What's amazing about traveling halfway around the world in the year 2007 is that remarkably nothing has to change your focus unless you let it. Less than 48 hours ago I was sitting behind a desk in New York much like I am sitting behind a desk in Beijing now. That's the trouble with the modern world: You can narrow it down to fit your life anywhere at anytime. If I wanted I could drink my Starbucks, get some BBQ at Tim's and watch Pretty Woman on DVD just three miles from -- not Times Square, but Tiananmen.

There are wide gulfs though when you let a place soak in. The newspapers here are filled with talk of trade - namely the Strategic Economic Dialogue between the U.S. and China that just ended in Washington, D.C. Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson is on the front page above the fold hugging his Chinese counterpart Vice Premier Wu Yi. China has a trade surplus of more than $200 billion with the U.S. They export vast quantities of goods and import not nearly as much as the U.S. would like. They now have money to burn and the U.S. hopes it's used productively. Some have argued the U.S. should have that money to burn... they are the global superpower, right? But instead the U.S. is trying to dictate the terms of a situation that is largely beyond its control. It brings to mind Julia Roberts' meltdown in Pretty Woman when she tearfully insists to Richard Gere, "I say who; I say when; I-- I say who--"

But it's not really up to Julia or to the U.S. anymore. China's economic growth is intense and showing no signs of slowing. And partly because they won't float their currency on the market, the U.S. Congress has ample excuse to throw a tantrum about the Chinese boom. Some fault the undervalued Chinese currency (the yuan) as the sole reason the Chinese can keep their imports to the U.S. cheap -- translating  to American job losses. Congress is weighing tariffs on Chinese goods because of it. So while the talks continued this week (the first ones were in Beijing last December), it gives the public and analysts on both sides time to evaluate the relationship.

The must-reads out there on this issue: BBC has a few snippets translated from Chinese papers and Business Week has an overview of the blog chatter. It's clear the U.S. is not the only game in town. Not when China has $1.2 trillion in foreign exchange reserves. But Paulson announced this week that China is committed to doing $4.3 billion in deals with the U.S. Money talks, right?

Store clerk: Just how obscene an amount of cash are we talking about here? Profane or really offensive?
Richard Gere: Really offensive.
Store clerk to Julia Roberts: I like him so much.

Editor's note: NBC's Adrienne Mong is with Marisa on this trip to Beijing and posted in World Blog about the threat of counterfeiters to the Chinese and U.S. economies.

With Ann's remarkable interview with President al-Bashir still reverberating around diplomatic and relief aid circles, there is one part that hit home more than anything else.

I was reading the interview transcript and watching the tape late Monday night going over new excerpts we could put in the Today Show spot on Tuesday. On a personal note, it was nothing short of amazing to see Ann and her team there up close next to a man we had spent so much time psychoanalyzing and studying from afar. How could he let this happen in his country? Was he complicit?

The team had struggled as a group on what would be appropriate in the interview. She had maps, video and stills of the people she had met in her reporting of the atrocities. What could stop the interview? What could actually be brought into Khartoum without causing problems for the team on the ground?

Needless to say, there was lots of the interview to pick from. This is a man who had been endlessly elusive to formal television interviews and Ann ended up talking with him for almost two hours. I thought I had a good sense of it all -- the intelligence relationship with the us, the denial of the burning of villages, his view of the rape women. But then I stopped at one part of the tape and saw Ann pull a picture out.

Ann Curry: I met some Darfurian children, and one of them, actually, they all drew the same picture. This boy drew a picture of those people who attacked his village.  And you can see, they're heavily armed.  And there are planes -- and that kind of-- it was a child's drawing, I understand.  It's his memory of the day that ruined his life.

