Adapting

Well here it is, my first post. I never ever thought that I would be a blogger, but I think I will give it a shot because it seems to be less complicated than keeping up with a list-serve. Did I spell list-serve right? I don't know how to spell that....

This way people can read about my life as they please instead of me flooding their inboxes with silly emails!

Anyway, I have survived my first full day in Beijing. This morning I woke up naturally at 4:45am due to jetlag and time-change, etc. However, it was a good thing overall, for I was able to get a lot done prior to vanishing into the depths of the city to meet up with my OMEGA co-workers.

Around 7:00am this morning I was feeling kind of woozy. At first I thought that I was about the have an attack of nerves (all sorts of crazy thoughts have been running through my head recently), but then quickly realized that it was simply side-effects of the large multi-vitamin that I swallowed without having eaten anything for fifteen or sixteen hours. Silly me, I should have eaten dinner, but I just couldn't seem to make myself hungry last night.

At 8:00am sharp a bag-carrying lady from a small cafe across the street showed up at my door knocking away. As it turns out, she will be delivering me breakfast every morning for the next month, which is awesome. One of the definite perks of this internship :) She told me that I can ask for different food if I want to. I had no qualms with the food, but I may start asking for coffee alongside of the milk and orange juice that she brought.

Wow, I feel like this entry is already pretty long, and I haven't even gotten to my job yet.

Speaking of that....I don't even know where to begin. I met up with a lady named Karin, who I have talked to a few times before through email, at the "Park Plaza Hotel" which appeared extremely nice in comparison to my little "Beijing New World Apartment Hotel". (*Hmm...I should write an entry about my apartment sometime) prior to picking up another lady at her hotel, and then finally going to the "China Club", the home base for our venue.

The China Club is amazing! It is located in an ancient, five-hundred year old, temple-esque, courtyard-filled, set of buildings that most people only get the chance to see as a museum. OMEGA has acquired a large group of the buildings, as well as two huge courtyards, for their main venue.

Originally I thought that I would be working in the Olympic Village (I will still make my way up there), which would be amazing, but honestly this new area, which is just south of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, is blowing my mind with its awesomeness.

All of the people that I am working with seem like really interesting, really cool, down to Earth people. I'm sure that I will write more about them at a later date, but for now I will just say that I am lucky to be involved with them. It's humorous though: I am such a random intern that the vast majority of my co-workers have straight up asked me: "What are you doing here anyway?" That's ok with me though!

I still don't know what my schedule is like, nor do I know what time I am supposed to arrive at the venue each morning, nor do I even know what my responsibilites are yet. As soon as I gather that information, I will write all about it.

One thing that I do want to write about is something that has made me quite happy so far. I'm not a bragger, but I am proud to say that my Chinese, at least my speaking and reading, seems extremely solid. I feel like I can talk to anyone that I meet about nearly anything, and I have had much less trouble with signs, papers, etc than ever before. Apparently all of my random studying and audio recording listening this summer has paid off! Sweeeeet!

My day ended with a quick trip across town to the tailor's shop to make sure that my work uniform fit ok. The shop was a tiny little thing behind and unmarked door in an extremely random building on the side of one of Beijing's main streets. My pants were a little long, but that will be rectified by tomorrow morning.

Alrighty. I've written way too much about way too many random things for now, though I am sure that I will write more later. Blogging is cool! I hope that I still find the time to keep up with my moleskine journals though....I love those little things.