On the flight from the US to Beijing 北京 the guy behind me had an epileptic seizure. I was reading my book when he started making some groaning noises and shaking violently. The people next to him didnt do anything so I went and got the stewardess. We eventually found a doctor. It turned out he had forgot to take his meds. The flight was late getting into beijing and I missed my flight to Harbin. Air China was very easy to work with, even in chinese, to get a new ticket for later last night. After being had for an extra $5 dollars by the taxi driver and accidentally going into a girls dorm, I made it to my new home for four months.
It is a 10x10 concrete white box with two beds and two desks. I share a bathroom with 3 others. I met my roommate today. He is a history major from Xian, the city with the terracotta warriors. His name is Song Lai Long. I also went through some bureaucratic processes to get internet in my room and get a meal card for the cafeteria. Both involved no less than 5 separate forms and at least two large red stamps.
When walking back from the store after purchasing a new blue plaid bath towel I happened to pass a young lady wearing a teeshirt with english words on it. At first glance it looked like a Nike shirt, but upon further inspection it turned out to say "just do me" followed by at least 20 other statements. I was only able to read two, "just grab me" and "just kiss me." I wonder if she had any idea. I also wonder what the other 18 said.
I was up at 3am this morning. Now it is 8pm and I am pretty tired. Tomorrow I get my class schedule and Saturday we are going for a hike.
9 comments:
your china adventure will be awesome! cultural snafus, the duzi, chinglish etc are all things to enjoy thoroughly.
lol you will see a lot weird shirts with funny English on in China. I had the same jetlag when i came back,waking up at 4am and felt sleepy at 8pm. It took me a week to get over it. Hope everything in China will be awesome for you, and be careful, haerbin is freezing in winter!!;-D
funny you should send the link today, I myself spent most of the day reading about china's sloping lands conversion program (SLCP). would love to discuss in greater detail
exciting! i am really jealous
girls dorm...glad your head is in the right place. can't wait to hear about forest/natural resource issues...and of course corn, wheat and beans
miss you man
haha,I will forgive you & Porter mistakenly regarding me as a historian,although I am wise enough to be. I will spare no efforts to help you live a wonderful life in HIT.
from Leah:
I missed seeing this sooner. What a loooonnng trip over! The red tape for things is a clue for arranging other things I imagine. Funny shirt sighting....
more later.
Sounds good so far... Also, I do love that your profile picture is the one I took of you so long ago in front of the snack street. Good times.
THe proper term, Jason, is 'flight attendant.' Hope you are enjoying your travels!
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