They love me so much,

these Beijing mosquitoes do. I have several bites on my body, including on smack in the middle of my forehead and one on my nose. Sound familiar, Cynthia? It's like mosquito deja vu. Except not cool in any way.

Anyway, today we had a presentation in the morning by our affiliate travel agent man. He was cool except he only spoke Chinese. And he showed us lots of slides of lots of places I want to go. Like, basically everywhere in China. And some cool places in Beijing too, of course. They definitely encourage us to take trips on the weekends here, since it's fairly easy to take an overnight train on Friday night to somewhere in within the northern half of China and still make it back to class on Monday after a fun filled weekend. Some places I'd like to visit if given the chance: Lhasa, Harbin, Guilin, and Fuzhou (as long as Cheng can come with me). Now I'm noticing that these are not the easiest places to get to, but oh well. I will make something happen.

This afternoon was the fun part. (Not really). Cheng joined us for a scavenger hunt around Beijing... only I somehow neglected to tell him the hunt was Amazing Race style. In a group of five we had to navigate our way to different landmarks around Beijing (7 in all) within 3 hours and make it back in time for dinner. The group to reach the most landmarks won. Well, we got to four, after taking a ridiculously long time to find out first spot at Houhai. I ended up retracing my trip from yesterday. From there we went to Beihai park, where I somehow got ripped off an paid 20 yuan for the entrance fee. But it was a pretty park. I'd go back if the fee was less.

Our next stop was the top of the hill at Jingshanyuan, the park behind the Forbidden City where an emperor hanged himself as his dynasty ended. From there we took a bus to Tiananmen Square to pick up our last clue that we had time for, outside of Mao's tomb. The clue was something about a Silk Road and a market to the east of the Square the sold lots of fake name brand items. We ended up at Wangfujin because the cab driver thought that was where we needed to be... oh well. So we only ended up getting 4 spots finished and another team beat us by one spot. At least now I know how to get to those places, and feel pretty confident navigating that central area of the city. I'd like to go back when I'm less rushed and take more pictures, but actually right now I'd rather visit some other neighborhoods in the city.

I had the option of going with my group to Sanlitun tonight for some jiuba fun, but declined since I'm still not feeling well. We have nothing planned for tomorrow morning (amazingly) so I'm going to get some rest and hope that whatever sickness I have no will leave me alone. I think not racing around the city during the day will also alleviate some of my ills. Oh, and as a side note, although Beijing is not being so nice to me right now, I think Cheng is doing very well. Beijing looks good on him! He speaks easily with the natives, has no fears about eating the street food, and has random moments of nostalgia and memories from his childhood come back. Zhen ke'ai. Ok, xianzai wo yao shuijiao! Ming tian jian!

Technical Difficulties Fixed! Commence Posting!

Well kids, the unfortunate truth is that Maarten Troost was not lying when he complained about how horrible the air pollution is here. Nor was he exaggerating. It’s bad. On top of it being bad, I had a sore throat bothering me off and on before I left, and of course now it is back in full force. I used to like going outside or opening my window for some fresh air (even in NY!) but now I am cowering in my dorm room in fear of breathing any more outside fumes.

The throat condition was no doubt exacerbated by the amount of walking outside I have already done today. We started out the morning with a voluntary excursion across the city to the Houhai district to check out some hutongs. Getting there first involved catching a bus, then getting off and walking a few blocks to the subway. I must say I was quite impressed with both modes of transportation. Clean, on time, and efficient. Not terribly crowded either. We bought a card that allows us to swipe on the buses (at a discount rate) and subways so we won’t have to buy tickets everytime. It’s kinda like the Oyster card for London, so of course I love it. How fangbian. Also the bus is so cheap! Only .40 kuai!

Going to Houhai during the day was nice, because it wasn’t so crowded and crazy like it gets at night. The area was really nice, with a big lake where people were boating, fishing, and swimming (the last one at their own risk). Too bad the smog had to diminish the splendor! OK I should stop complaining and probably accept this condition as a fact of life here. (Though that doesn’t make it any more tolerable!). Anyway we stopped in this one shop selling lots of stuff from Tibet, and the staff was really funny and nice and wanted to take lots of pictures with us crazy waiguoren. I tried helping some girls bargain for things but I don’t think I did much for them. However I’m a little more prepared for when I go out shopping on my own, since I had a bit of fun helping them. Too bad they were overwhelmed by the salesmanship… which really wasn’t that bad, in my opinion. I’ve dealt with much pushier people, even in America.

