Day 1 + 2
The first day was very uneventful. We went out to lunch at a place called the Strait's Cafe which is just a short walk from the hotel. I went out on a limb and ordered Honey Waffles as my first meal in China. The honey was very sweet (even for me!) and there was also a spread that tasted like liquid powdered sugar.
After eating we went back to the hotel and picked up the schedule for the events. Looks like I'm going to be casting for a total of 7 days starting on the 22nd and then every other day. The first day will be the hardest (of course) since there is a possibility of 12 games being played.
We were told that we were going to be able to see the venue today at 2pm, but at the last minute they said that we weren't going to be able to go until the next day.
We just hung out at the hotel for the rest of the night, with me retiring at a very early 6pm (bad jetlag bad)
Saturday we again went to the Strait's Cafe, as they have a very wide assortment of items for the more culturally inclined to the more boring eaters. I think that their menu has 20 different pages on it! I ordered a ham and egg sandwich, which was ok, and then we headed back to the hotel.
We found out that we were going to go to the venue at 3pm, so we decided to check out a very small shopping center that was near the hotel. That turns out to be uneventful, besides the fact that everyone stares at us, sure is different being the extreme minority!
At 3 we head out to the venue. Its being held at some sort of art university's stage. I have pictures that I'll hopefully post soon. The main producer (Kim Geelee) went over a lot of things with us, in Korean of course, so there was both a Korean to English and Korean to Chinese translators. Should be pretty cool once things get started, I just hope that I don't get too nervous, especially since the other English caster wasn't told about going, so hopefully someone tells her what's going on.
The guy in charge of the English broadcast is from Sweden (Jonah) and his assistant? (Jonas) is from Norway. They both seem like nice guys.
When we get done with our instructions, Johan wanted to go and get some audio equipment, so me, Trevor, Johan, Jonas, Jake, Mark, and our interpreter Nancy all went to this huge shopping center. It had at least 6 floors to it and was just packed. He wasn't able to find what he was looking for as the store that had his equipment was closed at the time.
We left the mall and decided to try to find some food. Jonas had a video camera with him (part of the production that him and Jonah are putting together) and I turned around and saw him filming an elderly man with his pet orangatang! After watching that for a few minutes we headed out once more. We found a restaurant that seemed pretty fancy, so of course they put us in our own room. We had our interpreter order for us, as none of us could read the menu. Some of the dishes that we had were: Chicken with some sort of nut, rice with eggs, dumplings, sauteed beef, chicken (the whole thing was in there...), broccoli, oranges and small sticks of raw sugar cane, some weird nasty pudding, and some other things that I didn't really know what they were.
After dinner I headed back to the hotel with Jonas and Jonah. They found some of their euro buddies and I went to bed at around 8pm. Hopefully I'll be able to last longer tomorrow!
Update: http://www.flickr.com/photos/52409234@N00/
After eating we went back to the hotel and picked up the schedule for the events. Looks like I'm going to be casting for a total of 7 days starting on the 22nd and then every other day. The first day will be the hardest (of course) since there is a possibility of 12 games being played.
We were told that we were going to be able to see the venue today at 2pm, but at the last minute they said that we weren't going to be able to go until the next day.
We just hung out at the hotel for the rest of the night, with me retiring at a very early 6pm (bad jetlag bad)
Saturday we again went to the Strait's Cafe, as they have a very wide assortment of items for the more culturally inclined to the more boring eaters. I think that their menu has 20 different pages on it! I ordered a ham and egg sandwich, which was ok, and then we headed back to the hotel.
We found out that we were going to go to the venue at 3pm, so we decided to check out a very small shopping center that was near the hotel. That turns out to be uneventful, besides the fact that everyone stares at us, sure is different being the extreme minority!
At 3 we head out to the venue. Its being held at some sort of art university's stage. I have pictures that I'll hopefully post soon. The main producer (Kim Geelee) went over a lot of things with us, in Korean of course, so there was both a Korean to English and Korean to Chinese translators. Should be pretty cool once things get started, I just hope that I don't get too nervous, especially since the other English caster wasn't told about going, so hopefully someone tells her what's going on.
The guy in charge of the English broadcast is from Sweden (Jonah) and his assistant? (Jonas) is from Norway. They both seem like nice guys.
When we get done with our instructions, Johan wanted to go and get some audio equipment, so me, Trevor, Johan, Jonas, Jake, Mark, and our interpreter Nancy all went to this huge shopping center. It had at least 6 floors to it and was just packed. He wasn't able to find what he was looking for as the store that had his equipment was closed at the time.
We left the mall and decided to try to find some food. Jonas had a video camera with him (part of the production that him and Jonah are putting together) and I turned around and saw him filming an elderly man with his pet orangatang! After watching that for a few minutes we headed out once more. We found a restaurant that seemed pretty fancy, so of course they put us in our own room. We had our interpreter order for us, as none of us could read the menu. Some of the dishes that we had were: Chicken with some sort of nut, rice with eggs, dumplings, sauteed beef, chicken (the whole thing was in there...), broccoli, oranges and small sticks of raw sugar cane, some weird nasty pudding, and some other things that I didn't really know what they were.
After dinner I headed back to the hotel with Jonas and Jonah. They found some of their euro buddies and I went to bed at around 8pm. Hopefully I'll be able to last longer tomorrow!
Update: http://www.flickr.com/photos/52409234@N00/
posted by Joe Knizacky at 9:03 PM
7 Comments:
Hey Joe, glad you made it. you will have lots of fun, we hope.
I suggest you try and have the locals take you out for a meal of "three squeaks", ask around, it should be available somehwere near there.
Hi Joe,
This is Uncle Ken & Aunt Ruthie from La Center, WA. I am sure you have heard Heidi talk of him and she was out here, maybe a year ago seeing her friend who lives in Seattle. Any way, I am very anxous to hear more. Since we are family and all. Do you think you could bring me a shot glass??? hahaha
Take care and have lots of fun.
Aunt Ruthie & Uncle Ken
What a cool adventure! I'm envious! I hereby appoint you as my proxy to China. On my behalf, please try a new Chinese food every day or so. :-)
Thanks for sharing the photos. What other cool or traditional things are you seeing there?
What's going on with the new job now? When you get back, do you need a place to stay near work for a few days while you find an apartment?
-Chris
Joe, Glad you are doing well and have found some thing to eat that is identifiable. Poker was lots of fun, as normal, on Sat. I was taken out early, JJ beat my KK, out flopped. Hope your having fun and over the jet lag. Heidi said it was kicking your ass. I like the blog and look forward to see how this trip goes for you.
Bowdie
Hope you are having a great time! You'd better take some pictures that are OUTSIDE a building :)
Rebecca
Hey Joe - did you remember to file your taxes???
Let us know if there is a streaming video feed of your color commentary via the internet.
Jeff, HomeRoute
hey, joe this is DAD. Glad to hear you are doing well. Hope to view you on the 24th. Let me know if you see this.
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