walking the 3 blocks or so to get around the fence we all decided to climb over the fence. I was fine until my foot got caught and then I fell in a rose bush. Whitney also fell over the top of the fence, but its ok, I was there to break her fall! haha Eventually we all made it over and headed into the East Gate. We stopped to buy some grilled chicken kabobs from a street vendor and then walked to the hotel. I was pretty beat so I talked to Micah a little bit (because it was technically the 19th, which is our 6 month marker of being together) and after chatting with im I pretty much konked out. lol

July 17th in China, First day of training and Hot Pot!

We met in the lobby and waited for our leaders. Because I didn't have much time I just bought some muffins and a coke from the small store in the lobby for my breakfast. After Winslet (that is our chinese leader's english name) got to the hotel we headed out to the training venue. We walked to the east gate and waited for our bus there. We all just barely made it onto the bus we needed, which was a double decker bus. I ended up seating on like the steel storage thing in the back, because there were not enough seats, but at least I was on the top deck and the window was open next to me so I had a great breeze. But about half way through our trip the bus actually broke down! It was kind of funny, the bus stopped running in the middle of the street and we all had to get off, and others had to push the bus out of the way. Well because we were already running late our leaders loaded our cycling group, there is about 12 of us, into cabs and we headed back on our way to the training facility. We finally arrived at the starting point of the cycling event when is where we trained. We were shown several powerpoints, and given a couple lectures in the few hours we trained. To be honest, it was kind of boring. Then we were given a break and most of us headed to the small shop in the facility, to get ice cream. Then the power points and lectures started again. I think most of the stuff we were shown or told was kind of pointless, because we had either heard it before or it was something we didn't need to know. After a little bit longer the chinese student volunteers brought us all in another ice cream bar which was really nice of them. My ice cream bar was good, until I bit into a grape. Yes, a grape, a grape was frozen in my popsicle. It was so weird! First I had pizza the week before at Water Stone and the pizza has raisins on it and now I had an ice cream bar with grapes in it! Very odd. But anyways, after another hour of pointlessness we were finally done with training. Before we got to go though we had to pick up our uniforms, which was the highlight of my day. We have fully issued uniforms, consisting of 3 shirts, 2 pairs of pants that zip off to shorts, 3 pairs of socks, a hat, a jacket, a fanny pack (yes, a fanny pack haha), a water bottle and my favorite item brand new adidas sneakers. The shoes are actually really cool, and all our stuff is adidas and all of it has the official Beijing 2008 Olympic Logo on it! Yes, even the shoes! It is pretty cool. We tried the sizes of stuff on the very first week we were here and I double checked to make sure the girl wrote my stuff down right, but they still didnt get my order right. Everything fit except my shirts and jacket. They gave me larges instead of smalls. So I don't have my work shirts yet. After we all got our uniforms we were walked to the official starting point right near the building we had our training. It was pretty cool, it starts almost right at the temple of Heaven. We were shown around a bit and then told we were free to go. A few of us decided we were starving since the most we had had to eat was ice cream, so we all asked the leaders where we could find a restaurant nearby. This took a lot of effort because no one could think of a place or agree on a place to tell us. So while our group stood around waiting for our leaders to answer, this one man who was a street vendor selling kites, came up and started pushing the end of the kite rope into one of the boys in our groups hands. It was funny actually, this vendor was set on trying to sell this kite to Zach. Finally one of the leaders volunteered to take us to eat. We walked for what seemed like 15-20 minutes until we got to this hot pot restaurant that apparently is a favorite of the locals. We waited outside for our number to be called and in the meantime we sat and got to know our chinese student leader who led us to the restaurant, Frank is his english name. Frank was an interesting guy. We finally were led into the restaurant and given our own table. The hot pot is in the middle of the table and it is full of water that is seasoned and you just order the dishes you want raw and then boil it in the hot pot before eating it. We were also given bowls of sesame and ginger sauce (at least I think that is what it was) and that was what you were to dip the stuff in after you cooked it in the hot pot. We ordered noodles, potatoes, mutton, beef, crab, and several other dishes. It was ok, I liked the food but I don't think I would do it again. For one because it took so long, we were there for almost 2 hours and for 2 because I didn't get full on this stuff. It was a neat experience but I didn't like it enough to want to go back. After hot pot we got in the cabs and headed home. Leslie, Eric and I got in a cab with a hilarious driver. He was playing american music when we got in, Shawn Kingston, and he was practicing his english the entire time. The music was refreshing to hear actually, just because we hadn't heard any radio for a bit. A Nelly song came on and then the funniest thing happened, Michael Jackson's song "Beat it" started to play. Our cabbie said, "I like Michael Jackson" and then started to like speed and whip through traffic. He was totally getting into the music and it was cracking us up! Finally we got back to the hotel after this extremely long day. I was wiped out so I hit the hay not long after.

