Kayaking in Connecticut, and Waterfalls in New York City

This week I am in New York City, taking advantage of the fact that Doug is at a conference in Manhattan to wander around the city where we may end up before the end of the year. Although we both would rather be back on the West Coast, life, the universe, and everything, is conspiring to make us believe we will likely end up here in New York before long. Since his conference was immediately preceded by the Fourth of July long weekend, we decided to visit our long-lost friends who moved to South Norwalk, Connecticut in March. They have a lovely two bedroom little house with a back deck abutting a hillside (to read about our fun grilling on the deck check out my post here), and we spent a relaxing weekend drinking wine and chatting about life.

By Sunday we were all ready to get out and about, and had a great time renting sea kayaks in Rowayton, CT and paddling out to the Long Island Sound past the most ridiculously large houses you’ve ever seen. I don’t have any pictures of the kayaking adventure, because I didn’t bring my waterproof camera, but here’s a picture of Rowayton looking out towards the sound past all the adorable boats:

We got into New York City on Monday afternoon, had some great Indian food at Tiffin Wallah (how can you beat $6/person for a delicious, authentic, buffet?), then relaxed in our lovely hotel room with a view of downtown and the Brooklyn Bridge in the evening and caught up on our sleep.

Today I was on my own as Doug attended the conference. For the first time, I decided to do something really touristy (but not TOO touristy), and take a boat cruise to see the new installation art piece called Waterfalls. Funded by the Public Art Fund, it is a series of four artificial waterfalls created over the river, including one under the Brooklyn Bridge and one on Governor’s Island. I went early in the day to avoid the hordes, and it was well worth it, as I was one of only 10 people on a huge boat to see the falls. I am always intrigued by large-scale installation art, and found it to be really lovely, although I found the one under the Brooklyn Bridge to be the most organic and with the best sense of place. Here are a few photos from the morning:

This afternoon I wandered up to Chelsea Market, and was heartily disappointed by what I saw. I guess it’s a factor of the changing costs associated with the neighborhood, but what was supposed to be a great place to buy meat, fish, and vegetables directly from vendors, apparently has lost much of that character. On the bright side, it does appear they are trying to turn it into something resembling the Ferry Building in San Francisco (which I adore). This evening, Doug and I will be trying to get in to Tia Pol for dinner, about which I will blog over here tomorrow.

Fun Quiz

I'm part of a group that sends out China-related business information, and fortunately they also insert some levity into the situation as well. A link to a website was included in the most recent email. I read it and got a huge kick out of it. Anyone who has spent time in China is alternately terrified, annoyed, or amused, by the apparent lack of any meaningful logic to the way people drive. I have generally concluded that it is survival of the fittest, i.e., whomever gets there first, and woe the person who tries to buck that system!

I'd suggest you take the driving quiz...it's quite amusing!

Fun with Tags from Other Blogs

So…I’m new to this whole tagging thing, but I’ve been tagged by The Tragic Optimist, and since she’s such a great friend, I’ll indulge her. Plus I guess I haven’t blogged in like 2 months so I should get off my rear end and say something, lest you all think I’m a total loser!

I guess the tagging thing works like this: you are posed a list of questions, which you subsequently answer in your blog, then tag some other people. Ugh…answering questions…

Here goes nothing:

What was I doing 10 years ago?

• Exactly what I am doing right now (weird huh? It’s like I’ve come full circle):
  
• being unemployed
• trying to discover where I fit in in the world
• trying to motivate myself to get back in shape
• Graduating college and learning how to live in the “real world”

What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?

• Work out then go to the pool
• Cook something really yummy for dinner
• Apply to two jobs
• Try not to melt in the blistering heat
• Update my blogs

Snacks I enjoy….

• Chips & Salsa or Guacamole
• Wine (is that a snack?)
• Blueberries
• Potato Chips

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

• Buy a little place on the beach somewhere
• Endow a charity to help fund education in rural China
• Pay off all my debts and the debts of my family
• Travel around the world doing voluntourism and learning how to cook in kitchens of wonderful people everywhere
• Move to San Francisco and open a restaurant to help at-risk teenagers learn a trade

Places I have lived:

• San Diego (the first 18 years...)
  
• Northfield, MN (2 addresses, 4 years)
• Minneapolis, MN (2 addresses, 3 years)
• Arlington, VA (3 addresses in the same building, 2 1/2 years)
  
• Washington, DC (in our first owned home, 2003 - present)
  
• Beijing, China (2 addresses, once in college, once at a homestay)
• Maastricht, the Netherlands (in college)
  

Jobs I have had:

• Office Assistant, Financial Aid Office at Carleton
• Barrista
• Cashier
• Project Analyst
• Marketing Manager
• International Trade Analyst for the US Government
• Independent Consultant

Bloggers I’m tagging for this meme…

• David, Angela & Rowan
  
• All About Charlotte
• Gwinn in MN
• You…since I really don’t have any other blog-friends :-)

Hope I did ok on my first meme....

