Frogger

I'm finally back to feeling like a human being again, as opposed to a coughing machine! Thanks to all for your concern and well wishes! It is great to hear from friends and family from home, especially when you're half way around the world and not feeling well!

I've ventured out on Dexter, my 'new to me' bike, this week quite a bit. I should have taken out a larger AD&D policy before purchasing a bike. Riding a bike or driving a car here is like flirting with suicide every time you get behind the wheel! The best way to describe it is like a cross between chicken and a really advanced level of Frogger that I could never get to in the arcades as a child. Basically, it's each man for himself and the larger the vehicle, the better chance you have of going somewhere. Although there are traffic lights, signs and rules, no one follows them. It's utter chaos.

There was a report on International CNN this week on traffic in Beijing. They are adding over 2,000 cars A DAY to the roads here in Beijing alone! I'm sure you've read that China recently surpassed the US in annual auto sales per year. You can believe it when you walk out on to any street here. What's scary, though, is that the people don't really know how to drive and they don't have 'driving schools' just yet. Needless to say, I'm getting pretty good with using my little bell to warn everyone I'm coming, and I'm just biding my time before I get into a wreck with another bike, car or pedestrian!

Masami (Japanese), Ashley (Michigan), Mei Xian (my Korean roommate) and I went to a fantastic Korean BBQ place for dinner this week (see picture). We cooked our own meat on the coals right at our seat! Korean food is fantastic, but they use a whole lot of plates. I would not want to be a dishwasher at a Korean restaurant!

We had a class field trip to another section of the Great Wall on Friday. The weather was a typical "cloudy" Beijing day where the pollution hangs over the city, so the visibility wasn't great. There were also a lot of tourists in this particular section. Since I am still not 100% health-wise, I took the easy way onto the Wall via cable car! I'm sure the Chinese who built the Wall would flip in their graves if they knew that there were cable cars to lift lazy tourists up to the top! I ran into the only other Gator fan I know in Beijing, Jonathan, so of course we had to do the Gator Chomp on the Wall! I also really wanted to drink a beer on the Great Wall, so I did that with a South African friend, Ruan. It's really surreal to be taking field trips to something as incredible as the Great Wall!

School is getting better...my vocabulary and pronunciation improves each week. I can finally order food at a restaurant and hail a cab without having to pretend like I'm a mime. I did, however, realize that I was pronouncing my own name wrong. It's spelled Jia Li. I thought it was pronounced like "Jolie" but that's wrong! It's actually pronounced Jolly, as in Jolly old St. Nick! Oops! ;)

To my BB&T friends, I still have not received my package (it's been almost a month!) that has the hat you all signed and gave me during my going away party. I will most certainly wear it and post a picture as soon as I actually get it! I haven't forgotten!

Off to prepare my resume and business cards for a CCIM networking event and to get my Halloween costume ready for next weekend! Zai Jian from Beijing!