July 16th in China, I found an English show on tv...and it was about Jesus!!!

This was my last day off before I began my training, so I tried to blog a little and get all the pictures updated on my facebook. Whitney called me and asked if I wanted to go get some lunch at McDonalds, so I headed out on a walk with her to the nearest one. After I got back I watched some tv, and messed around on the computer. To my surprise I found an english speaking television show. This is rare, and what was even rarer was the fact that the show was all about Jesus. Christianity isn't really allowed in China so I found this to be really interesting. I watched the hour long show and it really made me feel good. The show had chinese subtitles and instead of being a show that was criticizing Christianity it was actually more of a show to prove it and inspire it. I found this to be a great blessing and a bit refreshing. After that I didn't really feel very well so I didn't eat anything for supper. I cleaned and chatted a bit with Micah and then headed to bed to get plenty of rest for my first day of training.

July 15th in China, Hard Rock Cafe!

I had another break day this day because I am working the cycling event and our training hadn't begun yet. Some of my friends however weren't as lucky. So I slept in a little bit too and then headed over to the laundromat to pick up my laundry. When I got back and got cleaned up my roomie and I decided to go find some dinner. We were trying to find a new restaurant but we were so hungry that we just ended up walking to the restaurant on campus called Water Stone Coffee. I had ate there once before and it was pretty good. I was able to go eat with Blair because she and I are both working cycling. I had already tried the pizza there so Blair decided to try it, I on the other hand tried the seafood pasta. It was excellent, it had scallops, oysters and shrimp in it. After lunch I read a little bit and cleaned my room. Then I got a phone call from one of the girls saying that some people were going to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner, so I was pumped to go. I had been wanting to check that place out and get a shirt, and I thought I could handle one more American meal. :) So we all headed out and took 2 cabs from the hotel. We were meeting other people there but they were not leaving from the hotel. Well our cab driver dropped us off about 4 blocks out of the way and we had to walk and ask several people for directions before we finally made it to the restaurant. It was a nice place, smaller than some of the Hard Rocks I have seen, but still the same decor and atmosphere that the chain is known for. We got to enjoy live music as well as a few classic rock songs! I decided to splurge a little and get myself a sirloin steak, mashed potatoes and broccoli. It was AMAZING! haha I had been craving some good ol' red meat! lol After dinner I did a little shopping at the store to get myself a shirt. I got a few pictures also. I headed back to the hotel to get some stuff done and hit the hay. I had one one free day until training began!

July 14th in China, KFC and pizza! haha!

I made sure to sleep in today because I was so exhausted from the three previous days of non-stop touring. I eventually got up and took a load of laundry over to be washed. I also decided that it was time to take a break from the chinese food and find something American, so I decided to walk to the KFC that is just down the road from the University. It was easy to order because I just had to point at the menu and OH MY GOSH, the spicy wing meal really hit the spot! HAHA I enjoyed a lazy weekend, uploading pictures, reading, talking on the internet and watching some movies. Around dinner time my friends Whitney and Leslie called me and asked if I wanted to pitch in and join them for pizza. So we had a Papa John's pizza delivered to the hotel. It wasn't quite as good as the pizza from the states but heck it was still really good. I really enjoyed having a day with nothing but american food for my meals! After dinner I came back to the room and Blair, Quinn and I all sat around and watched "Memoirs of a Geisha", on Blair's computer. Even though it is Japanese we still found it resembled some of China. So as you can see this was a rather slow day, but I think it is just what I needed!

