...and plans change again

Hello everyone! Sorry I have been very slack with this blog posting, but life here has just fallen into the routine and I do not find much to write about!!! I have decided, however, that I will be coming back to the US in January and will be there for a few months working and figuring out my next step. I think I will try to come home around the middle of January. I can't wait to see you all!!!

xoxo

Another site to see!

So Fabien has created a joint blog and Picassa picture website for us in China. They are both in French at the moment, but I'm sure we'll get it bilingual in the future, so feel free to check it out! Especially the pictures because he has put up more than I have! :)

the blog: http://ailinyefabian.blogspot.com/

(Ailin=my chinese name-- Ai = love and lin= a beautiful kind of jade, and "ailin" sounds kind of close to Erin)
(Fabien is also Fab's chinese name: Fa= France and bien= to organize (which, if you know Fabien well, he's very very good at)
Hence, our combined blog!

The Picassa picture website: http://picasaweb.google.com/ailinyefabian

new pics

Check out http://picasaweb.google.com/erin.e.callender where I have posted new pics of the Olympic Green !

Exciting news! (for some of you...)

Okay I've been putting off telling some people for a little while, but I will just go ahead and throw it out there- (and no, i'm not engaged, nor pregnant....so calm down:)

Since Fabien is here in Beijing as a study abroad semester with his university in Paris (he's getting his Master's from Sciences Po University), he will be studying until February. But his university wants him to benefit more from the language and culture here, so they have asked him to say for an extra year after his semester to work in China. So, since he will be here for a year and a half, I have decided to stay as well:) I've just gotten a job teaching English in a kindergarten and will use this time to learn some Chinese and just soak up Asia. So, we will be in Beijing now until January-ish of 2010...and will hopefully always have an extra room in our apartment like we do now, so please come visit!! Come on, how often do you get the shot at a free room in Beijing! :)

So that's my news...I know it will be quite the adventure and I'm very excited about seeing how it will be. Post-Olympic Beijing will surely be a sight to behold and study and i'm very interested to see how it reacts when the highs of the games wears off. Should make for some interesting writing!

I think about you all at home often, and am hoping to plan a trip back to NC sometime around Christmas, depending on what my finances allow.

Also, October is going to be a fun month because I'm going, along with my friend Meredith from UNC, on a trip to Thailand and Laos! I can't wait to get there and take lots of pictures to share:)

So keep on the lookout for more updates on my new slightly more permanent life in Beijing!

the end of the Olympics and Fabien's arrival!

As you can tell from my lack of blog posts in the past weeks, (so sorry!) things in Beijing have been a little hectic! The Closing Ceremony was last night and i'm sure all of you have seen it by now- not as grand as the Opening, but a la Beijing nonetheless! What a master of production this country is and what a spectacle everything is.
The rest of our days at the shooting venue were very fun and very memorable. We witnessed so many medal ceremonies and I'm shocked at the different reactions. There was an Indian guy who had said on his profile that he got into the sport for the fame of it (yeah....okay...) and then when he finally won his first gold medal- the first medal EVER for India in an individual sport- he could barely be bothered to give more than a three-word answer to the questions asked of him. "I dont know what i'll do when I get back to India," he said, when asked with how he feels returning to India as a hero. "I don't really like to be hassled." Seriously??! You just won a medal, and a GOLD, at that, and you dont want to be hassled? Okay, lets trade. You give me your medal and I'll be the one who's hassled, how about that?! :)
The most exciting even however came at the very end. The very last shot of the very last round of the very last match to be exact. Some of you may have heard how American Matthew Emmons lost the gold medal in one shot. It was a scandal! Okay here is the story: Emmons was in first place the entire round (which is a series of ten shots ranked 0-10.9-- 10.9 is a perfect shot). He was 3 points ahead of the second place shooter, which for shooting is a lot. This meant that he could realistically shoot a 6.7ish and still get the gold. For a shooter at this level, a 6.7 is unheard of- it would be a tragedy to get that kind of score. So he pretty much had it in the bag. He's always the last person to take his shot in the round, so here he was in the last shot waiting to get that gold. And he shoots, and we wait for the score to pop up....and it's a 4.4. A 4.4!!! Impossible!!! So, he moves down to fourth, and the Chinese scoop up the gold. It was such a scandal! In interviews with him and his wife (fellow shooter from the Czech Republic Katerina Emmons- see my previous blog for info on her) they both said that some things just aren't meant to happen, and he pulled the trigger just slightly too hard just slightly too early and thats the thing with this sport- its so intricate and mm count so much. There's always London, he said.

