Mucho Tennis and Noodles

On Tuesday I got to cover two matches that I really enjoyed. James Blake has easily become one of my favorite players while in China, and I was able to report on his match vs. Florian Mayer. It was really fun to watch because I've become much more familiar with his playing style and his personality as a player. I even know who his coaches and entourage are, and after hanging around them for the past ten days, they now recognize me and smile. Afterward, I was also able to attend his press conference and ask him some questions to add quotes into my article which was really exciting for me! Here is the link to my Blake article: http://www.chinaopen.com.cn/news/en/2009-10-06/1657135.shtml.

Later in the afternoon, I had the privilege of reporting on one of the more exciting and meaningful matches of the tournament. Serena Williams played Ekaterina Makarova. Serena needed only one more win in order to reclaim her position as the No. 1 woman in the world. Safina, the current No.1, had lost in really early round of the China Open, leaving the opportunity open for her.
Serena was able to easily defeat Makarova and it was great to see her celebrate after the match and in her press conference. It was the first time that she took the world number one spot since April, so it was a pretty big deal. I also have a great article published about Serena's win on the China Open Website: http://www.chinaopen.com.cn/news/en/2009-10-06/1945144.shtml

In addition, since my matches were over by early evening, I got to see Nadal's match vs. Marcos Baghdatis. It was definitely one of the most entertaining and intense matches I've seen so far. (I posted a video I took of it above). Baghdatis took Nadal into three sets, playing him really tough, though Nadal ended up winning the match. (Picture of Nadal in his press conference that I took to the right). Nadal really is one of the most talented athletes in the world, and also one of the most gracious and polite athletes. After matches, he sticks around to sign autographs for the fans, even after security tells him that it's time to go. It's easy to see why so many people love him- not only is he one of the most attractive players (obviously) but his attitude is so positive and he is so thankful for all of the support he receives.

For dinner, Emily, Matt, and I really wanted to try out this amazing noodle place we had heard about, but of course, when we arrived at 10:03, it had closed 3 minutes before. People in China tend to eat pretty early, unlike America and European countries. Luckily, we walked down the street to find an awesome restaurant- where they stretch the noodles in front of you and perform with the dough before cooking it in a pot on your table. Below is a video (Just figured out how to put my videos into my blog!) For all of the food we got, it was pretty inexpensive too.

I'll try and catch up on the rest of my week tonight!

An Afternoon at the Summer Palace

Throughout our trip thus far in China, I have consistently talked about wanting to visit the Summer Palace. Making a trip there was in my top three of must sees along with The Great Wall and The Forbidden City. Every Chinese person I meet in Beijing always asks me if I have visited it yet, and I was getting a little bit worried that we wouldn't have time to go there. Since we started our trip to the Great Wall so early, we had almost a full day to explore the Summer Palace. It was very easily accessible by subway and only took about 20 minutes to get there.

The Summer Palace was used as a summer residence by Chinese imperial rulers as a retreat away from the Forbidden City. The gardens that became the Summer Palace date back to the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234). It was expanded throughout the next few centuries by many different rulers, but Empress CiXi added most to its decadence in the late 1800s after it was partially destroyed by Anglo-French Allied Forces. What you see at The Summer Palace today is more or less the same as the rebuilt palace of 1903. Basically, it is a HUGE, absolutely stunning park set around the Kunming lake.

