First Impressions

-Written August 13, 2011-

Last night Alex and I flew into Beijing. The flight was amazing! I ended up taking a 5 hour nap in First Class ($120 USD upgrade) when I only had a ticket for Economy class. Oops! Good thing I became good friends with the flight attendant. She was very kind and let me sleep there. She also gave us good places to find shopping deals AND before we landed she gave us a bottle of Veuve DU Vernay wine from first class to celebrate our new life in Beijing!
After two days of travel I am exhausted and my sleep schedule is off. I am up right now at 4am sitting on the bench window watching the (sun rise) day start. The road in front of the apartment is busy starting at 5am. There is an interesting mix of modern world and old world. Cars speed by honking their horns as the bicyclists pedals down the side of the street. it's dangerous business every day on the street. Then there are the walkers. People out exercising their pets and those out for a morning run. Today will be a long day.

-10pm-
Today has been a long day being up since 4am. I'm trying to get on the Beijing time so I am up right now staying awake by writing. Soon I will be in bed! Today we exchanged our money and went shopping for supplies all afternoon. Waling around the neighborhood was eye opening as I became acquainted. Children walk around with no pants and men walk around with a mid-drift of sorts. This stems from the Chinese belief that there is a hot dragon inside of the belly of everyone and lifting your shirt lets out the heat released by the dragon. The cleanliness of the city is interesting. Everyone dresses well and fashionable, in clean clothes. The opposite is said of the streets. They are littered with garbage. Children are allowed to go to the bathroom in the street. I saw a child even pee in the isle of a grocery store. Conversing with locals is daunting when I don't the language. Tomorrow I am going to study some Chinese phrases before going shopping so I don't feel helpless. Dinner was a treat. All the dishes were delicious except the fish. Tofu is prepared very well here and is delicious. Chopstick skills are progressing. My hands will be strong in no time.