So witht that event to end our Olympic experience, we were all pretty satisfied with our time at the shooting venue! :)

Here are a few random shot of us working: (well, "working":)


Taking a break and playing with the ONS scooter...its so fun!

Look at those journalists in action

On to the mixed zone to be a part of the interview madness- the really cool thing about shooting vs. a more popular sport such as basketball is that since shooting is not as popular, there was never a swarm of media and therefore we were all able to ask a lot of questions and actually interview the athletes. It was quite an experience to talk to someone who just won an Olympic medal!

The finals hall of the venue


So after shooting ended, I was very excited because Fabien arrived the next day! I went to the airport to pick him up and we took the very nice and new metro line back to Beijing! We've spent the past week getting settled in and buying some stuff for the apartment that we have rented so as to make it a little more like home thousands of miles away:) We also bought bikes to explore the city with and to make transport a little easier. Everyone in Beijing has a bike! It's so cool:) The day after he got here, we went to see track and field in the Birds Nest and we had lower level seats 7 rows from the track! It was so cool! We then went to boxing that night and saw France kick China's butt:)

At the Shooting Venue

On our first day at work as Flash Quote Reporters for the Olympic News Service (ONS), we were able to witness a monumental event- the first gold medal of the games was given at the Women's 10m Air Rifle competition. The winner was Czech and she is actually married to an amazing shooter for team USA. The couple met at a previous Olympics, fell in love, and got married:) What a story!

The first day was a lot of running around, chasing down athletes for interviews, quick typing, sweating, and sheer enthusiasm for being a part of the actual Olympics. I caught myself, at various times throughout the day, just stopping for a brief second and realizing wow, i'm at the olympics. Inside the buildings. Meeting the athletes. Touching the walls and floors of the building. Shaking so hard that it was actually difficult to take notes! The adrenalin rush was intense all day long.

Our work life consists pretty much of first watching the qualifying rounds to see if any of those favored to win do not place in the final 6 or 8 (depending on the event) and then going to watch the final. After the final, we find the medal winners and any "big losers," (those favored to win who did not in fact achieve that goal) and interview away. On Saturday, i got to interview the bronze medalist from Croatia who was not on anyone's radar before the finals and who ended up with a medal! She was so excited abou it, you could feel it. I actually did not think i would have the chance to ask any questions, and then she ended up walking past all the media having only talked to the Croatia media, so I ran up to her and asked her about whatever I could come up with on the spot. We got some okay quotes but at least we got something!

In the afternoon, i got to test out my French interview skills (which are a little rusty I must say....) because a French shooter was a favorite who finished 26th in the qualifying round!!! He was ranked 3rd in the world coming into the event, so it was a pretty big letdown. Anyway, I got my point across, stuttering and stumbling away, and I was the only (so i'm told....) journalist to have talked to him! So that was pretty cool:)

Today (Sunday) at the venue was a little less hectic, now that the media have toned down a bit. Everyone was only here the first day because our sport got the first medal of the games, so once that excitement was over, shooting fell lower on the list of AP and Reuters priority. But that just gives us more responsibility, so it was okay!

This morning we attended the Women's 10m Air Pistol qualification and final, and the final brought a very interesting mix of athletes. China with gold, Russia with silver, and Georgia with bronze. With the current circumstances involving the silver and bronze medalists' home countries, we all knew this was an achievement for the headlines. After the medal ceremony, the two women hugged and kissed on the cheek in a moment of sportsmanship that ignored outside influences and exuded sheer joy. The press conference was full of questions of this symbolism, the lesson the world should learn from this show of affection, of unity, and of the difficulties facing the bronze medalist from Georgia. The comments were all along the lines of the fact that politics does not involve sports and that the Russian and the Georgian are friends and have been for a while, and that there is no reason they should not embrace. It is what the Olympic Games are all about- what they aim to show the world is that unity is possible, at least for a few weeks....

The final match of the day was Men's Trap (where they shoot clay targets from under the stage where the shooters are standing and they have to shoot the flying targets in mid-air). This was a really fun event to cover because it's very laid back and outdoors, and it's actually very exciting. There was a shootoff for 3rd place, and it rained pretty much the entire time. This made note taking very hard when doing interviews! But all in all, it was a fun and accomplished day, and we had a great time:)



Us American volunteers in our super hot uniforms:)
Jen, me, Addy, and Julia
























The madness of the press conference for the first medals awarded at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games!!!!

