Ticket parade

Temperature outside: 90s and up, hellishly humid and smoggy.
Words I know in Chinese: 25, woohoo! I'm getting there (now I might be able to get some food)
Times I've been to the Olympics Flagship store: 5, but who's counting. The real scariness would be the money spent... no comment

So you are still looking for tickets to the Olympics? You have a few options: 1) Be an elementary school student. About 1 million seats are set aside for them in Beijing. And they are only 5 to 10 RMB. If I’m not smarter than a 5th grader, does that count?

2) Buy them off internet sources. A swimming-finals ticket will run you about $1200 on most online sites, while opening ceremony has been seen around $25,000. Remember, many of these tickets started at around 50 RMB – or just under $10.

3) Fight the stampede at a ticket counter on Friday as the fourth phase of ticket sales opened at 9am. Organizers announced Tuesday that 820,000 tickets were to be sold starting then, with around 250,000 for Beijing events and the rest at 4 other cities (football/soccer games mainly).
I unfortunately have work to do with training for ONS, but I decided to check out the scene for nostalgia (and blogging) purposes. This had to be the mother-of-all queues. From now on, I vow not to complain at amusement park lines or waiting for Busch Stadium tickets. Just don’t let them be like today.

Equipped with everything from folding chairs and foam boards to beach umbrellas and beer coolers, people waited. And waited. The official number from Xinhua News said there were 30,000 people in line. I’m wondering where and when they showed up. The line was literally miles long (condensed slightly with winding barricades, but not by much) as it wound across streets and through nearby parks. And, when police opened an entrance, the mob plowed anything in its path. The wake was bent steel gates and several ambulances.

The man holding them back in the front? 25-year-old Xu Yong camped out for 45 hours to hold that privilege. I guess he called in sick from his job. Never did hear if he got his tickets :)

So is it worth it for a $10 Olympics ticket? Pan Hai Zhen, thought so. “I’ll have stood in line for 2 days and a night, but I think it’s worth it. I really like football and to see it in the Olympics would be a dream.” Unfortunately, when she finally got through at 10:30, that dream didn’t quite pan out. “I got some swimming [diving actually] and I think that’s ok. I also get to see closing ceremony. I hope to invite my parents from my hometown to come in for it. That’s why I waited in line.”

Three American students studying in Beijing thought differently. Arriving just before 11am on Friday, they saw the line (they obviously hadn’t expected) and decided to head back home.

BTW, this is not Pan Hai Zhen - just thought I should say that :)

Tickets for the Bird’s Nest (National Stadium), Water Cube (National Aquatics Center) and National Indoor Stadium were all sold at the central ticket office just south of the Green. Now, I may have missed some people, but in the 2 hours I stuck around the exit, I saw ONE non-Asian looking person walk through those gates. And he declined to talk to press.

Sales were beginning to die down at the main ticket office as I was leaving at 11, and the crowd was still anxious for more. At 4 p.m., pretty much all venues were completely out. Even Rhythmic Gymnastics, Shooting and Badminton. Tickets in May (all 1.38 million of them) sold out in 2 days with 27 million hits on the website just in the first hour. In all, 6.8 million tickets have been available. And I still don’t have any. I could have gotten some though, for a nice scalped fee of 3500 RMB ($500) each for syncronized swimming. Athorities have arrested 60 people in the last 2 months for scalping on the streets, but I guess they were busy mugging uncooperative reporters to the ground (they are serious about the off-limits areas).

Training in the NIS

Temperature outside: I don't know, 95 maybe, it was hot and humid whatever it was.
Words I know in Chinese: 14. I learned “I Miss You” :)
Current Olympic athletes I can identify by looks alone: In gymnastics – 3 (do the Hamm brothers count as one or two?) Other Olympians – 25 (do horses count? If so, then 35, hehehe)
Favorite quote so far: "I am a beautiful melon person" - Ted trying to say, "I am an American" in Chinese, but he apparently got it a bit mixed up.

Yes, I’m sorry for the delayed post. Since the last update (not the traffic report), we’ve begun training, and it takes up a good portion of our time. The rest has been spent trying to work on my project, which I’ve been falling a bit behind on, and working on some panoramas, which can be seen here.