There were so many things to see while we were there, and I think we did a great job taking advantage of it. Since we weren't in any sort of hurry, we spent several hours exploring each part of the palace. I'll make note of some of the most interesting parts:
1. The Garden of Harmonious Virtue: This is known as on of the best Peking opera houses in the country. There was a group of Chinese musicians playing here when we entered, and we were able to stay and watch them perform for awhile.
2. The Long Corridor: Basically, this is a beautifully decorated, covered hallway that runs around the lake- it was built so the emperors and empresses could walk around the lake outside without being affected by any weather conditions.
3. The Marble Boat: Cixi, one of the most decadent empresses, squandered all of the navy's money on her own intricately designed boat. We were able to take an awesome ferry ride from one side of the lake to the other to go see the boat and other parts of the palace.
4. Buddha Temple: This was one of the coolest things I have seen so far in China- located at the top of a huge hill is a giant hall designed to hold an enormous statue of Buddha. The statue has three heads, so that you can approach it from several different directions. I wasn't able to take any pictures since it is considered a very holy place for many people even till this day. There were several people praying around it as we entered- it was a very special experience.
5. The Mirror Bridge- This bridge connects the main island to Southlake Island where there were a bunch of beautiful buildings like the Dragon King Temple, where the empress used to go to pray for rain and to watch the sunrise and sunset.
The Summer Palace was pretty much one of the most spectacular things I have ever seen. Up until now, my favorite historical place I have visited on earth was Versailles, but The Summer Palace is now right up there with it. It makes me a little bit sad that the United States lacks the history that China and most European countries have because things like The Summer Palace are great representations of their identity as a country and something for them to be very proud of.

Later that night, we all went out to dinner together and FINALLY tried some stick food. Stick food is really popular in Beijing- pretty much you can get any sort of delicacy on a stick from squid, to chicken, to crab apples. Matt, Kaitlin and I decided to try the crab apple (it seemed like the safest choice) and it was GREAT. Basically it was tiny, little candied apples placed on a stick; how can that not be wonderful, right?

I will fill you in on my past two days at the tennis center as soon as possible!

The Great Wall of China. Priceless experience.

Before I decided to apply for this trip to China, the thought of making a trip to Asia had never really crossed my radar. Yes, it was something that I hoped to do as an adult one day, but I didn't think that the opportunity would come to me so soon.

Now, I sit here after just completing one of the most incredible days of my life in China, a day full of accomplishments that I don't think I've ever been more proud of. Today, we were picked up by a shuttle at our hotel, and were taken to the Great Wall of China.

The Great Wall of China...over 2,000 years old, a series of fortifications built to protect the Chinese empire, 5,500 MILES long of walls and trenches, one of the seven wonders of the Medieval world...and I climbed it today.

There are many different sections of the wall that you are able to climb, but our tour guide chose to take us to Juyong Pass which is known as one of the hardest and most dangerous sections to climb. Luckily we all wore our tennis shoes because it was one of the most strenuous hikes of my life. It was definitely not what any of us expected- every time we got to the top of one flight of steps (which were all uneven and spaced SUPER far apart) we would be panting heavily. And every time you reached a guard tower and thought it was the top, there was always one more flight of stairs. It probably took us about an hour to finally reach the top, but the climb was more than worth it. Standing at the top of the Great Wall of China, looking out over beautiful mountains and seeing other sections of the Great Wall far in the distance was a lifechanging experience. We were all so proud of ourselves for making it to the top and looked around in awe at our surroundings. We took a TON of pictures (some are on here but check Emily's Flickr account later today for the rest). Our tour guide Hope was a huge help in giving us the facts on the history of the Great Wall. She told us that when it was first being built, at least 1/5 of the population of China was enlisted to help build it. Imagine how many people and how much time it must have taken...it truly is incredible.

The climb down was pretty cool since we were able to concentrate less on climbing and just take in everything around us. I'll be honest, once we reached the bottom, all of our legs were shaking in exhaustion. I am beyond glad that our tour guide had taken us so early because once we began to reach the bottom, hundreds of people had just began the climb upwards. We were lucky enough to have almost the entire wall to ourselves on the way up. At the bottom, we all looked through the gift shop for awhile before heading onto the shuttle. Since it was only about 10:30 in the morning, our group decided to spend the rest of the day at the Summer Palace. Greatest decision EVER.


I don't have enough time to write about it now- but check later today for another blog. I promise it's something you don't want to miss hearing about :)

Conquering the Forbidden City and Press Conferences Galore

I wish that the pictures I took today could accurately portray how absolutely amazing the Forbidden City is. I have never been to such an overwhelmingly breathtaking place in my entire life, and it would would be impossible to explain in words and even through the pictures I took how grand and magnificent it really is.