08/08/08

August 8, 2008- The Opening Ceremonies!


So where do you go while in the host city of the Olympic Games to watch the amazing kick-off party? That was the question of the day. And no, we were not offered tickets to the event. As volunteers in Beijing, we are pretty much on the bottom of the Olympic-affiliated foodchain. As normal city dwellers, we've got it pretty good I must admit. Free transport on the subway with our accreditation, looks of curiosity and respect from Chinese men and women, ease of access to pretty much where ever we want to go in the city, and did I mention free public transportation? :)

We started our journey off at Chaoyang park in Eastern Beijin because we read online that there would be big screens in the park where people could watch the games.

Now, among the many, many, MANY things i'm learning every day in Beijing about life in this wonderful mess of a country, the thing that is reiterated the most is the fact that you can never assume anything to be what you think it will be or thought it was. The (seemingly) obvious, logical choice of a way to do something is rarely the method that the Chinese find appropriate to handle any situation. Granted, with so many people and so many mouths to feed, the country has to come up with some way to employ its population, but it's just insane to me the amount of inefficiency and just plain unconventional ways that this country possesses. One example is that on every bus, there is at least one and most often times two people working- riding the bus all day long- to check tickets, sell tickets, and announce stops, even though the bus announcement speaker system announces them too and even though the bus drives is very well equipped to make sure people pass their bus cards over the sensor and listen for the beep. But the workers sit there in the oftentimes unairconditioned buses looking bored but gracious and watching the people on the bus pass their time.
So the crazy unconventional thinking that we came across on ceremony day was this mind boggler: these screens set up in the park- 3 of them at least- (and we're talking bigggggg TV screens that take some time and effort to set up) were due to be shut down at 7pm, one hour before the start of the Opening Ceremonies. Now I dont know about you, but if i was going to set up such a scene for the "pregame" of the ceremonies, i might think it logical to just go ahead and leave them up to show the actual event. Crazy, I know. But this is not the case in China. You can never walk the shortest path to anywhere because something you had never thought could become a barrier will always drop out of nowhere and make things more complicated.

So once this idea failed, we had to think of a gameplan. We heard that there would be yet another TV screen set up on Wangfujing Street, a large pedestrian street in the downtown area, so we decided what the heck, if we are in Beijing for the Olympics we might as well jump on in and join the masses downtown to watch the games among thousands of Chinese enthusiasts. And boy, did we get what we bargained for here. All in all, i'd say this TV screen attracted between 7 and 10,000 people from all around the world.

Here is a brief glimpse, at about 6:30pm (The show started at 8).



Facing the screen (we would end up in the very front)

"Zhongguo


Watching the Ceremony


Which, by now I'm sure all of you know, was a fantastic production on China's part. I was blown away not only by the sheer size of the spectacle, but moreso by the intricate choreography and the showcase of culture. Sterotypically known as "China's coming out party," this show was its opportunity to really show they world, hey, this is China- we are here, we are intense, we know what we're doing, so pay attention. And wow did it work- for one night at least....which is another thing i've learned about China, especially relating the the Olympics. Their motto is go big, or go home.

The viewers at Wangfujing were chanting for China the whole time, and were really into it. The girl below caught my eye because half her face is painted red, white, and blue American, and the other half if red and yellow Chinese. It was pretty cool to see the juxtaposition.


Another thing that really impressed me was that the Chinese spectators also went crazy and stood up and cheered if there was someone present in the audience from one of the countries marching in the ceremonies. It really showed a welcoming and it was a genuine appreciation for these people coming to their country, experiencing their world, and participating in the Olympics. It was really good to see in a time when hatred is so prevelant.

Jen (my roomie) and me among the madness


So we decided to leave the street before the end of the ceremony because if we didn't, we'd be stuck in the madness trying to leave until the wee hours of the night, and since we had our first day of work at 8am the next day, we went home. But we also hadnt had the opportunity to eat dinner, so we stopped at the McDonalds by our university. And this is what we saw:

Apparently MacDo is the place to be!!!! So we got our food (p.s. never ever order a grilled chicken sandwich in China- their idea of chicken involves no part of the breast whatsoever and only unidentifiable chicken meat with the skin still on....) and stayed to watch the lighting of the torch with fellow students at the Golden Arches. Quite a nice and crazy end to quite a nice and crazy day:)

At the Olympic Village!

It's the eve of the Opening Ceremony, and China's big show is tomorrow! They city is buzzing and I think you can almost smell the panic and anxiousness as tomorrow's 8/8/08 at 8pm ceremony is just around the corner.

