Day 1 (and a Half)

[innasenselost]

Dad, Cyn, and I drove up to DC on Tuesday morning. Traffic was great and the weather certainly did NOT match my mood. I think I was well feeling procrastination and denial up until the time I went to the airport at 3:45am. (PS...I haven't slept since then, so forgive me if I make no sense.) Anyways, on Tuesday, Em and Poppy able to go to downtown Washington and see all the historical monuments for the first time ever. I hope they had a safe trip home. We stayed at the Americana and it was a pretty nice, cheap place for being so close to DC and the airport. I think that morning was my first cab ride. Poppy couldn't stay but this one chick from W&M was already there with her dad, with everyone else arriving shortly thereafter. It wasn't too bad. My luggage actually turned out to be suitable and just enough (minus this laptop, without which I would be unable to report back to you.) We flew from Reagan to Toronto, rechecked the baggage there, and then caught a flight to Vancouver. (PS...I have now officially been on Canadian soil...outside the airport that is, lol). From Vancouver, it was a 12 hour flight to Beijing. I sat next to this guy working the Net for an American company concerned with routers. He was very helpful (spoke English too!) and helped me practice my Chinese. (which, btw, at this point gets me nowhere). He was from Guizhou province (Southern China). We actually got here around 3pm (local time...3am our time) and ended up doing the whole baggage, customs, money bit for a couple hours, meeting up with Tang Laoshi and waiting another couple of hours for two more travelers on a later flight. I also had my first interaction with the beggars...well, not really that, but similar in that they want to provide services for money. I felt sympathy for the woman who tried to grab onto my bags, but had already been forewarned and had practiced my "bu yaos' and felt comfortable using them. Still, it was sad. I pray God will visit those lil' ol' ladies. That was probably the strangest moment of the entire airport experience. We finally arrived at Tshinghua afterwards and had to check in. The front desk fella (good looking, yes!) said my Chinese name was "very beautiful." If I took all of China in the beauty of that moment, I think I could let go of most of the negative feelings generated by either culture shock or extreme jet lag. I wish I knew the language very well, at least well enough to converse freely with the natives. I think I might love China then, because China is really all about the people. The dorm rooms are pretty nice. I'll try to upload some pictures. Right now, I have no way to call out, but I'll hit you up when I find out something tomorrow. LOL. Right now, I'm running on empty and need to be up at 5:30 in the morning. (5:30 in the afternoon there). I'll have my laptop on probably from around 5:30-8ish at night and then around 7 or 8 in the morning. There's actually lots more I could say about the dorms and such, but maybe I'll just upload some pictures and you all can call it for yourself. Much Love from China,

Jennifer...aka Lanmengxi