What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been

As I wait for the bus to take me to the airport, I feel it only right to leave one last post for all of you faithful readers. For those who have been with me through the good times, and the bad. Seen my happiest moments, and my worst. This trip has been the single greatest thing I have done in my life. The good times far outweigh the bad, but the bad (there have been many) has made me a stronger person/manager, and has prepared me for anything that could come my way in the future. I've learned plenty about the job itself, but I think more importantly, I have learned just how strong I am. I made it through two months in China!

I want to thank all of you for reading this page for the past few weeks, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I have! Thank you for all of the comments, they really made my day!

I hope to see all of you very soon!

And I will close with the words of the great Jimmy Buffett....

"It's Been A Lovely Cruise"

Chris

It Just Keeps Getting Better....

You can't tell from this picture but due to the excitement of meeting this gentleman I peed my pants just a little. Any guesses?!?!?!

A Day In The Life of an Olympic Athlete

The other day I had the opportunity to experience something that only a select few people are able to in their lifetime. Being an Aramark employee I have very little restrictions as to where I can go in the city of Beijing, and particularily the Olympic venues, and I wanted to make sure that I took advantage of this perk while I was here. So the other day my buddy Dave and I took the staff subway line (yes, Beijing has built a subway line dedicated to all Olympic staff, athletes, and media) to the Olympic Village. This village houses all Olympic athletes, and consists of everything you could ever imagine; from pool & spa to gameroom to bar/dance club. The idea is to have everything an athlete cold ever need right withing this complex. We decided it was time to live like an ahtlete, and make a day out of the Olympic Village. Of course the first stop we made was to the dining hall in the complex. I know quite a few people who work there, so we fidgured we could get a tour of the facility. And that we did! We were taken all through the immense operation, and I couln't believe my eyes! Here is a kitchen that pushes out 25,000 meals per day, includes the maind dining room which is the size of three football fields, and has about 10,000 employees working during each shift! I would of never belived having not seen it, and I am really glad that I did!

From the kitchen we travelled to the Olympic Store to purchase some much needed souvenirs for family and friends, and then just walked the campus. We walked through all of the residential areas, and just snapped a ton of pictures! It was very exciting being behind the scenes. I was seeing something that not a lot of other people will ever get to see. And since that is the case, I would like to share a few of my favorite pictures from my day. I hope you enjoy them.

Once In A Lifetime...

Viva Brazil

This picture made my entire trip. Do you know who this guy is!?!??!?!?

Like A Rock

I have expressed in previous posts how taxing this job has been on all of us here in Beijing, right? Well, now the stress, the constant struggle to keep our heads above water, and knowing that our trip home is just around the corner, is really starting to affect people. I don't know if it is appropriate to use the term, "losing their minds", but that is really how I see things at this point. The long hours, the lack of days off, and everything else has caused people to act in ways I would of never expected from them.

It was about 6:00 am on Monday morning. We had just sent up our first round of hotboxes to the dining room. I was walking into the issue cooler, and as I walked by one of my executive chefs, he had a look on his face that I had never seen on him before. I asked my usual, "you alright?", as I entered the cooler, and he just looked at me with a stone face, shook his head, and went back to preparing his paperwork for lunch service. I was in the cooler organizing all of my mise en place for a good five minutes, when the door opened and in came my chef. On a side note, this is usually where him and I would meet on a daily basis to vent about our day, etc., so this really wasn't anything out of the ordinary. But what happened next was something I never expected in a million years from him. He walked toward me in the cooler, and as he got closer to me I could see that he had tears welling up in his eyes. I asked him what was wrong, and just as I finished my question he broke down. To paint the picture, this is a 40 year old man, an accomplished chef, and a father of three, and he was balling. "I can't do this anymore", is what he kept saying to me. This is a man that I have looked up to since first meeting him, a man who runs a tight kitchen, doesn't put up with anyone's s*it, and the LAST person I expected to act this way. He really was going through a difficult time here. His family was waiting for him back home, and he was having an extremely difficult time communicating with the students. So being the person that I am, I put my hands on his shoulders and encouraged him as best I could. I talked him through his situation, and I gave him as much inspiration as I could. I didn't want to see anyone get defeated by a job, and it was the bottom of the ninth, and he was three runs behind. I won't get into the details of exactly what the conversation was, but I really think that I was able to get inside his head, begin looking optimistically about our situation, and maybe begin to see the light.