This was one of the boys she had highlighted on Nightly News in November, this was a powerful picture taken by field producer Antoine Sanfuentes that had caused all our hearts to break back home. This was the picture that ended up revealing an answer not one of us on the team ever expected to hear.

al-Bashir: I know what's happening in Darfur, in all it's details, more than you. And I'm sorry for the -- I feel for these children of Darfur more than you, because it's my responsibility -- not just in front of the people, and the electorate, like in your country, but it's my responsibility before God. I would be held accountable before God for anything that happens to any individual citizens in Sudan.

His answer blew me away. al-Bashir feels accountable to God. Although the violence and displacement continues and he blames the rebels pretty much entirely for the chaos, I couldn't help but think: that's just about as close to an apology as the people of Darfur will ever get.

Refugees from Darfur gather around an NBC News camera at a camp in eastern Chad. Photo by NBC's Antoine Sanfuentes.

The story in Darfur and now Chad is hard to understand. Cutting these pieces with my editor Bev Chase, we struggle with a way to visually explain the enemy so that it registers with viewers. In this area of Africa, the people are all black. The bad guys, the good guys, the women, the children. It's what your ORIGINAL ethnicity is that matters, and even that is complicated. There are black Arab Africans and black ethnic Africans. They look mostly the same and there are good and not so good people on both sides. But one side is being sanctioned by the Sudanese government to not just fight a war, but to wipe out a civilian population. This fight is about land, and power. Genocide usually is. Burning, raping, looting and targeting certain types of people are the weapons in this war. As Ann Curry and her team in the region have told us: Our challenge is to convey that what's happening there is no less real than if you came home one day and found your house burned to the ground and half your family missing or ill.

My friends have DVR'd these pieces. Last night they sat around with me asking questions, rewinding and pausing on the faces. They understood the emotion and the sentiment behind the loss as best they could, and most importantly, they tried to understand the conflict. How do people do that to one another? Aren't they all Sudanese? Yes, but weren't they all Rwandan or German, I countered? One argued people have been killing each other around the world for centuries, why should the 21st be any different? We talked for awhile and one question came up again and again: What is the U.N. doing? For now, tremendous humanitarian work, but my friend repeated, what are they DOING? Here's a link to the United Nations' Mission in the Sudan. If you want, you can call your congressmen and women and ask the same question.

The past few days we had Darfuri interpreters translating video for us. They revealed so much that has made our scripts come to life. The songs have been key. The women who were rape victims sing a song about their situation. Here is a rough translation of the sentiment they express:

YOU SAY THAT BECAUSE WE ARE BLACK WE DO NOT BELONG HERE, BUT HISTORY PROVES OTHERWISE. WE ARE DAJU. THIS IS OUR LAND, THIS IS OUR COUNTRY. THE HISTORY IS A WITNESS TO OUR GENEROSITY, AND OUR DIGNITY. WE ARE DAJU. WE GIVE OUR LAND TO THESE PEOPLE. NOW THEY TURN AROUND AND LOOK AT US AS STONES, THEY TREAT US LIKE WE ARE NOT HUMAN BEINGS. WE ARE BEING KILLED, WE ARE BEING RAPED.

Here's a link to three videos of women singing the song.

The orphans that you'll meet tonight in Ann's report also sing -- about their long-lost home.

I MISS SITTING IN THE SHADOWS OF MY VILLAGE. I MISS PLAYING IN MY VILLAGE. I MISS SEEING THE GRASS OF MY VILLAGE. AND I MISS PLAYING WITH YOU.

The interpreters told us that in Sudan people sing at special occasions and weddings. When listening to the rape victims sing, he choked up and had to stop. There are no wedding songs for now. These stories are about upheaval and loss, but somehow they're also also about strength, dignity and hope.

Photo caption: A Sudanese orphan holds up the picture he drew of the attack on his village in Darfur. Photo by NBC's Antoine Sanfuentes.