I finally took a trip the other day to the Olympic Green to get a glimpse of where the magic will happen! It was so surreal to be there and see where the athletes are living, where they are practicing, and where the Games will be held.

At Tiananmen Square, the massive "Beijing 2008" sign and design:


The National Indoor Stadium aka The Birds Nest. This picture does not do it justice- its soooooo huge in person!!!!



The National Aquatics Center aka The Water Cube


Me giving the Peace sign with the cube and the Bird's Nest in the background:) This is the Olympics!! Its so real and it's TOMORROW!!! wow....


Hope you all will enjoy watching the games on TV! My sport is especially excited about Saturday (the official start to the Olympics- the first day of competition) because since shooting is a sport that is finished relatively quickly (we have qualifications in the morning, and the athletes who do the best there go to the final round where you get a gold, silver and bronze medalist) shooting will be the first sport to award an Olympic medal at the 2008 Olympics!!!! And, since the first event to medal is a woman's sport, and the woman favored to win is Du Li, a very famous Chinese shooter, China stands the shot of being awarded the very first medal, and gold medal at that, of this 29th Olympiad!!! So needless to say, Saturday will be a media frenzy around our parts.

Should be exciting!

I've been assigned to stick around AFP (Agence France Presse), which is the major French national media at the Olympics, and get whatever quotes I can get from their interviews since I'm the only reporter at ONS at our venue who speaks French! So you all know i'm thrilled about that one....

So, ready, set, OLYMPICS!!! Let the games begin......

Forbidden City

The Forbidden City, built in the early 1400s, is quite the masterpiece in the center of Beijing. The massive palace and grounds took about 2 hours to walk around and is formed by an inner and outer section. The Forbidden City, also known as the Imperial Palace, was a place where the Emperor and his staff would go on vacation and for ceremonial purposes. For many years, this area of Beijing was forbidden to commoners, hence its name. Rumor has it that the palace is haunted by all of the many people that the emperor had killed there, and for this reason there are no guards that stay inside the palace at night- there are many video cameras though. Even the Chinese have their superstitions! :)

This place is very typical of Chinese architecture. Below is a picture of me in front of one of the many bridges and palace rooms.



Another image of just how sprawling this area is. It's huge!!

Below is a picture of a pagoda in the garden of the palace.

Group picture

Here is a picture of all of us here from UNC!! :) We are at the Summer Palace in this picture. I'm in the middle bending down. :)

The Night Market

So a few nights ago, I lived the ultimate tourist experience in Beijing. I ate a scorpion! We went to the night market in Beijing which is such a cool experience. There are a few of them in the same area, and the basic set up is one long strip of vendors selling everything from scorpions, to meat on a stick, to noodle bowls, chinese wraps, candied fruit, friend ice cream, crab and oysters, and even dog! (Which i found out is actually a type of wild dog that they breed just like cattle to be eaten...so my friend who had dog at the market did not eat Lassie. Whew!) The night market is a great place to make new friends as you bond over eating crazy, strange things while laughing at the other foreigners with their funny or disgusted faces as the market vendors say "Hey lady, hey pretty lady, you want some penis? I have good cow penis for you here." Oh yes, they sell cow penis on a stick. And no, we did not partake in this taste test. I'll leave that one for the more daring. Some more delicacies:

some squid-like things...and prawns

Various meats on sticks

Crabs! Joe got one of them and apparently it was really good!
Yes, thats a starfish. :(


But, as for the scorpion, it was not that bad!
I was with my friend Jen and Joe, and we got one stick that had 3 little scorpions on it. We opted for the smaller ones as opposed to the granddaddy scorpions that were a little scary......So somehow i ended up being the guinea pig to try the little creatures, and they are a sight to see just before going down the hatch. Their tiny little crawlers, their heads, and even their tail with its little stinger! So I didnt think too much about it, and put the whole thing in my mouth, (after being booed when i said i was going to just take a bite first....this is peer pressure at its finest my friends...) and crunched down. And to my surprise, it wasn't bad! Honestly, it tasted like chicken. Fried chicken! Well, friend nothing actually. It just tasted fried. Which wasnt so bad, but at least I can say i did it!! Haha. I have a pic of me eating it but its not on my camera. Ill post it when i get it!

Surviving the smog, a purse full of kleenex, and propaganda

(this is just a copy of the email i sent out to everyone)
Ni hao! (nee how= hello in chinese!)