Since our conversation in the cooler on that dark Monday, I have come to find out that I am seen in our kitchen as the stable, level-headed individual, who is there for people in their time of need. Not necessarily in situations like the last one, but throughout the day I am there to make people's days. And they look forward to seeing me everyday! I asked a co-worker what it was about me that makes me such an inspiration to those around me and she said, "I look forward to the thirty minutes I get to spend with you everyday because you always have a smile on your face, and you will ALWAYS say something to make me laugh! Without even knowing it, you inspire people in your actions and your words."

Now it really meant a lot to me to hear this. To know that I am going through this difficult time in Beijing, people still look to me to brighten their day. You know what that tells me? That things are not THAT bad here. If I can go to work with a smile on my face each and everyday, and know that I may be able to put a smile on someone else's face as well, I have the perfect job!

And it just took this particular instance to make me realize........

The 24 Hours of Chris (Part 2)

First of all, I would like to congratulate the winner of the most recent chrisuhl.blogspot.com trivia question. It only took him three guesses to finally choose the correct answer, which was foie gras and unagi (barbecued eel). Matt, take a bow! You will receive your choice of anything in this store....

Tuesday, August 11th, 2008

10:00 am- My First Beijing Haircut

It was time to chop the mop. In case you haven't noticed from the few pictures I have posted on the site, I shaved my head before I left for China, thinking that it was just one less thing that I would have to worry about while I'm here. And you know what? I'm kind of getting used to the short hair. I think I might keep it for a while...

Anyway, I went to the barber near the apartment. This was not the nicest barber shop in the world, but how could you mess up shaving someone's head, right? Wrong. After getting my hair washed, I sat in one of two barbers chairs in the middle of a smoke-filled, stuffy, room filled with Chinese people (It was like the public transportation of Beijing barbershops), I asked for the #1 blade to cut my hair. He told me that the shortest blade they had was the #3 blade, and my hair is not even that long! So I said screw it. I don't need a blade. So what ended up happening was me getting my head completely shaved! Down to the skin. I felt like an Olympic swimmer getting ready for a meet, you know minus the seven gold medals! After the initial shock of what was happening, I just said, "oh well". It could be worse. The haircut was done, and then I started to feel hands on my scalp. They were massaging my head! It turns out that you receive a complimentary head and shoulder massage with every haircut. It was very relaxing, and I definitely needed it! And then I was so relaxed I almost fell asleep, so I figured I should pay my 20 yuan ($2,75) before I start counting sheep, and I exited toward the apartment.

11:00 am- Painful but Pertinent

As I approached the front doors of the apartment, I noticed the spa that is located just outside the building. I figured what's a better way to spend the 24 hours of Chris than getting a foot massage from a REAL massage therapist, not a barber. I walked in to a beautifully decorated lobby, was greeted by one of the most beautiful women I have ever laid eyes on. I picked my jaw up off the floor, and began to look over the "menu". I ended up choosing a ginger soak foot massage for 128 yuan ($17.00). She led me a private room, asked me take my sandals off and place my feet in this bucket of steaming hot ginger broth, so of course I obliged (Note: The ginger broth does not taste like tea or soup or anything else for that matter. I should know, I drank some out of my hand. It tasted more like feet. I have NO idea why!). I sat in a reclining chair and soaked my feet for about fifteen minutes. I just closed my eyes, listened to the silence, and envisioned the radiant beauty who was going to be massaging my feet. The next thing I remember is my feet being pulled out of the soup, being dried off, and being put on this special foot rest to be massaged. As the massage began, I was digging every move. The loving, the touching, and squeezing, and all in the right spot. I finally opened my eyes to take in the beauty of this young woman massaging my feet. It turns out his name was Alan. But at this point I could have looked up to see FUB rubbing my feet, and I wouldn't care. It felt awesome! The foot massage lasted for about an hour and a half, and extended all the way up the leg to the thigh. I had to cut him off at some point, things were getting a little uncomfortable for this guy (two thumbs pointing at me). After the massage, Alan performed the ritual of "cupping" to the bottom of my feet. Where a flame is lit inside what looks like a candle holder, and then suctioned on to the bottom of my feet in order to draw out some the toxins in my body. I don't really feel that it did anything, but it felt good and that's all that matters. I walked out of the spa feeling like Jell-O, and decided to do something I haven't had a chance to do since arriving in China.

1:00 pm - 3:30 pm- I took a nap.

