Back At It Again!

After 3 days of slacking...I'm here once again!

Don't lose hope people! I'm trying. I told you all...this would be the death of me. But now with a new sense of commitment, I'm going to give it all I got. (Haha...no promises)

Let's recap the highlights of the last few days...(ESPN highlight reel time!)

Sunday, August 10th:

So it was suppose to be my first volunteer opportunity. I arrived at our meeting spot and Steve was there with our assignments. He also asked those who arrived early (the early bird gets the worm) if they wanted to attend the boxing event. Of course! I thought, so instead of volunteering...I took the opportunity to attend an extra Olympic event. It was well worth it! China was in this event and when their boxer came out, the ENTIRE place erupted! It was like I was at a Gold medal match...FUN, FUN, FUN!

Monday, August 11th:

Here in Beijing, they would like us to be at our events 2 hours before...so that you can get checked in and get through security. Well, we learned almost immediately that is not necessary. It is about as serious as certain airports wanting you hours there to check in, not necessary in most situations. So I was suppose to be up and ready to go by 5:30 AM. Not happening, so I got up at about 7 and made my own venture to find the venue on my own. I was very successful! I attended Women's Indoor Volleyball. It was a lot of fun to watch, I saw 2 matches: Serbia vs Algeria and Kazakhstan vs Italy.

Jing took me out to a dumpling dinner by some Hu Tongs (they are older streets here in China, really cool looking). Then we went down a famous vending street that sold Chinese art, clothes and a whole bunch of random gift thingys you could by for family and friends. I can't remember the name for the life of me...but if you were here I could get you there!

Tuesday, August 12th:

WOW! This was an eventful day! I got the morning off, which meant me and a few other apartment peeps...Richard and Tony lounged around and watched the Olympics on TV. It was wonderful! I love our apartment...it's perfect for hanging out. You are on the go so much that it is nice once in a while to relax on the couch in front of the AC.

Later that day I went to the Temple of Heaven for the second time! It was just as good as the first, but now with a bunch of other people. Of all the 17 some million people in this city, you wouldn't expect to run into people randomly. I'm standing in the "Echo" wall courtyard (which is awesome because the way they built this area, the acoustics are set up that I can stand on one end of the wall and talk and the person on the other end can hear me and respond) and I hear my name. I turn around and it is Wen Chen from Northern! How crazy is that? I gave her a big hug and we hung out for a bit while we were walking around. Talk about a small world! I hope to hang out with her sometime before I come back. It was pretty awesome!

The evening that I will never forget! We decided to head to Wangfujing Street, which is where the Olympic store is at and a whole bunch of other shops: Nike, Adidas, etc. Along the side streets are street vendors and they sell just about ANYTHING! This night...different foods. We decided that we would walk down the street and try the most random things we could find. If we haven't had it...we tried it. It was so much fun and so adventurous! At one point everywhere we stopped we had a crowd gathered around us to see what we were going to do next! We met some new friends from Portland, OR. They have a website that teaches english...www.englishbaby.com. Check them out. I might be in one of there videos sometime. They bought us the food and we made them try it with us! What a great way to meet new people! So here is the list of what I had this evening:

Cicada bug

Ostrich meat

Silk worm



Lamb testicles

Baby and Large scorpions

Starfish

Centipede

Snake

Videos on all this...coming soon!

Wednesday, August 13th:

My first day of volunteering! I lucked out today. I got to go to the foster home in Tianjin. The name of the organization is the Philip Hayden Foundation and they are a foster home network in Mainland China. They take special-needs orphans and provide them with the services that they need. It was a fulfilling experience, even though we were there for a short moment.

Today we helped paint some walls in one of the houses and the rest of the time we played with the kids. Most of them were 2 years of age or younger. We also spent some time hanging out with the 12 and 13 year old. They liked to tease me because I couldn't understand them when they talked to me. FINALLY, I felt like I was doing something meaningful here besides having a blast at the Olympics. I have met some great people here and that is one thing I am enjoying more and more each day. Every activity is someone different and a new person that you get the chance to get to know. I have already met people here that I look forward to keeping in touch with after we get back to the states.

Tonight, I buckled down and decided to get caught up. I went out to a Peking Duck dinner and it was delicious! Other than that, I have been hanging out with the girls here at the apartment chatting about our day while the rest of our roommates were at a Cultural Night provided by our great friends at CYCAN.





So there you have it people! An update on what has been going on here in the great country of China. I'm loving every minute and the longer I'm here, the longer I think about staying and wanting to learn more. There is so much that we can learn from others and their customs. The people here are so friendly and want us more than anything to have a great experience here, especially during the Olympics.

I figured out my video deal and will have the link posted for you to check out live action of the crazy times I am having here. I love you all who take the time to check out my blog and especially post comments...please keep them comin'. Fam! I miss you all! I miss my nieces and nephews and want to especially tell them that Uncle DJ misses you and is going to bring back stuff for you!!! See you in a few weeks. Until then...keep coming back!