Round 2

So after 3 flights (Vegas to L.A., L.A. to Beijing, Beijing to Harbin) and over 24 hours of traveling, I've finally arrived back in China--tired and ready to go at the same time. For those of you who read my China blog last summer, I first and foremost want to thank you--you probably did it for the sake of our friendship, not out of personal interest. Anyway, this summer it's going to be a bit different. There's no telling what will happen, but I can't promise the same amount of excitement as last summer, when I saved a donkey on the Great Wall or received an hour-long haircut/massage in what I found out later was a nighttime brothel.

There's two main reasons for the difference: 1) this summer I have 20+ hours of classes per week, whereas last summer I had a lot more free time to just get lost in the city and talk to strangers and 2) things that surprised me last summer (i.e. pit hair on the women, more bicycles than cars, etc.) aren't really quite as novel. With that said, I will certainly let you know of anything that strikes me as interesting...and you'll probably get to hear some not so interesting things. But hey, it's the first post, so there's really no telling.

I have to say that I'm not just doing this little Internet posting thing because I'm flush with time. No, I'm doing it mainly because it's a great way for me to remember down the road just what the hell I was doing over in China. But I also want to let you, the reader, know that Chinese life exists outside Beijing and Shanghai, and the culture contrast is quite unlike what we have in the States.

A couple other things: please post comments. I'd love to hear from you, and it's kinda nice to know that people actually read this silly thing. Let me know if I'm out of line, if you want to know about other aspects of China, or if the content/setup of the blog isn't too good (because of Chinese censorship, I can't actually view my own blog).

So, backtracking a bit, as many of you know I went down a 9 day rafting/hiking trip down the Grandest Canyon of 'Em All. Abridged summary: I almost died so many times. Then began the craziness: when we pulled out at Diamond Creek at 11:00, I bathed in the river while everyone ate lunch, then road a bus one hour to Seligman, AZ, where my grandmother met me, then drove me 2+ hours to the Vegas airport, where I took a 6:00pm plane leaving for L.A. From L.A. I flew 13 hours to Beijing (with the help of my little friend Benadryl). After arriving in China's capital at 4:30am, Yinglian (see picture) met me. If you didn't read last summer's blog, she's the extremely nice lady who I lived with last summer in Beijing. By the time I got my luggage it was 5:30. She then helped me buy a plane ticket to Harbin, which boarded in just 30 minutes. I was pushed for time because I was already a day and a half late for my program's orientation.

If you fly internationally through Beijing or Shanghai, it's just like any other American airport. However, if you fly domestically, the setup's a bit different. There's one big waiting room, with many "gates." These aren't actually gates, more like doors that take you to a bus, which transports you to the plane waiting close to the runway. When I took this picture, I got a few awkward looks. The plane we flew in was a bit more "well-kept up" than what you'd find in the States, but certainly not substandard. When I arrived in Harbin I bought a bus ticket (Yinglian gave me some starter money) and just hopped off when I got to the stop "Harbin Institute of Technology."

I found the first group of people that I thought were students to try to figure out where my dorm was. Not only did the four students (who were on their way to lunch) help me find the dorm, they escorted me and lugged my bags. Once we found my dorm, I had to get to an orientation meeting. They offered to help unpack my things and then take me to the meeting. I allowed them to take me to the meeting, was sure to get their names and email addresses, and then promised to give them a shout. This experience seems to parallel others I've had here: college students especially will go out of their way to help you. (Of course, this isn't unseen in the US) When I finally walked into the meeting, I unknowingly said in clear Chinese, "I'm really sorry, I know I'm very late." (I'd been using Chinese for the last 1/2 day getting around.) They all looked at me, quite confused, and one guy said, "Hey man, the language pledge doesn't start for another two days." Embarrassed, I took a seat, thinking about the great first impression I had just made.

(All CET Harbin students agree to the language pledge, which requires that you only speak Chinese, with punishments as extreme as being sent home with no refund.)