Since I was given the morning off of work at the tournament, I was able to travel to the Forbidden City by myself. I wasn't at all nervous going alone since there were millions of locals and tourists around and I just hopped a few subway lines and was there in no time. Nothing could have prepared me for the amount of people that I was about to encounter. Yes, China has a population of over 1.3 billion people, but I didn't expect all of them to be in Tiananmen Square at the same time. Since the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China was just a few short days ago, most people in China still have time off of work and school. In addition, many of the floats and decorations from the celebration were on display in the Square, meaning thousands of people flocked to see it all. Just to walk over to the entrance of the Forbidden City was a maze and took me at least 25 minutes to cover a fairly short distance.

The Forbidden City was completed in 1421 and was built for the emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. 24 emperors continued to use this as their place of residence until 1924, when the Last Emperor, Puyi, was forced to vacate it. I entered the Forbidden City through the Tiananmen Square entrance, walking right under the potrait of Mao Zedong to get inside. After buying a ticket, I entered the actual City through the Meridian Gate. The minute I stepped inside, I literally gasped out loud and had to stop dead in my tracks to take it all in. All around me were giant port-red walls, moats, breathtaking halls, and intricately carved roofs and statues. That first moment inside is something that I will never forget.

With map in hand, I started to explore the city. There were so many places to look at and learn about that I doubt I even covered 60 percent of the city, but I definitely got my fill. Some of the places that I was able to see included: The Hall of Supreme Harmony, The Hall of Preserving Harmony, The Gate of Heavenly Purity, The Hall of Mental Cultivation, and the Imperial Garden, just to name a few. Looking around by myself was actually a blessing since I was able to take my time and look at everything that I personally was most interested in. The massiveness and magnitude of everything in the Forbidden City was almost overwhelming; the buildings seemed to overpower you. Now I definitely see why everyone in China tells you that you must see the Forbidden City- it's really something you can't appreciate unless you see it with your own eyes. The architecture is really unlike anything else- everything is so well planned and dazzling.

The Imperial Gardens was a nice last stop on my crazy route through the Forbidden City. There were a lot of beautiful trees and gazebos to just sit, rest, and take in your surroundings. I also went inside of an art gallery where there were a lot of beautiful pieces.


I rushed home from the Forbidden City to get on the 2:30 p.m. shuttle to the tennis center. I was in charge of going to the rest of the press conferences that afternoon and typing up the transcripts (aka word-for-word description of each press conference). I had a great day for press conference duty, as the first one I got to sit in on was with Rafael Nadal. Sitting just a few feet from him and listening to him answer questions was definitely more of a treat than a chore. I was really impressed by the quality of his answers, and if you are at all interested in knowing what was said during any of the interviews I sat in on today, all of the transcripts that I typed are availabe at: www.chinaopen.com.cn/en/index.shtml.

The other press conferences I sat in on and transcribed today included: Jie Zheng, Serena Williams, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Dinara Safina, and Elena Dementieva (who I have decided is a complete sweetheart and is absolutely gorgeous!). I was also able to watch most of Dementieva's match before her conference, which she won. It was a great experience getting to see the players while they actually played their matches, and then on a more personal level in the press conferences.

My days just get busier and busier, but I love every second of them.

Safin, Blake, Bar Street, and Moon Cakes :)

I’ve never had a huge obsession with celebrities. I have my favorite actors, actresses, and athletes and occasionally read about them in magazines or online, but that’s about where my celebrity hunting ends. But after spending the day about five feet away from Marat Safin and James Blake, I think that could change.

My day started off as an eventful one. I got to sit in on Serena’s pre-match press conference. It was only about fifteen minutes long with simple questions asked since she hasn’t played any games in the tournament yet, but being in the front row of a press conference (aka about three feet) away from Serena Williams, with her staring you down the entire time, is a thrilling experience.

After the press conference, I was able to wander around the tennis complex a little, stopping in to watching Zack’s ITF semi-final match for one set. He lost the set that we watched, but ended up winning in the end, putting him into the final match tomorrow. It’s been really fun watching his matches and staying at the same hotel as him and Ahmed; we’ve become really good friends.

