I've finally arrived!! The day I've been waiting for for over 7 months is finally here. And, surprisingly enough, the trek here wasn't too terrible. I had a 5 hour layover in Washington, DC, but luckily a girl with an NBC backpack that was a mirror image of mine (except mine had running shoes hanging off it, of course!), came up to me in the airport and asked if I was an intern. Her name is Claire, and it turns out she is a swimmer from Notre Dame and I have seen her at Big Easts before. We were instant friends on that commonality alone, and we've stuck together since that first minute we met. It was a huge plane we were on from DC to Beijing -- economy class was a bit cramped, but it was easy to get up to walk around, and luckily I did manage to sleep through at least half of it. It was crazy to be watching the clock on my iPod tick later and later, yet it was still broad daylight if we lifted the window shades. We ended up flying north and slightly west, so we were over huge ice caps a lot of the way that the guy in the seat next to me (who was a networking correspondent for NBC) actually took pictures of while I was sleeping and is going to e-mail to me. It's one of the coolest things I've ever seen.
Throughout the whole flight, the flight attendants were super friendly and very talkative. Toward the end of the trip, one of the attendants, Gordon, who was an older man with curly gray hair that poked out in all directions that was kind of reminiscent of Albert Einstein, started talking to me about the city of Beijing. I ended up walking off that plane with a piece of paper that he wrote out for me with the names of vendors he knows at the silk and pearl markets in Beijing. He made me promise never to pay more than 15% of the seller's initial asking price, and he directed me where to go to find the best strings of pearls and even Tiffany's jewelry at some serious bargain prices. Needless to say, Claire and I fully intend on going to these markets as soon as possible. And hey, if nothing else, I have a new friend, Gordon, from United Airlines flight 897.
As soon as the plane touched down, it was suddenly everything Olympics in every direction, and I just felt this huge rush of excitement surge over me as I sat patiently in my seat while we taxied into our gate. The Beijing airport is seriously HUGE. And the second we stepped out of our terminal, we found a group gathering of NBC workers around a Chinese volunteer holding an NBC sign. It was totally smooth sailing from there! Having my credentials validated as my visa was a breeze, and I finally have my very first stamp on my passport! I would have been completely overwhelmed had I not found that NBC group, because literally everything was in Chinese the second we stepped off our flight and I felt lost enough as it was. And I will never forget the first moment we walked through the sliding doors into the outer part of the airport. I could hardly breathe all of a sudden because the heat and humidity were so intense -- like nothing I've ever experienced before. The air is so hazy that it's difficult to determine if it is actually a sunny day out and near impossible to see the entire city skyline.The people of Beijing sure are proud to be hosting these Summer Games. Every single telephone pole along the highway displayed an Olympic flag on our way to the Media Village, and even the lanes of the road had the Olympic rings painted on in places as we drove over them. I was seriously surprised at how welcoming all of the people were. I didn't have to lift a single bag between the airport and my apartment, and everyone involved in the Games here is just so welcoming, hospitable, and friendly. And they love when we try to speak Chinese! The extent of my use given my comfort level with the language has only been "hello" and "thank you", but hey, I'm working on it.
The Media Village is like Disneyland in China. There are little shuttle cars carting media people everywhere and the whole huge place is decorated with Olympic flags and slogan, "One World, One Dream", which I absolutely love. Every building has a different purpose here, and it would take an entire day in and of itself just to explore and become acquainted with the entire village. My room is so far above and beyond anything that I had ever imagined that I am still in shock that I'm actually going to be living here for the next month. 
I have my own room, which is in the corner of the aprtment so I have 2 walls of just windows overlooking the Media Village and the entire city of Beijing. I'm on the 20th floor, so the view is incredible, and the buildings nearby are lit with red and white lights at the top at night. I wish I could see farther out than I can, but the haze makes that incredibly difficult.I share a bathroom with one other girl and the whole aprtment with 3 others, but none of them are here yet. The bathrooms have gorgeous glass-wall showers and beautiful sinks, and the Olympic Committee even gave us bottles of baby oil and shampoo, toothpaste and a toothbrush, and a really cute little pink bath mat for the shower (I'm a little ashamed that I've become enough of a girly girl to thoroughly enjoy a simple pink bath mat). Our living room is simple, but very nice. Each room has its own separate TV and they gave us little tote bags filled with goodies for us to take home like pins, an umbrella, a keychain -- all official Olympics gear, of course!
This may sound silly, but I am so excited to see all of the Chinese writing everywhere and try to get accustomed to the Chinese monetary system. Claire and I have figured out that it's a little over 6 RMBs to 1 U.S. dollar...which makes everything here incredibly cheap! We ventured out of the Media Village a bit (only about a block, but holy cow, what a difference!) to search for hair dryers that would fit in the outlets here and dry our hair curly for us (the humidity makes good hair days a thing of the past), so we went to this store called Loftus, which had everything from clothes to groceries to electrical appliances and washers/dryers -- and suddenly, not a single other American. At first, we accidentally wandered into a Chinese home furnishings store that never ended, but we thankfully managed to find our way out of there and to Loftus (although I'm convinced all of the Chinese people outside of the MV were secretly laughing at us, and saying, "Stupid American girls!", knowing that we'd never understand them).
At first, the hustle and bustle of the Chinese crowds was overwhelming, but now I see it just as an adventure. I love the sights and all of the sounds, and the people have been nothing but friendly. I have met a few more NBC people (the 2 women who work in the NBC logistics office in the building next door love Claire and I), but only a few other interns. Tomorrow morning is orientation, though, so hopefully we'll meet some more people then! And if we finish early enough tomorrow, we might get a chance to go see the Great Wall! My fingers are certainly crossed. And for the next 4 weeks, mine and Claire's motto is: "We can sleep when we die!!"
No comments:
Post a Comment