4:00 pm- Dinner at Baijia Dayuan

There is a lot more to a meal than great food. I know, I know, great food makes the meal, but when you add in all of the other elements to a dining experience, food sometimes takes a close second to these things. Take for instance, Baijia Dayuan. This is an Imperial Chinese restaurant, which means that they specialize in the dishes that emperors used to eat. This particular restaurant (there are only a few n the city) was actually the summer residence of Prince Lee of the Qing dynasty. The property is hundreds of years old, and spans ten acres. There are a total of 400 people working at one time, and at least two people are assigned to each table to ensure superior service. Walking through the many courtyards on the way to our table, you can't help but transport yourself to this time period. There is nothing modern anywhere, and even the employees wear traditional Chinese apparel, bow to you as you walk by, and hardly speak English.

We were sat at a table just inside the main courtyard, and we began to peruse the menu. Going on recommendations from the many people who have gone before us, we just ordered mainly from memory. The dishes we sampled included sweet & sour pork, deer fillet with cashews, fried duck hearts, sauteed asparagus, a flower salad (made with flowers I can't remember), beef with peppers, and the concoction pictured below; the fried duck sandwiches.

All in all, the food was exceptional and I have been back to this place twice since my first trip. I would probably go again, but time is running out and there are too many restaurants to try before I leave.

My one recommendation, however, is that be prepared to see some things on the menu that you have never/will never see before/again. The one dish that completely threw me for a loop was the deer afterbirth with chilies. Even I have to draw the line somewhere.

With all of this being said, the 24 hours of Chris turned out to be a welcoming change to the fast-paced lifestyle I have been living, and look forward to the next 24 hours.

The 24 Hours of Chris (Part 1)

It was time. I have been in China for almost two months now, and I really haven't had a whole lot of time to myself. I decided last week that on my next day off I was going to dedicate my entire day to me, myself, and I. Thus, The 24 Hours of Chris......

Monday, August 11th, 2008

6:00 pm- Dinner at Haiku

There is one sushi restaurant in all of Beijing that is said to be THE place to go for fresh seafood, innovative maki rolls, and friendly service. And Haiku was the place. So I strapped on my messenger bag; loaded with my Ipod, camera, the latest edition of the Beijinger magazine, a travel guide book, the directions to the Chaoyang Park area, and loads of yuan (money). If this was truly going to be a night for Chris, I wasn't going to skimp on any expense, as you will fully understand later on in this post.

I arrived at the restaurant, and after being patted down, and my bag inspected (which is normal lately), I was seated directly at the sushi bar where I was able to watch the masters at work. The menu was full of sushi, sashimi, yakitori, udon noodle pots, you name it. There were a few items that I knew I couldn't pass up....

First course was a seared scallop salad. The salad consisted of fresh mixed greens, slice cherry tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, seared scallops, and the traditional Japanese ginger, carrot salad dressing. I was a little disappointed when the salad came out (I was expecting all scallop and no greens), but one bite and I changed my mind completely. It was outrageous....

Second course was called. a live unagi (barbecued eel) hand roll. This roll left something to be desired. The flavors didn't "pop" like I was hoping.

Third course was the Haiku roll, which included spicy tuna, soft-shell crab, asparagus, and avocado on the inside, with spicy mayonnaise, and flying fish roe on the outside. I have eaten alot of maki in a lot of places, but nothing has EVER compared to this particular roll. If you are ever in Beijing you need to try this roll :). Needless to say, I devoured this in about four seconds flat. I ate like a pig. No, I ate more like a duck, pigs tend to chew.

Next came the one dish that I have never seen anywhere else...... EVER. It consisted of two of my favorite ingredients ever, and on one plate! Heaven is the only word that came to mind when I took my first bite. Never again will I be able to find this combination of ingredients, so I savored this dish as much as I could. It took me about five seconds to finish this one!

As I finished up my fourth Tsingtao of the evening, patiently awaiting for my check to arrive, the sushi chef behind the counter graciously offered me a complimentary final course. It was four crispy wonton chips piled with some of the best red snapper ceviche I have ever tasted! It was a great way to finish off a great meal. As I left for the evening, I stood up and it felt as though I was walking on air! It may have been the beer, but I think alot had to do with the fact that I just had a fabulous meal, and had a little bit of (much needed) time to myself. There was a smile on my face.