July 13th in China, Summer Palace and a Peking Opera

We loaded up on the buses for our last day of touring with BOCOG. Our first stop was the Summer Palace. We made our way through the gate and it was so amazing at the first view, because you look out over the lake and you can see a couple bridges, a couple temples and the palace across the lake. I took several pictures here and was able to also find some interesting people. One elderly man was sitting by the lake with a loaf of bread, feeding the fish. It was so cute. Another couple of kids were enjoying popsicles. It was just a great place and everything was so nice. Our group walked around and we were all able to enjoy the sights, eat some ice cream, and enjoy the people. I was actually interviewed by one of the television crews that was following us around that day, so that was neat too. Our group took a walk down the longest corridor there, it has actually been in the Guiness Book of World Records. After our tour guide told us the history of the summer palace and the corridor we were able to take an hour to do our own thing. I went out on the lake on one of the dragon boats with a couple other people from our group.
It was so pretty and I was able to take pics and lots of video from there. I also sat and talked to a young chinese girl and she showed me her chinese barbie doll, which I took a picture of. After our boat ride I made my way toward the historic Marble boat which was also near a souvenir shop. I walked around the shop and after looking at the odds and ends it was time to meet the rest of the group. We were able to enjoy a nice lunch in a restaurant that is actually a historic part of the Summer Palace estate. It was a good lunch and we were able to relax before leaving and hitting the road on our way to Yuan Ming Yuan park. It was at one time known as the "Garden of Gardens" in China until it was destroyed, today the ruins are all that remain. From what I saw it must have been a very beautiful place, there were many stone carvings, stone structures, places where fountains once where... one thing that is still standing however is a temple in the middle of a huge maze. It was apparently used for a game with lanterns. The emperor would sit in the temple/gazebo stone structure in the middle and all his "ladies" would be let go into the maze, each carrying a lantern. This way the king could see where they were and watch and enjoy as they all tried to be the first one to reach him. After I walked around and photographed the ruins I walked to another part of the park, the lake, where they were having a huge locust display. The flowers were so pretty, and dragonflies were everywhere. After we left the park we were escorted to dinner, which is where we had this delicious soup served to us, that tasted like cream corn. LOL And because I was craving some familiar American tasting food, I ate the heck out of that soup! haha! After dinner we drove to the theater and were seated to watch a traditional Peking Opera. The costumes were cool, the show was colorful and was not too hard to follow because there was a screen with english subtitles translating the opera. It was an interesting experience and I was happy to have seen it. After the opera we headed back to the hotel and I was ready for the next day which was a free day! :)

July 12th in China, THE GREAT WALL and the Ming tombs underground palace!

