BLOG ENTRY NUMBER TWO BECAUSE THE FIRST ONE GOT DELETED :(

So today Mike picked us up at half 8 in the morning! Not the nicest of times to get going after jet lag, but we got up anyway. So we had two talks today. The first one was with a man who was with the first group of Project Trust volunteers to come out to China 25 years ago! So to get to his office, Mike decided to hire bikes for us to ride around on. It was the best decision anyone has ever made, even if it meant we almost died a couple of thousand times! The bike lanes are on the main roads in Beijing, which means you were literally cycling alongside the cars and buses. You'd have the occasional bus that would pull into the bike lane so you'd have to swerve and overtake it. But it was still a really fun and dangerous experience. Really got the adrenaline pumping!

So after getting across town to the office, we had a chat with Patrick who told us about his experiences and answered some of our questions. The whole talk was really informative. After the talk (and free water!) Mike gave us the rest of the day off. We had to be at a certain talk at 4pm, so we had a good four hours to explore. So Harriet (my partner) and I decided to get on our bikes and see where Beijing decided to take us. We went down some random streets , that were soo colourful and smelt so good! The sights of Beijing on a bike are some i will never forget! It is so beautiful! Eventually, we ended up at Tiananmen Square. We decided to park up our bikes and go and look around the Palace. We paid 15 RMB to go into the palace, but it was worth it to see all the beauty it had to offer. The markings on the wall were so detailed and colourful, it was unlike anything i have ever seen! We walked around the courtyards and we even bought food from a food van! We even started to feel slightly Chinease, as we pushed in the cues like the chinease do! haha! To exit the park, we had to walk all the way to the very back of the courtyard/palace, which was miles away from the front. We were conscious of the time, and decided we probably wouldn't get to the talk if we tried to walk back to our bikes. So we haggled these guys on mopeds to take us to the front of the palace for 10 RMB each instead of 20 RMB each! SCORE! So we had a ride on the back of a mopped! It was so much fun and a lot faster than walking! Started to feel like we fitted in a little better then.

So after we grabbed our bikes, we decided to head towards our meeting point. It's a good job we left early because we ended up cycling to far and had to cycle back the way we came! Literally cycled around the whole of Beijing! So we eventually found the place and had an hour to spare, and saw that there was a McDonalds across the road. Naturally we headed on over….

Half of PT had made it to the McDonalds, so we ordered some food. That took along time to explain what we wanted and what size we wanted, but eventually we got our orders and it turns out, it was much nicer than the ones back home!

After all that, we headed over to the talk, which was with the people who help PT come over here to teach. The talk itself was pretty insightful. Micheal gave us tips on how to teach and what to expect culture wise. And we got FREE coke or sprite! That was a major plus! After all that mike decided that it was tea time and took us to year another restaurant, which was exactly the same as the night before. I did manage to order myself a bottle of water in Chinease though, so I felt pretty chuffed with myself :)

After the VERY long, but very worth it, cycle ride back to the Hostel. Where we went through one of the busiest streets in china, we decide to go out for drinks at a local English bar for one of the volunteers 18th Birthday! I had also managed to get all 20 volunteers to sign a card for him and sing Happy Birthday to him as well, so I was feeling pretty accomplished by this point. So after a free shot, some amazing music, great, yet slightly weird conversations, I decided to come back to the room at 2am to write this blog.

First day in China - I didn't die, and got to see amazing sights, so I would say that was an AMAZING first day!