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...

Inspired By A Presidential Candidate for the First Time in My Life

It is no secret that I have been a long-time supporter of Barack Obama. I am inspired by his eloquence, and his unexpected commitment to doing things differently (the first time I went to a volunteer meeting the first thing they told us is NEVER say anything bad about the other candidates....only good things about Barack).

However, even I was amazed and impressed by his speech yesterday. There will always be those who will say this is not enough, or it was a political ploy. However, he wrote this speech by himself, and clearly spoke from his heart - a rarity in American politics. It is my hope that America is ready for a person who actually speaks in the nuance that is the reality of the world, as opposed to being overly concerned by the sound bite do or die.

I am for the first time in my life truly inspired to step beyond myself and commit to a cause on a National level. Those who know me out there know I am quite a cynic, so may be surprised to learn that I plan on going up to Pennsylvania and dedicating whatever time the Obama campaign needs to win the primary there. I am proud to support a candidate who supports a majority of my policy priorities...and who steps beyond the traditional nasty poll-driven politics and says what he thinks and believes.

I suggest everyone listen to the speech in its entirety. Though it is 40 minutes long, no speech on race issues in America should be any shorter, and I believe this one is truly a landmark in American politics.

Back in DC

Well, I didn't blog over the last couple of weeks, despite promises to various people to the contrary. Sorry about that folks. Been various reasons for not doing so, but needless to say I'm back in DC, and for those of you who are wondering I had a productive trip to China, I am happy to be home, and am now at home suffering from the Martian Death Flu (or so I am dubbing it).

For those of you who attended Carleton College from 94-98, you might remember the great Martian Death Flu epidemic of 1997...it has apparently returned this year (another friend in Minnesota recently recovered after a bout of this year's version). I am progressing and on the mend, after a brutal few days, which is a good thing, because I have a busy 2nd half of the week planned.

Back in Beijing Again

I have to admit, it is a little surreal to be back in Beijing so soon after I left, especially since I’m in such an exceptionally different circumstance. Whereas in the Fall I was faced with challenges of my own limits, a language barrier, health issues, and many other issues, now it is so simple and easy. I am fortunate enough to have wonderful friends that are letting me stay with them while I’m here, which makes the experience that much more real in a lot of ways. (Real in a…so this is what it would be like to have my own apartment in Beijing sort of way…).

Despite the fact that this is a working trip for me, in that I am meeting with people, talking to various firms, etc., I have been enjoying myself immensely. There are a lot of very interesting folks who live here, and it is always fascinating to have the “how did you end up here” conversation. I have been taking advantage of the fact that I didn’t have any meetings this week to really get out and about and talk with random people. I have also been pleasantly surprised at how much my Chinese stuck around, though I have these weird holes in my memory for completely random words that I should remember. I am sure that will all resolve itself in time as I use the language on a daily basis. Last night I went to a happy hour with a friend and had 80% of a conversation for about an hour in Chinese…it made me feel really good about the effort I put in last fall. One nice thing is that my instinct from my trip here this fall to always be using Chinese has stuck around, and apparently my accent is still sufficient that people usually respond in kind. Hopefully I won’t totally disappoint my old tutor when I meet her for dinner on Sunday…

One unfortunate item of note: I was going to go skiing with a friend this weekend…which would have been really cool, if for no other reason than I could say I went skiing in Beijing…but it’s been so nice and warm that there’s nothing but ice left on the slopes. So no dice on my big plans for the weekend.

For those of you interested in my job search news, I have spent a good amount of time on the phone with some very interesting people, and I have some meetings set up for next week, so I’m feeling decent about where I am. While I would love something to just fall in my lap, I know that’s just not very likely, so I am just enjoying the experience for now.

Random Plug for Me...

I wanted to make a shameless plug for my own publicity...

I was working at the polls as the Obama precinct captain (which basically meant hanging out by the polling place, waving signs, and answering voter questions encouraging them to vote for Obama) during our Primary here on February 12th. As a result I was there when someone from a women-orientated political website came by asking why I was supporting Obama. So I was interviewed on video. Unfortunately it doesn't look like they'll ever get my moment of fame video on their website (it being a week later and there being bigger political fish to fry), but my sentiments were mentioned on this post on their website...

Kinda silly, but fun!