Sunday morning was an early start for me … up at 5:30. I tried to stay in bed until there was enough light to read the clock on the wall, but I found myself simply staring at the clock, knowing there wouldn’t be enough light for over an hour. So, I got up and went for a walk. Campus at that hour, even on a Sunday is remarkably busy.  Folks were out walking and exercising, making the most of the rather chilly pre-dawn hours.

Met up with Adam and Latisha for breakfast, which we had just outside the west gate of campus: meat pancakes and hot soy milk from one place and pastries from another. We then hooked up with Jon for a quick campus tour.

The campus here is really beautiful; and if it’s beautiful in the winter, I can only imagine just how nice it will be come spring when everything starts to bloom. There are numerous places to play basketball and soccer, plus a very colorful outdoor weight lifting area. It seems that between almost all buildings there are small green areas with sitting areas. Campus is full of both garbage and recycle cans, there is no garbage on the ground! The campus itself, like most if not all Chinese campuses, is enclosed by walls; with four main entry points at cardinal directions. It makes it really nice, because you could never accidently wander off campus, and also allows for pretty good regulation of who drives into the university. We walked around the entire campus, which took about 20 minutes – meaning, a totally manageable campus!

After a quick lunch, we headed off for our first real tourist moment … a tour of the 2008 Summer Olympics site! Fun!  What has really struck me the most about the trip thus far is just how clean and quiet this part of Beijing is! We’ve only had one hazy day out of four, which is really good; the air smells fresh, and there is no trash on the ground.

The Birds Nest: so much to say, and nothing to say. Just a wild looking building. Adam made the good point that it must have been a pain to build. The thing goes up and out and in and around and is all intertwined and interconnected like a … a … hmm … birds nest perhaps. The inside looks a lot like a stadium, probably because it is one, the most notable part being the huge blow up figures of the Beijing Olympic mascots, and the cute stuffed ones. But the most most notable part is that Adam and Latisha had their first experience as famous people in China. This is one part of being in a country where you are obviously a foreigner that I really enjoy. I liked it in China ten years ago, I liked it in India four years ago, and I still like it. Random people will come up, and ask to take their pictures with you; and this is because you are so beautiful and lovely and charismatic and generally wonderful. Your personal aura is so overwhelming bright and attractive that people cannot help but be drawn to you and want to take their photos with you. At least, that’s what I think it is … . Unfortunately, because I was in many of these famous people photo ops, I did not get to take many photos of it, but you get the picture.

After walking around for a bit, being mobbed for a bit, and walking some more, we decided to return to campus, and meet back up for dinner later in the evening. Dinner this evening was at a Chinese-Korean restaurant where we had barbequed squid (my favorite!) and a rice noodle and veggie dish (also my favorite). The restaurant folks were all very impressed as I translated the menu for Latisha and Adam, which led into my translating the waiter’s questions to Latisha and Adam. Always fun, and good to know that I still know Chinese! Phew!