If there's one truth I've learned in journalism it's that you often get your best sound bites where you least expect it. So when a group of people sat down in Ann Arbor near the University of Michigan on Oct. 18, 2000, to watch a presidential debate and then comment for one R.W. Apple, I was there to observe and learn as a student, but technically I was just there to pour the coffee. I didn't know at the time that the man moderating the discussion after one of the debates between Al Gore and now President Bush had done more in journalism than I could ever imagine or aspire to. I didn't know he had a tireless appetite for news, specifically politics, and later, food and wine. I couldn't know that only one election cycle later I would study him almost exclusively among the giants of political reporters to prepare for my turn as a "boy on the bus" for NBC News during the 2004 presidential primaries.

Johnny Apple asked a lot of questions that night, but he listened just as intently. He got thoughtful and honest responses from around the room, but he probed deeper into insights and asked remarkable follow-up questions that elicited sometimes fun, sometimes challenging remarks. I remember being amazed at his ease and handle of the room. I listened intently, almost spilling coffee more than once. At one point he turned to me and asked me what I thought, which was a surprise to not only me but also to my employer. Apple wanted a female student's opinion and it was noticeably absent. Without knowing his remarkable career, I was not too phased to tell him exactly what I thought about both Vice President Gore and then-Gov. Bush's performance. What I didn't know was the breadth and reach of this man's words. Specifically, that it would end up in a stylish but cutting news analysis on the front page for the New York Times and my U-of-M inbox would be flooded with opinions from strangers for quite some time. His political reporting, I later learned, was thorough, relentless, often passionate and at times ferocious. His career was exceptional in every sense. He was a tremendous influence on me from that point on, but I never thanked him for it and I should have. I have often told people who ask me about the campaign trail to study his style, his career, his prose. Learn the good and the bad. The education is well worth it.  2008 won't be the same...

What did the tooth fairy give you? That's what Celeste Molina asked her daughter when she woke her up for breakfast earlier this week. Our cameras were there for the cash bonus her daughter received: $5. That's a lot more than I got when my teeth came out, but you know, with inflation, it's probably about right.

The trouble is it's almost as much as what Celeste makes an hour working overnights at a local gas station in Columbus, Ohio. Minimum wage in Ohio and 28 other states is $5.15 an hour and has been since 1996. Tonight, correspondent Lisa Daniels talks to both sides about the issue and how it affects people trying to raise a family and sustain a business.

xpWhy is it suddenly in the news? Because it's now considered by some a "wedge issue" for the mid-term elections this fall. Democrats hope it will bring people out to the polls in November. Either way, with the cost of gas and electricity (another big ticket item I heard over and over again from workers), it means that people at the bottom of the pay scale continue to feel they have very few options to make a living wage.

Columbus resident Alan Dawson put it this way: "[There have] been times when I have to go out and collect cans, or go out and cut a little grass... just so I can keep some power on, keep clothes clean for me and my kids and my fiance." He works at a Wendy's, and although he wishes he could wait for a better job, he feels it's steady and it shows his kids that work is better than nothing.

"Well, one thing they probably say is, 'Daddy will work.' Whether it's cutting grass, doing fast food, anything. Daddy will work. He's a legit hustler... Nothing in life comes free."

Unless, of course, you have a tooth fairy.

Photo caption: NBC's Lisa Daniels talks with Alan Dawson (right) and his family.

I like blogging out in the field. Being 'out there' I can give a sense of what it's like as the producer traveling for a story, seeking out people to talk to who represent a view point, and of course finding THE news.

But let me tell you about another side of this business -- it's a piece of the process, but it too can inspire and illuminate when you least expect. I am in a small dark screening room that has no windows starting to transcribe an interview I just produced with Ann Curry. No, 'fraid it's not Angelina... it's celebrated author and holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. They are discussing the conflict in Darfur, Sudan and its importance to the world. This is for a "Making a Difference" piece that is in the works to air this weekend.

