I got up at around 7 again to get ready for a busy day of touring Media/News Companies in Beijing. We all loaded up on the buses and headed to our first stop which was an internet company called People.com. We were guided on a tour of the companies offices and got to meet a few of the employees. After our tour we were then led to a conference room where the companies Vice President gave a small presentation on his company. We were also given gifts from People.com, we got a small notebook with their logo on it and also a pen that you could pull a calendar out of. The chinese calendar for the next 2 years wound up into to the pen. After a few questions were asked we left People.com and headed to lunch.
We ended up spending 100 yuan (around 15-17 American dollars) on lunch. It was a fancy restaurant that was a buffet. Someone said it was a five star place but I don't know. It was good though, and there was A LOT of food. There was even pizza! :) I ate quite a bit and just admired the beautiful restaurant with glass floors and cool lights and flowers everywhere.
After filling up on all that good food we headed to our next stop on the tour.
We toured Beijing Youth Daily next. It is a newspaper and magazine company. The tour was fun and there was some neat things to take pictures of inside the BYD building such as weird soccer guy statues and an olympic ring sculpture. We were guided around the offices again and then led to another conference room. We were also greeted with gifts and bottled water. We received a mouse back-pack and several copies of the magazine. From the conference room on the 12th floor I was also able to get some GREAT photos that I hopefully will have up soon.
After our second visit we loaded up back on the buses to drive back across town to our hotel. While on the way back my friends Whitney, Allie and I decided we were going to try to go see the Chinese acrobats perform that night. When we got back we changed and got ready and headed out of the hotel. We were going to the corner where the cabs wait and didn't even make it half way and we got stuck in a down pour!! It was awful we were soaked in seconds. So we decided to try and run back to the hotel to get changed and then have the front desk call us a cab. Unfortunately by the time we got back the clerks at the front told us that we most likely did not have enough time to get to the show. Oh well, we are still planning on doing that another time.
So I went back to my room, washed all the smog rain off of me and then sat down and read a bit. I felt a bit tired around 8 pm and thought I would take a small nap but actually ended up sleeping right through to the next morning!!
Monday, July 7, 2008
July 3rd in China, class, uniforms and phones!
I woke up around 7:00 am and was able to get in some chatting online before getting ready for the day. I was also able to take a hot shower since I had figured out how to use the hot water the night before. Around 9 my roomie and I headed to the lobby to meet with the rest of our group to head to the student activity building. At our meeting there we took group photos, we were given letters of commitment by the Olympic New Service, we were handed SIM cards for our chinese phones, and also got to try on different sizes for our uniforms.
It took forever to pick the right sizes of uniforms and shoes. All the sizes run small because chinese girls are extremely skinny and then the shoes were not in big enough for half our group. The girls had to try on the men's shoes to get ones that fit. HAHA!
I ended up finding everything that fit so that was lucky. We have Olympic polos, pants and even our adidas shoes are embroidered with the Beijing 2008 emblem. Pretty cool!
After the clothes fiasco, I got to meet with the reporters I will be reporting with and helping out during the games. I met the main cycling official and she was really nice. Her name was Candy. After meeting and talking about what I will be doing and when I will be training I headed across the street to get my photo taken individually for our Renmin University student ID. After getting all that taken care of I was able to get my phone card up and running on my new chinese cell phone. After all this the chinese students helping our group out led us to eat lunch at a different dining hall than the one we had the night before. It was pretty good, I had beef and potatoes over noodles with these sweet roll things. I got a lot of food for 2 bucks! The prices over here are awesome. The typical meal doesnt cost over 3 bucks and I have ate several for like $1.50.
After lunch our student guides led us to the bank where I was able to take out 1,000 yuan roughly 145 dollars from an ATM.
After the busy day of getting things in order I was able to sneak to the room for a small break before we had our lecture at 3. I was able to use my phone to call people back home and also get changed out of the nice clothes I had on into shorts and a t-shirt for class.
The class wasn't bad it took a while because it had to be translated because the teacher who was giving it didn't speak English. It was all about China's history and culture. After we got out of the lecture my roomie and I pretty much crashed into a small nap. I woke with plenty of time to get ready for a reception our group was invited to in the Angel Restaurant across the street.
I stayed for about an hour there, the food they had was pretty good. I really liked the dumplings and watermelon! :)
Around 8 pm I headed back to the room for some alone time. I thought a little about Billy and how it had been 5 years to the day since he passed away. When my roomie got back I didnt really feel like going out, she invited me to go with a group to a karoake club but I decided not to. I mean I have 2 months to get things in, dont want to wear myself out too soon! I just got all unpacked and organized and then I loaded some pictures from the Cardinals vs. Royals game that I went to onto facebook. I watched a movie called Waitress and then went to bed, ready for a big day the next day!