Last Tuesday, the first day of official ONS training. By the way, if you’re good at spelling, try to keep up with these acronyms. There must be at least 2 dozen for the Olympics committees/groups, like ONS (Olympic News Service) and ISS (Infostrada Sports, the online technology and data supplier). Then you have the venue names (NIS is the National Indoor Stadium, where I work). Then you have job titles (FQR, Flash Quotes Reporter and SIS, Sports Information Specialist). Then the country names (RSA: South Africa, PRK: North Korea, etc). Then, finally I hope, are the events (GA: Artistic Gynmastics). Hehehe. I’ll be using some of these as I go along, so if you get lost and I forget to put what they mean, just ask me for a glossary or something :)

Ok, where was I? Oh, venue. While the NIS may not be quite as cool as the Water Cube or the Bird’s Nest, it’s still pretty spiffy. Plus, we got to take photos for ourselves, something the other venues can’t necessarily say (security risks or something). The Chinese are definitely taking the Olympics seriously. We have to pass so many detectors and gates just to get into work. And next week we’ll have yet another notch up with actual x-ray machines and pat-downs, hehehe. Even to get into the Green (main Olympics area), you must either have accreditation or a ticket. And you can’t go into any venue otherwise. Like, I can’t go into the Cube. Ever! At least I work near it though. People who are volunteers at venues outside the Green can’t even come past the first gates. I do feel a little safer I guess.

Home of the NBC Today Show, once finished. They have a great view. You'll see. -->

It’s an amazing area (check out the pano if you don’t believe me). I can’t wait to see it full of people. They really outdid themselves with artwork and architecture. Sometime this week we’re hoping to stay past dark and see everything lit up. Even inside NIS though, with the sunlight streaking through lights in the ceiling, it’s amazing at first glance.

As far as training, the Chinese have a different philosophy than the west. We believe that you get in, get out, and get to work. They feel that it’s better to be there 8 hours a day, whether you need to be or not. They also believe in 3 hour lunches with naps, and in lots of "morale boosting" games. So, we volunteers have begun bringing books and cards with us. Not that the job or training is boring. Believe me, we have our work cut out for us. But still, 1 hour is all you need for lunch, hehehe.

My official job title will likely be a FQR. We will be taking a typing test tomorrow to select a few volunteers to be copytakers (after an FQR gets a quote from an athlete in the MZ – Mixed Zone – they run it back and tell it to a copytaker to type out). If I’m a FQR, I’ll either be working in the broadcast MZ or press MZ. They have their advantages. In the BOB (Broadcast area), I can’t ask any questions. And if you see me on TV, I’ll get fired, hehehe. You think I’m kidding. In the press area, it’s a scrum to get to the athletes, with 100 reporters and FQRs in a tiny itty bitty area (photo below). But I do sometimes get to ask my own questions, and it’s closer to my real line of work. We’ll see. I’ll probably switch between all areas.

<--The print Mixed Zone (MZ), called that because the press and athletes "mix" together, only separated by the gates of course.

Other than that, I don't know if I can tell too much about training. We’ve been told we can’t talk much about specifics of the job, at least during the Olympics. Don’t know what "details" I’d want to share anyways. You’d just get bored, and it’s going into my masters project anyways. Read that if you want to know more – whenever I get it done.

Oh, we did get our uniforms, and starting today, we must wear them EVERYDAY we are in training or work. They’re ok I guess. They don’t breath as well as you’d expect, but they are noticeable. And I love the shoes. Whatever adidas did in them, I want another pair! My roommate and I joked that I could probably write a whole blog about just the amazing-ness of the shoes. The opposite could be said about the bucket hat the girls get, but I don’t have to wear that (it’s too small anyways).

Anyways, training starts again early tomorrow, so I’ll sign off here. Let me know if you want to know about anything specific. Never know what exactly people want to hear about. :)

Transportation yins and yangs

Temperature outside: 90, blue-ish sky, and breezy. Pretty nice in the shade.
Words I know in Chinese: 13 or so. I know, I’m slow.
Days until the Olympics: 18
Here’s one for you: Number of feet between Beituchen Station on Subway Line 10 to the National Indoor Stadium: 9500 (or 1.8 miles), give or take a good 100 feet. How do I know that? Because I had to walk it!