As I was wandering around the practice courts, I happened to see that there was a small crowd of people around one of the end courts. Since I’m special and have a cool press pass, I was able to get up right next to the court, and to my surprise, it was James Blake (down to the left) and Marat Safin (above) playing! They were pretty intensely practicing against once another, getting really animated and into the session. Since I was basically the only person there watching that wasn’t Chinese, I was the only one that could appreciate the jokes they were telling each other and all of their trash talking. For this reason, they acknowledged my presence a few times, smiling and glancing in my direction, which was the greatest feeling ever since James Blake has the most amazing smile in the world. I got to take a bunch of great photos too to add to my collection of all of the athletes I’ve shot so far this week. Also, as I was beginning to head back inside to the media center, Caroline Wozniacki, the 19-year old who just last month was the runner-up the U.S. Open, took the court to practice. I stuck around for a few more minutes to snap some photos and see her hit some balls.

Afterwards, I was assigned to cover the Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations taking place at the tournament. The Chinese celebrate this Mid-Autumn or Moon Festival the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese calendar. Since I am not sure when or where my article is going to be published, here is a copy of it:
____________________________________________________________________
Players and spectators celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival at 2009 China Open

By Sarah Callahan


Tennis players Ivo Karlovic and Zhuang Jia-Rong helped welcome the Mid-Autumn Festival to the China Open this evening by cutting a cake surrounded by fans. The cake represents what is known in China as the traditional mooncake.

The cutting and sharing of mooncake is an important part of the Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival. The festival falls on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, when the moon is at its fullest and roundest.

The story of the mooncake dates back to the Yuan Dynasty, when Mongolians ruled China. Leaders from the preceding Sung Dynasty did not want to submit to foreign rule and attempted to coordinate a rebellion. As the moon festival was drawing near, the leaders of the rebellion baked the plans of the attack into the moon cakes, and today moon cakes are eaten to commemorate this legend.

Julien Gaudfroy, a television host and actor in Beijing who is originally from France, was asked to host the Mid-Autumn Festival event at this year’s China Open. Gaudfroy explained that the tradition of eating moon cake is a large part of the holiday because people feel the need to present moon cakes to all of the important people in their life.

At this year’s China Open, people also gathered around lanterns hanging from wires in the carnival area. Each lantern contained a different clue hanging from it written in Chinese. These clues are sometimes full sentences but may also be Chinese words that allude to another Chinese word.

When the answer to a clue is revealed, the clue is removed from the lantern and the person who guessed the correct answer is given a small charm as a prize. People move in groups, working together to try and reveal as many secrets as possible.

The guessing of the clues hanging from the lanterns is a traditional Mid-Autumn Festival activity. The Mid-Autumn Festival is a 3,000-year-old festival dating back to China’s Shang Dynasty.

Centered on sharing time with family and friends, similar to the American holiday of Thanksgiving, the Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the most important holidays in the Chinese calendar. The day was also originally a harvest festival celebrating the abundance of food, since it fell when fruit, vegetables, and grain had already been harvested.

This evening, people also gathered around with family and friends to watch an orchestra of Chinese traditional musicians perform, as the holiday is a time of relaxation and celebration.

____________________________________________________________________

When I finished my article, I was also able to run over to Center Court just in time for Venus Williams’ first round match against. It was absolutely amazing to see one of the Williams sisters play firsthand. I expected to see a complete blowout, but it ended up being a pretty close match, with Venus winning an extremely close second set with a tiebreak.

(To the left is a picture of me at the tournament. There are walls of children's artwork throughout the venue)

In celebration of the Moon Festival and after a suggestion from Ben, one of the Emily’s friends in the players lounge, Emily and I decided to have a date night and hit up what is called “Bar Street.” The name really said it all…it was an extremely long street of bar after bar after bar, packed together as tightly as possible to make room for more bars. It was definitely more of a touristy area, since there were a variety of people and accents there- and we ended up talking to a few of people from England and Germany. We visited a variety of different places, sitting outside and enjoying the beautiful weather and full moon. It was one of the most fun nights in Beijing- thanks for the great date Emily.