9:00- A walk through the Solana

The neighborhood that I had dinner in is supposed to be the hip spot to hang out at night. It is filled with bars, clubs, restaurants, and stores, and it surrounds the Central Park of Beijing. There was a definite buzz in the air, so I decided to make my way through the Solana, and tried to find a bar that I had heard about that just opened. It is a 24-hour sports bar, with 65 huge plasma television, said to carry American sports around the clock. It is called All-Star, and it is where I will be on August 31st, at 3:30 in the morning, watching RichRod and the Wolverines kick some Ute butt!!! It was my luck, the bar was closed for training. I was able to speak with the owner (who happened to be from L.A.), and he guaranteed me that they would be playing college football that night. Sweet!

A little disappointed (I wanted to have a beer and watch some Olympics), I decided to call it a night and walk toward the main street to hail a cab. As I walked out of All-Star, I turned the corner, and something caught my eye. It was a large lit-up sign that read Tsingtao. "Hey, they must serve Tsingtao", I thought to myself. And boy was I right. It happened to be the Tsingtao Beer Palace, where they brew the stuff! And they had the Olympics on!! So of course I popped a squat and ordered the biggest beer that they served. And it was big....

After my 32 oz. beer, I was feeling pretty nice, and decided to get my bill. Just as I looked up to find the waitress, there she was with ANOTHER 32 oz. beer!! It turns out they have a BOGO on all their beers. And who am I to turn down a free beer! So I sat with my new American buddies, shot the s*it, and enjoyed my last tasty beverage of the evening.

After that beer, it was almost midnight (way past my bedtime), and I knew that if I didn't call it a night T-Rex might have made his first appearance in China. Only in China it wouldn't be T-Rex, it would be GODZIRRAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!

12:30- Sleeping with my shoes on.

As I mentioned before, there was a dish that took two individually fantastic ingredients, and combined them into one of the tastiest morsels I have ever eaten. Below is another picture of this dish. I would like all of you guess what this dish was. And the first person to correctly guess the two main components of this dish will receive a special gift from me upon my arrival in the States. Oh ya, Dad, you are not allowed to vote. It's too easy for you....

To Be Continued....

8.8.08

The day has finally come. I am sitting in my apartment, once again sacrificing precious sleep, watching the opening ceremony for the 2008 Olympic Games, and I have realized that all of the hard work that I have pot in over the past month has finally paid off. To see the excitement of this city, the smiling faces on the customers that we feed every morning, and the fact that I am only a mile away from the biggest sporting event in the world, it really puts things into perspective for me. I am at the Olympics!!! I will never again have this opportunity to be part of such a magnificent event, and every hour of lost sleep and every bead of sweat is worth it. You know why? Because I am in the middle of the single greatest experience I will ever have! The excitement has been building and building, and I have seen this city transform into what it is today; a huge ball of excitement! I have never seen a country (city) band together for one cause the way that the Chinese people have! I am so glad that I am here right now, and that I am part of this event! I guess I'll stop rambling now, but I had to share this excitement with all of you back home, and the only thing that would make this experience better would be having all of you right here with me!

One World. One Dream. One stoked Michigander!

Words Just Don't Do It Justice...

Even though it seems like I have been in China for about a year now, the time that I have left is getting less and less as the days go by. I need to get out and see more of the sites before I leave, and in order to do that I need to get up early on my day off, spend twelve hours sightseeing, and sacrifice a little (more) sleep over the next few weeks.

Today was finally the day for me to embark on the Great Wall Journey. If I didn't do it today, who knows if I would have gotten an opportunity to see it before I leave. The weather was your typical China weather; hot, humid, polluted, and foggy. Not your ideal setting for a trip to one the world's most famous places to take in the view, but we had to go. It was now or never.

Everyone else that I know that has gone to the Great Wall before me has gone with a big group of people, everyone pitches in some dough and they rent a bus for the day. It picks them up at the hotel, drops them off, waits for them to finish, and then drives them all the way back to the hotel. Well, Sean (who is the Executive Chef at C.W. Post University in New York) and I didn't really have the luxury of going with a group of people so we had to do the trip the only way we knew how. Public transportation!



A cab would be far to expensive (it is about an hour and a half outside of Beijing), so a public bus was the only way for us to go. Was I nervous, yes. Did I have second thoughts when I arrived at the bus terminal and there were literally 1,000 buses waiting to depart, oh ya! Did this stop us from jumping on the first 916 bus we saw, hell no!!

The bus was clean, we got to sit with all of the cool kids in the back of the bus, and we made a few friends on the trip. But the best part was, with my Olympic credentials, we got the entire trip for free.