Everyone knows yin and yang. Light and dark, good and evil, happy and sad. Everything in the universe can be connected to one of the two, and they keep each other in check. Well, I’ve had both when it comes to Beijing transportation.

I mentioned in my very first post that China’s speed limit is legendary because no one ever gets close to it. It’s always rush hour. So, we’ve been figuring out other ways to get around. Riding a bike here can be considered the equivalent to wrestling a tiger (either real or Ben Askren, you’re gonna lose), so that’s out of the question. With walking, you have three problems. 1) It’s slow. 2) It’s problematic to your health (smog). And 3) It’s a BIG city, so it’s slow.

Taxis are nice. They’re clean. A ride across town is usually about 50 RMB total ($7), and you can split that between as many as four people. You still have to put up with traffic, but depending on the driver, you get where you need to go without too much motion sickness. Make sure you bring a map/book with Chinese characters on it or have someone who can speak the language.

Did I mention yin and yang? A few days ago, we wanted to go to Wangfujing (shopping area surrounding the Olympics Flagship store). So, we set out in a taxi. We’re on one of the ring roads, which are about 5 roads equivalent to highways that circle the city, and all of a sudden a van to our right is trying to merge onto the road. We don’t move over because there should be no need; but he’s honking and trying to get where we are. Ok, first off, honking here isn’t like in the states. You can honk here at anything, and they do. But mainly a honk is because you want the adjacent lane to know you’re there and they shouldn’t come over. Makes sense, right. This guy is pissed for some reason. And he won’t slow down! He merges in behind us finally, and we think all is ok. As soon as a lane to the right opens, he zips out (we think cursing at us, but we don’t know the language), pulls ahead of us, and cuts us off. Actually slams his breaks on the highway! The four of us in the car are like What The! Our driver, getting a little flustered, goes to pull around him. He cuts us off again. And again. Finally, he parks his van sideways, gets out pointing and yelling, and goes to get our driver out of the taxi. On the highway remember. We’re freaked and looking for both an exit and hopefully not a gun in the pocket he’s reaching into. Eventually he lets our driver go, but we still don’t know what happened. And we didn’t even get a free taxi ride off of it! Hehehe

So that night, we’re not liking taxis, but we need to go home so we get into one just past rush hour. This guy immediately knows where we’re going (unlike some) and tries to tell jokes to us even though we don’t understand him. So, he turns on the radio to an American pop station. Cool! Then he proceeds to dance to the music. Just imagine your dad dancing to your favorite song at age 13 and you’ll picture what this guy was doing. We’re all laughing with him and in a good mood. Then he tries to sing (he doesn’t know English, but he has obviously heard the songs before), and motions for us to do the same. Why not, right? "There Can Be Miracles" (Prince of Egypt song, this time by some guy) and Michael Buble’s "Home" never sounded worse, but he sure turned yin into yang.

I don’t like buses, but for a couple days this week, they looked like the best way to get to the Olympic Green. With our accreditations for being part of ONS, we can ride them and the metro (subway) for free. But since line 10 wasn’t open – and it’s the only way to get to the Olympic line 8 – the bus was it. Let’s just leave it at I’m not doing that again, ok!? It’s not bad, it’s just not for me.

Finally Line 10 opened this weekend. YAY! Fireworks should have gone off or something. We rode it the first night to dinner. Soooo nice! Very smooth and clean and fast and a perfect straight line. So Sunday, after being told that "All remaining lines have opened," we attempt to go to the Green. Wrong! At the transfer between 10 and 8, we’re blocked by gates. "Line 8 is open, but we can’t ride it." HUH!? I still need someone to explain that one to me! So, there’s supposed to be a bus for Olympics staff and volunteers. If there was, we didn’t find it. We saw a group of about 100 people waiting in a bundle, but no buses. That’s where the 9500 feet come in. Yep, we arrived half an hour late, 3 water bottles less and drenched. Going home we found the Olympic bus. Sure, now they tell us.

In conclusion: Transportation is not our friend. Subways are still the best. Leaving an hour early for a 15 minute ride is never enough time (we learned that one when sightseeing, but thought we were clear). And always make triple sure you know how to get someplace before setting out. Oh well, yin has had his fun … now yang can guide us the rest of the way.

