Back in Beijing

So its 10:05 pm here as I begin to summarize what has been an action packed, adventure filled day in Beijing. We were all a little nervous (ed. we = Julie and I) to go to NCR today, where some of us would get to spend an additional two and a half weeks working. The cocoa – puffs for breakfast helped calm my nerves at least. You don’t appreciate how good cereal is until you’ve had to eat vegetables and pork like every morning. Anyhow our first site for the day was Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square, the biggest square in the world at 880 meters per side, is filled with Soviet style monuments to the proletariat and vendors selling Mao memorabilia. A couple of us bought some overpriced Mao watches, pretty sweet. We were a little pressed for time, and so soon it was time to go into the Forbidden City. Jam-packed with foreigners, it was difficult to imagine that this was once a city banned to everyone but a select Chinese. Now there’s a Starbucks located inside an 800 year old building – and yes, we all bought some expensive coffee. After the Forbidden City it was lunch time, where we got to eat Peking duck: delicious. Now running a little late we went to NCR. Upon arrival we were given an incredibly informative presentation by a man named Michael Low. Originally from Singapore, Mr. Low described in depth the business model for NCR and its operations in Beijing. He also noted that the goal for our stay would be to learn the product from start to finish. After the lecture we got a tour of the factory floor, which encompassed a huge operation to assemble the machines. Cool stuff. I am pretty excited about this, from all we’ve heard it will be a great experience. Now after NCR we got to go to both the silk factory and the pearl factory. In the former we learned how to tell the difference between real and fake silk (they burn differently) and how silk is created. Apparently a lot of silkworms had to die to make the bedspreads. In any event after they hooked us with the information they pointed us to the warehouse. There were some awesome silk clothes, if over priced. In the pearl factory they also showed us how to tell the difference between real and fake pearls (they rub differently) and also the difference between freshwater and saltwater oysters. Again there were beautiful pieces, and again rather expensive. On the bright side after the purchase we got free candy. Totally worth it. Finally we went to dinner and the teahouse. The teahouse, besides having a lot of tea, put on a variety show-esque presentation, encompassing Shaolin monks, sound effect comedians, Szechuan Opera performers, and more. After that we came back to the hotel, and I began to blog. This will be our final night all together, as Kim, Cameron, Colin, and Mr. Killmer get ready to go back to the states, Mark and John prepare to go to Shanghai, Li Laoshi travels to Taiwan, and me and Julie go to our host families. So yah, its been good, and I think I will go to bed. –Ben Goldhaber