Voila one of my key phrases that i've learned in my few days in Beijing! We also have down duoshao qian (how much is it), tai gwe la (too expensive! ), Bu xie (no thank you) , qing gei wo (please bring me), xi men (west gate- bc we are staying at the west gate of the university...), #1-5, and Ganbei! (cheers!) We are still of course learning but managing to get around with these few phrases and many many many hand gestures. Such as taking out our bank card and making the motion of putting it into an atm and pulling out money to ask someone where we can find an atm...communication at its most barbaric yet most unifying state.

These past few days have been quite an adventure. I must first start by trying to explain what it feels like to be the minority. Its insane. Its so insane that literally everywhere we go (bc we travel in groups and generally in big ones..) Chinese people stop us and ask us if they can take a picture with us! Its so crazy!! we are happy to oblidge and sometiems even throw in a casual peace sign with our hands. They love that here. Yesterday in the park, which ill talk about soon, a group of schoolchildren asked for our pic and one little girl standing next to me put her arm in mine!! It was super cute. The kids here are just way too adorable. Who knows, maybe ill come back home with a little chinese babe:) just kidding....

So the days of this week are all a blur, but ill talk about what we did in no particular order....

One day we went to explore the Hutongs, which are little alleyways criscrossing through the center of Beijing. Once upon a time, these hutongs were strictly residential streets and showcased a very simplistic, almost lacking way of life. They were not glamorous or nice and they were essentially the heart of old Beijing. But, given all the reforms the government has done in the city, the alleyways have been transformed into streets filled with cute shops and restaurants. Its actually one of my favorite spots in Beijing so far because once you get there it is silent, and calm, and there are a bunch of tea and coffeeshops and it's a nice place to unwind. But the real hutongs, which are where people still live, are not so nice, and I'm looking forward to exploring all of them soon. Its such a great way to get a glimpse of real chinese life before the government renovates them into the image they want the world to have of China.

Another experience we had was a trip to the Pearl Market, which is a 4 story building in essence that sells everything from jewelry to tee shirts to shoes to bags to kimonos. Its crazy because you walk in this place and people are literally pulling you towards their shop to buy their stuff. The fun part is that the whole name of the game here is bargaining. So, we worked on our haggling skills and got some really cool stuff for really cheap. Like I got a pair of Puma sneakers for 100yuan, which is about $12 (they cost $50ish in the US), a silk kimono for 50yuan ($7), and a red really cute MaxMara jacket for 130yuan (about $16). It was so fun! And apparently you can get pearls reallllllllllllllllly cheap here so if anyone is interested, let me know! :)

The next day we went to Beihai Park, which is kind of like the Central Park of Beijing. Inside you hear none of the hustle and bustle of city life and it is very calm and peaceful. There is a lake in the middle and we rented paddle boats, which was quite a workout! Then we explored the temples that encircle the lake and that are on an island in the middle of the lake. From the top, we could see the Forbidden city which is HUGE! We should be going to see that on Monday. Cant wait! Then we walked along this pathway over the water that is just a local hang out spot im assuming because there were people dancing, singing, playing cards and a game i can only compare to a mix of chess and backgammon, and just hanging out. It was so incredible to see the daily life and culture of these people. ill post some really cool pics from this place on the website.

Friday we went with a huge group of all the international volunteers here in Beijing for the Olympics for a "trip to the Beijing countryside." Minding that this little excursion was paid for by BOCOG (Beijing Organizing Commitee for the Olympic Games), we were not supprised to have an entire day filled with propoganda and an attempt at brainwashing for all us foreigners.We started our day off at the Waste water treatment plant (what else could be better than seeing that first thing in the morning...) which is supporting all the water used during the games. It was horribly boring and slightly pointless since no one could even hear the guide, but oh well. On to the next part. A trip to a "rural village", which we got to by passing some farms and a super exclusive Country Club that costs over $60,000 per year to attend. Just what every rural village in China has, right?......So then we get to the village where we see a cluster of newly renovated nice homes, and are shown inside a few of them so as to see how these phesants live. Not too shabby. WE then visit a nearby temple area, very ornate and extravagent- something that is apparently 'typical' of the village. The committee tells us that this village is really one of a kind but it serves as a goal and an example of what the government hopes to accomplish in all rural villages in China. Since the villagers can work on the farms and in the country club, apparently they think that will solve all of China's poverty problems. Nice idea in theory i guess, but from the looks of this village, they are reaching wayyyy outside their means here. Maybe starting with finding a way for the millions of people in China to not have to worry about dying from malaria or malnutrition or finding them running water and food they can produce would be a better goal to start with.....Oh well, it was an interesting day of seeing how the government works if nothing else....

