Week 2 in Beijing!

Job training for the Olympics began this past week. I'm one of two Americans working at the volleyball venue, the rest are from Australia, England and China. I only got two days of work in before the weekend, but so far so good! I've been officially assigned to the Press Tribunes. Tribunes are where written and broadcast media watch the games. Fortunately for me the tribunes are located center court about halfway up the bleachers. I'll be able to watch all 56 volleyball matches that are being held in the stadium.

(The spectator entrance of Capital Indoor Stadium)

More specifically, I'll be running stat sheets, escorting media to and from, and making sure everyting runs smoothly before, during and after matches in the tribune area. The shifts we'll be working during the Olympics are sort of long. The managers told us to expect 9-10 hour shifts for 16 consecutive days during the Games. I'm sure it'll go quick though with matches continually being played.

In more exciting news, China Radio International interviewed myself and classmate Adrienne on our experiences here in Beijing thus far and our views on the Olympics. The interview lasted well over 20 minutes and will be broadcast throughout China sometime this week. I received an e-mail that said an English webcast will also be available. So definitely check out http://www.crienglish.com/. On the homepage there is a link called "webcasts". The interview should be found somewhere in there. I'm not sure yet, but when I have further details on when/how to listen to the interview I'll post it on here.

I also got my first taste of Beijing nightlife. We ventured down into the Sanlitun district which was built specifically for western visitors. We ate at a swanky Italian restaurant called Ciro's Pomodoro and met the owner Ciro Orsini himself. Ciro's restaurant is filled with pictures of him and various celebrities. Pomodoro apparently is a chain restaurant with locations in Moscow, London, Paris, Los Angeles and other major cities. Two of his closest friends also happen to be Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee. Of course he gave us a 100RMB discount off our total bill. It was especially nice because in America the bill at a place like Ciro's definitely would have topped two or three hundred dollars for myself and the three other girls I was with. But in China the total came to 590RMB which translates into about 87 American dollars.

After dinner we walked the street which was lit up like the Vegas strip. We stopped in at a disco/techno club, but quickly found it wasn't our type of place. I think it was the transvestite pole dancer that scared us away, although he was one of the best dancers I've ever seen. We heard some familiar rock music coming from another bar and made that our next stop. There was a Chinese band playing popular songs by Bon Jovi, Linkin Park, and Kelly Clarkson (an interesting mix to say the least). They turned out to be quite good and entertaining.

(This is one of the only pictures I took from our night out in Sanlitun. The street was lit up by those awesome neon trees...and that's my friend Alex in white.)

I was amazed to see that about half the people at these places were westerners. Most sounded like they were European, but we did run into a ton of people from Africa and South America.

I'd have to rate the Sanlitun district as one of the more fun places to visit in Beijing. We'll definitely be back next weekend.

But before I let you all go, I have to wish Greg a very happy 23rd birthday! Love you!

I'm sure I'll have plenty more to write next week!