Cell Phones

China Mobile dominates when it comes to cell phone coverage here.  Granted they do a pretty good job.  I usually get service in elevators, in all buildings, even on most subways.  They make getting a cell phone and making it work very cheap and easy.  The first day of work with NBC they gave us all cellphones with unlimited minutes (I was pretty stoked about it and still am enjoying the free service.)  The first in-office crisis we faced was: setting up voicemail.  This was the first thing all the reporters and photogs wanted to do, but of course here in China, they don't believe in voicemails.  This was a hard concept for many of them to grasp at first, but soon you realize texting is way more efficient anyway.  There a couple special little characteristics of the phones here when you are making a call.  Most chinese people pride themselves in having really schnazy phones, so they want to use all the cool gadgets such as ring backs (I think thats what they're called.)  When you make a call, instead of hearing it ring, you hear ring backs – these horrible little songs that play on repeat until someone picks up.  Another wonderful part of making calls is when someone is busy or they don't pick up.  That's when you get this recorded message that first speaks chinese, but then in english and says, "the subscriber you've called is busy now please try again later."  Usually when I hear this message I want to chuck my phone against a wall...it frustrates me a bit.  But, today I got a new message that I've never heard before and this is a direct quote, "sorry the subscriber you've dialed is power off."   It's wonderful Chinglish like this that makes my day a little brighter.

It all makes sense now

I was riding in a cab today on my way home from work, and I realized why i like being able to speak Chinese.  As a child, like most children, I loved to have secret languages with my friends.  It started at a very young age.  Before I could write in cursive, I would fill notebooks with this chicken scratch stuff that really resembled a squiggly line.  Page after page of these squiggly lines!  Then in elementary school my friends and I would write notes in our secret language that we had made up.  So when the opportunity arose to take chinese in middle school how could I pass it up?  I got to learn a whole country's secret language.  Even today I get a little joy in speaking Chinese to other people when you know people around you won't understand a thing.  Like in the workspace at NBC, the other runners and I often talk in chinese when it is something about wanting to go home or something you wouldn't want to talk about around your boss.  hehe

On a completely other note, all the olympic volunteers (mostly chinese people) were given these really awesome outfits to wear to identify them as volunteers.  They're these collared shirts with a swirly blue and white pattern on it plus these khaki pants with the zip-off legs so they can turn into shorts.  You can't buy them anywhere except, of course, Ebay.  On ebay the whole outfit is going for about 5,000 yuan ($720USD)!!  I guess every volunteer received two of these get-ups and many of them are keeping one and selling the other to make a pretty penny. 

This picture is one of the Chicago reporters, Phil, in his brand new volunteer pants.  He has been talking non-stop this whole trip about how much he wants one of the volunteer outfits.  Well today, Blessing (one of the other amazing runners) came in with a surprise for him.  One of her friends is a volunteer and gave her his extra pair of pants so that she could give them to Phil.  Phil was so excited he immediately went to put them on and he will probably wear them for the rest of the trip.  Needless to say, Blessing has probably now secured herself a job at NBC Chicago.

Tonight is the closing ceremony, so security is really tight all over the city and a lot of the buses aren't running their normal routes.  There aren't very many cars on the roads either, it makes me wonder if they put an even bigger restriction on driving today because of the ceremony.  Last night it rained, so it was a beautiful day today...the weather was obviously planned, but it is extremely hot out, so to be honest I would not want to go sit in the Bird's Nest tonight to watch the closing ceremony because it will be soooo hot in there!

Tonight should be some crazy parties because USA took gold in basketball – men's and women's – and men's vollyball...definitely going to check it out.  I have yet to stay awake all night and then go to Tiananmen Square for the flag raising ceremony at sunrise, but maybe tonight is the night?

Added some more pictures

This is the same album from below,

but I added a bunch more to it.

Work is winding down, so it's time to play!

Yesterday was good fun! I was at work and one of my friends, Amy (the Aussie) came up to me and offered Matt (another runner like me) and I tickets to go watch Canoeing and Kayaking. Gosh, I love obscure sports! We went to our boss and nicely asked if we could go. He knows how much we wanted to go so, of course, he said yes.