Tours before training

Temperature outside: 76 (night right now) and "clear" (though not blue sky). Amazingly, it didn't feel like a sauna today. YAY!
Words I know in Chinese: 10 I think... still working on some. I know numbers up to three (yi, er, san). Why? Because that’s what you say when you take a picture, hehehe.
Food I’m craving most: Spaghetti with vinaigrette, a whole chicken breast and a HUGE helping of cheese! Actually, I’d take just the cheese right now – they don’t eat it here.
What I was watching when I started this post: Disney’s Little Mermaid in Chinese. It’s even more amusing than when I saw it in French, and Ariel’s name is pronounced Ahrl-eel. Now it’s March of the Penguins …

The sights. The sounds. The size. Everything Beijing does is impressive and on a scale seldom seen in the Western world. And for the past four days or so, we’ve experienced a bunch of them. For the weekend, we went on tours set up by BOCOG. It was a chance for them to show off, for us to see things before they get crowded with tourists (like the weren’t already) and for us to get our sightseeing out of the way and get down to business today. First on the agenda was the Water Treatment Plant. As we all said, WOOHOO! Hehehe. But it actually did have a reason, since China’s clean water supply is becoming scarce and plants like this are needed more and more. Apparently while there is super strict regulation coming into the plant, whether it be water or people, once the water leaves it isn’t regulated. So, while it might be clean leaving the plant, we still can’t drink it from the faucet. That didn’t help much… :)

<-- Doesn't Ted look happy to be standing over thousands of gallons of waste water!?

With only a small grating between. Not fun! -->

Following that we were shipped an hour outside the city to a “village” set up by the city for people whose land was bought in 2002 (kind of like an eminent domain type of thing, but they give you a new home and furnishings). They were nice, but it was weird – don’t know how to explain the feeling. There was even a temple (called the 500 year old temple because the previous one was that old), senior citizens home with a 102 year old woman, and several entertainment courtyards. We tried our hands at calligraphy, which mine was one of the best in the groups (I’m not bias), and tai chi. It’s really hard when you have no clue what to do next, but it was sooo much fun.

I must say, if our luck for the rest of the trip is as good as it was on Saturday, I’ll be happy. We had our second blue-sky day of the whole trip the same day as the Great Wall trip. There was one small glitch though… we arrived mid-morning and were told that they are limiting access because a VIP was there. Turns out the President of Mexico (whom none of us could remember his name – some journalists we are). They closed half of the Wall for him! And weren’t letting anyone else on the other portion since it was already packed. So, we wait in the sun. And wait. About 20 minutes later, they take the road block and we can go to the front gaits, but they’re still not letting anyone in (and actually we were closed off from the other side too, we were stuck).

Twenty more minutes go by in the stockade and we were almost fed up. We had other stuff scheduled and were running out of time. But, officials finally opened a small portal and the stampede inside was treacherous, but survivable. Especially for Tigers! MIZ -

There is a good reason why the Great Wall is listed among the New Seven Wonders of the World. Land rises up in every direction and then this man-made snake barrier stretchs and winds with it. There’s no way to see it all (partly because some of it is rubble, or the government hasn’t opened it). It’s just that big. As our fearless professor put it so nicely: The experience is similar to standing on the beach at sunrise or sunset and feeling the waves stretch into the distance and knowing you’ll never be able to fully grasp the magnitude. And knowing that they did this all with very basic tools is even more. The pyramids are similar in a way, but they aren’t on mountain cliffs.

To get the full effect, one must climb. Not a stroll up, but a 50-degree incline separated every 200 or 300 meters by platforms and a few stairs. Gripping tennis shoes are a minimum. Breathing is labored whether the sky is blue or smoggy. Water, though heated from the sun above, is most welcome. And the experience. Oh, the experience. Though mocked by the “I climbed the Great Wall” t-shirts, it is certainly a bragging point if you can get to the top. I settled for halfway up our section, since the royal visit cut our trip to only an hour of freedom (1/2 hr up, 1/2 hour back). And while my panoramas don’t quite show the intensity, hopefully you can get the sensation. For more, visit my photobucket or ask me for them (I have much larger versions and a lot of them).

