I'm official!

Ni Hao!

I started my 5-day weekend by finding every market in town. I bought several (ahem...40?) bootlegged movies from a market. Each was about one US dollar. I bought a collection of EVERY James Bond movie (Yipee!!) and the Godfather Trilogy. I also bought several copies of the new sexy blockbuster chick flick movie. I won't name it...but it was one of this summer's biggest hits. I tried all the disks on my computer and they all worked! (Except the "Sexy" movies). We tested them at the store, so I know they work on regular DVD players...I just think my computer knows they're "discounted movies." Now that I have another week off, I can catch up on my 007 movies!

So I went to training this morning. I was one of 4 English-speaking volunteers at the tri venue. The Chinese are very gracious and tried to translate for us, but it was a lost cause. A 30 minute lecture was usually summed up in 4-5 sentences. I got my accreditation pass, but unfortunately I can't get on the Olympic Green. Let's hope they open up the grounds when the games start... I HAVE to get in there and finally see the stadiums up close. As I type, there are discussions going on at BOCOG about where else to place me for the games. The tri occurs for two days during the second week...which means I'll be off for the first week---and I want work! I will most likely be placed at the Archery or Field Hockey venues ON THE OLYMPIC GREEN!!!

I priced out a few weekend trips, and was looking into some more for next weekend...but definitely can't afford them. A day trip to Xi'an to see the Terra Cotta Warriors costs $450 USD and Shanghai was double that...for three days! I'll just have to make myself useful in Beijing!

We discovered a new dining hall on campus! It's called "Hollywood" and it serves American food....well it's Chinese interpretation of American. All that aside, they have one of the best cheeseburgers I've ever had. I really don't think it's because I've been so deprived from them for a couple of weeks...this burger is really THAT good! I've been experimenting with new meals at the Chinese cafeteria... I found out how to order Chicken fried noodles...YUM!!!

The city FINALLY opened a subway station just north of our hotel. It saves a ton of time getting around...or it should in theory. Beijing started limiting the amount of cars on the road, which means 6.5 million cars aren't on the roads each day....and 6.5 million drivers are on the subways! You should really check out some of the pictures MSNBC posted about the subway.

I'm not really sure how I"m going to keep active over the next few days... I just hope I don't have to spend too much money to stay busy!

Hope you're all doing well, take care!
Mark