In China!

I landed yesterday afternoon in Beijing after a 12.5 hour flight. We flew over polar ice for most of the trip. It was really weird because we basically followed the sun, so it was always sunny outside. Longest day ever.

Our dorm rooms are small but very nice. I have a television, refrigerator, air conditioning, and my own bathroom. The bathrooms are by far the strangest part of our accommodations. There is no structural divide between the shower and the rest of the bathroom. This means that when you take a shower, the water does not stay in the shower area, but instead floods the bathroom. The floor does not funnel it into a drain; the water just sits there. After my shower, I tried kicking the water towards the drain but this was minimally effective. As it turns out, many bathrooms in Beijing are like this, including those of all my fellow HBAers. The solution, as I found out at 7:15 this morning, is a cleaning crew that comes in for the purpose of drying the bathroom floor everyday. This might have been an inconvenience if I wasn't already awake to take my daily temperature. Yeah, we have to get our temperature taken by 7:30 every morning. They are really serious about Swine Flu here.

Anyway last night I went out with a few friends and had a great first night in Beijing. We were all exhausted from our trips that day, but we knew that we would probably have a lot of work soon and we might not have so many opportunities to hit the town without worrying about homework. We went to San Li Tun, an area of Beijing with a lot of bars and clubs. We wanted to mix it up so we tried a bar with mostly Chinese people in it, a bar with mostly foreigners, and a bar that was Beijing's attempt at an 80's themed dance club. Going out in Beijing is dirt cheap compared to going out in American cities. Drinks are usually 10-20 kuai, or $1.70-$3.00. Cabs across the city are under 50 kuai, which is less than $8.00 (the subway closes at 10pm which is inconvenient). Dinner was 15 kuai per person. You can really have a good time and see the city on a student's budget.

I've spent most of today exploring the surrounding area and getting myself set up for the next 9 weeks. I bought a cell-phone and SIM card and calling card for around 300 kuai. I had to shop around because most places try to sell you the same package for around 500 kuai. I went to the grocery store to stock up, which is also incredibly cheap. Everything is cheap. I can't stress that enough.

Anyway tomorrow is the placement exam and orientation and the beginning of the language pledge. Being able to speak english to other kids on the program for just these first few days has been incredibly helpful getting around. I'm not sure how it will all work when we can't consult each other to work out sentences in Chinese. One of the most frustrating things so far is not that we can't speak to people or understand them (it is sometimes difficult but for the most part it works out fine), but rather that we can't read anything. I only recognize a few characters and only understand them in specific contexts. When I see a menu that is only in Chinese, I may know one or two ingredients but I have no idea what I am ordering. Signs on stores mean very little to me. Even my cell phone is difficult to use because I can't read the Chinese it displays. I hope that a few weeks here will cure that.

MS