Save the Honeybees?

I just saw the strangest thing....

It's an ad from Haagen Dazs, which I saw for the first time on TV today. I guess by now we've all heard about hive collapse disorder (bees are disappearing at an alarming rate and no one seems to know why as of yet...). It's a little odd to think that we've reached the point where an ice cream company is making commercial to save the bees! Then I think about it some more, and I wonder how soon it will be until we have a really serious problem in our food supply due to not enough honeybees (to say nothing of the crisis right now due to food prices in the developing world).

Just some food for thought.

Oh, I'm back in DC for those who are wondering...

Bird’s Nest in Beijing

I have come to the firm conclusion that race walking should never be considered an Olympic sport. I mean seriously, they are WALKING!!! That being said, these people get some killer speed under their belts, as today the finishing time for the Men’s 50km Race Walk was 3 hours and about 45 minutes. Pretty insane if you ask me, even if they do look a little silly walking really fast…

But the highlight of the day, and really the only reason to go was to get inside the cool new national stadium, the Bird’s Nest. It really is exceptionally cool from the outside, as it is completely open in design with nothing but curved steel from ground to top.

The inside looks like pretty much every other stadium I’ve been in, other than the weird elementary school looking seats, but the outside is spectacularly intricate, and I had a “how did they do that” moment. And talk about attention to detail, even the walkway lights are formed to look like the big structure!

Many Meetings…(the Opposite of Many Partings for those LOTR Fans Out There).

Well, it has been a crazy couple of days here in Beijing. I have had worse-than-usual jetlag, and have gotten maybe 4-5 hours of sleep each night, despite being so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open in the evening. Oh, and the rampant allergies haven’t helped either. Fortunately, I am lucky enough to be staying with a friend with an air purifier, and brought plenty of cough drops and eye drops!

But the real highlight of the week has been the many meetings. I had the interview I originally flew out for on Wednesday, which went OK, but I wish I had felt better about it. Then Thursday I ended up meeting with another company downtown right off Wanfujing (the main pedestrian shopping street, relatively close to Tiananmen Square). That meeting lasted about an hour and a half, and the two people I met with seemed like very interesting people. More importantly, it appeared as if they were interested in me, and began asking me leading questions about salary expectations and timeframes. I’m not sure if they are a firm I would want to work for as of yet, but it’s nice to know you made a good impression.

I thought that would be the end of my meetings for the time here (other than buying lunch for a great guy who has helped me immensely with advice and connections here). However, the universe had different ideas. I woke up this morning thinking I’d relax, maybe go shopping, maybe go to the gym and relax after a stressful couple of days. Instead, I got another call from the originally company (from Wednesday…I am avoiding using names on purpose here, not to confuse everyone!), asking me to come back in to meet with a couple of the senior managers. There was an inkling that this might happen, as one of the senior managers couldn’t make it on Wednesday due to client meetings, but it is a good sign that I didn’t totally flub my interview, despite the lack of preparedness and jetlag.

So here I am, biding my time until 2:30pm, when I have to get back into my suit and head back downtown. Here’s hoping it goes well and they don’t throw me for a loop on their questions again!

Oh, and tomorrow (Saturday), I head off to one of the cool Olympic venues to watch the first event ever to be held at the Bird’s Nest (where the Opening Ceremonies will be held)….and it’s gonna be….Race Walking! Hopefully they’ll let us take in cameras, and I’ll definitely post pictures of the festivities.

Hmmm....Just Cottonwood Pollen?

I arrived in Beijing on Monday afternoon at the new airport terminal. While customs was a mess, due to not enough lines for the three 747s arriving at the same time, and the epic journey from the far end to baggage claim on the tram, it was pretty cool to see the fancy new airport. Plus I noticed the duty free shopping on the way home should be pretty nice!

It is odd to be back here again so soon, and it's starting to seem like old hat to have meetings, then sit and send a bunch of emails to set up more meetings. Plus, it's great to see the friends and eat the good food on a regular basis. I had my interview today, for those who are wondering, and though my jetlag wreaked havoc on my brain at the beginning (who knew they would ask me specific Chinese policy questions???), I did enjoy talking to all four of the interviewers over the course of the hour and fifteen minutes I was at the company. I have been told that they will likely make a decision by the end of the week, so this may all come together (or not) very quickly. Kind of daunting, but I guess I have been working towards this for a while.

On the "will I really live here" front, I thought I would share this lovely image of Beijing with all of you:


And no, this is not rain, nor fog, nor a result of the (massive) amount of cottonwood pollen in the air. It is what you all think ladies and gentleman...like Los Angeles on a bad day in the 1980s. It does make you wonder what the long-term effects of this kind of air will do to a person, and whether several years here will have any consequences from a health perspective. That being said, it is most definitely a priority of the government to fix this huge issue, and hopefully they have the power to do so for all our sakes...