They offer a free shuttle bus just for the media to and from this venue. The venue is a hike away, it isn't even in Beijing, so we jumped on the opportunity to have a free ride out to the middle of nowhere, in this case called Shunyi. On our way there, our bus crashed full-speed into a little white car. This being a busload of photographers, everyone whipped out their fancy sports-lensed cameras and started snapping shots. I was truely amazed as to how fast 5 police cars, a SWAT team and 4 soldiers with machine guns showed up at the scene considering we were in the middle of the countryside. Click here for all the pictures. As you can see the bus came out pretty much unscathed, but the little car was destroyed and their peaches went everywhere!

Gotta run, more later.

why I keep getting massages

Turning the corner onto Ji Qing Li Street, I am greeted with flashy lights welcoming me to Long Island.


When I enter the spa, I head down this well lit staircase lined with little potted plants.  I can here the waterfall and soothing music coming from the reception area.  I cross a little bridge 

a little pond of water and make my way to the front desk to check in for my appointment.

If they have me wait, I take a seat in one of these canopy daybeds and kick back with a magazine.  Then I am escorted to my private room.

 

The foot massage room usually has two plushy purple velvet chairs with a matching footstool.  Each room is geared with air conditioning and a TV if you choose to use them.  Before your escort leaves you in the room to either change or get comfy in the chair, they take your order.  Did I mention that they give you free food from a full menu.  They offer anything from dumplings, fruit plates, beef and noodles, and hamburgers to watermelon juice, tea, and omelets.  Also if you feel like it you can change into these little scrubs that they give you.  Next your masseuse will come in with a giant wooden barrel of hot water.  As you slowly ease your feet into the extremely hot water, they add cinnamon and aromatherapy bath salts to soothe the skin and make it smell yummy.  Next the masseuse will have you turn around and sit on the foot stool with your back to him and your first half hour of the 90 minute massage begins with a deep tissue back massage.  Once you're completely relaxed, he will move onto your feet.  You turn back towards him, this time he brought me a couple hot pads...one for my neck and one for my back, then you recline the chair and the reflexology foot massage begins.  All this for only $25!!  Just writing this made me realize I should probably go back tomorrow for another one!

Weirdo Baby Haircuts

This is the haircut I was talking about...have no idea how this became a trend

Pin Trading Pros

The Olympics are over in 3 days, that's unbelievable!  The weeks have gone by so fast!

I just got home from a press conference with the 4 of the star athletes of the women's softball team.  Softball has been cut from the Olympic roster, but they are hoping to get it back on for the 2016 games.  Speaking of the 2016 games, I completed my collection of bid city pins today.  Every city that is bidding for the 2016 summer games are handing out pins: Madrid, Chicago, Tokyo, and Rio.  As of today I have all their pins.  Yes, this complete collection makes me one of the cool kids at work.  And yes, I'm a complete nerd.

Pin trading is a pretty big deal, I'm not going to lie.  Just ask Telemundo.  I went on a shoot with them today and it was all about trading pins.  I took them to a subway stop at the base of the olympic green and we didn't even need to go inside the station.  Just standing outside we were swarmed by people.  Between the NBC camera and our Olympic credentials hanging around our neck with loads of pins on them, we were a definite target for pin traders of all shapes and sizes.  We were pretty much causing a mini mob scene and this police guard was in on it too.  At first I thought he was going to give us trouble for creating mayhem, but it turns out he wanted pins just as much as everyone else.  In the end I gave him one for his co-operation and I tried to get him to trade his security pin or one of his official velcro badges, but he wouldn't give them up!

This is making me sound like a huge pin trading freak.  But to be honest, I'm really not that into it at all.  There are just a couple pins I've had my eye on that I want to get before I leave, but other than that, I really would rather people didn't stare and grab at my chestal area claiming they are looking at my pins.

Speaking of pins and grabbing...Awhile back, one of the Today show runners was with one of our drivers out running errands.  The driver turned to her and was looking at her pin collection that was displayed on her badge lanyard around her neck.  Then all of a sudden he just grabbed her boob.  Yikes!  Her immediate response was to slap him in the face, then she gave him a tongue lashing (someone at work used the phrase "tongue lashing" and I really like it so I've been trying to slip it into conversation whenever possible.)  I'm pretty sure this driver is no longer with us, but this was outrageous and seemed relevant to whatever the heck I was talking about before, no?

