Day 2: Beijing and Xi'an

Today the day dawned bright and clear. My room faced the East so I had the pleasure of seeing the sunrise over the Birds Nest stadium in Beijing. You might remember that the Birds Nest was the site of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 summer Olympics. Today the stadium is virtually unused. In talking with my tour guide yesterday she said that after the Olympics the stadium was suppose to be home for a soccer team. The soccer team pulled out of their lease because it was too expensive and they did not draw a lot of fans. The guide went on to explain that the stadium may be turned into a shopping complex. That was sad for me. It just seemed like such a nice venue for a sports complex. The design is so beautiful. After breakfast we headed to a recruiters office to meet with Chinese recruiters who speak with students who want to study abroad. We left two hours early for our appointment as one can never predict the traffic in Beijing. We drove the 13 miles in an hour. While we waited for our colleagues to catch up to us we found a Starbucks and had a coffee. This was the first good cup of coffee I had since leaving the US. Coffee to date in China has been weak whether it was brewed or instant. I was so happy to see a Starbucks but fearful that Starbucks in China would not taste like Starbucks in US. To my delight a Starbucks drip coffee in Beijing is just like a Starbucks drip coffee in the US. The little things one discovers when the travel abroad! I now realize just how important my coffee is to me when I drink it which is not that often. Once our colleagues arrived we met with the recruiters and made our presentation about our college. Then we were off to the airport to board a plane for Xi'an. As I wondered about airport security in Beijing I was able to quickly discover that it is pretty much the same as that in the US. However, they still do pay downs in Beijing. Given the controversy over pat downs in the U S I just had to chuckle to myself. I couldn't help but wonder had any of the ney Sayers in the US ever been to Beijing? Our stay in Xi'an will take us to meet with another set of recruiters.