I woke early this day and made sure all my cameras were charged, and that I had all my camera cards. I was pumped to get to see the Great Wall of CHina. I fixed my hair instead of wearing my usual hat because I had plans to take many pictures and wanted to look nice, haha. So our group met in the lobby and we loaded on the buses to head to Badaling, one of the most visited parts of the Great Wall. We rode on the bus for about an hour and finally arrived. I got really excited as we approached because from the bus you could catch glimpses of the wall here and there! We got lucky too, this day turned out to be a clear beautiful day with no smog! So we could see very well and the pictures would turn out great, the only problem is that it would be so much hotter! I made sure to put on sunscreen, use the restroom and also purchase some sunglasses in the parking lot so that I was ready for my hike up the wall. The chinese guide informed us that Mao once said you are not a hero unless you conquer the wall. So we were all going to try our luck at being a hero! :D We started to walk toward the entrance that would allow us to climb up onto the wall, but we an into an obstacle. We were stopped by a guard and told to wait, little did we know at the moment that is was because the president of Mexico and his family were visiting the Great Wall on the same day! But because of security no one knew to expect him until like 10 mins before he got there. So here we all are standing on the sidewalk with like a thousand other visitors and we have to watch as about 10 cars drive past us and right up through the gate to the wall. We had to wait about 45 mins for the president to be done with his visit before we were cleared to go on the wall. While we were waiting it was hot, we were packed so tightly, and because all the chinese women carry umbrellas I dont know how many times I was poked with the edge of an umbrella! Good thing I bought the sunglasses they were more of a shield from umbrellas then from the sun for my poor eyes! haha! Finally we were allowed to start making our way through the gate up onto the wall, the only thing is the "gateway" that led to the inside part with stairs up onto the wall was barely bigger than the size of a house's front door. So we were funneling all these people through this small entrance! It was awful! Finally though our group made it through and I was able to set foot on the Great Wall of China. it was crowded but still very awesome. I shot a video on the wall and then started my trek up the wall. I stopped here and there to get several pictures of the wall, the crowd, the surroundings and also of the Beijing Olympic games sign that was up on a mountain next to the wall, sort of how the Hollywood sign is. I made it to the highest part of the wall where we were and I was able to buy a shirt on the wall that says, "I have climbed the Great Wall" and it has a cool picture of it on there. Then I was able to get my picture taken on this cliff/rock that juts out of the ground near the highest tower, it is called "Hero Rock". So I suppose my climb made me a hero. HAHA. Another thing I found really interesting was the carvings on the wall. People have carved their names (I assume their names) as well as other things into the rock on the Great Wall, I thought it looked cool however, because it is all in Chinese. I made my way down to meet the group at the check point and to load onto the buses. It was a bit of relief to get back on the bus for a bit because it WAS really hot outside but so worth it! We ate lunch at a local restaurant that served more of the Southern China style food. Which is really close to American style chinese food, so I liked this lunch quite a bit. The restaurant was also near a factory where they make the cloisonne jewelry. Which is a traditional type of jewelry and decoration used throughout China and the world. I learned all about the Cloisonne style in my art history class so it was neat to hear about its history here in China. After lunch we got back on our buses and headed toward part of the Ming tombs. There are several parts and the part we visited was the underground palace. It is a vast burial chamber and crypt like area underground. It had several huge rooms and hallways and was the burial place of the emperor Wanli. We were allowed to tour the underground palace as well as the surrounding relics. There is even a museum there with some of the relics and treasures that were discovered when this tomb was excavated. I found it extremely interesting to view all these things and to actually have seen the spot where they were found. (I am kind of an archaeology nerd). After the tombs we headed back to downtown Beijing to enjoy our dinner. We ate at a place near the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube so that was cool to see. Also the place we ate at was very cool, it was a restaurant underground and during the meal dancers and performers sang or danced traditional dances of the China minorities in full costume. It was really cool, I was able to get some video there but pictures didn't come out because of the lighting. We headed home after that and i did my usual routine of checking the internet, talking to Micah, and getting ready for bed because the next day was the last day of the touring that was set up for us by BOCOG. We were going to visit the Summer Palace and get to see a Peking Opera!

July 11th in China, Tour of the water plant and a Beijing Suburb!!

We got up early this day to get read for our first day of touring that was set up by BOCOG (The organization we are working for). Our first day started out as we arrived at the Beijing Water Treatment plant. It wasn't the most exciting of tours but we still got to see that Beijing is working on improving the city and all that. After the water treatment plant we headed to lunch, it was pretty good, it was about the same as every place we go to. They serve several dishes all in family style. After lunch, Matt, Mark, Allie, Whitney and I all headed across the street to get some ice cream. I wasn't feeling too good so I just got a soda and then got back on the bus to try and sleep a little bit. At about 1:30 (we had an hour or so break for lunch) we were met by police cars that escorted our buses out of Beijing. They blocked the roads and everything so that our buses didn't get separated. We drove out into the country for what seemed like forever. It was actually almost a 2 hour bus ride to get out to a new Beijing village. It is a modern suburb like village that is like a test site to see if the living conditions are favorable and to see if people enjoy the new homes and area. The government hopes to make every village like this one eventually. it was pretty nice though. It had a country club next to it, with a really fancy golf course. It is also located in the mountains so the area is beautiful. There are many 3 sided courtyard houses here, that are similar to the Hutongs that we visited at the beginning of our stay here in China. All the buses stopped for a bathroom break after we drove around the country club. This break was hectic because there were only about 300 STUDENTS on all the buses! HAHAHA So it was a long and crazy break, but after we all got back on the buses we were led to one of the courtyard home sites and each group was able to visit one of the new homes. They were ok, not super fancy but nice. They were all connected too, as you will see in my pictures when I get them up. After we left the homes we went to see a newer temple that had been constructed for worship for the people of this new more modern village. It was pretty cool, set in the mountains, numerous fountains and was made to look like the old traditional buildings and temples such as the ones seen in the Forbidden City. Also next to the temple were some more homes only these new homes were more upscale and apparently were owned by a couple of celebrities. The set of houses actually reminded me of San Fransico and so was deemed Chan Fransico. haha! After we visited the temple we were led to another part of the "New Village", here we got to witness people practicing Tai Chi in one of the courtyards it was pretty cool. They are very graceful and then they invited people from our group to join in. Our professor Larry was probably the funniest haha, just for the mere fact that he was like 2 feet taller than everyone else doing the Tai Chi, considering the group doing the tai chi were senior citizen chinese people! HAHA So after Tai Chi we got to visit a calligraphy master. That was pretty cool, he made some things for us to watch and then let some of the kids in our group try. I was busy snapping pictures so I didn't get a chance to try my hand at it. Oh well. After that we were led to a old folks home right next door to the calligrapher and I just walked through to see how it was and then after that we loaded on the buses for the long ride back to Beijing. We ended up being on the bus for over 2 hours because of traffic. We finally arrived at our restaurant and I was excited to get to eat the Peking Duck again. It is really a good dish, and I got to teach our table how to eat it because I learned that while back in the states from one of the books I read about Beijing. After dinner we were led to the buses and on the way I was able to purchase an Olympic hat off a street vendor for like 2 bucks. When I got to the room that night I was pretty pooped so I showered, checked my e-mail and turned in. The next day I would get to visit the Great Wall!!!!