Things I must do before leaving:

-KTV (which is what they call karaoke)

-at least 2 more massages... :-)

-drink oodles of watermelon juice

-go shopping (any last minute requests can be sent to cgolds@umich.edu)

-attempt to find a packaging tube for all my posters...though apparently they don't have them here, no one has seen them

-get a Hooters Beijing shirt

-visit the Lama Temple (or any temple for that matter) and light some incenses for good fortune and good health

-stay out all night and then go to the flag raising ceremony in Tiananmen Square at sunrise

-eat duck dinner

-go hiking at Fragrant Hills (this is still up in the air, I have to be really motivated to do this)

-figure out how to use the saying: something is "two-fold" 

-don't miss my flight out of town

Cullen Jones & Vanderkaay

Today my job finally paid off.  I met two gold medal swimmers in one day.  Yes, this is the part where I get to gloat a little about meeting awesome athletes.

In the afternoon we had a quick visit with Cullen Jones.  Although he now holds a gold medal for the mens 400 free relay and is , he is still really down to earth and has just shot to the top of my "Favorite Olympian List."  (Please note: this list is very unofficial and Cullen is currently the only one on it)  I truly think he and I could have a wonderful future together.

Right after that, I headed to this fancy, schmancy Imperial restaurant to help with a shoot with Peter Vanderkaay.  He trains in Ann Arbor and is from metro Detroit, so I definitely know the family name.  Plus he's a two time Olympian and won a gold and a bronze medal in Beijing this past week.  Didn't get to spend much time with him, but overall I can say he was kind of shy and very midwestern, but also very nice and easy-going.

Now on to the good stuff...this restaurant we went to was pretty ridiculous.  There is this special cuisine in Beijing known as Imperial Food – more specifically food eaten by the emperor in the last imperial Qing dynasty.  It is known to be very bland and a little strange.  Emperors often ate venison, sea cucumber, and lots of animal innards.  We tried the venison which was delicious, the goose (which I really didn't like, I can compare the taste to one thing...you know the way dogs smell when they really need to be groomed, if you could eat that smell it would be similar to the aftertaste of goose), we also had the standard veggies and dumplings and a salad made of flower petals (very yummy) but stayed clear of the sea cucumber and boiled deer placenta.  If anyone has tried deer placenta, please let me know I would really love to hear about the experience seeing as there is no way I will EVER try it.  

You don't just go to this restaurant for food, you go for the ambiance as well.  The restaurant is in an old house that the emperor's second son lived in, so needless to say it is beautiful.  The tables are both inside the different housing quarters and outside in the beautiful gardens.  Of course Vanderkaay, his girlfriend, and sister sat with the reporter in this wonderful island pavilion.  Whereas Jessie (another runner), Peter's agent, and I sat at another table, off camera.  Unfortunately for our tushes, the chairs were little cement stools with no cushioning, making the 2 hour dinner experience a little painful.  When we sat down at our table and put our bags on the ground, the waitress came around and draped large pieces of fabric over our belongings to protect them.  I'm still not exactly clear on what the reason for that was, but it was a nice thought and a little unusual.  What really completes the Imperial atmosphere is that all the wait-staff are dressed in traditional qi pao (gowns/robes) that were worn by empresses, concubines, and royal servants.  The whole evening you are literally treated like royalty, dine like royalty, and entertained with live shows and music like royalty.  It is all very elaborate making it a hot spot for westerners to check out while visiting Beijing.  (P.S.  This segment should be on Monday night on the Olympic Zone, so check it out!)  Also if you want look at this website, you can see even more about the restaurant. 

Pictures to come soon...gotta go to bed now, it's almost 2am.

Blue Sky Friday

Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous.  We were all taking pictures of the sky because Beijing hasn't seen a day like that in about 6 months.  Standing on the Olympic Green you can look out and see the beautiful mountains and even part of the Great Wall that surrounds the city.  I have to admit it makes total sense seeing that Track and Field events started yesterday and the Bird's nest stadium doesn't have a roof, so they had to fix the weather fast, or else.

