FIRST WEEK IN CHINA UPDATE!!!

WOW, sorry for the lack of posts, but I have not had internet...here are some updates from my journal:

July 23^rd 2008 – Night

Wow! We are finally in China! Today (well, the past two days really) have been spent traveling to our destination in Beijing. We left Newark this morning via bus and drove to JFK. We then started our long plane ride. Before we took off in New York we had to wait for about an hour because there was air traffic congestion. During the plane tide, the very kind flight attendants fed us several times. The food wasn’t bad at all. I ate chicken and rice. During the trip I played the dot game with my future roommate Rachel, watched a little bit of 27 dresses, slept and read the English language Chinese newspaper. When we disembarked off the plane in Beijing, we walked down stairs and caught a bus. We went through the line for foreigners to get our passports stamped. There was a tiny machine in front of the post that allowed you to electronically rate the customer service. It was coded with a smiley face scale: a smile for good service and a frown for bad service and faces in between that you could click. The Beijing airport was absolutely stunning. It is huge and clean and obviously prepared for all the Olympic travelers. After waiting for our baggage for an hour we went through customs to scan our checked luggage. I got stopped to open my bag because of a "suspicious" item, which turned out to just be my American flag pins, that my Dad gave me for trading. After customs, we met our tour guide, Eric (oh my gosh...I LOVE HIM), who is a first time tour guide. He is young and energetic. After a group picture, we boarded a bus to our hotel. The neighborhood we drove through to get to our hotel was poorly lit, but it seemed like everyone who lives there was sitting outside. Int the hot and muggy weather of Beijing it seems like the best thing to do. There seems like there is not a lot to do right around our hotel. When we arrived at our hotel we were given keys and told to pick roommates. I picked Rachel, well we picked each other after chatting all day. Our room has two twin beds, a desk, a television, two chairs and at table. The bathroom has a western style toilet, but the shower is the entire room. Attached to the hot water tank there is a hose with a shower head attachment. They even provided shower shoes! After a quick time relaxing in our room, we headed downstairs for a welcome banquet. The traditional welcome meal is noodles (whereas the farewell meal is dumplings). The noodles were tasty and they were served with vegetables. The people here are extremely hospitable. Tomorrow we will get the internet for 120 rbm/room for the month, so less than 10$ per person (*EDIT*this is actually a lie, room by room we STILL do not all have internet...my room does not). At the banquet we met the local police who recomended that we did not go outside of the hotel at night (excellent, makes me feel safe). The bed, as I am about to go to sleep is firm, very firm. It also does not have sheets. A bottom sheet and comforter, but no flat sheet. Overall, I am very excited to begin my experience in CHina. I am happy to not be sleeping on a plane.

July 24, 2008

Today we woke up and had a “western” breakfast. This consisted of bread, which had a sweet flavor, jam, hard boiled eggs and coffee that was served in a large bowl. After breakfast we had our first Chinese lesson with Sarah. We learned the basics that we would need to survive shopping in the afternoon. After breakfast we headed out to the bus to stop at the bank to exchange our money. Our professors exchanged all of our money for us and we walked around a large shop. We saw how silk was made and saw many traditional Chinese goods (pearls, jade, tea sets, calligraphy, etc.). We then moved on to another market. The name of the game is haggling down the price as far as you can go. The shopkeepers know key English words: “Hello Lady, you want a purse” “Hello Lady, come look” etc. The shopkeepers would grab onto you if you looked at all interested and would not let you go until you bought goods. Every shopkeeper was pulling us in different directions calling out at us to buy their goods. The name of the game was bargaining! It was a lot of fun to get the shopkeeper to knock down the price I do think that they raised the price because they knew we were foreigners. After shopping was lunch, which was delicious! We had a traditional Chinese meal. After lunch we had another shopping adventure in one of the largest shopping markets in all of China. There were many different types of goods and there was a lot of shouting to get us to buy different goods. The would offer "very good price, just for you!" When we got back we rested for a while and then had a welcome banquet. We had lots of food, beer, and there was "karaoke". Karaoke was Chinese Idol, with music playing in the background and you singing the song of your choice. The manager of the hotel came around and toasted every table. Later, the manager of the hotel let me use his computer to send an email home :-) Then there was some hanging out and bed.

July 25th

Rachel and I both woke up before 6am, I guess we are not totally on the Beijing sleeping schedule yet. We sipped tea and viewed out our window at the stillness around us. While Rachel organized her bag (as there are no dressers in our hotel), I braved the shower. Today was better than yesterday. Yesterday, I turned the shower on and off between lathers in attempts not to get everything soaked. Today I let the water run at a lower pressure and managed to only get half the room soaked. I like the leisurely mornings to journal, sip tea and upload pictures to my computer.

Later:

After tea and showering, Rachel and I took a short walk around our neighborhood. People were sitting outside, eating at a restaurant. People were riding on bikes and walking through the streets. We then ate a breakfast of eggs, sweet bread &jam, and rice bread rolls. Afterwards, we ventured to Tian'amen Square, the largest public square in the world. It was huge! (obviously) The Chinese people took pictures of our group, which was pretty funny. We met the Women's US Olympic Soccer team in the square and took pictures of/with them. We then went to the Forbidden City, which was much larger than I ever expected. The temples were beautiful. It is amazing to me that it was built just for the emperor. After the Forbidden City, we went to lunch and then to Bei Hei park, wher there is a HUGE lake with THE COOLEST PADDLE BOATS I HAVE EVER SEEN (see pictures). Some had chicken heads in the front. We then went to another park to climb to a high pavilion to "see all of Beijing".

From the top of the temple:

The smog is unreal. We cannot even see the entire Forbidden City, which is a mile long and very wide. At the top of the temple you should be able to see all of Beijing, but the smog is thick here. Apparently it is much better than before, but it is thicker that I have ever seen before. The wind is gently blowing through my hair and I feel totally relaxed. The Chinese culture seems much more relaxed than the rushed pace of the American lifestyle. We see people sitting on the side of the road, men with their shirts half up because of the humidity and children barley clothed or naked. Many children have shaved heads probably because of the heat.

WELL! That was a heck of an update, I am still behind in typing things up, but I will update it soon (tomorrow hopefully), but please check out my pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/BrittneyABaker

LOVE!

B