Sunday, July 6, 2008
11:52 PM

I arrived in Beijing about 9 PM tonight. No problems going through customs or anything -- Beijing's new airport is gorgeous. Actually very similar to Hong Kong's, but seems more wide open and quiet. The terminal we arrived in is supposedly the largest in the world. Seems about right. Had to take a train to the baggage terminal, and I think my 2 bags were the last ones off the plane. So about 9:45 I finally had my bags and went out to the arrivals area. There was a chinese girl with a 'Worldlink Education' sign waiting for me. I walked up and said hi, and she said 'Darin Johnson??' or something similar. It didn't really sound like that but whatever.

She walked me outside where we met her Dad, who put my luggage in his Kia and then we drove about 20-25 minutes to the apartment complex where my actual host family is. I'm on the 25th floor. My host 'parents', I'm guessing, are in their mid 50's. Also staying with them / us is a grandmother (his mom or her mom.... I don't know which yet). I'm not good with ages, but I'm guessing that this woman is 248 years old. If she dies while I'm here that's going to be really creepy.

Anyway, It's a small apartment... 2 bedrooms, kitchen, 2 bathrooms (one doubles as a laundry room), living room. There are also 2 cats. I have my own room, and I have a feeling that I kicked grandma out of her room, since she's sleeping out on the couch in the living room. Also, no air conditioning. I don't think that'll be a huge problem since I'll probably only be here in the evenings and I've got a big fan. It's actually really nice out tonight, and much less humid than, say, Mississippi.

My host family speaks NO english. I mean, a couple of words, really, but even the basic stuff is all in Chinese. I've mainly talked to my host 'mom', but her husband, I think, knows even less. I think I've managed OK. She's probably just speaking broken Mandarin to me anyway but I've been able to communicate enough to give her gifts and figure out how to work the shower, etc. I also understood her when she asked if I wanted something to eat, and if it was the first time I'd been in China. Anyway, she's brought me water to drink and a bowl of cold sweet cream stuff that was really good. She just tried to say 'goodnight' to me in english but that didn't work very well. SInce I knew how to say it in Mandarin I said that back and she seemed really appreciative and relieved.

Tomorrow I have class at 8 AM. Evidently I'll be riding a bike there every day. If I understood her correctly, host mom said she'd take me there tomorrow. Maybe we'll both be riding bikes. Anyway, I'm going to try to get some sleep, but I slept way too long on the plane and I'm not sleepy at all.

I'll track down the internet tomorrow and try to post this.