The Actual Beginning

Well, I have arrived safe and sound in Beijing. By sheer, slightly strange, but fortuitous coincidence, my dad was here doing business the first night that I arrived so I ended up staying with him in a five-star hotel and meeting up with a family friend that evening for a yummy Indian dinner. And being in a nice hotel means a nice breakfast (most of the time anyways) and this one certainly was delicious (and eaten at 6:30am due to that wonderful thing called jet lag). But such cushy living inevitably had to come to an end, so I downgraded to my dorm and moved in later that morning. I spent lunch time wandering around the surrounding area and got some street food to munch on (think scallion pancake, dipped in egg batter, filled with sauce, and folded over with a piece of Chinese cabbage inside).  Lucky for me, just as I was about to go get a cell phone SIM card I ran into a large group of people doing the same program I am (ACC) and we spent the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out phones and banking before heading out to Wang Fu Jing for dinner.  I didn't bring my camera this time, but Wang Fu Jing as a main street is neon the way Times Square is and the Xiao Chi alleyways (literally translated as small eats) is where those stands of fried scorpions and starfish you've probably heard about/seen picture of are. Grabbed some pork on a stick for dinner, had some candied unidentidied pitted fruit for dessert and wandered around with friends for a couple hours.  Late night, we subway-ed over to San Li Tun, a heavily ex-pat area thats relatively close to school to watch part of the World Cup games going on (although ended up talking getting to know people more than watching...figures, especially since we only get to do this in English until Saturday when we take a Language Pledge). Anyways, met my roommate finally when I arrived back to the dorm and then today taking a placement test and not sure what else I'll be doing.  Probably all of my updates won't look like this, but since I woke up really early today I have some time, so you get to read lots.