Nothing else we did quite compares to the Wall, but a Ming Tomb (note: not the terracotta warrior tomb), Summer and Winter Palace are all worthy of a visit if ever in the area. Again, nothing in China is ever done small. The Summer Palace, a “gift for the emperor’s mother,” is over 200 hectares – about 1 square mile. Just for a palace, gardens, and a lake (and a Budha Temple, I believe). The following pictures are assorted from the rest of our tours, and more can be seen in my photobucket (link on the left).

Western people funny!

Temperature outside: High today in the 80s, hopefully less humid since it rained yesterday.
Words I know in Chinese: 7! I learned to say “I love u” awwww….
Times I’ve eaten at a US restaurant: Twice. Pizza Hut the other day was a much needed break from rice and Chinese sauces, for all of us.
Fortune Cookies I’ve seen: zero, zilch, nadda, none. Seriously.

Photos are still to come, sorry, ran out of time

Ok, so I give them credit. We are a group of 60 Americans. We’re loud, and sometimes a few of us are a little inconsiderate. We don’t wear the same clothes (fashion here … well, I’ll try to touch on that later). And, we look funny with chopsticks, even though I was complimented on my abilities yesterday by a BOCOG (Beijing Organizing Committee) member.

But does that really merit the stopping and staring and even pointing by everyone we pass? Apparently the King and I song is true: Western people are funny – looking at least. I’ll admit, cultures are different here. Perhaps mothers don’t teach their kids it’s not polite to point. Even when a group of us five girls breaks off to go to dinner or something, we have old men stopping in the tracks, and women looking at us over their shoulders. I’m always tempted to go up to them and say, “Look. I’m sorry. They let us out of the Zou. But we’ll be back in the [Lee] Hills soon. Don’t worry.” Hehehe.

The attention our professor and one of the girls get is even more amusing. They are both very dark skinned, and I guess the people here think he’s Michael Jordan or something. They always want to take pictures with him and his son (who’s made the trip with us until the Olympics). Aja thinks she’s a movie star. They’ll pull her and a bunch of the blond girls (who eagerly oblige) and take pictures with them. I’m just a brunette; they just stare at me, hehehe.

The media isn’t helping the curious onlookers. They have been following us the minute we’ve arrived. Yesterday both CCTV (the large government station here with over 10 channels) and another paper I always mistype the name to followed us to the Water Treatment plant and a new commune – sorry, “village.” Fun! What are people supposed to think with three large cameras and two photographers hovering around. It’s like we really are movie stars. Can someone get Britney Spears over here as a buffer? We have had several stories done on us, and I’m sure there are more we don’t know about:

http://www.cctv.com/video/xinwenlianbo/2008/07/xinwenlianbo_300_20080709_1.shtml

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2008-07/04/content_6818182.htm

Other than that, and a few cabbies not wanting to drive us to our destination (some laugh when we show them our handy card printed with the hotel and a map), people here are very friendly. One night we were trying to find the Foreign Student Dinning Hall (someone did tell us the name at least), and a girl abandoned her boyfriend to lead us to it. She actually got lost twice, but wouldn’t give up until we were there. Another time we were eating there, a Chinese guy turned to us and said with very good English that he had studied at Oklahoma. We talked to him a bit, but didn’t even get his name. So, he finished his meal just as we were getting ours, and got up to leave. Well, a minute later, the waitress came over with 4 milk teas and a note saying “Hope you’ll enjoy your study in Renmin. I am quite appreciate of the kind treatment when I was in the states.” We all of course swooned, but he had already disappeared.

Oh, btw, milk tea is good – basically how it sounds – especially served cold with boba, but I’ll stick to soda and water myself :)

One courteous thing I keep forgetting is to use two hands. As a sign of respect, when someone hands you something (say, change for a purchase or a business card), they will use both hands on either side of the item and bow slightly. The Vice Chancellor did it when he handed us our stamps. Basically everyone has done it to us, and yet I keep forgetting, or will have something in one hand. Hey, I’m a rude American, hehehe, we already knew that.

And finally, on this brief and lacking incite into Chinese people, I leave you with this thought. Perhaps I will lose weight on this trip after all. At least I will if I join hundred of walkers and runners on the track at all hours of the day. The tracks in CoMo are busy, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen less than 100 people out there. Running. Roller skating. Tai chi. Using one of the many outdoor gyms (they’re like playgrounds for adults, seriously). I tried the tai chi yesterday,; it’s very fun even though I had no clue what I was doing.

