Benefits

One of the coolest benefits I've seen to working for Disney so far is a free pass. While I'm employed through China, I have a free pass to every Disney park except for the Disneyland in Tokyo. Why is that? It's because Disney doesn't technically own the park in Tokyo. But I can go to California, France, Florida, and Hong Kong with no problems. It's pretty awesome. I can even bring three friends with me if I want. I get a discount at the hotels, too.

Another great thing about it is the rewards. If I can refer another person to come to Disney English, then I get a bonus with my salary. It's not a bad deal. They take really good care of their employees here. It's a good thing. :)

Advertising.... Something to Look Into...

If there's one thing I find peculiar about China, it's their advertisements. Particularly their fashion advertisements.

What I mean by this is that when you go to the supermarket and look for something like Shampoo, or candy, it's a Chinese model or actor advertising the product. It's bright, and colorful, and it gets the point across. You want to buy this product.

Walk into one of the multiple-story malls in Beijing, and in the clothing stores, and even in some of the places meant for the kids to play, it won't be a Chinese model but a cluster of Western models. When you walk into a Guess, there might be one picture of said Chinese model, but all the other ones are white with long, flowing blonde hair and blue eyes and tall.

Stores for the kids to burst energy not only have white, smiling adults hanging on the walls, but the children decorating these walls are also white.

Now, I may just be completely naive to advertising, but wouldn't you want your pictures to be something that everyone can relate to, not pictures that don't look like anyone? The whole thing baffles me that I'd seen more pictures of Westerners in advertisements than I have of Chinese decorating the Walls. It's a very interesting thing to me. I think I may ask someone who knows something about it if I remember. Cause it's baffling.

Beijing picture of the day!

you can't see it very well, but it was Chinglish on the walls. But they had some great yak yogurt with dragon fruit!

Yummy Yummy Yummy! I have Food in my Tummy!

If there's one huge misconception about America vs. China, I'd say it was probably the food. One of the biggest stereotypes that a lot of other countries have about China is that every time food is served, it's huge. Granted, most places, that is true. I can't walk into a Bob Evans anymore because of the size of the dishes. Other times, it seemed like you were paying a lot for very little.

As for China, anyone that says Chinese sizes are dinky have clearly never been there. Either that, or they might've been there decades ago.

In the short week I've been there, and from my memory of China three years ago, I've yet to encounter a place that give a person tiny portions. Everywhere I went, the dishes were huge. Regardless of whether or not it was for an individual person, or if it was for the whole group of people to share. The size of the food always seems to be larger than any dish I'd ever received in America.

I know what a lot of people are thinking about now...

"Keara, if you're being served all that food, how in the hell did you lose so much weight last time?"

Well, my theory is that the food here is more organic. No GMO's, hardly any preservatives. Oil? Yes. Plenty. But at the same time, there's a lot more walking than what you'd see in America too. So there's a reason for so much food.

Not only that, but a lot of vegetables. Not so much greasy processed food.

Beijing picture of the day!

IMPORTANT CULTURE NOTE! This will probably be the last pic you see of me eating food. It's actually considered rude to take pictures of the food here. I risked it this time to demonstrate how big the food is. (This was taken yesterday.)

Rush Hour

I've never had so much fun being pressed up against a whole bunch of people in a very constricting place.

No, it's not as gross as it sounds. Actually, it's probably the opposite. Yes, I'm still pressed up against more bodies than any body should be pushed up against, but then again, I'm in Beijing at Rush Hour, so it's only a given I'd be packed like a sardine in the subway.

After the training, today, the other Foreign Trainers and I left the Disney English Center and decided to wait till we got home to eat dinner. Well, we immediately wondered if that was a good idea or not. There were people trying to cut in the middle of a line that wound up around the corner. Honestly, I should've taken a picture of it cause it was so fascinating. We decided to join the crowd of people trying to get in through the middle of line.

No sooner than when we got to the line, people from behind started pushing and shoving to get to the subway stairs. If you didn't have a tight grip on any stuff you were carrying, you lost it. Nor could you get out of the crowd so you could escape if you were claustrophobic. You were basically stuck in the crowd and forced to follow a very strong current.

Next was going from one subway to another. I had to go through a couple subway lines before I finally got home. A couple of them had so many people packed that we'd either decide to wait for the next one or get pressed up against the poles to hold on to in the middle of the train.

Then when it finally came time to get off, you had to be aggressive. Not any less aggressive getting on the subway line either. You pushed, you shoved. You probably elbowed too. We ended up getting off the subway laughing at the craziness of it all. I'd never been so packed in my life.

Beijing picture of the day!

Yes, that is Pizza Hut, and yes, it is a fancy restaurant.

Battle of the Stairs

The one thing I completely forgot about in Beijing was that it's not guaranteed that the floors are even. You could be walking along and come across a small bump on the concrete. Or a corner piece of cobblestone is poking up from the sidewalk. That isn't saying that the construction workers are bad at what they do. The way some of these places look around here will tell you otherwise. If anything, there was probably a reason the ground wasn't level.

Unfortunately, the biggest offender of that is the stairs. And because of this, I've found that I'm in a never ending battle with said stairs. Countless times, I've found myself tripping, falling on my face, or catching myself from doing so because of these stairs. Either they look like they're part of the floor, or they're ridiculously high, or they're low enough that when I go to catch myself I end up falling.

I'd like to think that I managed to catch myself gracefully while the trippings were happening. That I'd grown into my clumsiness, and now I'm as graceful as the next person. The stairs make me look like that clutzy twelve-year-old again; failing in ways that no one would've ever guessed was possible. It's a humbling experience when the stairs make you look like a dumb foreigner.

Beijing picture of the day!

Camera Troubles

Unfortunately, my picture situation is more of a challenge than I thought. I was in such a rush to get out of the house and get to the airport, that I completely forgot to grab my camera when I left. I feel like an idiot for doing so.

But that doesn't mean there won't be pictures. Oh, no. For starters, I'd recently received an iPod Touch as a gift. While it seems to be mostly designed for selfies, it is a way for me to get pictures.

Also, I bought a cell phone today. It doesn't yet have a SIM card, for I'm just going to wait till Tianjin before I buy myself a SIM card. They still have roaming charges in this country! Interesting to me, really. Not complaining at all. I made sure that it was a phone that could take pictures so that I could get a memory card and eventually place them on the computer. Not to worry, though, for I'll find a way to get one sent to me. Either that or buy a cheap one around here. I haven't figured that out yet.

Anyways, since today is the day of the Doctor, and I don't have a lot of China pics, yet, here's a TARDIS pic of the day!

Good Evening, Beijing!

Finally! After thirteen hours on the plane, more movies than I ever expected from a plane, and a drive to the wrong hotel, I've made it to my destination. Beijing!

Gotta say, this is one of the coolest hotel rooms I've ever been in. There's a Rubik's cube waiting for me, plus one of the biggest showers I'd ever seen. So many oranges everywhere. Yes, my hotel is called Orange Hotel. If some of you know where I worked in the past, you're probably laughing at that right now.

Being the night owl that I am, I lasted maybe two hours before I finally crashed to sleep. I spent that two hours trying to get the internet going. It was being evil to me. Proxy sites and whatnot. XD

Today, I don't have an awkward China pic. Tomorrow? Probably. I haven't decided how long I'll be posting yet, but once I know, it'll be a consistent thing. Bye!!!!!