July 10th in China, Silk Market!

The first part of the day was pretty slow because I slept in and was lazy. I walked to KFC for lunch though and it was great. Then at 3:30 I met up with a few of the girls, Elle, Jashin and Beth and we met our chinese grad student Bonnie in the lobby. Bonnie helped us find our way to the bus, to the subway and then walked us the rest of the way to the Silk Market. The Silk Market is a huge shopping center with clothes of all sorts, belts, chinese knick knacks, electronics, shoes, purses and well everything you could ever want. The only thing is that here you can bargain with the people selling stuff. Lots of the clothes and bags are knock off too. HAHA I bought a purse and some souvenirs for my family. It was so much fun to stand there are tell the people what price you were going to pay, and what price you weren't paying and like 9 times out of 10 if the seller refused the price and you walked away they would sell it to you for the price you offered. I actually had one lady and her daughter grab my arms and pull me back to their stand. However when they wouldn't let go after I told them repeatedly that I didn't want to buy a wallet from them I got really angry. I actually had to fight my way out of their booth and then pull the daughter's hands off my arm. I ended up getting some chopsticks, a purse, and lots of gifts before we left after 2 hours of Silk Market shopping. After shopping Elle, Jashin and I went to a restaurant that was just around the corner from the market and ate supper. I got sweet and sour shrimp which was AMAZING! We had a little bit of a rough time because non of the waiters knew english but we made it through ordering our meal alright. After our delicious meal and talk of life, family, friends, boys and school we got on the subway and headed home.

We had to be up early the next night for a tour so I settled in and watched a movie, The Other Boelyn Girl, and did some chatting online and then hit the hay!

July 9th in China, ZOO and Pandas!