I started to feel good about taking the bus as we we left the terminal. We made a few stops in the city before heading East toward the Matianyu section of the wall. Next thing I know, Sean looks over at me and says, "What stop do we get off?". We looked around and realized that there was not one word of English to be found on the entire bus! Everything was in Chinese, and I really haven't learned enough Chinese to be able to decipher written words. Heck, I only know the words beer, hello, and massage. Luckily there was a nice young lady on the bus who noticed Sean and I crying in the back of the bus (just kidding), but she sensed our dilemma and came to our rescue. Her name was Tracy, and spoke decent English. She told us that she would let us know when our stop was. You see, the bus doesn't go all the way up to the wall, we were going to have to jump out and get in a cab to take us the 17 km to the wall. She sat and talked with us for a while, alerted us when our stop was coming, and even got us a car to take us the rest of the way. Only it was not a cab. It was some lady, driving an old, beat-up micro bus, with wood floors, and a carpet ceiling, and of course we jumped in. My first thought was that we were going to be sold into Chines slavery, and we would never make it home, but then I saw the LeBron James bobblehead on her dashboard, and my mind was put at ease. The best part was, she didn't speak of money, so we figured we would get this trip for free as well! Then, about 8 km into the ride, in the middle of nowhere, she pulls the van over to the side of the road, draws a circle on a piece of paper, and the number 100 on either side of it. Now, having played Pictionary on Nintendo for most of my childhood, I knew that she meant it would be 100 yuan each way, and she would wait at the bottom of the wall for us to finish. Of course we accepted. How could we not! We were two Americans in the middle of desolate China, we had no choice but to accept. She could have said a million dollars and we would have paid it because we couldn't be left for dead on the side of the road. Now that's what I call a bargaining tool!!

For those of you who may not know, the wall is built on the top of mountains. We had to take a ski-lift to the base of the wall from the parking lot. From here your only way up is to hike the stairs. I know what you're saying, a physical specimen like me should have no problem climbing thousands of uneven stairs on my through the twists and turns of the Great Wall. But, I'm sorry to let you down. It was rough!!! At times I wish I was back at work trying to communicate with my Chinese students, it was that bad. But all of the hard work paid off. I will let the pictures speak for themselves. Let's just say that I have never seen anything else in my life quite as fascinating as the Great Wall. It was a great experience, I enjoyed every minute of it, and I would never do it again! My legs still fell like Jell-O.


Oh ya, and in order to get down the hill to the wall you got to ride a toboggan down the hill....

Noodle Loft

I am not usually one to take pictures. Heck, I wasn't even going to bring a camera with me to China until Dad offered to let me borrow his for the trip (thanks Dad!). And even with camera in hand, I tend to to miss the opportunity to get "the shot" that would make for a great picture to send home to you guys. Compared to most of my friends here, I taken a minimal amount. But my theory is, if it's good enough for me to pull my camera out of my bag, I WILL get the picture. Besides, it's quality not quantity, right?

With this being said, I went into dinner last night armed with the Canon G9, knowing full well that I was going to get some amazing shots. And indeed I did....

The Noodle Loft, a 63 yaun cab ride from my apartment, is said to be the best noodle restaurant in Beijing. It has been featured in a number of magazines, television show, etc., and it was one restaurant that I had heard about even before stepping foot on China soil. And the other night was the night to experience what I have been hearing so much about.....

This restaurant seems to be more of an "experience" than your typical noodle house. It was dinner and a show, with strong emphasis on the word SHOW. The open kitchen brought the chefs right out in front of us to do what they do best; make noodles. Now, I know you're saying to yourself. "a noodle is a noodle". Well, my friend, a noodle is only a noodle in America. In China you have.....

Noodles made by one chopstick, where the chef scrapes his chopstick along a plane of dough, and what results is some small, very tasty noodles. This chef is scraping them directly into a pot of boiling water....

One long noodle, where you can order a bowl of noodles, but what you get is an entire bowl of noodle. It is one noodle, that when stretched out it could probably wrap around the entire building...

Shaved noodles, where a chef uses, what looks like, a bench scraper to peel noodles off of the dough...

The food was good at the Noodle Loft (especially the fried duck hearts), but the real draw is the show. I took quite a few videos of the chefs in action if any of you are interested in seeing them upon my arrival. The Internet is too slow to post videos, sorry!

I have been having some real good luck with restaurants lately! And the funny thing is, there are about 1 bajillion more restaurants to try, and only three more weeks to do it! I better get to it....