2008-08-31
Plane rides and the first day ...

So I’ve finally arrived at my final destination for the first leg of this journey – BFSU!

I’ll start at the airport though, because there’s no use talking about what I’m doing now (which is sitting on my bed in my fancy dorm watching “Goodmorning Beijing” and “101 Dalmatians” – in Chinese – at 700 AM Beijing time.)

Anyway.

We met up at the airport and waited for a little while, just standing around, and took some photos together as a group.





From there we checked in at the JAL counter and waited some more. By then – it was time to leave and go through security and all that boring stuff.

(I may add that if I have to take my shoes off one more time so they can make sure that there isn’t any shoe bombs I may just punch someone.)

Mom cried, I didn’t (which is normal) and then we were going through the gate.

(How is it possible to have “Dora the Explorer” in Chinese? Because that’s what’s on now …)

So we went through security, found our gate, and then sat. And sat. And went and got some food. And then sat. Then FINALLY it was time to board the flight.




We were all the way in the back by the engines so it was rather noisy but it wasn’t bad at all. I’ve been in louder places. The food was EXCELLENT. Chicken for lunch, then pasta for … lunch. Because when we left O’hare it was noon, we at at like noon Tokyo time (as we were landing in Narita International Airport to catch our flight) so we ate lunch twice. I slept some, but most of my flight was spent trying to get comfortable and trying to sleep. Near the end, Bri, Kyle, Sam I., Natalie and I played uh Disney Princess Uno.

It was really nice to get off of the plane in Japan, even though we had to go through security again and get in. Narita is so CLEAN!! The announcements were in Japanese, then English, then Korean, and I got a good shot of a sign that kind of made me happy.

We weren’t coming into Japan so we weren’t allowed to leave the international terminal, but there was a little store to buy food and gifts right next to us! I broke out the first of my yen and bought a salmon onigiri (salmon, seaweed, and rice), some milk tea (sweet tea with milk) and some strawberry Pocky. Sam D. Bought some BLUEBERRY! It was amazing.


(this is japan ...)

hahahahaha. sign in japan.

waiting in the terminal (bri and natalie)

onigiriiiiii

milk tea.

We sat for a while with a group (and a dude whose name I just can’t remember) and just talked until it was time to board the next JAL flight to BEIJING!!!!!

I liked this JAL plane better – there were less seats crammed together and it seemed a little bit more spacious. It did look like rain, though, so I was anticipating a bumpy ride …

Sam D., Sam L., Bethany, Bri, Natalie, and I all sat together but there was a lot of sleeping going on – especially on my part! I was so tired by now. The food on this flight was good as well – some seafood (of which I ate all of minus the shrimp) in a cheese sauce, rice, salad, and FLAN!

After eating dinner, I promptly fell asleep. Typical.

When we arrived in Beijing, it was ABSOLUTELY POURING! So hard that it was leaking through the little walkways that connects the plane to the building.

The airport was huge. Mind bogglingly so. I always though O’hare was huge – O’hare is NOTHING compared to the airport we arrived at! It was clean and shiny, and all the workers were smiling and trying to direct us in Chinese and then eventually relapsed into bad English, but they were helpful nonetheless.

We went through immigration, got our bags, and then got out into the main area – we were officially in Beijing! It’s still so surreal.

We found our guy that was transporting us to BFSU and we got onto the bus – but all the luggage wouldn’t fit into the bottom of the bus! We had to bunch up and get some in the bus.


waiting for the bus.

the bus terminal.

We drove on the expressway to the 3rd ring road – it looks just like driving in Chicago almost, except there were marigolds in boxes on the rails and everything was in Chinese. The tour guide (? I don’t think he’s actually a tour guide, I just think that he’s our proctor for BFSU) gave us a running commentary.

Then – we were here! Through the gates of BFSU and into our dorms, which are each different but they’re all modern and nice. They have AC and a TV and interwebs, and a nice bathroom (no squatty potty here so far!! There was one in the bathroom in Narita though.)

Today I think we’re walking Beiwei and then getting HOTPOT (!) and Peking duck (!!) for lunch. Nomnomnom.

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(♥ weilie || 维列) § 8:27 AM 3 messages

she is
Weilie (维列) a.k.a. pothie
25 November 1988
Sagittarius
Illinois, USA; 京都, 日本 (Kyoto, Japan); 北京, 中华人民共和国 (Beijing, PRC)

she wants
world peace
a cute boy ♥
more clothes
lotsa' money
steady job
to be thinner
love ♥

the poem
Should this life sometime deceive you,
Don't be sad or mad at it!
On a gloomy day, submit:
Trust - fair day will come, why grieve you?
Heart lives in the future, so
What if gloom pervade the present?
All is fleeting, all will go;
What is gone will then be pleasant.

Если жизнь тебя обманет,
Не печалься, не сердись!
В день уныния смирись:
День веселья, верь, настанет.
Сердце в будущем живет;
Настоящее уныло:
Все мгновенно, все пройдет;
Что пройдет, то будет мило.
Pushkin.

how to ...
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