I got up early on this day because Whitney, Matt, Allie and I had made plans to get to the Beijing Zoo to see the Pandas! It was fun we got there around 9 am and stood in line for our tickets. We got into the zoo pretty fast and headed for the Panda exhibits first. The first pandas we saw were pretty laid back and non-active. But then we walked over to what was called "The Olympic Pandas" and the pandas in this enclosure were just full of life! They were so cute I took so many pictures and recorded a lot of video. We spent quite a bit of time in there watching the pandas. When we left the Panda house we saw certain animals such as American wildlife (owls, coyotes, foxes) and then also monkeys and giraffes. We walked around forever looking for the flamingos and also looking for the Penguin house. The zoo was really beautiful, lots of ponds and a creek/river with amazing bridges. Also there was an area that was really cool because it had about 12 stone elephants all in this courtyard that were all different shapes and sizes. Lots of people were getting their pictures taken with these statues so of course we all did the same! haha! After the elephants statues we actually found the penguin house, it was pretty cool. I again got some great pictures and then in the basement of the Penguin house there was oddly enough the bat house. We didn't stay down in the dark around the bats long though. When we were walking out of the Penguin house we ran into a group of elementary school chinese children. It was by far the cutest thing that happened at the zoo because all 30 or so of the kids were waving and saying hello and then their teacher took a picture of us Americans with all the kids around us. It was the highlight of my day! So cute! After that we ran into a couple people from America as well, Connecticut I believe is where they were from, and it was fun to talk to them. It was an older women and her daughter and the older lady said that people just kept stopping her for pictures. I guess white haired white ladies are quite the sight here in China! haha! After the zoo we headed back to the hotel where I was able to get in a small nap. After my little snooze I headed out to pick up my laundry and ran into my friend Mark while I was there. So Mark, Matt and I all ended up walking to the canteen again to get some food. I tell you what the Kung Pao chicken is awesome! After dinner I was walking back to my room in the hotel and ran into a couple of the other girls in our group and they invited me to go with them to a district called Hou Hai, which has lots of clubs, karaoke places and love music. It was one of the girls', Ashley's, birthday. So I decided that it may be fun to go out. So we all got ready and took a cab out to Hou Hai. The first place we stopped at was called the Paradise club. The music was good and it was a neat place to sit but we weren't there long. we walked all over just listening to the music and seeing what was going on. my favorite highlight of the night was in this place where there was a chinese punk rock band playing. They were actually really good and guess what their closing song was?? HAHA It was Stand by Me. I was like "Hey I know this song"! After that we were pretty much all wiped out from walking around and it was also late so we called it a night. It was quite the full day with the highlight being the kids at the zoo and definitely the Pandas! If you are ever in Beijing you must see them! haha

July 8th in China, Night market!

Today we had another class, this time I was smart and took my computer because the lectures tend to get so long and this one was even harder because even the slides we had to look at were in Chinese. After about a 4 hour class I ate at the canteen again and then took my laundry to be done at the laundromat on campus. I walked to the market really close to the laundromat and bought myself an Olympic bag. After buying my bag and getting back to the hotel I met up with Allie and Whitney and they invited me to go eat at Pizza Hut with them. It is the fanciest Pizza Hut I have ever seen. Over here it is like a fancy sit down restaurant. It was great, we got an "American special", which is just a pepperoni pizza. We waited for our friend Matt to show up while we were there and then we all left to go to the bus stop. We rode the bus to the subway and took the line down to the night market. At the market they have stands that cook squid, scorpions, bugs, and all sorts of scary stuff. I tried squid, beef and then candied apples. It was a fun experience and is something I suggest you see if you ever visit China. After we were done snacking and what not, we walked around the area for a bit because the place where the market is, resembles a small time square. We went into the flagship Olympic Store and the giant Nike store. We also just hung out a little bit in a courtyard and people watched it was fun to just relax and talk. On our way to leave we found a funny statue of a Rickshaw and all decided to take our pictures in it. Then we left the Time Square area and started to walk toward a less touristy part of town because all the cab drivers close to the night market were trying to rip off tourists by saying the drive was way more than it should be. We walked as far as Tian'an Men Square before we got a cab. Which funny enough was the first time I had ever been on a cab, it also was the first time I had ever been on a subway that night as well. So it was a big night for me. hahaha. :) After we got back to the hotel I was pretty beat from a fun night at the market so I just showered and went to bed.

July 7th in China, formal reception!

We had class today. It was a lecture from one of the chinese professors here at Renmin University and because it had to be translated it took quite some time. I think all in all the lecture lasted 3 hours. After we were finally released from the lecture a group of us walked to a canteen/dining hall that was close to our classroom. It is the best dining hall we have found yet because they cook the food to order so you get it nice and hot. I tried some sweet and sour pork tenders from this place and absolutely loved it! A very good dish to remember in the future.
After lunch I headed back to the room took a little nap and watch a movie on my computer. Around 4ish me and Whitney walked over to a couple different markets that are on campus and one of them is an official Olympic sponsor shop so that is cool.
We didn't have much time to look around, we were mainly just passing time until we had to get back to the hotel to get ready for a formal reception that we, along with all the other schools staying at Renmin, were invited to.
The reception started at 7 pm so because I didn't bring many dressy clothes I got ready and dressed and nice as I could and headed out to the dinner. At the dinner we were entertained by singing groups as well as speeches from the Renmin professors and all the visiting schools professors. In return for the entertainment each group was asked to also provide some entertainment so our professor, Larry Powell, gave a speech and then our group sang the Mizzou fight song! It was fun! But of course UNC (they are volunteering too) had to sing their fight song right after us! haha Copy cats!
As for the food at the reception it wasn't bad but not the best food I have had here. The one thing that was really good was the Peking duck though. It was good. After dinner some of my friends and my roomie went out to a dance club but I didn't want to go so I just turned in for the night to prepare for class again the next day.

