First Day in Beijing

Ok, so here's what I wrote shortly after arriving at Beida. I'll post what I've been up to since then - including pictures - soon.

1/11/2007

So I’ve finally arrived in Beijing. Maybe it’s due to my deliriousness after getting very little sleep from the time I left LA until now, but the fact that I’m in China still hasn’t really set in yet. The fact that I’m in for the time of my life, however, definitely has.

I think I started to go through culture shock on the flight from LA to Beijing. I flew China Air, which is a state-owned company in China, and the Chinese influence is very prevalent. The meals were pretty good, and the flight attendants were very nice. They take their jobs very seriously, which makes sense – applying to be a flight attendant is a rigorous and very competitive process in China, and entails a great deal of opportunity if you’re successful. They also showed us a short video about how their flight attendants are among the best in China, as evidenced by their victory in a national flight attendant competition (at least that’s what I interpreted from the Chinese I could kind of understand and what was going on on the screen). Since we didn’t have our own personal TV screens to select from a variety of direct TV channels and satellite radio, we were limited to Chinese music and talk radio channels and whatever movies/TV shows/Chinese news/random Chinese commercials were shown on the big screen we all shared. I have to say, their selection of movies was quite random. After about an hour of Chinese news we were treated to the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie, then the sappy chick-flick John Tucker must Die (which I actually kind of liked – hey, at least I admitted it!), then it was a super long Jackie Chan movie with absolutely no plot line whatsoever but some great fight scenes, and last but not least, Superman. Halfway through Jackie Chan, the movie was stopped and an in-flight stretching clip played. Most of the older Chinese people on the plane took part, and watching them was slightly amusing (though I will say that I probably could have benefited from the stretching after 8 hours in the air). I’d say about half the people on the plane were Chinese nationals, while the other half consisted of foreigners, mainly other Americans (most of whom were in a SmarTour group). The girl sitting next to me was from Hong Kong and the American guy she was with was much older than her and the outfit he was wearing kind of reminded me of Yasser Arafat. All and all, the flight wasn’t bad.

So I'm one of those really cool people who takes pictures of food, but really nothing else...it was a good meal!

Unfortunately, due to the fact that I had an overnight flight (we left LAX at around 1am and arrived in Beijing at 5:30am local time), I wasn’t able to admire the land below me during the flight at all. It was kind of strange, however, to see so few lights. When I fly at night in the US, especially on the East Coast, everything is so lit up. I saw the most lights as we approached Beijing.

As with most Americans, I first stepped onto Chinese soil at the airport in Beijing. The first thing I noticed was a significant police presence (police is jingcha in Chinese). They seemed to be everywhere, even in the baggage claim. The baggage claim was extremely hot and stuffy, and it took forever for my bags to finally arrive. I don’t know if this is the same for anyone else, but it seems like my bags are always the last to arrive! Also, I always feel like I’m among the most frazzled travelers. Way back during check-in at LAX I had to take all of my text books (which I had to buy in the US, as they are not readily available in China) out of my luggage so it wouldn’t be too heavy and place them in a giant, China Air plastic luggage bag. It was kind of a hassle carrying it around in addition to my carry-on luggage. Anyway, my bags did finally arrive, and I made it through customs without a problem. Oh, but I can’t forget to mention the Russians/Ukranians. Our flight arrived at around the same time as a flight from Kiev, Ukraine. The Chinese customs officials had opened three lines for Chinese nationals and one line for foreigners, so as you can imagine, there was quite a line for us foreigners. Well, the Russians and the Ukranians kept cutting all of the other foreigners in line! Fortunately, there was a Chinese-American who was able to communicate with the customs officer, who proceeded to get into an argument with a Ukranian man. It was interesting, to say the least. Most of the women on the flight from Kiev were decked out in furs of all kind, were nearly dripping in jewelry, and were caked with make-up and soaked in perfume, while most of the men were outfitted in leather. People-watching suddenly became a lot more interesting.

The first thing I saw as I entered the main terminal was a KFC and a Starbucks – whether you like it or not, there is no escaping the American influence here. I sat next to some very loud Russians in the designated waiting area until a man waving a PKU (Peking University) sign with my name and the name of another student in my program named Chris on it approached me, saying loudly, “you this person?!!”. I don’t think he knew which of the names on the sign was the male name and which was the female name, but to be honest, I can see how it would be difficult for someone who doesn’t know English very well. He helped me with my luggage and told me to wait near Starbucks while he went searching for Chris. While waiting, a young guy working at Starbucks happened to notice my Red Sox hat and asked me if I was from Boston (I told him I was from Maine, and he looked confused, so I just said “north of Boston” and he understood – I think). He said he doesn’t watch baseball, but his favorite team is the Detroit Tigers. I have no idea why – his explanation in Chinese was very fast and a little over my head.
The driver located Chris, and we were finally on our way to PKU (most commonly referred to around here as Beida, which is short for Beijing Daxue, which means Beijing University). The drive was kind of surreal, as I couldn’t believe I was finally in China. We passed tons of buildings under construction, and the driver eagerly pointed out the construction projects for the Olympics in 2008. He seemed very excited about it. It’s hard to go anywhere here without seeing the Beijing Olympics logo or its slogan. It was also interesting to see soldiers in the toll booths – much different than the variety of characters operating tolls in the US.

Moving my luggage into my dorm room was kind of like moving into the dorms at Maryland for the first time, except with much fewer people. I have the same feelings of relief at finally getting somewhat settled, mixed with anxiety and fear as to what lies ahead (but it’s the good kind of fear, if you can imagine). Besides Chris, me, and a couple of other random kids, most of the other students on the program didn’t arrive until the evening, which meant I had plenty of time to figure out international phone cards and local phone cards and ATMs, etc. Anyway, my roommates seem really nice. They both go to Gordon College and happen to know Ellie! What a small world. I have yet to meet everyone on my program, but the ones I have met seem nice. A few are from Massachusetts, so we’ll be reppin’ New England in China. It’s always weird to be thrown into a mix of strangers, but it’ll be fun to make a lot of new friends.

In case you were wondering what our dorms are like, they’re actually pretty nice. We live in the Shao Yuan buildings, which mainly house foreign students in suites. There’s a room with two beds, a room with a single, and a bathroom. It’s hotel-style, so bedding and towels are provided for us, and I guess there are maids. I’ve heard our accommodations are a far cry from those of the Chinese students.

Here are some pictures of my room, post-decorating, and some views from my window:

Wow, I didn’t think I’d write so much! There’s probably a lot more I could write with regards to my first day in China, but it’s getting late, and I should probably go to bed. Tomorrow we’re touring the university and discussing classes and internships. We’re also going to a reception at the Shi Sheng Yuan bar (I think it’s actually more of a café), which should be interesting. We’ll be meeting other Beida students, hopefully finding language partners.

That’s all for now, but I’ll make sure to keep you all posted with more details of my trip! I’ll also take some pictures soon to post here.

PS – I was talking with the director of the Asian Studies program, Dr. Sun, and it turns out he graduated from Colby! He also spent a year teaching there before returning to his native Beijing, and knows the state of Maine pretty well. Again, what a small world!