And it begins!

Today was the first official day of the tournament, with the women's qualifying rounds beginning at 10 a.m.! My job for the day was to be stationed in the media center, assisting reporters who only spoke English and helping them to get to the appropriate places for matches and press conferences. Since it was only the early rounds of the tournament, with no marquee players playing actual matches, there weren't many foreign reporters present. Therefore, I had a lot of free time to wander around and watch tennis.

I was able to watch Melanie Oudin's match against Alexa Glatch, another American. Glatch ended up winning the match, eliminating Oudin from the tournament, which was a big disappointment; Oudin has yet to live up to her performance in the U.S. Open. I also had time to take a tour of the promotions area of the venue, which is absolutely awesome. There is a huge variety of different sponsors, from Kappa to Rolex to food places like Papa John's. From an advertising student standpoint, it was really interesting to observe. I am really excited for early next week when we get a little bit deeper into the tournament because it will be so much more crowded and busy.

We headed to Hou Hai around 7:30 to explore and eat dinner- it is such an enormous place that it would take years to find every great restaurant and shop. We came across a huge restaurant, with outdoor seating, a main floor, and an upstairs deck. The eleven of us got our own private area upstairs which was so much fun. The menu was limitless- there were so many different things to choose from that we all decided to order something and share all of it. We had plates upon plates of food- pork, beef, tofu, duck, shrimp, rice, vegetables, noodles, fruits...and yes, we ordered a turtle. Only Matt and Jim were brave enough to try it; they concluded that it was just okay, so I think I'm happy with my decision of just taking pictures instead of eating it. All of the workers at the restaurant were imp ressed by how much food we were able to con sume; it had been a long day of work :)

After dinner, about half of us decided to head home, and a few people stayed behind to shop and go to the bars. After staying out really late last night and spending all day in the hot sun watching tennis, I was ready to call it a night. On our way towards the street, we ran across a Sunberry (if you've ever been to Pink Berry or Red Mango you know what I'm talking about). Red Mango is pretty much my favorite ice cream in the entire world and I was beyond excited to run across one in Beijing! We also spent a few minutes standing in front of a gorgeous teashop where a Chinese woman was playing the harp. Our attempts

to go home early were thrown off a little bit by all of the wonderful distractions.

Our cab ride back to the hotel was for sure the most entertaining one of my life. Our driver successfully pulled off a U-turn in the middle of driving down the street, nearly causing about a million accidents with other cars and bikers. Since we were all audibly nervous, our driver yelled out loud in a Chinese accent "CRAZY DRIVER" and swerved in and out of other cars all the way back to our hotel in attempts to entertain us. It was one of the funniest but terrifying car rides of my life.

Just another successful day in Beijing!

I am madly and passionately in love with tennis.

Today was one of the best days of my entire life. I feel like I have used that sentence a lot in the past, but have never meant it as strongly as I do right now. (By the way I took all of the pictures posted in this blog post so you can actually get an idea how close I was to the players)

We went to the tennis center early this morning in the expectation of watching our ITF players in their matches and just helping out with final preparations for the tournament, since the qualifying rounds for women start tomorrow.

The day began as a very laid back and relaxing one. We spent about two hours watching Zach's singles match, which was very entertaining, and it was exciting that he ended up winning. Meanwhile, Emily, who works in the player's lounge, was able to give us some insider information on what times and where the marquee players would be getting their practices in. I saw that Melanie Oudin was schedule to practice on one of the outdoor courts, so I decided to wander over there to watch her as she practiced. Since she was on one of the smaller courts, I was one of the only people that was standing by, and I was able to get right next to the court so that I was standing about five feet away from her. I ended up staying and watching her entire practice, and when she left with her coach, I quickly approached her in order to ask her some questions. I thought it was really funny that she was so shy and intimidated by me, but I guess she's just a normal 18 year old girl who happens to be really good at tennis. I am absolutely ecstatic that I was able to interview her since it was my first real interview of a well known athlete! Jim was even nearby with his camera and was able to take a few shots for me.