The good, the bad, and the very ugly at the zoo

Temperature outside: 85, humid and smoggy. Really starting to notice it more, especially when you’ve been out in it for a while and your throat is getting sore.
Words I know in Chinese: still
Times I’ve already felt completely lost in translation: too many, but really the people here are nice and very understanding
Times I’ve eaten at a US restaurant: just 1!

The Beijing Zoo has a long history. It covers an area of around 86 hectares (or over 212 acres – it is huge) and is home to roughly 6,000 animals – the majority that we saw were birds of all shapes and sizes. First to breed giant pandas successfully in captivity in 1963, it also was the first to successfully use artificial insemination with them in 1978. It sits just outside of town (actually, it’s inside compared to where the university is, not a bad taxi though – 20 RMB or $3). Though not free like the St. Louis Zoo, it’s not a bad price to get in (20 yuan again if you want to see the pandas too), and there are estimated to be around 200,000 people trekking to see them daily. It has two Giant Panda buildings that we could find, with 5 or 6 outside enclosures attached, and both were extremely full at the moment.

The largest panda breeding center in China, Bifengxia at the Wolong Nature Reserve, was adjacent to the epicenter of May’s earthquake. Since it sustained heavy damage, killing one panda and leaving another missing to this day, many animals were sent to other centers or to the Beijing Zoo. Lucky us!

Ok, Aerie doesn’t have quite as big a butt as PanPan, the mascot of the Asian Games, but it’s pretty close.

The Panda House of course was the first place we went, since we’ve been told by numerous sources that the black and white teddies are most active in the morning. And who wouldn’t be, with the Beijing summer heat and humidity. We were dead by 1 p.m., and didn’t get there until 10:30 a.m.

They are simply amazing creatures. Almost human-like, they will sit up and use their front paws to hold sticks of bamboo or tear off limbs, then use their extended belly as a plate for leaves as they chomp away. It seems the pandas have a grin while eating. And with all the bamboo I could eat (there were piles of it), I’d be a happy camper too.

Sorry, I took about 120 photos of just the pandas; more can be seen on my photobucket with the link to the left or by email request.

Only about 1,600 pandas live in the wild according to a 2006 study, mostly in Sichuan (the province destroyed by the earthquake). Today, with all the devastation, it is unclear exactly how many survived. An additional 180 have been bred in captivity, many of them at Wolong, and others have been loaned or given to zoos abroad like the San Diego Zoo, with the revenues helping fund conservation programs.

IF YOU ARE AN ANIMAL LOVER, YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT’S TO COME!

Unfortunately, the Beijing Zoo knows who their stars are, and while the panda conditions aren’t quite to par with those at American giant panda exhibits, they are luxury suits compared to the rest of the zoo. We did not travel into the Aquarium at the zoo, since it cost around 120 RMB and that was more than we cared to see for fish and dolphins (so no swimming with them, unfortunately… oh well).

One of my books mentioned that Beijing Zoo does not care for their animals well. This was realized as soon as we stepped out of the panda exhibit. ANY zoo in the US is a Hilton compared to what these animals have. Cement slabs. No water. No shade. If they get a toy or living companion, they are lucky.

Bear Hill is a joke. Himalayan Black Bears, endangered in status and recognized by their characteristic V-shape on their chests, get a rubble pit for a habitat. Not even a tree. What’s worse is the begging. With just a drop-off between visitors and the bears underneath, people throw bread and other senseless things to the animals, which have learned to beg for attention. They even sell the bread at the gift shops.

The Grizzlies, about half the size of a healthy bear in the wild and matted hair everywhere, have learned the same. One even holds its hind legs to look cute for onlookers, while another stands on its hind legs and looks backward to amuse.

Lion and Tiger Hill is a little better. Still with cement underneath, there is foliage to cover them outside – though no water could be seen in any of the exterior enclosures. Yet, nothing could explain our thoughts as we walked into the den house.