It took forever to pick the right sizes of uniforms and shoes. All the sizes run small because chinese girls are extremely skinny and then the shoes were not in big enough for half our group. The girls had to try on the men's shoes to get ones that fit. HAHA!
I ended up finding everything that fit so that was lucky. We have Olympic polos, pants and even our adidas shoes are embroidered with the Beijing 2008 emblem. Pretty cool!
After the clothes fiasco, I got to meet with the reporters I will be reporting with and helping out during the games. I met the main cycling official and she was really nice. Her name was Candy. After meeting and talking about what I will be doing and when I will be training I headed across the street to get my photo taken individually for our Renmin University student ID. After getting all that taken care of I was able to get my phone card up and running on my new chinese cell phone. After all this the chinese students helping our group out led us to eat lunch at a different dining hall than the one we had the night before. It was pretty good, I had beef and potatoes over noodles with these sweet roll things. I got a lot of food for 2 bucks! The prices over here are awesome. The typical meal doesnt cost over 3 bucks and I have ate several for like $1.50.
After lunch our student guides led us to the bank where I was able to take out 1,000 yuan roughly 145 dollars from an ATM.
After the busy day of getting things in order I was able to sneak to the room for a small break before we had our lecture at 3. I was able to use my phone to call people back home and also get changed out of the nice clothes I had on into shorts and a t-shirt for class.
The class wasn't bad it took a while because it had to be translated because the teacher who was giving it didn't speak English. It was all about China's history and culture. After we got out of the lecture my roomie and I pretty much crashed into a small nap. I woke with plenty of time to get ready for a reception our group was invited to in the Angel Restaurant across the street.
I stayed for about an hour there, the food they had was pretty good. I really liked the dumplings and watermelon! :)
Around 8 pm I headed back to the room for some alone time. I thought a little about Billy and how it had been 5 years to the day since he passed away. When my roomie got back I didnt really feel like going out, she invited me to go with a group to a karoake club but I decided not to. I mean I have 2 months to get things in, dont want to wear myself out too soon! I just got all unpacked and organized and then I loaded some pictures from the Cardinals vs. Royals game that I went to onto facebook. I watched a movie called Waitress and then went to bed, ready for a big day the next day!
Sunday, July 6, 2008
July 2nd in China, First evening here!
Well after an hour bus ride to the hotel we were staying at I was feeling so beat that I could hardly stand, unfortunately it was only about 5:00 so I had to wait a while before being able to go to bed. I had to hand in my passport to the desk at the hotel to check-in and then I had to chase down one of the hotel workers as the bus was being unloaded because he had my bag! LOL I know he was just trying to get things unloaded fast but it was still funny trying to communicate to him that he was hauling my bag and that I could take it.
My roomie and I got our keys in the lobby and were one of the first to get to their room. Right away I decided to hop in the shower to freshen up and hopefully wake up a bit because we only had an hour until we had to be back in the lobby to go to a meeting. I ended up having to take a cold shower because I did not know how to turn on the hot water. In China the hot water heater is on the wall above the toilet and apparently you have to switch a button to get hot water. Lesson learned! Also the bathroom is weird because water doesnt drain right into the shower, in fact there really isn't anything stopping water from flowing out on the floor, it is suppose to be like this, the shower is the same level as the floor of the rest of the bathroom and a drain in the middle of the room is where all the water goes. It is odd that the whole bathroom floor gets covered in water each time you shower but whatever.
Our room is pretty nice, clean and has a great view. We ended up getting a room on the 7th floor so that is cool. The mattresses are a bit hard but not uncomfortable and the pillows are weird, they are those seed pillows. You know what I am talking about?? haha
But after getting cleaned up I went down to the lobby to meet up with the rest of the group, we then headed to a canteen/dining hall to get some dinner. It was the most awful experience though because first our guides took us the wrong way twice, then once we got there the canteen only had the menu in Chinese. So 4 of our guides had to help the 60 of us students order!!! It was nuts!! My stomach still wasn't feeling the greatest so I just got a bowl of white rice. I did get to eat some of my roomie's curry chicken though. It was pretty good, by the way I ate it all with chop sticks. :)
While everyone else finished their food I rested my head on the table until we had to go.
We headed to the student activity center where our meeting was. We were all given bank cards (In case we decided to use them) and also temporary cards for the canteen and dining places on campus as well as cell phones. After being told about the things that would happen the next day we were free to leave.