I headed back to the media center to type up an article about Oudin, where a few other people from my group were also working on stories. I'm not sure if my story will be published or not since the Chinese pick which articles to put on their website, but it was an amazing journalistic experience and opportunity nonetheless.

We hung around for a few more hours before heading over to watch Djokovic practice on Center Court. We were able to sneak down to the floor for a little bit to get a closer look and I got a bunch of pictures of him stretching and warming up. He and his coaches kept giving us strange stares since they were probably confused why we were the only people who had access to get that close to him while he warmed up. We then moved to the front row of the V.I.P. seats so we could watch the rest of his practice. Djokovic practiced with another famous player, Ivan Lubachich, so it was extremely entertaining to watch. I have never seen such amazing tennis played up close, and it was only a practice session! Djokovic, Lubachich, and all of their coaches seemed to be having such a good time, joking and laughing while they played. You could tell how much they really love the sport of tennis and why they have dedicated their lives to it. At the end of their practice, Matt dared Jim to yell "IMPRESSIONS" really loudly down to Djokovic, since he is well known for his funny impressions of other tennis stars. Djokovic looked up at us with an amused expression on his face (he was probably surprised there was someone watching him that actually spoke English) and started laughing and said, "No, no, jet lag," in choppy English. I'm going to be honest...he is pretty adorable and I am likely to fall deeper in love with him over the next 10 days.

After his practice session ended, Matt, Eric, Jim, Emily and I headed back to the restaurant we ate at last night. It was so good and there were so many options to choose from that I could probably eat there the rest of my trip. We hadn't planned on going out afterwards, but all of us had so much energy since the day had been so thrilling, that we decided to head back to HouHai, the outdoor bar and restaurant area around the lake. The taxi driver dropped us off at a completely different location than the last time we went, and at first we were a little bit turned around. Then, we ran across the entrance to a hutong, which is an ancient narrow alleyway that was originally formed by the connection of homes, but is now made up of residences, restaurants, small shops, and bars. Beijing is really well known for the presence of hutongs, but they are becoming more and more rare to find since they are being slowly demolished to make room for more modern homes and buildings. I was really really impressed by how beautiful, intricate, and ancient all of the buildings were here. We found a small flight of stairs and followed it upwards to find a huge rooftop bar full of couches and people drinking while playing cards. We ended up staying here for awhile, and they even gave us a deck of cards to play so we fit in with all of the locals.

After the rooftop bar, we stopped by a chocolate bar to buy an assortment of different chocolates and walked around to several shops before finding another outdoor bar with couches. A small group of Chinese men around our age took a seat with us and ended up hanging out and chatting with us for the rest of the night. They were SO friendly and outgoing, even going inside to grab a Chinese-Engligh dictionary at one point to teach us some more vocabulary. The weather outside was gorgeous and the company was incredible; it's not everyday you make a group of friends in a foreign country. It really was the cherry on top to the perfect day and today will forever be one of my greatest memories.

A Day of Olympic Exploration

Our adventures in Beijing continued today with the usual morning stop at the National Tennis Center. We arrived to find that there really wasn’t very much for us to work on since everyone was busy with general technical preparations for the impending tournament. Because of this, we were able to immediately head over to Center Court to watch Dinara Safina, the women’s world number one player, warm up…or so we thought. After warming up for a few short minutes, Safina took a seat with her coach to discuss strategy. They sat around animatedly talking for awhile, which then turned into them arguing very loudly. Needless to say, Safina never took the court to practice again. Either way, it was pretty exciting to be sitting in the Olympic venue, in the front row of the stands, just a few feet from the women’s world number one.