Their cages were smaller than our hotel room, and completely barren. These are extremely endangered species! There are less than 5,000 tigers left in the wild, and yet they get this as a living space. For shame China! One cage housed a Liger even – lion/tiger cross frowned upon by zoological society but enjoyed at places like Siegfried and Roy– and another two extremely rare white Kruger Lions. There are probably less than 1000 white Krugers ever recorded in zoos. Although I could keep writing, I feel pictures speak for themselves.

I took more pictures of other exhibits, but there was too much to think about. The elephants had an indoor area about half that of the old St. Louis Zoo Elephant House, if you can believe it. Sorry for the treehugger rant. It just really hits a nerve when the Beijing Zoo can make you pay to attend and constructs something like the following inside the zoo but cannot care for its animals:

And yes, sorry. It’s not Phil the Gorilla from the St. Louis Zoo, but I just had to join the kids and ride an elephant.

That's too much!

Temperature outside: who knows, it rained all day, or was humid
Words I know in Chinese: still 6
Times I’ve already felt completely lost in translation: too many, I should learn more Chinese Favorite meal so far: Peking Duck

Ever seen the Price Is Right and their game “That’s too much!”? You raise the price and raise the price until you think it is over the actual price, and then the contestant yells as enthusiastically as they can, THAT’S TOO MUCH! Well, that phrase took on a whole new meaning the last couple of days.

First, last night we had a very special dinner with the President of Renmin University and the newly-arrived students from U of North Carolina who will be joining us for the Olympics. They began the meal with speeches from each of the dignified guests, and then began to bring out the food. Now, the normal Chinese dinner is a family style, where you are at a round table with a huge lazy susan in the middle. All the bowls and plates are in the center, and then you take from each whatever you want. So they bring some cold zucchini sticks, and some gelatin sticks, and some kind of nuts, and beef braised in soy sauce, and chicken soup with cabbage (with bone still in it), and peanut chicken with legs and such included…Peking duck. Spicy chicken with thin green peppers that look like green beans (not good surprise). Stuffed green peppers on a bed of sunny-side eggs. Flat fish with veggies. Whole shrimp with the antennas still on. Some kind of corned-like beef with a lot of fat. Rice of course, though at the end of the meal. Fried bread knots with green onions and oil. Summer squash. Sprouts and greens. Ummm… like 5 other dishes, and finally for dessert, watermelons and grape tomatoes (how those work together I’m not sure). THAT’S TOO MUCH FOOD! One of our Chinese friends said that if we were 6-8 Chinese people, the food wouldn’t have piled up in the middle as it did (we only ate about half the food). Instead, it looked like this even after taking away some of the platters:

Then, today after classes and getting soaked in the rain, we had a free afternoon. What to do, what to do? So, we decided to brave the elements and Beijing traffic and went to the Hong Qiao Pearl Market. It sells a lot more than pearls, if you were wondering, those are a good two floors out of five. Many people have heard of the Silk Market of Beijing. This is smaller and a little less variety, but it’s also less tourist-y and pushy and you can usually talk them down a little more.

Haggling is very fun. Strategy going in:

Don’t show emotion, especially if you really want it

Don’t make it personal. They will act all sad or mad or say you’re stealing from them. It’s all an act

And three, when they give a price, you tell them THAT’S TOO MUCH, and give them back 10-20% of what they said. Yep, you heard me right. 10%. Why? Because they inflate it sooo much for tourists, and once you say a price, you can’t go under it. Plus, once you say a price, they take it as a huge insult if you walk away.

So, we go into a shop that sells traditional looking dresses, and each want to buy something. The original cost, 900 RMB each (about $140 US) for a dress and 600 RMB (about $90 give or take) for a shirt. Our starting price, 100 RMB. “Oh, no, that’s too little…. You buy so many [we had about 4 dresses and 4 shirts altogether], I say 650 yuan.” Back, forth, back forth. Luckily we had a girl on our side who would not budge too much on price. She knew what she wanted to pay. End results: 235 RMB for the dresses and 150 for the shirts. We probably still got stolen on them, but it was a decent result. You’ve just gotta learn, “THAT’S TOO MUCH!”

