China is Amazing but No Access to Social Media!
hello all the way from china!!! we have been having an amazing time here! the only BIG bummer is that we cannot access any of social media (facebook, instagram, twitter) so my sister is awesome and is going to post things every once in a while but i can still blog so yay!
we have a crazy schedule so i will be doing shorter posts with more photos but it really has been incredible.
we are currently in beijing where the pollution is really just as bad as they say. the sky always looks like it’s about to be dusk and also sometimes how it looks when it’s about to snow. this was actually a ‘great day’ because a large wind storm happened a day before we arrived and apparently blew out a lot of the pollution.
my husband totally and completely rocked his THREE presentations yesterday, even while battling jet-lag! he never ceases to amaze me! the people here are so incredibly nice, appreciative, helpful and friendly it’s really amazing. they also presented him with beautiful gifts for speaking! he spoke twice at motorolla yesterday…hence the overly excited guy painted on the wall!
the next stop was “beijing foreign studies university” put on by mcgraw-hill in china because his book got picked up to be translated in china! the turnout was HUGE!
people were seated on the floor it it looked the same behind me with hoards of people and also on the other side of the room! he rocked it and so great to see so many younger people turn out!
i also got told i look and sound just like anne hathaway. i don’t see/hear it but i’ll take it! the young ladies were also not shy about telling me how handsome and attractive my husband is! ha!
one woman said she didn’t even read the flyer for his workshop but just saw his face and knew she had to be there. i had no choice but to laugh and agree.
as we walked out of the library after his presentation…look what we were greeted with!
we have been eating delicious food and so far nothing has freaked me out too badly! i realized my chopstick practicing should have included picking up heavier foods because i’ve definitely dropped many things on my lap because i lose my grip. #classyamerican.
the duck dishes contain their very famous dish of “peking duck” and it was quite good! you dip the duck meat in that brown sauce, put it in a tortilla, put celery and other green veggie on and consume!
yes, all of this is served on massive ‘lazy-susan’s” that spin around! so smart. i’m now wanting one of these in my home one day.
this is my favorite thing at our buffet breakfast at our hotel:
mmm “fried glutinous rice balls” -they really are tasty.
last night after the presentation and dinner, we stopped by olympic park where the beijing olympics were held in 2008! it’s closed off because APEC is going to be here next week so we unfortunately cannot tour it but the lightshow was impressive!
look at how angelic this photo came out that my husband took. freakin’ angel right here! haaa. i said it looked like my brilliance was radiating over the world and i believe my husband’s response was “yeahhhhh or it just looks like lights in the sky.” whatever.
okay! we are off to the great wall of china today and it’s blowing my mind that we get to see it!
ps. i would SO appreciate if you tweeted/facebooked this because it’s the main way other readers get to my site and i can’t do it 🙁 i’m trying not to feel helpless and just embrace what it is. thanks!
questions:
1) how adventurous are you with ‘new food trying?’ (usually…i’m a big fat chicken)
2) did you watch the beijing olympics?? weren’t the opening ceremonies amazing?!
Jennifer Haston
October 30, 2014 at 6:37 am
Sounds like China is going well! I thought of you yesterday as I practiced my French.. tres difficil pour moi.. but better than Chinese for level of difficulty!
questions:
1) how adventurous are you with ‘new food trying?’ (usually…i’m a big fat chicken) I am pretty adventurous.. depends on who I am with.. I could never bring myself to try “fish maw” though.. ew!!
2) did you watch the beijing olympics?? weren’t the opening ceremonies amazing? I did not. We have Netflix and Hulu so no cable for this girl. Glad you got to see them!
Jennifer Haston recently posted…Passion! Don’t turn it down, turn it UP!
chelsea
October 30, 2014 at 7:22 pm
it really is such an amazing and different place, jennifer! looks like your article did well too-yay! thanks for putting yourself out there 🙂
glad you are practicing your french-oh la la tres bien!
i have warned everyone that i’m not a huge fan of seafood (the next place we are traveling too is on the water ver well known for serving mainly seafood so i’m a little nervous)! we went over to a friend’s house to watch the olympics because we cut cable too, jennifer! thrifty ladies with our money, aren’t we!
Lindsay @ The Newlywed Notebook
October 30, 2014 at 7:03 am
You guys are like famous, and stuff!! 😉 Looks like the trip is off to a great start!! Can’t wait to hear more about it! xo
chelsea
October 30, 2014 at 7:23 pm
ha! as rachel said, they flow freely with their compliments and we do sort of stick out like huge, white giants here!! so much to share from our adventures to the great wall-stay tuned and thanks for your comment lindsay! i can’t wait to catch up on your blog!
Emoke Zimmermann
October 30, 2014 at 10:44 am
Great wall of China..:). Our twins looking forward to see it and they want chinese duck for dinner:). Thanks for the article Chelsea! Shared on social media.
chelsea
October 30, 2014 at 7:25 pm
it was quite “GREAT” emoke!!! are you traveling to china soon?! thank you so very much for sharing emoke, i greatly appreciate your help! more pictures of food and the great wall coming soon 🙂
Rachel G
October 30, 2014 at 3:21 pm
Sorry I didn’t warn you in advance about the social media thing! It feels “normal” now. I just tell Angel, “Don’t worry, you can instagram that next time we leave the country.” 😛
I am not the bravest person in the world about foods. I usually tell people here that I am a vegetarian (I’m not, but I’d rather eat veggies than meat) and then they only make me try about half of the meat dishes instead of every single one (they also have a loose interpretation of vegetarian). Glad you’re having fun adventures!
Being in China is always good for your self-esteem, the compliments come fast and hard.
Rachel G recently posted…Things We See
chelsea
October 30, 2014 at 7:27 pm
well it just shows how naive i can be around how the rest of the world works, rachel 🙂 i just figured that because i could access it all just fine in malaysia, the same would apply here and oh how very wrong i was!
super smart to tell people you’re vegetarian because there are some funky meats that get served here! smart lady. ha! those compliments do come fast and hard and it’s interesting to hear how much they more people generally comment on physical beauty and looks than what happens in the USA!
Ashley @ Saving Money in your Twenties
October 30, 2014 at 4:44 pm
This is SO COOL! Its like we’re there with you 🙂 Have so much fun at the great wall! I can’t wait to see your pics of that!
Ashley @ Saving Money in your Twenties recently posted…Halloween 2014 Freebies & Deals
chelsea
October 30, 2014 at 7:28 pm
i am working on narrowing down my 500+ pictures from yesterday because i could not get enough of the great wall, ashley!!! pretty great 🙂 love that you are sharing deals and freebies for halloween-yay saving money!
Jessie
November 10, 2014 at 7:57 pm
Hi Chelsea,
I went to see your husband’s presentation in HK yesterday. It was really good fun. I was impressed you are such a supportive wife. And I truth believe a couple needs to be best friends first, which you guys are. By the way, for your information, China doesn’t have access to Facebook, but we have other social medias, such as: wechat and weibo. And they are very powerful. Also, wechat is now getting popular overseas as well.
Good luck with your China tour! Hope to see you again in the future. You are welcome to drop me an email at your next HK trip. 🙂
chelsea
November 12, 2014 at 5:02 pm
hi jessie! thanks so much for attending ryan’s workshop in HK and also for your comment here! i absolutely agree that couples need to be best friends too, you have to like and enjoy being around each other! we kept hearing about wechat while we were there so we shall need to check that out! thanks jessie 🙂