Gina, Pago, and I - now the only three members of the national team or MC (Member Committee) of AIESEC Mongolia headed to China for Great Wall fun and a conference.
This trip has been an experience if nothing else. Well, the last two and a half weeks - at least. So, I went from being kicked out of my apartment - with my two roommates on Thursday morning. To learning my third teammate was kicked out of his apartment on Friday night. To finding and moving into a new apartment on Sunday. Then packing for China and leaving on Monday. Getting there was only the beginning of the adventures.
We got on a train in Ulaanbaatar around 8pm on Monday and got to Erlian, a city just across the Chinese border around 11 am Tuesday morning. We then caught a "black taxi" for a 7 hour drive from the border to Beijing. Our driver was awesome! But, of course, spoke no English so there were a few scary moments in mis-translation. Like, when he giggled, said Beijing, and pointed in the direction opposite to where we were actually driving. After freaking out for a few minutes, he showed us some receipts that indicated he had done this same long-ass drive the day before and we were indeed still headed for Beijing. We all breathed a sigh of relief. There was also another pretty sweet moment when "Hey, Soul Sister" came on the radio and he started 'singing' along and then giggled some more. It was the only song he knew through the entire drive - we were listening to our iPods on his radio...
We finally made it to Beijing around 7pm on Tuesday, crashed the MoC (Mainland of China) MC office, and went to dinner. MC Mongolia and MCP of Canada then went back to the MC flat for a "nap". Only to be woken up 8 hours later to go to the GREAT WALL!! Holla. It was an awesome nap. There is only one working shower in the MC flat and my team had not showered in several days. But, when we went to shower the electricity was out in the half of the apartment with the one working shower and toilet. No, worries there was still water. And, of course the Mongolian MC has been dealing with far more interesting things than cold, dark showers for the last four months so we got to be stinky free for the first time in a few days. The rest of the MCs were too chicken.
Then, on to the Great Wall! It was pretty great. There were LOTS of people at the bit that we went to. Silly tourists. But, it was still pretty awesome. At one point my group blocked off a section of wall for jumping pics, which of course none of them turned out right. Eventually, some guy with a professional camera came over to help us out - hopefully we'll get those pictures, but who knows...
After the Great Wall we went to visit the Temple of Heaven, which I don't really know what that was. I think it was some kind of religious grounds or something. It was really pretty though.
Then we went for dinner at a hot pot place that served free beer all night. That was awesome, and a little absurd. After the free beer and hot pot we went to a hookah bar and club for a going away party. With a small cover charge (about 3$ USD) there was an open bar. Yay open bar! There was lots of dancing and helping my guy friends get drinks when they got ignored by the male bartenders. Oh feminine wiles - how useful you are.
The next day we left for the conference, bright and hungover early. Four days of dancing, learning, AIESECy awesomeness. And, of course, damn China being as freaking huge as it is had nearly 500 NEW members at their induction conference. My team and I were facilitators for sessions which was pretty cool working with new members. But, as conferences usually are, it was exhausting.
We made it back to Beijing too late on Sunday to figure out our return travels so we just "napped" again. Got up Monday morning trying to find a car or something to take us back to Erlian so we could catch a train to UB. Well, that didn't work. So, we decided to catch the Tuesday Trans-Siberian and come back all the way by train. But, when we went to get the tickets we found out that they had switched the schedule - because why would you ever have the correct schedule posted online? And, the train only went on Monday and Wednesday mornings... Eff. Well with lots and lots of logistical assistance from the MoC MC we found a bus that was leaving Monday afternoon for Erlian and we could catch a train to UB on Tuesday evening. So we hauled ass back to the MC flat to pack and then rushed to the bus station just in time to grab our tickets and jump on the bus. At first we were confused there were only 4 other people on the whole bus which had space for 30 (it was a sleeper bus, so we had bunks not chairs). Well, we drove around the block to the stop where all of the Mongolians got on the bus with their heaps and heaps of boxes, bags, and other goodies. The aisles were filled with boxes and luggage so that when the rest of the people finally got on the bus they had to scramble over all the junk in the aisles to get to their bunks. It was pretty absurd. Then 15 hours later we arrived in Erlian only to have to wait for another 9 hours to catch the train back to UB. And, after 15 hours on the train the last leg of our epic 42 hour journey from BJ to UB was finally completed.
All in all it was a fantastic experience - I got to meet lots of cool people including the MC from China, the MCP of Canada, and all of the new members. I got to hang out and bond with my team, which we haven't been able to do yet in our term because we've been so damn busy working. I got to talk TM with other VP TMs and finally feel like I have a direction to take the rest of my term. It was a pretty awesome trip.
