This week....

Sorry for the delay....things have began to get busy!

Tuesday: my "happy day"... Eric, Allie and I met my friends Seven (her boyfriend is 11) and Jane and they took us to HOT POT. This was one of the best meals I have had in China. Hotpot is a style of food- it's a big pot of water in the middle and you throw all different types of food in. It's a very social thing and we sat there for 2 hours and talked to them. After the meal we took them to cold stone to introduce them to american ice cream. Let me just say cold stone is just as good in China.

Wednesday: This was my last day of training and not as eventful as Monday, but still interesting. I learned many things from the chinese in my group:
1) they explained to me how to tell the difference between chinese, japanese, and korean. It was very interesting to hear their stereotypes and how they can tell the difference between them. I found it very politically incorrect, but it was funny to hear.
2) the marrying age for them is 20 for girls and 22 to guys. I found it interesting that its different for guys and girls- I don't think that would be allowed in America
3) Wendy, my supervisor, spent 4 years in the Netherlands and 6 months in Miami- two very interesting places and I would like to find out more about Wendy!
4) I wished I paid a lot more attention in french class or was Will- because it would be so nice to know a second language right now. Journalist come in and mumble things under their breath in spanish or french or german and I would pay to know what they were saying!
5) I have become addicted to coffee in the last 2 weeks- I guess I'm my mothers daughter
6) I have gotten 2 of my chinese friends to join facebook- it might run the world someday



Thursday- Allie and I went with one of our friends to a place called Lush for breakfast. It's like a coffee bar during the day, a restaurant and then a bar- really everything you could need. We had pancakes and eggs and Allie finally got her bagel with cream cheese. We met up with some students from Iowa for breakfast and one of them went with Allie and I to a famous art district called 798. This is a bunch of warehouses that chinese artists have converted to art galleries. It was amazing- finally some free speech and it was cool to see how far these chinese artists have come in the last few years. We also ran across the Swiss house. Every country has a house where they have parties and celebrate victories. Our goal is to get into as many countries houses as possible. All the sponsors from the country have booths and hand out free stuff. In the Swiss house we got free coffee, ice cream, and chocolate. I was in heaven to say the least. THat night we went to a pizza place that had beer pong set up- Allie and I beat a couple boys- they weren't too happy!

Friday- 08-08-08. We went down on the green- I was the only one who could actually get on the green since my venue is located there. So I went out and sat with my friends because I wanted to share the experience with them. I went on the green a few times to get everyone drinks and just venture around. We ran across the street to a hotel to watch the stuff on t.v.- and 9:30 they turned the t.v. off and tried to kick us out, but one of the chinese people there watching got in a fist fight with the owner and they let us stay. There was a kid who got it on video, so when we get back to the states and everything isn't blocked we'll try to find it on youtube. We ran outside right in front of the birdsnest for the lighting of the torch and the fireworks. It was overall a great night and I'm glad I was down there. It took us and hour and 1/2 to find a taxi home, not the fun part. WE also saw Bush's motorcade before the ceremonies which was pretty cool. I spent most of the night texting Wes, we decided it was pretty cool he could be at work and I could be in China and we could be instantly texting. I'm trying to put a video up, but its not working so hopefully I can figure out how to do that soon- It's on facebook for those of you who have it.

Saturday: this was my first day of work. The story of the volleyball coaches family broke while I was at work. I got a text message and tried to find it online, but all sites were blocked except for fox news. I was told if a journalist asked about it to tell them to contact the USOC and not say anything else. It was just interesting how they reacted. I had dinner with one of my friends and she had a conversation with me about the communist party- she just joined the party this year and said that it's hard but you're a lot better off if you're a member. She said she didn't really like it, but there's nothing to compare it to besides past generations. Thank God for a 2 party system! She is studying in Hong Kong this fall. I'm very excited for her because Hong Kong has a lot more freedom because they use to be controlled by Britain, but recently given back to China. My favorite comment of the night had to be from some European journalist how told me I should go comfort an athlete who fell off the bars. I wanted to punch him in the face- but I just responded with I think I'll pass. I'm glad I can get comments like that in China too!

That's it for now- I work today from 4- midnight then have an off day tomorrow- my last one until the 24th. I should have more time to update this week, but the last week I'll be super busy and working really late so we'll have to see.