July 6th in China, Free day! WOO!

This was a free day which meant I slept in, cleaned the room and organized a bit as well as did a little reading. At lunch I walked with my friend Whitney to McDonald's where I was able to enjoy a delicious BIG MAC! Aww it was great! haha!
After lunch I headed back to the hotel and just messed around on the internet and tried uploading pictures as well as talking to my friends and e-mailing my family. I watched the movie 10,000 B.C. until supper.
I went to supper with my friend Allie. She had just gotten done with her work out because she is a swimmer for Mizzou and so she has to work out and train while here for the summer. We walked to the canteen/dining hall where we had ate before but sadly it was closed so we ended up going and eating at this restaurant on campus called Water Stone Coffee. It is a nice place. I got a coke and we both ordered a pizza to split.
The food was good but also odd, because we ordered the veggie pizza but it included certain veggies like corn, kidney beans and then certain NOT-veggies like raisins! It was weird eating pizza with raisins on it but it tasted pretty good actually! Another weird thing I tried at this meal that I had never had or even heard of was bubble tea. It is a milk tea with tapioca balls in the bottom of the glass. Yeah I know, weird huh? but yeah apparently this stuff is big in Canada as well as cities in the United States. I guess Allie would know because she is canadian. But anyways, this was a rather uneventful day because I was just relaxing and resting.
After dinner with Allie I went back to the room and watched some more tv, Chinese tv is really weird by the way. I watched Growing Pains, haha it was in chinese though! They just dub chinese voices over the American ones! I also watched some sports, sand volleyball and tennis and then talked a bit online to Micah and then went to bed.
The next morning, Monday, we were going to have class again.

July 5th in China, the Forbidden City!!!