Even though Safina’s warm-up was a little bit shorter than anticipated, Matt and I decided to venture over to some ITF players he had seen playing earlier to get a quick interview. Zach White and Ahmen Al Bitar were participating in the singles tournament and were also doubles partners. White ended up being the number one seeded player in the tournament and is ranked number one for juniors in Canada. They were really friendly and interesting to talk to, and we are going to watch Zach's singles match and their doubles match when we come back tomorrow.

We were able to leave work in the mid-afternoon and about seven of us decided to head over to the Olympic Green to check out the National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest, as well as the Water Cube, and the surrounding area. We emerged from the subway right in front of the Bird's Nest, and it was an absolutely unbelieveable sight. From watching the Olympics last year, I knew that the architecture of all of the buildings in Beijing were stunning, but nothing compares to seeing it all up close. Both buildings are stunning pieces- the Water Cube looks as if it is a giant collection of glowing bubbles. We took a lot of pictures outside of the different buildings and soon found that we were more of a tourist attraction to some of the Chinese than the actual buildings were. Matt was the first one approached by an Asian guy about our age who was thrilled to be taking a picture with him. After that, a ton of people ended up coming up to us and requesting pictures; it was a blast.

Since it was a bit late in the day, we didn't have time to tour the insides of both of the buildings, so half of us split up to go inside the Bird's Nest, and the other half went to the Water Cube. I'm sure you could easily guess that I would chose the Water Cube...how could I not tour the place where all of the most amazing swimmers in the world swam in just last year! When we first got inside, I will admit, I was hyperventiliating a little bit. We got to walk through the entire complex- through the diving area, the main pool, as well as by the warm-up pool. The inside was much more spacious than it appeared on T.V. during the Olympics; it truly is massive. I loved how everything still shines like it is brand new. I really wanted to take a quick dip in the pool, but in order to swim you must pass a swimming test and pay about 10 dollars...well worth it to me, an obsessive swimmer, but not to anyone else in my group, so we passed on that.

We walked home from the Olympic Venue (which we realized was only about a 15 minute walk so the subway wasn't really needed in the first place) and passed a lot of beautiful Chinese style buildings on our way. All of the restaurants and teahouses are so intricately designed and decorated- so much thought is put into everything. We also passed the Chinese Cultural Park, which looked absolutely gorgeous, but it was already closed for the day. Unfortunately, things here close a lot earlier than in the United States.

For dinner, Emily, Jim, Eric, and I decided to go to a small place right near our hotel, and as usual, the food was delicious and the portions were huge. I ordered a noodle dish with a bunch of different vegetables and chicken in it. After dinner, we went to the billiards club nearby, which was a complete blast. It was full of mostly locals so we stuck out like a sore thumb and were clearly the worst pool players there, but we didn't mind. When you finish a game, the men who work there clear the table and re-set it up for you; now that's service. We decided to call it an early night since we had to be at the tennis center pretty early again the next day.

If you haven't noticed yet...I am having the most amazing time of my life :)

Day Three: Now I see why they call it the "Forbidden City"

Today was definitely an unforgettable one. After such an amazing day, I am really thankful that the group of people I am here with is so adventurous and open to trying and exploring anything and everything like I am. We have been having such a great time together and everyone gets along so well.

Our morning started off like yesterday, with my group, the media group, heading over to the tennis center. The players group was not required to work today, so they were lucky enough to spend the day exploring Tea Street and the fashion district (hopefully our group will find another day to do this). At the tennis center, Cynthia # 1, as we so endearingly call her since two of our bosses are named Cynthia, was ready with assignments for us. My assignment was to head to the main gate of the China Open complex and assist two Chinese girls with passing out credentials to the media. Although 75 percent of the media that will attend the China Open are Chinese reporters, 25 percent come from all around the world, so they were in need of someone to speak English to these foreign reporters when they came to get their credentials for the tournament. I spent a few hours with Jennifer and Syn, the two Chinese girls, who both spoke choppy English as they were currently learning the language in college in Beijing. They were very friendly and welcoming to me, and we had a good time chatting and playing games while we waited for the media.

