Day 3 Oct 11

Every morning at our hotel we get a free continental breakfast.

There are some staples, but it changes day-to-day and is very good.
Joanne has been trying to teach us a few Mandarin words and every morning we review our words and if we are doing well she will add on new words.
So far my words to learn are ni hao (hello), xie xie (thank you) and zai jian (good-bye).

This morning was especially beautiful. The rain the night before had cleared away all the pollution and boy what a difference.
I love my co-workers so far. They are both super cool and easy to get along with.
Our personalities mesh very well together and I think we are going to have a lot of fun these next two weeks.

Fun facts:
Joanne is from Banana Republic in Seattle. She is fluent in Mandarin and was born in Guam. She also played volley ball in Japan.
James (Jim) has been working for Gap for 12 years and lives in Harrisburg, PA. He is a member of the largest tap team in America.

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Since we start work tomorrow we thought it would be a good idea to meet up with the other team and introduce ourselves before going crazy with work.
We planned to meet a few of them at Tiananmen Square and thought it would be fun to try and take the subway.
It is about a 15 min walk to the closest subway (Line 1).
On our way to the subway we found a hair salon next to our apartment...
We're going to get our hair cut there while we are in Beijing :D


Anyways, so our first experience on the subway wasn't too bad. It was pretty crowded, but not too crazy. We took it to Tiananmen Square East to meet Justin (Gap), Nancy C. (Banana) and Mike (Old Navy).



The Forbidden City is across the street from Tiananmen Square. We were suppose to spend the day exploring them, but decided it would be a better idea to grab some lunch and get to know each other better.

We got lunch at some touristy duck place near the Forbidden City (I forget the name). The food was good, except for the Hot & Sour soup, and there was plenty of it.

There was duck, prawn, kung-pao chicken, a pork dish, a mushroom dish, 2 veggie dishes, fried rice and hot & sour soup.
How cute! Duck on a duck plate :D
Demonstrating how to make a duck roll
Joanne and I both like taking pictures of our food

After we ate we walked over to the APM team's apartment housing. On the way over we saw a mom letting her child - a 6 year old girl - pee in the middle of the sidewalk. It was was definitely an OMG moment for us.

When we arrived at their apartment we finally got to meet Nathan (Banana Outlet) and Karen B. (Gap).

We sat around chatting for a while then went to a frou-frou grocery store before heading home.
We decided to take the subway again. Luckily they live in Wang Fu Jing which is a very busy area so we had a lot to look at on the walk to the subway.

This area reminds me of Time Square.

The ride home was an adventure for sure. By the time we made it back I had just enough time to wash my hair, iron my shirt and get my stuff ready for orientation tomorrow :))))) I can't wait!