Alright. I've been in China for over a month now. At the beginning it was pretty sweet. Five star hotels and all sorts of places to visit. I've been to the great wall of China (pictured left), the Olympic Stadium, and a few other points of interest. After four or so days in Beijing, I took a seven hour train into Bengbu, where I am currently staying. At first it was pretty nice. An even better room than the hotel and simpler food.
However, at the BBCA Group we're not allowed outside that often. I came to China so I could explore what life was like over here. But because I'm foreigner and I apparently am unable to take care of myself, we are not allowed to leave the company headquarters without a guide. It's a good idea in concept, but when you take into account that the guides never have time to take us anywhere, we spend most days working and most nights sitting around watching television. The Internet infrastructure in China is terrible. One can never guarantee proper connectivity.
My job here at the BBCA Group is to revise documents that translators have translated into English. However, very few documents come across my desk. Perhaps one every two or three days if I'm lucky. It only requires an hour or so to complete, so most of my time is spent reading the news online.
The food here in China is great. It's similar to what they have at the higher end "authentic" Chinese restaurants in the USA, but the ingredients they use are a little different because China has different resources.
To sum it up: It's boring. I'm constantly told by enthusiasts of China that there's a lot to do here and you could never get bored, but when you're restrained to a "safe house" for the entirety of your journey, it's hardly exciting.