The first of many adventures

Temperature outside: high 80s F and sunny blue sky for the first time. Oooooooooooo….
Words I know in Chinese: 5 (6 if you count a curse word, hehehe)
Times I’ve already felt completely lost in translation: 50-ish
Where I’ve been: People’s Daily and Beijing Youth Daily headquarters. Forbidden City. Tian’an Man Square. The Hutongs in Old China.

Wow, I’ve been busy. Ok, so Thursday after I posted, we had a mixer with the Vice Chancellor and volunteers from Renmin. It was nice, and the little foods were interesting. At the end, he gave each of us a little stamp with our names on it in Chinese characters (soooo cute). Of course, since there are several Lauras and Sarahs and such, he put our last names. Granted, I’ll only be able to use mine for the next couple of months, but it’s still very nice of him .

Friday the 4th (HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA! I had fireworks on my computer just for you) we went on media visits, which was kinda cool. Didn’t get to see much, but we got to talk to the managing editor (I think) of the People Daily online edition. Man, does he have a big job. I’d have loved to sit down and just have a one on one with him. Rack his brain. That is, if we got over the language barrier. I mean, 2 million hits a day! And they put breaking news up 24/7. They have a huge convergence portion too, with web communities and videos and the like. No wonder it’s 2,000 staffers strong. Maybe I could get a blog up for them…. They do have sites in 11 languages…

Gifts from our visits. That’s a year-of-the-mouse backpack and a pen that is also a calendar.

Then between that and the Beijing Youth Daily we had a super fancy lunch at a nearby hotel. I mean, wowza. Not even mentioning the price. One of the things was an ice cream stand. Now, they had the usual vanilla (which actually tasted more like white cake and icing), strawberry (which apparently tasted like Nesquik), and chocolate (which was very very strong). Then there was the green tea ice cream. Yep, bright green, and the taste was, well, tea-like. I thought it was a bit strong, but another girl felt it refreshing after the chocolate. And finally, a purple ice cream. Grape? No. Carrot! Hehehe. Did it taste like carrot? No, it tasted like really bad movie theater buttered popcorn.

Nothing happened that night, as sleep finally caught up with me and I zonked out (technical term there). Some others went to karaoke bars and such. I’ll probably join them soon. Gotta practice my tunes first.

I can finally start checking things off my list of must-sees. Tian’an Men Square and Forbidden City = check! Yesterday was our first of many sightseeing days, and the rain couldn’t dampen our experience. Sure, I would have rather seen them without the rush of a tour guide, but it was nice to have someone let us know what we’re seeing. I didn’t realize Tian’an Men Square was so big! Unfortunately the guide didn’t mention much of the history that happened there. Oh well. I’ll be getting some panoramas up soon, so stay tuned for that. Until then, you’ll have to settle for these pictures:

That is a statue depicting the rising of the People’s Republic, in front of ongoing construction for the history museum.

<--One of two lions standing guard outside the Forbidden City Gates. You can tell the two apart two ways. The male lion, always on the left, holds a ball under his paw. The female, who’s always right, holds her cub. Chairman Mao’s picture in the background is surrounded by two says wishing long life to China and peace to the world. The city itself (Forbidden City that is) is so gorgeous. Everything is painted or covered in metals or carved to the finest detail. Rooftops are adorned with protectors (the more there are, the more important the building) and it’s amazing to think the entire thing was just for the emperor and his however-many wives.

And finally yesterday we went to the Hutongs, a special portion of central Beijing that consists of old-China buildings and ways of life. Yes, it’s a tourist trap, but it was kinda neat. The houses of course seen small to ours, but really the extended family of five brothers owned quite a bit of land. The buildings and alleys were just small. And the room we visited still had computers and AC and such. That’s some kind of Old-China they had there… At least they are preserving it among the high-rises and clutter. Compared to the rest of city life, I’d rather live there – a hint of simple life and easier ways.

The Rickshaw we took to the Hutongs -->

And so today is our “off” day, finally blue skies, and I’m determined to get at least something done on my work. I know, I should get out more, hehehe. But there will be time for that. Perhaps on our days off this week I’ll venture to the zoo or Silk Market.

I did meet a very nice guy at lunch today. With my roommate out, I went to the cantina next door by myself, and a Chinese student by the American name of Jim decided to join me and test his English. He said he wasn’t very good at it, but he’s sure better than my Chinese. Another check of my list: meet some locals.