Day 1: Finding a Silver Lining
As soon as I stepped off of the plane, the smog and heat instantly hit me. According to the New York Times, China is considered the second most polluted place in the world with Beijing coming in fourth. There was a little girl in front of me who was being carried by her mom. She looked tired and before I could let my mind take in the unfamiliar surroundings, the little girl projectile vomited, barely missing me, as if saying, welcome to China.
As I was walking with the flow of passengers I recognized the uniform that I should have been wearing. Her name was Camille and together we found our embassy representative, Asia. Asia took us to a cab driver and gave him the directions to our apartment where we would meet Holly. Both of the ladies spoke English but the cab driver did not. The driving here is insane. Driving lanes, although on the road, does not exist. He stopped us off at a place, pointing to some big buildings, I tried to ask him if this was our apartment and he nodded. Camille and I were hesitant, not wanting to be stranded and lost. He made a call and then started driving again.
The following day:
The bright sun and anxiousness of being in a foreign country woke my roommate and I up at 6 this morning. We adventured around the courtyard, everywhere we went, we were greeted with smiles and stares. Before long, I was given a small suitcase filled with random clothes from a stranger's daughter who happened to be a similar size as me. None of the pants actually fit me, but it was nice to have something to claim as my own...
We met up with our "tour guide" Holy who works for the embassy. She acts as a translator and helps us to get around. It's only been day 2 and already I feel so codependent on her...the language, the culture, and everything in between is so unfamiliar. We went to a small local market to grab some groceries and had lunch at a restaurant nearby. The food that was brought out was all raw and in the middle of our table was a big wok filled with boiling water. Slowly we had to cook each separate tray of food. First we tossed in lamb, beef, shrimp, cabbage, crab, and lots of other unknown things. Full of food, we went shopping at the market. I tried to purchase some toiletries but every label only had one or two words in English. It took me three attempts before I actually bought shampoo instead of conditioner. I ended up spending 101 yuan which in America is equivalent to $16 US dollars.
We had a staff meeting, outlining the details of our expectations, especially in regards to the no drugs or alcohol policy. My roommate and I had fallen asleep prio to the meeting because we were waiting for the maintenance people to set up our wifi. My body feels tired from the plane ride and the loss of 15 hours, but my wanderlust soul is excited for what lies ahead. I know that through this trip, I will find my silver lining.
As I was walking with the flow of passengers I recognized the uniform that I should have been wearing. Her name was Camille and together we found our embassy representative, Asia. Asia took us to a cab driver and gave him the directions to our apartment where we would meet Holly. Both of the ladies spoke English but the cab driver did not. The driving here is insane. Driving lanes, although on the road, does not exist. He stopped us off at a place, pointing to some big buildings, I tried to ask him if this was our apartment and he nodded. Camille and I were hesitant, not wanting to be stranded and lost. He made a call and then started driving again.
The bright sun and anxiousness of being in a foreign country woke my roommate and I up at 6 this morning. We adventured around the courtyard, everywhere we went, we were greeted with smiles and stares. Before long, I was given a small suitcase filled with random clothes from a stranger's daughter who happened to be a similar size as me. None of the pants actually fit me, but it was nice to have something to claim as my own...
We met up with our "tour guide" Holy who works for the embassy. She acts as a translator and helps us to get around. It's only been day 2 and already I feel so codependent on her...the language, the culture, and everything in between is so unfamiliar. We went to a small local market to grab some groceries and had lunch at a restaurant nearby. The food that was brought out was all raw and in the middle of our table was a big wok filled with boiling water. Slowly we had to cook each separate tray of food. First we tossed in lamb, beef, shrimp, cabbage, crab, and lots of other unknown things. Full of food, we went shopping at the market. I tried to purchase some toiletries but every label only had one or two words in English. It took me three attempts before I actually bought shampoo instead of conditioner. I ended up spending 101 yuan which in America is equivalent to $16 US dollars.
We had a staff meeting, outlining the details of our expectations, especially in regards to the no drugs or alcohol policy. My roommate and I had fallen asleep prio to the meeting because we were waiting for the maintenance people to set up our wifi. My body feels tired from the plane ride and the loss of 15 hours, but my wanderlust soul is excited for what lies ahead. I know that through this trip, I will find my silver lining.
Comments
Post a Comment