Precipitation and public relations

View from my room

I am soaked from head to toe! Beijing finally received much-needed rain while an umbrella mishap left me walking between subway stops and stores unprotected from the monsoon. I couldn't care less! I skipped through puddles and dodged raindrops for blocks. When else will I be able to frolic in a Beijing rainstorm?

This morning, Lauren and I rose early to visit a PR agency owned by the husband of a former visiting Purdue professor. We traveled by subway to an area of the city we had yet to visit. There, brand new, upscale high rises towered over green, manicured parks and lawns. The professor I mentioned, Shen, told us the area popped up in just the last eight years. The Chinese government, which had previously maintained grassy fields on the land, opened the fields for development when it learned Beijing would host the 2008 Olympics. Shen and her husband, Strong, drove us from the subway stop to the PR agency, Jamewish. Shen gave us a tour and explained how her husband had come to found a PR agency in a country that has yet to fully embrace PR. Trained as a chemist, Strong worked as an engineer for years until creating brochures for a friend introduced him to the fledging specialty of PR. Strong saw an opportunity and pursued it, building an organization that now serves electric companies and similar industries, schools and more. Shen said Chinese companies often don't recognize the need for good PR, as government control of industry formerly made discussions about target audiences and corporate culture unnecessary. But the specialty has grown as government control has lessened.

Learning about PR in China intrigued Lauren and me. The fun only heightened when Shen took us out to lunch at a hopping Cantonese restaurant. In the vibrant atmosphere of red paper lanterns and laughter, Lauren and I bonded with Shen (and her young, well-spoken son) on a more personal level. We chomped down on chicken feet, jelly fish, fish skin, radish pastries, meat bread, leek quesadillas, sweet rice with sesame balls, and a whole fish cooked in red chilies and chili oil. We chatted about Purdue, life in the US versus Beijing and Chinese pop music. After the meal, thunderstorms left us sprinting and shrieking our way to the subway station together. We shared soggy hugs (Shen was a sweetheart!) before heading out.

Despite the storms, I made a quick visit to a bookstore. The hour ride to work every day allows me to devour books, so I've had to find stores with English-language novels to add to my collection. So far I've read here: Rant, The Road, Rape: A Love Story, and On the Road. I'm not sure how I developed a fetish for four-letter words beginning with "R."

Now, for a moment, I'm taking care of business in my dorm room and avoiding the showers outside.

Track cycling prelims start tomorrow!! Check back then to hear about me weaving through crowds of burly BBC and NBC journalists to snag a stupendous, news-making quote from Katie Mactier that illicits compliments on my quote-taking abilities from cycling star Arnaud Tournant and a big hug from the Netherlands' Theo Bos.

One can dream :)