After grabbing a quick lunch in the canteen, where we are allowed to eat two meals a day, Cynthia # 1 told us that if we wanted to leave early to go sightseeing that it was okay. We were all ecstatic because we wanted to make it to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square before they closed. The seven of us headed back to the hotel and quickly jumped on the subway to the Forbidden City. The subway was absolutely PACKED. Growing up in Chicago and traveling to New York City several times in my life, I am pretty used to crowded public transportation, but this was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. We were packed in like little sardines and had to fight our way off when we reached our stop (see first picture).

As soon as we got off the subway we could already see the giant portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong on the Gate of Heavenly Peace that leads to the Forbidden City. I have seen hundreds of pictures of this portrait before, but seeing it up close and in person was an irreplaceable experience. There were thousands upon thousands of Chinese people taking pictures and walking around. As we walked, the Forbidden City was on our right and to our left was Tiananmen Square, which was bigger and more crowded than I could have ever imagined. We really wanted to go into the Forbidden City first since it closed at 5 p.m., but after wandering around trying to find the entrance for twenty minutes, we were finally informed by a rare English speaking Chinese man that the Forbidden City was closed to the public until October 2nd because of the holiday. Since October 1st marks National Day and the 60th anniversary of the formation of the People’s Republic of China, many things in the city are closed down for a few days and the people are given a great deal of time off of work. On every single pole in the city there is a banner flying announcing National Day. Almost all of the streets in Beijing will be closed down on this day, and millions of people will flock to Tiananmen Square for a parade and other ceremonies.

Though we were very disappointed by this discovery, we were still able to head into Tiananmen Square to take a look around. Before we entered, we first walked by the Great Hall of the People, which is the Chinese parliament and government building. It was one of the largest buildings I have ever seen in my life and was made much more interesting by the fact that hundreds of soldiers were arriving by bus in anticipation of the holiday and the streets were lined with army tanks. Also, we stood for several minutes watching several politicians pull up in their Rolls Royce’s and shake hands with other government officials before entering the building. There were a lot of locals standing around and watching, waving Chinese flags, so we knew how important this event really was.

Known as the largest public square in the world, Tiananmen Square was overwhelmingly breathtaking. Thousands of people strolled around in awe of the monuments and surrounding buildings. We first went over and took a look at the Mao Zedong Mausoleum where long lines of people still file in each day to pay their respects. The Mausoleum was closed for the day when we arrived, so we just marveled at it from the outside. Next, we moved to the center of the square, where the Monument to the People’s Heroes sits. This monument was built to honor all of the people that gave their lives for the communist revolution. We had to ask several people to take our picture by the monument, since there were very few who spoke English in the square, but the Chinese continued to be excited by our presence there, snapping pictures of us when they thought we weren’t looking. Just as we were about to take a closer look at the National Museum of China which is found on one of the sides of the Square, a police van started moving through the square shouting in Chinese. People started flocking towards exits, as we stood around in confusion, wondering what they had said. Finally, they made an announcement in English: “Please take all of your belongings and evacuate the square immediately.” Though we weren’t sure if this was something to be worried about or not, we all started laughing as we walked towards the exit…I mean who really goes to China and is evacuated from Tiananmen Square, one of the most famous sites and tourist attractions in China. Anyway, it turns out that they were shutting it down early in preparation for the 60th anniversary festivities, but it was a crazy experience nonetheless.

After that adventure, we headed home on the subway and got ready for dinner. Emily, Matt, and I decided to look for a local restaurant to eat at, and ended up finding an amazing place with the best noodles I have ever eaten. We were the only people that spoke any English there, but it was really exciting to be at a very authentic, non-tourist restaurant.

There is so much in Beijing to explore and that I want to do before heading home that I feel like two weeks won’t be nearly enough. Either way, I can’t wait to see what else is in store for me tomorrow.

SO- I don't have an account on Flickr to post all of my pictures, but I want you to be able to see all of them while I'm gone, not just the few I post on my blog. Emily has so graciously uploaded all of my photos, as well as hers, to her Flickr account, so check it out to see more of our beautiful faces: http://www.flickr.com/photos/egc432/sets/72157622341379095/