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Our Adventure Begins in Beijing

Posted by Craig McCarthy on June 21, 2009

It’s Sunday morning, 6/21 and I’ve been in China now for nearly a week. I’ve done so much and have seen such much this far, it’s overwhelming. There are so many things to talk about and so many stories to share with friends and family, I can’t wait. I’m at Xianjing University right now with the group from Concordia University Wisconsin. We are in Xianjing Province, the northwestern most part of China. It’s near the Russian and Mongolian borders.

We’ve been here since Wednesday. The group has bonded so well that I feel like I’ve know everyone for a long time. We spent the first few days of our trip, in Beijing, which was amazing. The food I ate and the dining experiences in Beijing are unlike anything I’ve ever experienced in the United States. In China, meals, including lunch, last a minimum of an hour and half and some cases more than two hours. It includes sitting around a large table with a Lazy Susan.

Dishes are brought out and placed on the Lazy Susan one-by-one for the entire group to share. I decided to try my best early on to use chopsticks and have gotten fairly well at using them. As the Lazy Susan spins around you take the items you want using your chopsticks. So far I’ve eaten such things as cow marrow and other internal organs from animals, gizzards and jellyfish. Many items I’m not even aware of what they are until after the fact and I’m told by “King” or Christine Kao what the items are.

King is one of the MBA students at Concordia University who is originally from Taiwan. King is not his real name, just a nickname that he gave himself when he came to the United States to study. He speaks Mandarin Chinese and has been a great help on the trip with translation. He is so much fun and likes to joke around and everyone in the group loves him. Christine Kao is our group leader from Concordia who works in the international office and runs the global education program for all of Asia. She was born in Taiwan but has lived in the United States for more than 15 years and has dual citizenships. You will hear much more about these people and the other great people on the trip as I continue to post more updates. Please e-mail with your comments at craig.mccarthy@cuw.edu as I will now try and post something everyday not that our internet access is working at the university here in Xianjing.

I wish I could write more, but we are going on a day trip to Turpan out in the desert. It’s along the silk road and contains many historical sites and ancient ruins that dates back thousands of years. Thanks for taking the time to read my blog I look forward to sharing more very soon.