Let the games begin..

So here's the bit where the challenge begins... I've spent a week adjusting to everything around me and now it's time to buckle down and get started. We've sorted out what we're going to be doing within the team, atleast over the next two weeks. Hopefully our national plans should kick in after that. We're beginning prelimnary national plans this weekend - my third consecutive weekend spent outside Beijing city!

The apartment's taking shape too. We spent most of last night clearing out the last remaining bastions of cobwebs and grime from our (now sparkling new) kitchen and also figured out what it's going to take to get the DVD player working in tandem with our giant 29" TV. At 7 RMB a DVD (about INR 35) it's going to fast become our favourite form of entertainment.

I'm really excited about the next three months. If things stay as they are, it seems that I will be coaching two LCs which AIESEC is still extening to in Tianjin and in Guangzhou. The travelling will play its part in the challenge(Beijing to Guangzhou is almost a day away by train!) but the alone time should help me focus better on the task that lies ahead.

I gotta start practising my Mandarin more dilligently. I did manage to bargain pretty successfully with the shopkeeper when I bought lychees the day before. Though it's still not entirely clear what frustrated him more - my negotiating skills or my broken 'putong khwa'.

John (Canada) and I were sharing some amusing experiences we'd had over the last few days. While attempting to negotiate with the locals here, we're commanding our brains to find the Mandarin phrase for 'too expensive' (ta-gwai la) He ends up saying things like "ai caramba" or "mon dieu!" The hindi phrases that I utter are unfit for translation on a nice, family blog like this. A recent survey did rank Beijing as one of the ten most expensive cities to live in, so we dont think we're being taken for a ride just because we belong to the 'Laoi' community.

Anyways, I have to get busy with the work here. We've got a nicely hectic week coming up and losing the internet last evening was possibly the worst thing that could happen at the start off!

Until the next one...