Saturday was a really interesting day as well. Again, we went as a group (remember there is about 300 of us...) to the Great Wall of China!!! Sounds like an awesome thing, right? Well, it was. Once we were finally up on the wall and could wrap our tired, hot, sweaty, hassled minds around the fact that we were standing on the Great Wall, it was cool. The not so cool part was that they brought us to the most touristy part of the wall. I mean it was the Disney World of China. There was a hotel and a Starbucks at the bottom of the wall. And no shortage of little chinese women throwing tee shirts, hats, and other memorabilia our way in the hopes we would use our great American spending power to their advantage. You have to see the pics of this online. Picture a caddle heard....in desert 90degree weather. We were all smushed next to each other to get onto the wall, and then had to fight past people to climb the wall. And one thing about Chinese people; they have no idea what personal space is, nor do they understand the concept of a line. Straight, orderly lines exist nowhere in China- people just push their way as close to other people and their destination as they can get. Seriously you cant even make this stuff up!!! So needless to say, i will be making another trip to the Wall, most likely after the madness of the olympics is over. Hopefully I'll have better things to say about this manmade wonder after a more natural experience..... (p.s. Mom- dont worry, i managed to score you a magnet from this location:)

Andddd, to top of the whole week, i've been battling a cold since about Tuesday!! I'm finally getting better but luckily i found Halls and lots of tissues in a little market to keep me going. And my friend Erin had some Day and Nyquil that were my heroes. Have been taking lots of vitamins and am finally getting over my sickness!! I think part of it is due to the super thick fog, so hopefully my body has had its freak out and can now acclimate to the new climate.

Okay well I think i have given you all enough blabbering to read for one email! I will write more soon once we do some more sightseeing. We start training on Tuesday and will probably be busier startin then.

I hope everyone is well and Im thinking of you all!!!

First days in Beijing!

So, after almost 10 hours in the plane, i have arrived safely in Beijing! And of course, right away, the drama began:) A student from the University at which we are staying was there to pick me up, but we never found each other! So after 45mins of looking for him, I took a taxi from the airport to the University in Beijing. The taxi driver, of course, spoke no english, so there I am sitting like a jerk in the backseat not saying a word and barely getting out a "hello" and "thank you" in the 45 mins we were together! Haha. So then we arrive at the university and its huge. Wide open spaces and about 50 buildings. And i'm the ONLY westerner around. Oh, the funniest thing, right after i got to the arrivals area in the airport, a guy came up to me and asked if he could take his picture with me!!! Seriously!!! I've heard that thats waht happens to tall non-asians in China, but i cant believe it really is true! :)
So anyway, im wandering around the university with my bags looking totally lost and out of my element, and im standing on a corner staring at a map hoping that the answer will jump out of it, and then someone comes up next to me and asks if i'm Erin. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. Thats so cool. He was looking for me! (guess i'm not that hard to spot, huh? :) So he gets me to where we're staying, i get a room key and finally make it to our dorm. Which is not really a dorm but more of a hotel room, and its super nice for American standards so I think we're living the luxary here in Chin

Next, I finally met up with the guy who had gone to the airport looking for me and we went to get something to eat. He wanted to take me to a resaurant with western food but I declined saying that i'd prefer something more local, and so we went to this small and very overcrowded chinese "fast food" place where you order you meal, sit down, and wait for your name or number or whatever to be called. It was completely in Chineese, the menu had no pictures, and the people workin there were anouncing the orders over the intercom. Okay, picture a McDonalds drive through....hard enough to understand, right? Now imagine them speaking rapid fire Chinese. yeah. Needless to say I could not have done it without my new Chineese friend Sijia Yang. (His american name in fact is "Bacon" because he tells me he really likes to eat bacon!!! LOL)

So now I finally got an adapter for my laptop and am back in my room sending emails! We have meetings tomorrow and I guess the training starts then too! This afternoon I may meet up with some other people from NC that i think are here, or I think Sijia is going to show me around the campus and local area.

This is proving to be already quite the adventure, and it's only just begun! I'm so excited to learn this language (and stop being that dumb girl who stares at you blankely when you ask her a question or tell her that no you can't sit here because this section is closed (apparently that's what one woman said to me that i of course did not understand)) and get to see the city and other parts of the country! the rest of the UNC group arrives tonight and we'll see what happens then.