Then in the afternoon we had this scavenger hunt activity where we paired up with someone and had to go find a random landmark they had assigned to us. We weren’t allowed to ask any native English speakers for help, or to take a taxi. Lucky for us, there are tons of Olympic volunteers on our campus, so I asked them (in Chinese!) to help us and they kindly wrote directions for the bus (in Chinese!). We made it there and back (our was a French supermarket chain called JiaYueFu that’s basically like Walmart on crack) and a nice student helped us find the campus again on the bus ride home. Beijing people are nice when your lost! But I still have a long way to go in completely understanding directions. Mostly it’s a lot of me pointing, asking Nei biar? And I nod a lot, even though I don’t understand. But I try! And I think if I had to get somewhere on my own I would be ok… provided I had a map and a piece of paper so people could write things down for me.A successful (if wearying) excursion.

Thunderstorms

Day 2 in Beijing except that it feels much longer. There was more random orientation lectures today and those in between running around the city trying to find the basic necessities (money, cell phone, towels and shampoo in that order) I am now exhausted at 10 AM again. It’s kind of annoying that they have all these things planned for us when I just really need time to get out in the neighborhood, buy some things, and take in my surroundings. On the other hand, it’s been nice getting to know the staff and teachers; everyone has been really friendly and there’s a good deal of individual attention, since our program is so small.

We had lunch at a nearby Chinese restaurant and the academic coordinator outlined our trips for the semester. Apparently we are taking a long weekend in Shanghai very soon… in a couple weeks, I think. Then for our long trip at the end of October, we are spending a week in Nanjing and then a week in rural Yenan (I think that’s the name… not quite sure. Definitely not Yunnan though). I’m very excited for these excursions! And just plain excited for classes in general, though they seem like a lot of work. We also have to do an outside research project that we will present in a symposium at the end of the semester. So yes, classes seem like a fun challenge, but no I’m not quite ready for them to start yet. I need to get oriented to my surroundings first!

One cool thing that happened today: on my way to get my cell phone, one of the RA’s volunteered to take me to the store since it was too hard to explain how to get there. So he showed up with a bike and was like, “We have a ride.” My job was to sit on the back of the bike on this metal bar thing, keep my balance, and hang on for dear life. In that order. I managed not to fall but I have no idea how Chinese people can do that with such ease. I’ve seen people sitting on the back holding umbrellas and such. They must have abs of steel, is what I’m thinking. And short legs probably helps too. But the bike made the trip much shorter and dodging traffic really wasn’t as terrifying as I expected. Beijingers are no doubt used to the crazy mix of cars/bikes/mopeds/pedestrians/buses and there’s an odd synergy in traffic flow that follows the seemingly chaotic combination. (Though I can’t imagine how much worse things will be at the end of September, when the cars come back on the roads in full force.)

I’m meeting up with Cheng tomorrow evening, finally! It seems like so long ago that we parted at the airport but it was… yesterday. I’ve clearly been kept busy, but I wonder what he’s been up to? Also, I’m really glad I didn’t go out to a bar tonight with some of the kids—it’s pouring buckets outside now, with thunder and everything. Knowing my luck, my brand new cell phone would’ve been ruined.

Word of the day: qianming 签名 TO SIGN ONE’S NAME (as in, on the traveler’s checks that the Bank of China won’t let me cash unless my mom is here. Sigh.)

1st Post from Beijing

Most amazingly, our flight from Columbus to Newark was on time and landed so that we had just enough of a layover in Jersey to change terminals, hit the bathrooms, and study some Chinese as we waited for boarding. Then we actually took off a little early, though in the long scheme of things it didn’t really matter since the flight was still ridiculously long. But it was cool to watch the map of our progress as we flew over Greenland and Mongolia. And I must say, Continental was very cool with entertainment for the flight. There were hundreds of movies on demand, TV shows, and video games. I personally watched two Chinese movies, Prince Caspian, and an episode each of 30 Rock, Scrubs, and House. In between times I slept and ate. The food was bad, as to be expected, but really not bad. It was just awful because they gave us this “dim sum” meal right before landing, and it was a rough landing. Cheng and I were both queasy peasy.

I was sad that we didn’t get to walk through the new terminal on our way to customs. Hopefully I’ll get to take a picture there on my way back. From baggage claim on, it was smooth sailing, as they say. Jimmy met Cheng as we exited, and my program was gathered there already. We parted ways and will meet up again when the cell phone gods reunite us. My program had an hour long bus ride ready for us, but actually it was cool because we drove on the fourth ring road past the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube. Yes, we took pictures. Yes, it was awesome and I want to go back there immediately to see everything up close. Preferably at night.

The rest of the bus ride was hum drum. I felt very strange looking out the windows. It was as if everything was familiar, because in my mind I remembered the tall high rises, gigantic furniture stores, and tiny store fronts as the Beijing I visited three years ago. And yet I knew it was different. There were less cars on the roads. There was Olympic propaganda and posters everywhere. There even seemed to be less people about. However, once we reached Haidian (the university district) the people appeared in full force. It was much more of a neighborhood Beijing feel than the large, abstract buildings we had been passing (also spotted: Dominos and Pizza Hut).