I pretty much passed out when I got back to the room, so I could get up and ready for the day to start at 7 am the next morning!
My roomie and I got our keys in the lobby and were one of the first to get to their room. Right away I decided to hop in the shower to freshen up and hopefully wake up a bit because we only had an hour until we had to be back in the lobby to go to a meeting. I ended up having to take a cold shower because I did not know how to turn on the hot water. In China the hot water heater is on the wall above the toilet and apparently you have to switch a button to get hot water. Lesson learned! Also the bathroom is weird because water doesnt drain right into the shower, in fact there really isn't anything stopping water from flowing out on the floor, it is suppose to be like this, the shower is the same level as the floor of the rest of the bathroom and a drain in the middle of the room is where all the water goes. It is odd that the whole bathroom floor gets covered in water each time you shower but whatever.
Our room is pretty nice, clean and has a great view. We ended up getting a room on the 7th floor so that is cool. The mattresses are a bit hard but not uncomfortable and the pillows are weird, they are those seed pillows. You know what I am talking about?? haha
But after getting cleaned up I went down to the lobby to meet up with the rest of the group, we then headed to a canteen/dining hall to get some dinner. It was the most awful experience though because first our guides took us the wrong way twice, then once we got there the canteen only had the menu in Chinese. So 4 of our guides had to help the 60 of us students order!!! It was nuts!! My stomach still wasn't feeling the greatest so I just got a bowl of white rice. I did get to eat some of my roomie's curry chicken though. It was pretty good, by the way I ate it all with chop sticks. :)
While everyone else finished their food I rested my head on the table until we had to go.
We headed to the student activity center where our meeting was. We were all given bank cards (In case we decided to use them) and also temporary cards for the canteen and dining places on campus as well as cell phones. After being told about the things that would happen the next day we were free to leave.
I pretty much passed out when I got back to the room, so I could get up and ready for the day to start at 7 am the next morning!
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Flight and arrival!!!
Well, the flight was awful. Getting to the airport and security wasn't bad but I am way too stir crazy and fidgety to sit on a plane for 13 or more hours. I also was in the middle row of seats so I couldn't even look out a window. I would check once in a while out the window near the restroom when I went to use it but to be honest I couldn't see anything. ESPECIALLY the North Pole it was so bright that it was just blindingly white! I got to watch a few things while on the plane, the Discovery channel actually played which is a fave of mine and then the movies Fool's Gold, Horton Hears a Who, Married Life and Flawless. I didn't really pay attention to the last one (Flawless) because I was so beat! LOL
One thing I found interesting on the plane was the food and beverages. I got a coca cola each time I was offered a drink. The first can was definitely bottled in Berlin and was really odd, my second can came from Thailand and my third can was Chinese and finally the fourth can I got was American LOL, although it was still shaped funny with a wavy lip like thing instead of the regular way at the top (oh yeah this vast diversity in my coca-cola cans was most def. the highlight of the flight). The food was ok, we had 2 lunches, a snack supper thing and a few sweet snacks, coffee and hot tea. The supper snack thing was just like the cup of noodles things that you can buy at wal-mart near the Ramen noodles and our meals were first chicken and noodles and then lasagna. The last meal, the lasagna did me in. We got it about an hour before landing and I was not feeling well at all!
Once we got to the airport I was a bit better and didn't have trouble getting my bags and getting through all the security.
After that we hopped on the buses and took about an hour drive to Remnin University where we are staying.
Well I have to go for now but I will update you on my first evening in China and then about the happenings so far as soon as I can!
God Bless!
One thing I found interesting on the plane was the food and beverages. I got a coca cola each time I was offered a drink. The first can was definitely bottled in Berlin and was really odd, my second can came from Thailand and my third can was Chinese and finally the fourth can I got was American LOL, although it was still shaped funny with a wavy lip like thing instead of the regular way at the top (oh yeah this vast diversity in my coca-cola cans was most def. the highlight of the flight). The food was ok, we had 2 lunches, a snack supper thing and a few sweet snacks, coffee and hot tea. The supper snack thing was just like the cup of noodles things that you can buy at wal-mart near the Ramen noodles and our meals were first chicken and noodles and then lasagna. The last meal, the lasagna did me in. We got it about an hour before landing and I was not feeling well at all!
Once we got to the airport I was a bit better and didn't have trouble getting my bags and getting through all the security.
After that we hopped on the buses and took about an hour drive to Remnin University where we are staying.
Well I have to go for now but I will update you on my first evening in China and then about the happenings so far as soon as I can!
God Bless!
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