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.