Got off the plane and was immediately stunned by the size and activity of the Beijing airport. Defying description, this airport is comparable to a small city, and finding our way around it would have been near impossible without our program guides. Thankfully, after de-planeing and collecting bags, we were immediately joined by people who knew where we were going.
I moved into my hotel (FX hotel) in the ZhongGuanCun area of Beijing, and immediately discovered my friend from language classes at A&M is my roommate. We knew we were participating in the same program, but were unaware of being paired together at the hotel, and I was pretty stoked. FX is a nice place, the beds are fabulously comfortable (at least in comparison to the beds in the Shao Yuan on campus dorms many of the CIEE participants have to sleep on), and Peking University is only a few short blocks away.
I'm still adjusting to the cold, and daily hope the weather will be a little warmer when i walk to class in the mornings. It's getting there. Last week it snowed. Sounds normal enough until you realize the snow was government induced, and probably as toxic and diseased as the smog filled air. Made the campus beautiful nonetheless, but crunched in an altogether unfamiliar way under our feet. We were told it was the first time it had snowed, and actually stayed on the ground for a year.
I should probably mention the food. I was warned it would be nothing like American Chinese food, and was told repeatedly how bland and unappealing it is. I think the people who gave me that info were unaware of how much I love food. Jianbing is a crepelike snack cooked on a large flat table like thing with an egg, some assorted vegetables and sauces, and goes for about 3 kuai (3 RMB/ yuan, = less than 50 cents). Amazing, takes 2 seconds for them to make, and is great to chow down on on the way to or from class. Baozi = large steamed bread dumplings with assorted meat or vegetables in the middle. Less than 1 kuai. In the building complex the FX hotel is attached to we have a few assorted "fast food" Chinese restaurants. A delicious and hearty meal usually consists of rice and various vegetable and chicken, beef or pork, or a bowl of noodles and meat. All for usually less then 10 or 15 kuai. Our favorite of these restaurants we call Gong Bao Ji Ding (Kung Pow Chicken) for their signature dish. The all Chinese menu can be a pretty massive ordeal, although I've mastered ordering the Gong Bao Ji Ding, Niu Rou Mian (Beef Noodles), and a few other great dishes. Taking a risk and trying something new can really be one hell of a risk. Ending up with duck brains and something's liver to me isn't the greatest, but to each his own.
Beer abounds. Qingdao (or Tsingtao) is the most prevalent and popular Chinese beer around here, and it isn't half bad. We frequently encounter cheers of "Ganbei!" at meal times, followed by everyone involved chugging their glass. Luckily glasses are customarily small, and bottles are twice the size of in the US, meant for sharing.
(tiananmen square, me and Mao)So far we've seen Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, CIEE has taken participants to the Temple of Heaven and the Lama Temple, we saw the pretty insane Beijing Flying Acrobatics Show, and tonight we're off to the Jingju (Beijing Opera). This weekend I'm hella excited about taking a weekend trip to see the Bingmayong (Terracotta warriors) in Xi'an. We're taking the train, and it should make for a great weekend. Once the weather improves we have many more trips planned, such as the Great Wall.
(acrobatics show)
I still need to talk about my classes (Hanyu = written, Kouyu = spoken, Tingli = listening, and my one english elective = Chinese Philosophy). Right now though, I've got to jump in the shower and get ready to go to Jingju!
edit 3/9: jingju was interesting. Kind of like dinner theater, with bad subtitles. Very interesting. Jenna has a pretty good sum up on her blog:
Jenna's blog
Kels you are an incredibly captivating writer. I love you and I miss you :]
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