Made it!

Ni hao!

Well I have safely arrived here in Beibei without a scratch! The flight from LA to Beijing was long but I managed to sleep for 8 of the 12 hour trip so that helped. Interesting thing about flying with Chinese, if you are in an aisle seat, you are not expected to get up to allow the inner seat passengers to get by. As an window/middle seat passenger you should not expect anyone to move or get up for you. So I woke up a few times during the flight to find a Chinese man almost sitting on top of me trying to get to the aisle. Hello to you too sir.
I planned my trip so that I would have a 10 hour layover in Beijing. Why do such a thing you might ask? FREE TRIP TO BEIJING! My checked bags got to lounge at the airport while I heaved my carryons throughout the Beijing subway system to pop up right in front of the Forbidden city. Quite the site for my first few minutes in China. I explored the area for a while, but jet lag, thirst, and hunger eventually pushed me back towards the airport.
I saw a lot of interesting things during this "free trip," ;) Here's a list of some of the good ones:
- baby in butt-less chaps (yes, full chinese moon)
- some sort of chicken or rodent in a bag on the subway (still alive), presumably dinner for the night. I question what kind of animal it was because I only heard it squealing when it's carrier was beating the bag.
- women's fashion. this could go on forever but they all wear heels, or wedges. And if that can't be done there's at least rhinestones or sparkles on the shoes. Also shirts that say things like Sunlight, Balmy, Why not? and Do you make love?
- murses. male purses.
- TEA! Everyone has a nalgene full of it.
- No understanding of lines. You gotta push your way to the front, space between you and the person in front of you means someone else can fit in there.
- And of course my blonde hair and round light eyes attracted a few photographs. All smiles here :)

And now I'm settling into my apartment here in Beibei, which I hope to post some pictures of shortly. More orientation and touring tomorrow and wednesday and hopefully classes will begin sometime next week. Until next time!