Cultures around the table...

Ohh… China is showing us many curious cultures, some of them we could never imagine! Last night my client took us for a great and very luxury dinner in a local restaurant and there I started learning that their culture around the table is so surprising. According to them, is not quite good to drink by your own, the guests must invite you for a cheer and then you are free to do so. What I can tell you is that it happened hundred times! One of our guests challenged me to cheer with local wine (that was very good!) a few times, and then I found out that when he drinks and show you the bottom of the glass, you must drink everything is on it without breathing break. I don't need to say that Xu and I got a little bit drunk because I thought not doing so, it could be to disrespect their habits. Last, but not least, I was informed the being modest and recognize your limits is a virtue for them… but I think it was too late!

 

Bruno,

park at the end of "healthy happy"

Our hotel is on Kang-Le street, that I was told today by a university professor (that Radha and I will be working with) translates to "healthy happy".
I went running this morning in the park across from our hotel, at the end of Kang-Le, filled with clusters of people doing Tai Chi and some sort of line dancing.
Lots of people being "healthy happy".
-Ryan

happy end of the first month of the Chinese New Year

Shijiazhuang was a mad house last night. Sounded like a war zone with fire works going off everywhere for hours to celebrate the last day of the first month of the Chinese new year... the day the dragon raises it head; the beginning of Spring.

hint mild and fragrant

	hint mild and fragrant Uploaded by photomistic on March 6, 2011 © All rights reserved Just follow this link to see and comment on this photo: »  http://www.flickr.com/x/t/0099009/photos/photomistic/5501486935/

ABV/IBM CSC Experts in the house

Second Blog - Sara

We had a big day yesterday, so I really slept well.  We left the hotel and headed toward the subway system.  I was amazed at how clean and easy it was to navigate.  There was no room to even think about getting a seat on a Saturday, seems to be very popular, we couldn't even get on one train because it was so packed.  There was a series of video screens on the side of the wall so you could watch a commercial and some art, we thought that was pretty cool.  We got off at Tianamen Square, again there were a lot of people there, having to go through security to get into the square, then off to the Forbidden City.  Both sites were massive and the Forbidden City was very ornate, it took us three hours just to walk from one end to the other.  The gardens were our favorite part, there were trees that were still standing that you could tell they had been there for centuries.  I was surprised at the fact that people wanted to take their pictures the westerners, I didn't expect that in Beijing.  We joked that we were celebrities!  Then we finally successfuly hailed a taxi, it was crazy, we had to barter down our fair, but for less than $20 all 5 of us were on our way to the hotel, just in time to meet our other CSC co-horts.  This group seems like it is going to be really fun.  Our NGO representatives took us to a fantastic dinner to a place that specialized in stews, but they had all sorts of salads, pork, rice covered meatballs, sweet potatoe fried bread, everything was delicious!  Bummer, I thought I was going to lose weight on this trip! Here is a picture of the whole crew at dinner, off to Shijiazhuang today, excited to get to know our city and its people!
 
Sara

Rajani touches snow for the first time

swarming the forbidden city

My first blog

I am in Beijing!  Getting ready to go site seeing with my teammates, bike tour through Beijing including the Forbidden City, shopping, and some of the alleyway communities.  Everyone seems super nice so far, especially my teammates.  First impressions: tobacco is everywhere- so glad that smoking is banned from restaurants in the US and most people don't speak English, so I am going to be doing a lot of pointing and acting at restaurants and hotels, but that is fun!   My hotel in Beijing is nice, breakfast was a mix of Asian specialties- dumplings, rice, and lo mein and US norms - omelets. Getting exciting to check out the city and then check back in.  Missing friends and family, but looking forward to the experience!