Thursday night was my boss' last night in town.  She had to head back to New York for another project.  In the late afternoon on Thursday, everyone got an email saying that there are basketball tickets available for that night and to respond ASAP if you want them.  But of course the runners weren't included in this, we would be given tickets if no one else wanted them.  The game was US vs. Greece at 8pm.  Please keep in mind that all the reporters and photographers that I'm working with are covering the Olympics because they are heavily into sports.  As 7pm  rolled around there were three of us runners begging for them and only 2 tickets remaining.  So of course they did a raffle.  Blessing and I won the raffle and Matt was stuck staying at work.   (don't worry one of the reporters surrendered their ticket to him, so he ended up coming.)  All 22 of us crowded into the work vans and headed over to the sweet Basketball Stadium and watched an awesome game in ROW 8!  They were such good seats and USA won.  Afterward we went back to the crew's hotel and overtook the bar.  Hooked up our own ipod, started a dance party, and had a fun little work party to say goodbye to Jen. 

Last night I went out to the Holland House sponsored by Heineken and just a temporary party hotspot for the Olympics.  And as I've mentioned before the Dutch are freaking crazy!  They had tents set up for drinks, food, and of course, ping-pong.  Tonight it looks like we will be checking out some of the other countries houses, probably Russia and Italia.

Some of the most recent Olympic debauchery. 

Long Island

I just got home from Long Island.  It's a beautiful little spa only 5 minutes from my apartment and they're open until 2am.  I had an hour long massage for about $40USD which included a private room with a shower.  Plus I could have ordered free food, but I didn't.  I have to admit that my reasons for going were not only that I was in desperate need of a massage, but also because I was in desperate need of a good shower.  The shower at our apartment is either SCORCHING hot or FREEZING cold, it will be the perfect warm temperature for less that a minute barely enough time to rinse the shampoo out of your hair.  So that was definitely fueling the whole massage extravaganza.  I have to admit I'm getting used to these frequent, cheap, amazing massages; a lifestyle I can easily acclimate to.

Ricky Berens (swimmer, gold medal, 4x200 Free Relay w/ Phelps) came to the workspace today.  He is unbelievable good looking, but unfortunately I only got this lousy picture.

 

I also managed to snag a pic with Al Roker this morning.  My roommate just informed me that his full name is Albert Lincoln Roker, in case you were wondering.

Is that you Dominos?

Work today was a little slow because when the reporters aren't out shooting stories, they are sitting in the office in front of their computers and they don't really need us.  So I took a quick trip with Telemundo to Tiananmen Square in the morning.  That was amusing because they wanted to interview Chinese people and have me translate, it was pretty ridiculous and I am totally unqualified, but I thing I pulled it off.  Watch for me on Telemundo's Olympic Zone maybe I'll make it on TV!  haha  The rest of the day was spent researching bars and restaurants for some other stories.  Beijing closed many of their big dance clubs and some bars this summer for the Olympics because they were deemed "unsafe."  Places where there had been drug busts and such, they are trying to clean up their act for the time being.  As a result, our job is to call all the bars we are interested in taping at and make sure they are currently open.  We found quite a few clubs still open and now the reporter is working on a good way to convince our boss that he needs to take all the runners with him for this story...because of course we all want to go party and call it work.

The BICC – our workspace – sets out a free lunch and dinner buffet everyday.  Plus there is

 always ice cream, beverages, and PB&J available.  It's nice to have free food and I have to admit to stuffing my bag full of water and fruit when I leave work sometimes. 

  Anyway, usually the meals are passable but tonight's dinner was terrible.  Some sort of mystery chicken curry and some other junk that no one could enjoy.  So our boss, Jen, decides to order 8 pizzas and puts me in charge of calling Dominos.  Now this call would have gone smoothly had the women on the phone stuck to the normal questions like "where do you want it delivered," "what do you want," etc.  But after we got past the address part of the conversation, she decided to go off on a chinese rampage and I honestly had no clue what she was saying.  Since she couldn't move past this question, I handed off the phone to Jessie, another runner, and she finished dealing with this nut-case at Dominos.  Turns out the woman was asking me if I had a Dominos VIP Card.  wtf.  Apparently if you have one, for every pizza you buy, you get one free.  Pretty sweet deal, i guess.  But you don't learn about that in Chinese class at Michigan.  

