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!