Well this was by far one of the most busy days I have had yet! We all met at 8:15 am in the lobby to get on the buses. I got on a bus with a tour guide named Steve. He was a very happy chinese man and he spoke great English. It was raining when we headed out but by the time we got to Tian'an men square it was just a lil misty out. We were able to take pictures and view several things in the Tian'an Men square such as Zhengyang Men, Mao's Mausoleum and the Great Hall of the people as well as the monument to the people's heroes.
We walked through the Tian'an Men building, which is the one that has Mao's portrait still hanging on it today. While heading through the building and as we got closer to the Forbidden City, we were hassled by so many people trying to pawn things. The biggest item that folks seem to be selling is a Mao watch. The watch has a picture of Mao in the middle with his arm constantly waving at you.
When we arrived in the outer court of the Forbidden City we had to wait while Steve bought all our groups' tickets. While waiting for him Whitney, Allie and I looked around at some of the souvenir stands and I bought myself a coca-cola. While waiting in line we met another American who was visiting the city. He was from New York. He was seriously one of the only Americans that was not with our group. Because there was so few of us visiting the Forbidden City, it was not odd to have someone chinese ask to take a picture with us or hand us their kids. People really want pictures with Americans! It is so weird.
After we got our tickets and went through security we headed out on our tour and crossed over the Golden Water and went through the Gate of Supreme Harmony. We enjoyed seeing many great courtyards and detailed buildings as well as hearing many stories of the city's history from Steve. There are many carvings of dragons and lions, there are also guardians on the roofs of most of the halls. They are perched like gargoyles on the edges of the roofs. We also saw statues of cranes and turtles as well as the tradition lions that guard many entryways. The male lion has his paw on a ball, and the female has hers on a cub. Also we noticed many carvings of dragons and phoenixes together. The dragon and phoenix symbolize the emperor as dragon and empress as phoenix.
The biggest hall in the city is the Hall of Supreme Harmony where the emperor's throne sits. We were able to peer in and look at the gold and bejeweled throne. It was magnificent! We were able to enjoy many more halls and view many more courtyards. Something else I noticed is that there are several large bronze cauldrons placed all over the city. these were in case there was ever a fire so they were always filled with water. About this time during the trip I filled up the camera card I had in my digital rebel and had to switch. The sad thing was my 1 GB card would not work in my camera. I have no idea why but it still won't work. I was able to delete some pics and change some things on my camera so that I had room enough for more pictures throughout the day, but I was not happy about deleting pictures!!! Finally the last thing we saw in the Forbidden City was my favorite. We got to tour the Imperial Garden. I loved it, with all its plants and temples and beautiful rock sculptures. There was also a giant pot like urn in the middle of the garden and it was said if you threw a coin into the top of it through one of the holes that it was good luck. I made it through one of the holes but later one of my friends told me that they think I actually through the coin in one hole on one side and out the other hole on the other side! haha! That would happen to me! :)
We departed the city through the gate of Heavenly Purity and headed back to the buses and they took us to lunch. We ate at a restaurant nearby. It had good food and served us several different and interesting chinese dishes. The restaurant was decorate really neat and was very pretty but the bathrooms threw me off guard. They were nice but weirdly the back wall of the restroom is a 1 way mirror so you can see out to the stairs leading up to the dining hall but when you are on the stairs it just looks like another mirror. Very odd indeed.
After lunch we headed back to the buses and while on the way to them I ended up making a purchase from a street vendor. I bought a set of keychains that were the Olympic mascots for 1 American dollar. Not a bad price, but then again everything over here is pretty cheap! We got on the buses and went to our next part of our tour for the day which was the drum tower and bell tower. We didn't get to go up into the bell tower but we did get a chance to go up into the drum tower to see the city from a high vantage point. The only bad thing was, to get to this vantage point we had to walk up the steepest, tallest, scariest stair well I have ever seen!!!
From the top of the drum tower you could look out over the entire city all around because you can walk a complete 360 around the top terrace. You can see the hundreds of skyscrapers spread out over the huge city. There is not one center downtown area in Beijing. Stuff is just everywhere!!! From this high point you could also see the mountains in the distance which was really awesome. We also were able to enjoy a drum performance while we were in the tower.
After we climbed back down the treacherous staircase we all go to pair up and load up into rickshaws. A rickshaw is a small cart that traditional was pulled by a man on foot but now is pulled by guys on bicycles! This was an interesting and kind of scary experience as I rode along with my friend Danielle. We were taken to a Hutong by the rickshaws.
A hutong is a traditional courtyard home, that has several houses in a fenced in area. In this fenced connected housing area one family will live. I mean everyone in the family too, aunts, uncles, cousins, sons, daughters, parents. EVERYONE! This is a traditional way of family living in China. We were able to visit a Hutong. We went inside and took a tour and even sat in one of the rooms while the mother of the family we visited talked about the history of her home and of her family. After her presentation she showed us around her Hutong a bit more and then we departed.
After the Hutong tour we visited the garden of Prince Gong's Mansion. This garden was spectacular with plants and temples everywhere. Great buildings and a huge koi pond complete with fountains and of course lily pads. Also one of the coolest things found in the garden was a traditional chinese tea house. Our group was able to be seated at a table with a chinese woman who was a learned and educator tea preparer. She showed us the right way to use one cup to smell the tea and how to hold the drinking cup. She taught us history and tea etiquette. We were able to taste 4 different kinds of teas that she prepared for us. The most traditional being Jasmine tea. I bought myself a souvenir here before we left. I got a mug that has a picture of a dragon on it, but when you pour hot water in it the picture of the dragon turns to a picture of the Great Wall.
After we left the tea house our rickshaws took us back to meet the buses. I got back to the hotel and talked with my roomie a bit because she had been on the other bus the whole day and they took a little bit different tour than my group did. But judging from what I have heard I was in the best group of the day as far as the tour went. After chatting a bit I headed out with Allie, Whitney, Matt and Mark to go eat at a dining hall on campus and to find out where the laundry place closest to our hotel was.
After dinner I was so tired I didn't do much but send out a few e-mails, shower and watch a bit of a movie. The next day was a free day so I could rest up!