A Class Act

One of the nice things about teaching folks who go on to make part of their living through their writing is seeing their bylines in unexpected places. So, it was a pleasant surprise last week to stumble across a graduate’s name attached to a story in the feisty entertainment tabloid, The Georgia Strait, in Vancouver where I’m on vacation. Bernice Chan has been living in Beijing for more than a year now and has had a front row seat to the city’s sometime rocky preparations for the Olympic Games set to start in about two weeks.

Her article in The Georgia Strait was billed as a travel piece and it’s a wonderful view of the irritants and joys she’s found since moving there. She indicates that when she arrived she was “intent on witnessing the changes in the city, and hoped to learn more about the place and its people.” What follows is a concise, anecdotal overview of some of her findings.

To get an even better sense of her cultural and Games prep experiences, simply go to the continuing story found on her blog: Beijing Calling. (You’ll note that Bernice is listed in my blogroll to the right.)

As Beijing becomes a focus of world attention in August, check out Bernice’s exposure to cuisine, security, transportation and entertainment in China’s capital city. It will be a refreshing alternative to the generic pieces served up by the sports networks during the actual Games.

The Beijing Summer Olympic Games haven’t yet begun, but a pavilion in China’s capital city promoting the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games in 2010 is already in place. Photo by Bernice Chan.