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.

Up and Running in Beijing

Finally I have internet in my apartment and am able to access my blog via the Chinese internet. The past week has been filled with experiences. I have journaled all of them while I have not had access to the internet and blogspot. Now I will catch everyone up on my adventures so far!

Departure

Tomorrow is the day I have been waiting for for a long time! The past two days I have been packing and repacking my suit cases. Tomorrow morning I will board my Delta flight in Fargo, in Minneapolis I will meet my good friend from UND, Alex, then we will be off to Seattle to catch our last leg of the trip to Beijing.

Some exciting news since my last post, I have been added online to the British School of Beijing Staff website
<http://www.britishschool.org.cn/index.php/staff/staff-sanlitun/ks2.html>. Check it out to read my bio.

Thank you to my entire family, Grandpa Ed, Aunt Cindy, Grandpa George, and most of all my parents for making this trip possible! I am very fortunate to have a family so supportive of me and my dream to teach abroad. I'm very excited to see Mom and Aunt Cindy visit me in September! We will have a good time!

I just heard some good news today from my best friend friend growing up, Mike Harmon, that he will be playing in the Beijing Jazz Festival this September! How ironic that he will be there. I am very excited to go listen to him and his band!

Well that is all for now! Next time I write, it will be from Beijing!

Good Bye Grand Forks

I spent the weekend moving back to Fargo. It is a bitter sweet time. Thank you to Barb and Dave Wishart for housing me these past 3 years! I can not say thank you enough and can never repay all that you have done for me. It is also a sad time knowing that I may never be back living in the town being that I graduate in December. As for the moving, it took me 5 car loads to move my things that have accumulated over the past 5 years I have been in Grand Forks. The next order of business is to pack for China! I leave in 4 days, 21 hours! The day is drawing near and I am excited for the great experience that is ahead of me.

Anticipation

In 11 days I will be leaving to student teach in Beijing, China! Follow my blog as I will post about my experiences traveling around the large country of China AND the entire reason I am going there; teaching at the British School of Beijing.