It's late and I'm tired, but we are scripting tomorrow so I have to listen to it now. I was there for the interview at the United Nations, don't get me wrong, but Wiesel is so soft spoken a man only Ann and our audio person, Jimmy Williams, was privy to his conversation. As you can see in the photo to the left, Ann leaned in so closely to hear him slowly speak that short of sitting between them there was no way in the beautiful but cavernous General Assembly lounge I could hear a thing. Now, as a producer that's nerve wracking and frustrating because you want to hear it all to ensure the "bite" or two that will find its way to the script. Without that, I am now anxious to hear the tape.

Thus here I sit, with a bag of chips, a can of soda and the tape.

Ann: Why are you, a man who has given voice to those who were killed during the Holocaust... why are you speaking out on this issue in a place that's far away from that suffering?

Wiesel: Because when we were there, nobody came... I learned that suffering confers no privilege. It's what we do with it. And what we do with our suffering is to prevent further suffering. And that's the moral message if there is a message at all of that period. Not to stand by...

Yes. Just like that I am completely drawn in... in a dark screening room in the bowels of Rockefeller Plaza I am not only getting a lesson in humanity but also of conscience.

Ann: People in America see what is happening in other places in the world and they say, "Oh, there is always conflict and killing and difficulty and poverty and struggle and we can't get involved with  everything that comes down the road." What is it about what's happening in this place in Africa in Darfur that you say we cannot walk away from?

Wiesel: Somehow history chooses occasionally a capital of suffering. And now it's Darfur. The world's capitol of human suffering is in Darfur. Therefore to say, "there again or too many people suffer, so what?"... come on, that's not to be human. That's a betrayal of humanity. I think if one is indifferent to one tragedy, by the way, then one remains indifferent to all tragedies. But to use all tragedies as an excuse for not being involved in one, immediate tragedy, that is unworthy of anyone who believes in moral principles.

Eli Wiesel didn't tell me anything I don't already know. But here is the thing. It's not a quote on the library wall, or a passage in a book. He said it today to warn us, TODAY, about things that are happening right now.

If someone tells you there is an easy solution to undocumented immigrants in this country, be suspicious. Everyone has a right to their opinion, but no matter what reform, if any, that comes down the pike from Washington, people will be upset. This issue has all the ingredients for a good fight, and not just in the U.S. capital.

I say this because for the past three days I have been talking to people along the border of Texas and Mexico in preparation for Lester Holt's piece tonight on immigration. This is our first story in this week's series we're calling "Whose America?" We came down here with lots of questions and got a slew of  different opinions. Not answers, opinions. Everyone here has first hand knowledge of the problem of porous borders and undocumented workers. Everyone here also knows there is no easy answer because it's so much more than just a statistic of nearly 12 million people. It's about human beings, livelihood and, for some, no less than the ideals this country was founded on.

While we were down by the river last night with U.S. Border Patrol agents, it didn't take long before we saw a man get caught crossing the Rio Grande. It happens all the time. With spring approaching, agents say the numbers are up again. Although attention is peaking this week with what is happening in Washington, being down here and watching people get caught and handcuffed while countless others get in unnoticed, is a stark reminder that whatever happens on the Senate floor will do little in the next year to stop the efforts of people in inner tubes trying to float across the river. The money is too good, and whether they acknowledge it or not, there are lots of willing employers in the U.S. who need the help. As I said, if someone tells you there is an easy answer to this issue, have them walk the 2,000-mile border in Texas, and ask them what they think then.

Last night, while pundits in Washington busied themselves with choosing the headlines from the president's State of the Union address, correspondent Rehema Ellis and I were in Pennsylvania. We met with a small group of people with diverse backgrounds to hear what they thought about the president's priorities, tone and overall presentation.

We turned down the volume directly following the speech (sorry, Brian), and Rehema got right to their reactions without any filter from the folks on TV. The reactions -- which were both strong and articulate -- showed us just how wide a spectrum there is of opinions in this country and how the president is the bearer,  for better or worse, of it all -- from key domestic concerns to the war on terror.

Watch Rehema's story tonight to see who you agree or disagree with from our instant focus group.