First thing, I AM IN FREAKING CHINA!!! Second, the journey was long, but not as bad (or expensive) as I thought. Third, EVERYONE STARES AT ME (and sometimes they touch)!
I will start with the journey….
I left Utah after a very good day with my family. Everyone behaved, for the most part, and we had a good time together. My flight to Vancouver was fine (the view of Mount Rainier was AMAZING!). I need to say that Vancouver is a VERY picturesque city! There are huge mountains and an Ocean bay surrounding the city (The mountains jutting out of the water are amazing to see.), which is MUCH larger and more modern looking than I had expected. My time there was short, but what I saw made me interested to go back to see Vancouver in the future.
The flight to Beijing was a LONG flight, but a nice one. I first saw the way the Chinese treat foreigners while at the boarding gate. The agent was VERY kind, and when she looked up the information I gave her, she said that the assigned seat wasn’t a good one for me, and she offered to give me a new seat where there would be nobody sitting next to me. I appreciated that I didn’t need to ask for a seat with nobody sitting next to me, as Delta and US Airways certainly didn’t offer that accommodation. While standing at the boarding area, I obviously recognized that I was one of few non-Chinese, and many of the Chinese were staring at me. This will be a common occurrence for the rest of my trip. As I boarded the flight, I was greeted by four or five smiling Chinese attendants (there were at least 10 on this flight!) and one of them grabbed one of my HUGE bags and helped me to my seat. She was very cute, and throughout the flight would come and ask me if I needed anything, and would get it for me without hesitation, if I asked (I only had her get me a water and a sprite, but she was great about it).
The plane was a BRAND NEW Airbus 330 (we were on its first flight!) and it was a VERY nice plane. EVERY seat had a personal video monitor with movies, TV programs, video games, and viewing cameras (VERY cool! During taxi and takeoff, you could see in front of the plane and during flight, you could see in front of and below the plane at any time!), and video games! I was in a middle row where there were three seats and the other seat taken was by a surfer dude from the Land Down Under, Australia (He proudly exclaimed that he was from Bondie Beach and was a swimming pool tiler there.). He was an interesting guy. When he first sat down, the strongest smell of Deep Woods OFF bug spray hit me like a train. It was like he used it as cologne! He had groovy dreadlocks and a big smile (one that you get from smoking the Ganja, I believe.) and was good for conversation at any time as he didn’t sleep the entire flight (he also had seven free beers before they cut him off!)! During the flight, I slept, watched a tv program where people were doing practical joke to other, and listened to Chinese language podcasts. We were fed twice on the flight, with another two periods of snack and sandwich giving (It seems that China Air isn’t as worried about making a quick buck off of food as the US airlines are). The first meal was a very nice beef and rice dish with a vegetable I had never seen before (It was very good though), a salad, roll, a cheesecake type thing, and fruit. The second was similar to the first, but it was a pork dish with noodles and was much less US Chinese food-like than the first.
Seeing China from the plane was very difficult as it was fairly overcast, and REALLY smoggy. I was looking forward to looking at Beijing, but never had the chance. Landing and exiting the plane went fine, it was the next part that began to increase my awareness that I wasn’t in the US anymore. Although many signs are in English as well as Chinese, I had very little Idea of here to go once off the plane and I couldn’t really ask anyone, since I didn’t know Chinese and they don’t know English. I was lucky, however, that the Paralympic games are going on and there was a nice guy who seemed like he could help, and he did… There are people staring at me…
So, I was forced to go to baggage claim, pick up my luggage and transport it myself to the Domestic (Chinese domestic) transfers area, where I checked my baggage. Oh yeah, this is another interesting item. Some of you know that I was planning on paying upwards of $300 on shipping my baggage because of weight and numbers. I PAID NOTHING!!!!! Unbelievable! They don’t really go by what their website says, and I suppose that it is fairly customary to do what you want in a particular situation, if it is good for others, and not always what is written. This seems to be the ultimate “spirit of the law” country. Then I went through security (Going through security with two bags with electronic items was a hoot. This was for all of the times I went through security (three times total). I had to take out my PS3 and my laptop and put them in separate bins. I had my PS3 packaged very well and surrounded by stuff, so it didn’t get damaged, so unpacking and then repacking was quite a process). As soon as the agents helping me (they were VERY kind) saw the Playstation 3, their eyes lit up! The GIRL asked me how much and the guy just wouldn’t stop saying beautiful.
After leaving the security area, everything began to seem VERY different. Everyone stared at me. Without question or hesitation, they just couldn’t stop looking. There are two reasons for them staring. Number one is that I’m NOT Chinese, and racial diversity is NOT common here. The second reason is that I’m MUCH larger than anyone they have probably ever seen before. They aren’t staring for any reason other than curiosity, and they are very curious. Then, while sitting at my departure gate (with two American teachers and an American student) a man sitting behind us began to ACTIVLY listen and stare. He turned around and got as close to us as he could. Then, out of nowhere, he began to touch my body while saying “beautiful” as if he was amazed. It was kinda weird, but I didn’t freak out, we asked the man to sit with us. Before long the man had given me half a Yuan (NOT MUCH, but still funny), a pen, and his business card (business cards are very important in China and most people have them, even if they are the street sweeper.) . I tried to get video of him being funny, but he only soluted during filming.
Well, shortly after this, I boarded the plane and was off to my final destination. This was a simple flight and landed in only 1.5 hours. Upon arrival, I picked up my baggage and saw my current and soon-to-be managers, who were there to pick me up. They had reserved a cab and he was waiting for us in a parking lot a bit away. We loaded the cab up but before we could leave, a man stopped us frantically. It seems one of the tires had gone flat (maybe because he had MUCH more weight in the car than ever before!). I took a picture of this and will post it in my photo section. We soon went on our way with the driver going slowly since he though the axels were going to break! Alex, the soon-to-be-going home manager spoke fairly good Chinese, and that is how we knew why we were going slowly.
Driving is quite an experience in China. Lights are usually recognized, but there are very few of them. There are many areas where lights would make sense, but it is in those spots that Chinese driving shows its ballet. Cars weave through each other with amazing precision. I have no doubt that driving mistakes are common and it’s kindof crazy, but, I get it. We soon arrived in Xianyang and I began to see Chinese culture in the flesh. Remember, I arrived around 10:30 pm but there were people all over the town going here or there, playing cards, Mahjong, dancing, etc. It was very interesting to see. We arrived at our apartment in a funny kindof Chinese way. The cab driver drove onto the curb and stopped there. As we got out of the car some of the people walking buy stopped dead in their tracks and just stared at us. It is interesting that the Chinese people are so used to seeing JUST THEIR culture and not a mix of cultures as you see in the U.S. that when they see others they are very curious.
We entered our apartment and it was much larger and nicer than I expected. The first BIG issue showed up a few minutes later. You can’t flush toilet paper so you have to put used tissue in a basket near the toilet! Other than that, it seems to be a very nice apartment, even though there really isn’t much of a view.
Well I will write again soon about what is sure to be a very exciting first week in China.
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