Here comes the sun.....????

First, I need to start off by apologizing... It seems that some of you have incorporated my blog into your daily morning routine (which makes me happy), as a result, however, I received a few questioning emails as to why I had not posted yesterday. To this I say, once again, I am sorry, but I am working here people! The last two days have been VERY computer intensive and busy. Work, work, work. Things of note that happenend in the last two days are: 1. We finally met our local staff! We have two locals with us, Queen and Crystal. They are amazing! It is so nice to have a local with you when you are trying to navigate your way through the sea of bycicles, people and cars - or when simply trying to order lunch. 2. It finally rained! Well, for the love of Noah and his arc, it was torrential - for 10 minutes anyway.

The onslaught commences... But there is a silver lining.....The humidity broke (a little - for about 8 hours) and the sun "almost" came out! I have been a little depressed because I am seriously needing sunshine... and you won't believe how this brief reprise lifted the spirits of all....

It was still covered in haze, but that little sun did it's darndest to come out!

While visiting the command centre - the hub of the operation if you will - on official business, Amy and I had one hour between appointments... so what else was there for me to do but eat! I love eating here. At each restaurant I feel like I have entered a warholesque, pop culture paradise. The Chinese are not afraid of colour and each menu is like reading a comic book. It has done wonders in terms of me keeping an open mind... well, not an open mind really, more like - 'ignorance is bliss!' It is like point and eat and I love it. On this particular occasion, I chose an awesome bowl of noodles with vegetables - a little bit sweet, a little bit spicy - all good.

It is now Thursday morning here in Beijing - we met Queen and Crystal for the first time on Monday. This is the best part of the Olympics - meeting everyone from around the world. They are both (and all China is) - very excited about the upcoming games. They have been so keen and helpful. On Monday we just got to know eachother and I gave them a bunch of material to become acquainted with. Here is an example of how eager they are to help - I gave them a project Monday - They were to teach Amy and I about local customs and ettiquete as well as some helpful phrases in Chinese. Well these two girls typed up all of this, printed it out and then went and laminated it for us for easy work. If you had asked someone to do this in N America, you would have been lucky if you were told how to say hello!

Tuesday was official business galore... hence the no post. Just hard work and then a beverage or two with colleagues behind the hotel at the local T.G.I.Fridays after work... that's right, I am loathe to admit that Fridays was our local watering hole here at the Ritz... I will defend myself by saying that 1. it is close 2. it is not Ritz prices and 3. If that's where the gangs at, that's where you go. I have been really lucky and have started to really mesh with many of the staff and have made some great friends. Ps - Fridays is a TRIP in China. I love their concept of Americana...

Yesterday (Wednesday) was a great day and much needed. It started out with me meeting Queen and Crystal. While waiting for Queen, Crystal gave me a Chinese lesson and I learned how to do the olympic cheer (hand movements and everything)... It will be today's phrase of the day. It is as follows:

ao yun!
jia you!
zhong guo!
jia you!

It means go olympics! go china! But what is funny is that the Chinese word for 'go' in this sense is actually petrol (gasoline) - you literally have to gas up for the olympics! for China! Go petrol, go petrol!

Queen, Crystal and myself then had our daily meeting. As many of you know, I am a teacher and I fully believe in learning by doing... so after the meeting it was off to discover everything that we had been learning about! We went to our group hotel to familiarize ourselves which was great. We were then going to meet Amy at 3:30 - because she had been chained to her computer... but we had 40 minutes before that was to happen... what did that mean???? Let's eat!

Going for lunch with Crystal and Queen was amazing and such a differnt experience from when I try to muddle my way through. We went to a seczuan restaurant (mmmm mmm spicy!). There was no English menu and no pictures, so I was at the mercy of the girls. It was awesome. What we did was we went to the front and picked up a basket and then filled it with items that we wanted all cooked up together. I chose vegetables (most of which I did not really recognize) and some quail eggs (at least that is what I think they were). The girls also ordered me a delicious noodle dish. I was proud of myself because we all found it really spicy but I coped the best! And even better??? I bought lunch for all three of us to thank the girls and it was a whopping 25 RMB.... about $3.50 total!... For three people!

Queen (left) and Crystal (right) at lunch

Lunch

Following lunch, we met Amy as we were going to go to some of the places that our guest were going to visit so we could be properly prepared - namely, Tiananmen Square, the Legation Quarter and one of the restaurants we would be taking our guests to. The best part? We did it all by public transit. You have to try the subway if you come to China. It is only 2RMB to ride (free for us with our accreditations) and it is nuts but fun. You only have 18 seconds at each stop to get on and off and it is a free for all! We did great because we had our guides.

The Subway - 19 million people had just got off and it was not rush hour!

First stop: Tiananmen Square. It is a sight to behold for sure. The number of people is staggering. And the all seeing portrait of Chairman Mao dominates the scene. Interesting note I found out from the girls - the painting is replaced every year and a team of 10-12 artists work on it.

Queen and Crystal in the Square

The other strange part of our time there was that Amy and I were stopped on SEVERAL occasions. Every five feet it seemed, someone asked to take a photo with us, or be in thier home video... it is very good for the ego - if not a bit weird. The girls told us it was probably because we were wearing sunglasses and so they thought we were celebrities of some sort. Crystal was so funny, she said that I took a photo with every young girl in China! Her and Queen started acting like our body guards (and secretly, I think they got a kick out of it!)

stop. photo time!

Amy's turn.

Following this, it was off to the legation quarter and then to the Olympic Flagship store, capped off with my most interesting experience so far in China - a trip to the night market! I will save that for the next post as I am moving hotels today (sad to say, the Ritz dynasty has come to an end) and then I have to rush to meet the girls as today we are teaming up with another group and touring the Olympic Green (the main cluster of Olympic Venues where National Stadium is located).

Gotta Jet!