Met a guy last night at the bar that was trying to sell me his tickets to a Handball event.  (That was not meant to sound dirty, but I think it does a little.)  The guy actually went to Michigan, it's a crazy small world out here.  Go Blue :-)

Let the Games Begin

It's hard to believe, but the games have started. I hope everyone and their dog watched the Opening Ceremony. It was like China's coming out party and I feel that only a country of this size could pull something off like that. I watched most of it on TV (CCTV to be exact and they did a terrible job shooting it, but I guess it was live so I'm probably being a little harsh.) The fireworks alone were AMAZING. I was watching it with a bunch of people on TV (inside the NBC workspace) right across the street from the Bird's Nest and the second the torch was lit, we all bolted, nay, stampeded outside into the parking lot to watch the fireworks live. They were unbelievably loud, but still awesome. But the best view of the fireworks was on the TV because the aerial view allowed you to see all the ones going off around the city. Truly spectacular.

We shall see what happens next. But here are some pictures from work so far.

Yesterday I worked with these two crazy guys from Chicago. They are so goofy, working with them is really fun. This past week, Chicago's Mayor Daly is in town pushing his bid for the 2016 Olympics, so Phil and Ringo are on Mayor Duty – following him around town reporting on how the bid is going. We all went to the USA House yesterday for a press conference with Daly, and then they shooed us out of the building because George Bush Sr. was on his way. They couldn't get us out of there fast enough, so we stood outside, cameras off, and watched the Bush Sr. and his entourage of Secret Service hobble into the building. That was definitely a highlight of my day. That, and I got a sweet new pin for the Chicago Olympics 2016 Bid. Pin trading is growing fast and furiously. I'm trying not to get to wrapped up in it, but I dabble a bit. My collection is pretty amateur right now, but hopefully I'll get better at grabbing and trading new ones every place I go.

So yesterday after Chicago Mayor Duty, I got back to the workspace and my roommate (who is the head runner for the Today show) came over to me and offered me a ticket to Beach Volleyball. The ticket was for that night and the games started in an hour. I rushed over to my boss, told her the story and she just let me leave early! I hopped in a cab and rushed over the the Beach Volleyball venue. I watched the USA Womens kill the Netherlands and Germany Womens beat Cuba. There was a lot of excitement and there were people from all over the world. Plus they had dancing Fuwa's running around :-) haha

Today is my first day off, so I'm going to go enjoy myself. Probably get another wonderful foot massage. If you watch the Olympic Zone this week, look for the two segments I helped with...going to the silk market and the great wall with wrestler T.C. Dantzler. Also here are a few more pictures of the Olympic fever.

8/6/08: Hunter and Mr. Yu

Hunter and Mr. Yu are both drivers for NBC.  They are both totally awesome because they drive us places, sit around and wait for us (sometimes up to 5 hours+), and will still greet you 

excitedly with a giant smile on their face.  Hunter is probably my favorite because he speaks English pretty well and is quite a character.  The second day we were going on a shoot, so he drove us down to the market area.  All the other drivers usually just do their own thing when we leave.  But with Hunter, he parked, threw on his backpack and announced that he was coming with us!  He ended up being a lifesaver and really helped me out a lot.  Later in the day, he helped me run errands at IKEA and Walmart (the chinese call it War Ma, it sounds like they're trying to say walmart only they have a ton of cotton stuffed in their mouths).  I think we are definitely pretty tight now since I told him I love him and gave him a big hug (what can I say, stress makes you do strange things).  The picture is us shopping at Walmart, Hunter is the tall, gangly Chinese dude on the right, Jared is on the left and he is one of producers who needed an activity so he got stuck shopping with us, poor guy. 

As for Mr. Yu, today I went to the transportation desk (where you order your car) and I told them the car number.  Then I asked, "Is Yu driving us?"  And the woman replied, "No, I don't drive the cars, I have to call the driver."  So I said, "Ya I know, but Yu the driver."  We went through this who's-on-first bit a couple more times, then cleared the whole thing up.  I found this amusing and so China.

Everyday I get to do new things.  Usually go on one big trip per day.  Today I went to the Summer Palace.  Got interviewed (again) by CCTV (China Central TV).  Because they thought it was great that I could speak Chinese.  The reporter and the camera man that I was with are both from San Diego and were born in raised in California.  So they got a lot done, but they were really chill and we all had a great time.

