地二天–我的讲话不当多好

so…the flight took a long time.  we were supposed to land in beijing at about 3pm, but due to thunderstorms, we ended up getting diverted to a smaller city west of beijing, taiyuan.  Most of us on the plane didn’t even realize we had been diverted until the captain decided to announce as we hit the ground, “Hello ladies and gentlemen, as you may have noticed, we are not in beijing…”

cue the collective gasp of surprise.

We were only supposed to be in taiyuan for perhaps an hour, but we ended up waiting about four/five hours before we could refuel and get clearance to go to beijing, which took about another hour.   My thirteen hour flight turned into about a 20 hour flight, but in the end, i arrived, so i guess that’s really all that matters.  The people on the plane were really nice for the most part, but i guess everyone kind of bands together when they’re stuck without any option of aborting a shared enclosed space.  and when we have a common complaint.

I got in to UIBE, where the beijing center is located, at around 11:30, and got into my room at about 12 midnight.  I had an unfortunate experience of having to call my room to wake up my roommate so i could get in….i felt so bad!  but she was really nice, and we’re really getting along swimmingly.  right now we’re sitting in a cafe across from the western gate of our school that has internet.  i tried getting internet at school…but was thwarted, sadly.

Our ChinaGreen group has 9 people in it, and even though i was worried at first about the small size, it has served to actually allow for more interaction as opposed to irritation.  but i’m sure we’ll all get on each others’ nerves at some point in time…

The first day of orientation was good–we had some info sessions from the program director and such, and then we had some host students kind of help us get around and get situated…buy simcards, random groceries…stuff like that.  The names of the students were miracle and gina.  i really don’t understand how chinese people choose english names, but it always serves to be entertaining.  I’m sure they think the same thing of those of us who choose chinese names.  But, the best part of yesterday…?  definitely the nap.  i was going to check out the gym, but…i woke up later than i had planned, and then just threw out all plans of running and slept some more before our dinner appointment, which was at 6:30pm.

There was a culture show, and i’d love to attach a movie/video of the show, but the connection i’m on now does not really permit it.  I promise to put one up when i’m at better location for it.  As it is, getting pictures uploaded is proving to be a little difficult.

We went out to a bar to get a drink to beat jetlag at night, and then came home and passed out from exhaustion.  yay for zzzzzz’s!

This morning, we had to take care of our own breakfast, and when i went into the school cafe to pick up a pastry, i saw this bao that looked like it was filled with pandan paste.  Highly suspicious that pandan had not made it to china, i asked the cafe lady, and she said it was some kind of bean.  wang dou?  i dunno exactly…as i was inquiring, someone else in the cafe said, without looking, mind you, that it was red bean.

but it was green….and then we both agreed we had no idea what it was.  i ate it anyways.

We then had a guest lecturer give us a brief overview of modern chinese history, which was fascinating and…disturbing.  Disturbing only in the sense that some of the events elicited either an angry emotional response or an extremely sad emotional response.  But i suppose that just means that i still have a heart…even though i’ve sworn several times that it doesn’t exist.  After the hour and a half lecture, we took a bus to the center of beijing to visit tian’anmen square and the forbidden city.

for 4.5 hours.  it was hot.  and smoggy.  but so cool.  Beijing is an interesting mix of new and modern buildings and ancient structures left from the qing dynasty.  It’s also teeming with differnt types of tourists from all different nations. I’m attempting to, again, attach media, but for some reason i can’t attack anything larger than 1 mb….which is a rather small size for a file.  I dunno how the first one loaded…’cause it’s definintely bigger than 1 mb.  Perhaps only one photo per post.