Once the bus dropped us off on campus (wow, I’m attending a real campus this semester with a gate and everything… weird) I found out that only myself and one other girl were in the CI Program—the rest of the 20 some people headed off to dorms about 5 mins away. But oh no, we were special, we got in a taxi and shuttled over to the East Campus dorms. I was quite amazed that 1) our taxi driver was female and 2) she didn’t mind that three of us (the RA included) were climbing into her cab for 5 minutes with 5 huge suitcases. This would never happen in NYC, I thought. (And I will always been comparing Beijing to NYC for no good reason other than I am living in both of them… they are very much not alike. You will see).

Our dorms are pretty sweet, btw. The building is actually a dorm/hotel, so the singles look kinda like small hotel rooms. And the air conditioner is awesome. The shared bathroom at the end of the hall, not so much, but hey we’re a small program so I’m hopeful that it’ll work out okay. After unpacking some of us went to a nearby convenience store to buy some things, but more of that will take place tomorrow. As in, tomorrow when I go to the bank to exchange my traveler’s checks and actually have cash. They’re keeping us on a pretty tight schedule though, so we don’t suffer much jetlag. As it is, it’s 10 PM (though my comp still says AM) and I’m just not going to sleep after… I can’t even count how many hours without a full rest. Definitely time for some much needed beauty sleep.

Technical Difficulties

I know you're all awaiting a new post with bated breath, but I'm having technical difficulties getting the Internet to work in my room, which is my laptop is that I've been drafting my posts on. So once that is up and running (if not today, maybe tomorrow) I'll have some good updates posted on the first couple days here.

Now I'm off to another fun filled, tightly scheduled day of orientation. Check back when you wake up tomorrow, I guess!

The Last Supper

Cheng doesn't want to guest blog, so I will describe everything. Also he just left to go play his video game because he won't be able to play it on the plane tomorrow. Loser.

The suitcases are all packed, my Chinese is sooo soo rusty, and I got me some traveler's checks so I am ready to go. I think. It sort of hasn't dawned on me that this is actually happening. I mean, I've said goodbye to everyone, and I've been obsessing over China all summer, but tomorrow I am actually going there. Crazy.

Being home this past week time went by very fast. (Wow, is that proper English? Sounds super strange. Anyway...). I sat by the pool, I ate a lot of food, I hung out with the peeps, I drank some wines, etc etc. And drove around, of course. The typical Ohio things. I could probably do a week more of this, and then I would start seriously questioning my life. But thankfully I have no choice but to return to my studies now. Did I mention that when I arrive, during Orientation, I have to take another placement exam?? Damn. Not prepared at all. Somehow I have to convince these people that even though I can barely hold a basic conversation in Chinese, I'm really supposed to be enrolled in Advanced II. Right.

I hope that I meet some of the kids from my program at Newark tomorrow. According to wall comments on our FB group (which I stalk, cuz I'm cool like that) a lot of us are going out on the same flight to Beijing. It'd be nice to have an excuse to get up and walk around the plane to break up the 14 hours, as long as I could go talk to somebody. Also I'm a little worried that I have no good plane reading material. But plane rides are boring, so I'll stop discussing that now. Although I will probably take some pictures of the gross plane food and talk about how disgusting it was... at some point when I have nothing else to complain about.

I'm gonna go watch the last of the Olympics that I can now. I'm sad I'll be missing the closing ceremony because if it's anything like the opening one, it would be sure to blow my mind. Hopefully I can catch it online or something after I get settled in Beijing. Ah! Settled in Beijing!

Taking Care of Business

Things accomplished so far whilst being home:
--Visited people. Had lunch with Tristan today, and that was awesome. Hope he doesn't mind that I am writing about him here on my blog. K.
--Sat by the pool and got me a little tan. Not much, but anything above glowingly pale is fine by me.
--Went to the dentist. Gotta have some gum surgery in January. Wow, can't wait.
--Started packing

So here are the things left to accomplish:
--Packing. Boo.
--Go to bank and get traveler's checks
--Go to Walmart and get random toiletries
--Take Apollo to the dog park
--Get drunk? Or at least party?
--Oh, um, study Chinese. Duh.

It's been a few days since I've actually studied Chinese. As usual when I'm home, I don't really feel like doing anything except either A) Sitting in front of the TV of B) Sitting outside with a book. Although I've been doing a lot of the former. Takes less brain power, and yeah, it's hot outside. Studying Chinese takes even more brain power; it seems like a fun idea at first but then there's just too much and I'll never be adequately prepared for arrival. In 5 DAYS. Holy crap.