Tomorrow I'm off to the Great Wall again.  Only this time we are going to a different part and we are going with the American Greco-Roman Wrestling team!  I'm pretty excited about this one.  We are climbing with them on the Great Wall and then tobogganing down the side of the mountain.  Then tomorrow night I'm sitting in on an interview with Rory Mcgowan, the head engineer for Arup – the European architects that designed and built the newest most talked about venues in Beijing such as the Birds Nest, Water Cube, the new CCTV Tower, Terminal 3 at the Beijing Airport, etc.  The reporter said she would be happy to introduce me, so I can do a little networking!  Everything is going great, OLYMPICS START IN 2 DAYS!

First Day!!

I started work today!  I wasn't entirely sure what my job description was going into this, but I've got a good sense of it now.

In the morning we all met together: the 5 runners, a few producers, several camera men/photographers, and a handful of reporters from all different NBC stations around the US.  They are all in charge of shooting segments and promos for the Olympic Zone and for their home news stations.  Basically what happens is a reporter will decide on a story, run it by a producer, then they will come to one of us runners and have us call the location to set up a time to come and make sure it's ok with them.  Sometimes we will do a little research about the area so that the reporters have some interesting facts to drop in when they are talking on film.  When they are ready to head off to a location, they grab a camera man and a runner, hop into one of our NBC vans and go.  Today I was paired up with with Bruce, a reporter from NYC that usually reports on sports, and Billy, the Chief of Photography back at NBC Chicago but for our purposes, the camera guy.  We went down to Tiananmen Square to shoot a few promos and action shots.  We didn't really have any problems with the soldiers or security guards that are everywhere there.  They were actually quite accommodating and didn't even make us go through security because we have the right badges.  While we were filming, oodles of people would crowd around taking pictures of us.  It's really awkward, or maybe I'm just really awkward and don't know how to act in those situations.  Bruce and Billy were really awesome about it and would stop what they were doing to be in pictures with all these people.

Tonight we had our big dinner party thing with everyone that is working with the Olympic Zone (I guess they call it the O-zone, but not on camera because the ozone is a touchy subject here).  The restaurant we went to was really schnazy with crushed velvet chairs and booths.  We were in this private room with loads of books painted gold, all with the same title, "Furniture."  It was such a good attempt at being ritzy, you had to hand it to them for creativity.  The food was traditional Sichuan food.  There were some pretty strange flavors, Sichuan food is known for being REALLY spicy and also for putting in this weird spice I believe it's called, "wei la."   It's kind of like MSG only it not only adds a kick to the taste, but it also numbs your tongue.  Very odd sensation. Overall, the food was excellent, but very spicy...as the meal progressed the food got less spicy because we kept yelling at them to make it milder and milder.

This whole experience is going to be so crazy!  And this was only day one!!  Let the games begin...

Temple and Antique Market

Today the weather was absolutely beautiful.

Ok, that's a lie.  It was blue skies and sunny, but too hot for my taste.  Everyone had their umbrellas out hiding from the sun.  When I was at the Temple of Heaven this morning people were only walking on the parts of the street that were shaded by trees.  Even the ones that had an umbrella were walking in the shaded parts.  If you ask me, they were just being greedy.  Anyway, the Temple of Heaven was pretty cool.  

On the park grounds surrounding the temple, there is lots of shade, so there are lots of people.  People doing tai-chi, playing weird looking instruments, singing, and dancing with ribbons.  There were lots of local and international visitors taking pictures and soaking up this common weekend scene.

After having lunch at a restaurant that had Fried Croaker (frog, I'm assuming) and Nutritious Turtle with Ginseng.  I didn't order anything like that.  I really don't know how to eat a turtle.

Then I headed over to this place called Pang Jia Yuan (see above pic).  It's this outdoor antique shopping market that is really bustling on the weekends.  There are a million little cubbies filled with old stuff.  Lots of the same old stuff.  I love bargaining with the vendors, I wish I could just bargain and not buy stuff.  It could be my new hobby.

I'm approaching week 3 of being here and word on the street is that the 3rd week is when foreigners get struck down with sickness due to lack of nutrition.  So far so good, but one can only live so long on dumplings and steamed buns.  I'm starting to actually go into restaurants and order real food now.  

On a completely unrelated note...I also started riding the bus the other day.  Turns out it is much more convenient than I thought.  (picture to the left is view from the bus window, aka proof that 

I rode the bus)

One more day until work starts!  I can't believe it!  Time is going to fly by when I actually have stuff to do during the day.