Counting the Beans and Cooking the Books

I’ve gotten my hands on my instructor’s laptop for a few hours. (She needs help making schedule spreadsheets, and I am the Excel queen! Thanks, Deloitte!)

I honestly couldn’t love it here more;the people are incredibly sweet and helpful, the service is impeccable, and our work is just fantastic. What’s hilarious is that every cab driver/waitress/chinese person I have come into contact with, seems to think that I MUST speak chinese. They say “Ooh…you look like asian…” and find it incredibly hard to believe that I don’t speak chinese. They look at me with such hope and expectation, like I’ll be able to translate for the group. This entire experience with the US Olympic Committee has infinitely exceeded my greatest expectations — it is truly spectacular and special to be a part of it.

Hitting the Ground Running with Work…

We spent most of yesterday getting our venue ready to open tomorrow; it is five floors and absolutely enormous and terribly confusing to get around. It’s incredibly hot, and I think I’ve already lost 10% of my body weight in sweat running boxes up and down the stairs, getting our pantries organized, and just preparing the floor for guests. I must’ve done something right because the manager asked me to come back today to work with the interior designer, getting floral arrangements ready.

The lovely USA House!

Some of my handiwork....

Today was a full day of decorating and arranging countless bouquets and vases, but I learned so much and can’t wait to showcase my new skills at the next dinner party! It is truly amazing to learn from the people here; they are the best at what they do and I am sucking up every bit of information that I can. the caterers I work for are equally impressive; they have managed to open two full service restaurants in a foreign country, find vendors for food product, ship meat from the US, locate all the necessary kitchen equipment, etc. There are so many of us running around everyday, just troubleshooting and working on our endless list of tasks.

On a side note, there are a couple of Chinese girls here from the States, and they are volunteering as translators. They are absolutely indispensable and have accompanied the chefs to the markets, the designer to the flower mart, etc. What a great gig. I’m really just jealous because I am useless here language-wise.

And Chinese Food - wow!

Posing with the duck before eating the duck!

Food wise, I couldn’t be happier. I have longans in my refrigerator as we speak! Last night, a few girls and I went out to dinner at this GINORMOUS peking duck restaurant, where the chef came out to carve our duck tableside. The waitresses come around and wrap your duck in pancakes, complete with sauce and scallions. The service is just ridiculous, and I’m sure to be disappointed when I come home, and I don’t have someone there to open my bottle of water for me and pour it into a glass.

Buying a hairdryer is like buying a car; the whole transaction at Wu Mart involved about 10 people, ending in a lovely girl taking out my hair dryer for a “demonstration.” She laid out all the user guides, plugged it in, showed me the different heat levels…it was hilarious.

I should probably run along now– I have a few busy days coming up, but will be off this wednesday for some exploring and shopping. ’til next time!