Introductions: Chairman Meow

This cheeky rascal lives in the courtyard below my room. I have named him Chairman Meow. He eats whatever is lying around and spends the rest of the day looking classily dishevelled. I will never touch him (or her for all I know, but let's stick with him for the purposes of the humourous name.) Consider what it takes to get to this age and size in a country where you are fried up and served by stall workers on the side of the road!
P.S This is actually one of the better looking cats I have seen in Beijing.

A Collection of Random Thoughts from our First Day

This is a little late because we have been having internet issues, but I wanted to mention a few things that happened on Saturday.
- Above is the view from my room. This random pipe on the next building over pisses out smoke just after 8 every morning. Of course, we didn't know that the first morning we arrived (around 8 coincidentally), so Donna and I naturally assumed the place had caught fire. These two Chinese girls strolled on in through the doors below which caused me a lot of stress until the smoke stopped a moment later, as suddenly as it had started. Now that I know it's going to happen... well, it still annoys me actually.
- I had to buy a new cellphone because my NZ one doesn't work with a Chinese Sim card. I spoke to another lady who is on the program and also recently purchased a new phone in NZ. She, like me, was told by the salesperson that she needed only buy a new Sim card. If you plan to go overseas and buy a Vodafone Sim card, and the sales assistant tells you it will be fine, I want you to do something for me: I want you to punch them in their face.
Thanks to everyone who has replied to my texts!
- Chinese TV: Awesome. I haven't had time to check it out much, but the one time I did have a look I saw a trippy Asian talent quest type thing and a Chinese dubbed World's Strongest Man competition (from 2007! Can you imagine the letters to TV Guide if they screened something that old in NZ, Monie!)
- Coffee seems to be like a rare commodity here. I don't know what they're making it out of, maybe ground gold flakes, but it can cost up to 40 yuan a cup, a ridiculous price to expect someone who gets cheesed at Starbucks prices to pay!
- Beijing is dirty! Not with rubbish neccessarily, or graffitti, but just grime and rubble. I want to sweep it.

So those are a few adventures on that first day. That's just scratching the surface. I could spend hours telling you guys what we've seen and done, but I better save something for when we come back!
We're off to the supermarket now. It's supposedly two stories and quite a mission. But we need washing powder. And fruit. Fruit is your friend in China, except for things like apples, which you would have to peel before eating. And who can be bothered with that! Bananas are good, as are mandarins and oranges. Exciting!

A Special Post from Mingming

Hello, my name is Mingming. I am to be special friend/domestic servant for Master Dekin. I hope he is good master and does not drag me by leg. I am very happy to be in Beijing. Beijing nice, smelly, but nice.
I make friend Chicky. We are East/West harmony friends. It is much beautiful thing, I think. Ziajian persons!
From Mingming.

TOILETS

Hey, check this out!! You have been warned!!! Some of the sights are to be seen to be believed! So what to do I hear you ask? Easy, you go to the other cubicle that doesn't have this sign! Seriously some of the toilet stories we have would blow you away. Yes they are swat holes and yes they are pretty revolting! Oh my goodness. Anyway Pauline has arrived, time to chat. Pauline is from Rotorua and won a 3 month scholarship so we are all ears and then we are off around Beijing with our own personal guide.

Oh, thank you, Jebus!

I might just survive this after all.
McDonalds is the only place that sells coffee for less than about the equivalent of $10NZ.

Ni hao from Beijing

Yep, we made it. Second day here now and we all slept like champs last night. Donna slept for 11 hours straight, narrowly beating my record. Her suitcase was a kilo and a half lighter than mine too. Curse you, Donna, always showing me up...
So we got in to Beijing at 6:00am and did all the customs stuff. I was amazedat how simple it is going through customs. The process is lengthier and more complicated going into Australia, even if you were born there! Thy did have a thermal sensor though, which showed your body temperature as you walk through it. In other words, a machine that checks out how hot you are! It goes without saying I registered off the scale.
Dr Han Xi from the Confucious Institute was kind enough to meet us at the airport (that's her you can see trying to Rose's left, trying to duck out of the photo. Too slow!) We boarding the Peking Universiy bus and off we went.
On the highway all the trees were bare. The trees are all thin, tall and twiggy, like old-fashioned brooms. I was still adjusting to the cold at that point and my hands (and brain) weren't working so well, but I wish I'd got a photo of the bird's nests at the top of some of these trees. They were huge! I asked Han Xi what bird made them but she didn't know and neither did any of the other Chinese people she asked. A mystery! They must be either a good size or hard workers though!

Safe and Sound!

We made it to China safe and sound. It's actually sleepy time for me right now after a huge day, but I'll try and catch you up right tomorrow.
My Chinese cell number is 1352 220 9394. I've sent out a few texts but haven't had any replies yet, which makes me wonder if I'm doing it correctly. If you can figure out how to use those digits to contact me I would love to hear from you!
Wan An,
Josh