It's Finally Friday

Wow, Friday finally rolled around. I've spent the week at BOCOG, doing manual counting. We've been learning a lot more about the city of Beijing, and beginning to understand the culture a little more. Here are some of the highlights:

• CLEANLINESS: Everything here is very clean! We meet every morning at the Grand Hyatt Beijing, which is the center building of the complex where our apartment tower is located. Just this morning, there were employees dusting the lobby furniture and also wiping down the trash cans and flower planters outside. I don't know that I've ever seen anyone cleaning a flower planter in front of a building! The floors and sidewalks and streets are spotless. I haven't seen litter, though the Chinese do spit on the sidewalks.
• SMOG: The smog comes and goes. From what I understand, the government is working on weather experiments to remove the smog from the air for the Games. Yesterday was the most smoggy day since we've arrived. It was like the entire sky was covered by a thin cloud that blocked the sun and turned it into an orange fuzzy ball. Later in the day, though, it rained, and today was perhaps the most beautiful day we've had. It was about 75 degrees and sunny, not a cloud in the sky, and a beautiful breeze!
• TAXIS: We take taxis everywhere. Apparently the public transportation is so overloaded during rush hour that you can wait an hour in line just to get on a train. We live in a completely different district from BOCOG, so traveling there by subway would require a transfer, where we would have to wait in the cattle-lines again, and it would take longer than the hour it takes by taxi. The taxis start at RMB 10 ($1.44) and go 3km before adding RMB 2.00/km. Our taxi home from the office, for example, is generally RMB 12 ($1.73) so it's cheaper than taking the El in Chicago! (Plus, honestly, my boss has been paying for the taxis, so I'm happy to ride along.)
• FOOD: This is a truly cosmopolitan city. I've had sushi at a Japanese restaurant (several times,) green curry at a Thai restaurant (very spicy but Adam W's chicken satay were yummy,) enchiladas at a Mexican restaurant, soup and salad at a great Italian restaurant, pizza at The Crow's Nest (their sign said "We Support Food Coma" and the waitstaff t-shirts said "The Real Shit in Beijing") and Chinese fast food (my meat was all fatty, but the fish side dish was good.) I'll have no problem eating very internationally, and I'm trying to eat very healthy. I've been having hard boiled eggs and yogurt with tomato juice or orange juice for breakfast. 
• STAFFING: Every establishment here is staffed to the hilt. At the grocery store, there are employees standing at intervals of several aisles, helping out or straightening the shelves. The hotels have cleaning staff working all the time. My apartment building has 2 doormen, one for each set of double doors at the front entry. When I arrived with my luggage, one went with me to deliver it to my room. 
• TIPPING: They do not tip here. They will even refuse a tip if it is offered to them. I understand that in more Western areas, however, the staff may be accustomed to being tipped by their Western customers. It is not expected, though. It make splitting the bill for dinner very easy. You can each pay the exact price of the food you ordered!

Last night, Thursday, a large contingency of the staff that is already here (most are arriving in July, but some have been here for 9 months to a year) gathered at The Saddle Cantina, a Mexican restaurant. It's a big gathering place for Ex-pats, so the staff spoke enough English, and the Mexican food was passable. The guac was good! Over margaritas and beers, I got to know some of the interesting people that this company employs from all over the world. There's even one other Chicagoan who was a music major and has been here for a year training the Chinese staff that will be working with us during Games-time. Everyone has been very nice, and I look forward to meeting even more new people. Several of the people I worked with in Torino will be joining us in July, so I'm excited to see them again!

In Ticketing, Xenia joined us today. She is from Greece, and has been here for a year, learning Chinese, and helping to run the training programs for the JetSet employees. She seems like she'll be a blast to work with. Jessica has been so helpful, taking us to different restaurants for lunch every day and helping us order. She's a real sweetheart. 

I made it to the gym Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday for a short workout and a 30-minute run on the treadmill. It's best for me to get up at 6am and get that out of the way, because neither of the Adams are morning people. They won't be asking me to come into the office before 8am, that's for sure! Of course, if we're at the office til midnight, which might start happening, that 6am could start getting hard. 

Sorry there aren't any pictures with this post--we've been getting up, going to BOCOG, going to the office, and back to the apartment, so there hasn't been much exciting to photograph. We're going on a tour with the staff this Sunday, so there should be some good pictures coming up! 

My debit card still has not arrived, so I'm still bumming money off my co-workers, which is annoying. My roommate sent it this week, so it should be arriving soon!

For more about where I'm staying, here's their website:  http://www.orientalplaza.com/eng/apartment/

Check out the mall attached to this place! We have everything without ever going outside!

OK, sorry it took me so long to update. I'll do my best to give y'all new stuff to read every couple days.