10/20 Friday

Colm was gone when I woke up at 9:00. I showered and prepared for my first day in Beijing.

I first went to find a notebook and a pen, which were found pretty easily. Near the shop I was confronted by a group of 5 students who wanted me to fill out a small survey about the 2008 Olympics and my thoughts on it. The questions dealt with climbing a mountain and how it is a symbol of the Olympics. It asked questions such as 'do you like mountain climbing?' and 'is the struggle to climb a mountain characteristic of the games in the Olympics?'. They thanked me and continued on their hunt for more people to interview.

I went to find some breakfast, wandering down a small street off of the main concourse in Wang Fu Jing. I went into a non-descript little restaurant where there were dumplings being cooked immediately inside, the steam rising into the street. I ordered 10 meat and vegetable dumplings for 4 yuan, $.50, and ate them there with vinegar/soy sauce. Because I was extremely hungry, and also because they were probably decent quality, I found the dumplings quite delicious. I purchased a bag of 10 meat buns for 3 yuan to go and ate them while walking. Although the restaurant was a bit sketchy by most standards, I am still alive as of yet and I haven't gotten sick. Colm recommended I eat at places like this because I can "afford" to get sick where as he couldn't because his work would pile up. Luckily my stomach seems quite strong and this will allow me to eat on a budget.

After breakfast I wanted to find a China Construction Bank (affiliated with Bank of America, so no ATM service charge). I found one west of Wang Fu Jing, towards the Forbidden City, but it was still being built. I asked a man inside where another one was and was pointed in its general direction. On the way, I encountered two girls who asked me if I needed help finding anything, so I told them I was looking for the bank and they took me to the nearest one. They asked me all sorts of questions about what I was doing in China. It turns out they are college students at the Number Two Chinese Language University, and had taken the day off. They thought that I was in my 20's and were surprised to find that I had just graduated from high school. They also helped my find a lower priced SIM card for a mobile phone (I had looked at a few beforehand, but they said the cheapest I had found was still expensive). After buying the SIM card, they wanted to have some tea so we went to a second-floor tea house in the Wang Fu Jing area. We had jasmine tea and a bowl of fruit and split the price at the end.

The girls taught me some Chinese phrases, and also a little bit about their situation in college, which seems quite different from that of American students. One of the girls was planning on becoming a tour guide for English speakers, and told me that during one's last year or two in college, one did a lot of practical experience work instead of attending classes. For instance, that day, she had given a tour in the morning instead of going to class. They gave me their contact information and helped me get onto the subway heading for the American Embassy. They told me to call if I ever needed help. Colm had warned me about random girls wanting to get to know me, because the intent isn't always good, but I thought these two were quite genuine, and didn't want anything more.

The subway ride to the embassy area took about 7 minutes from Wang Fu Jing. The American embassy was hard to get into, and I had to show my passport at least 10 times to guards before I made it in. I registered as an expat in Beijing and got all the paperwork necessary to complete and send my absentee ballot. The woman at the window inside the embassy was very helpful and gave me some tips on living in Beijing. She said that I reminded her of her son. She also told me to pick up a copy of Insider's Guide to Beijing 2007, which I did, and it seems to be an amazingly good guide to all social activity, as well as everything else, in Beijing.

I stopped at the Silk Alley on the way back to Wang Fu Jing, to look at the mountains of fake merchandise (they now have all sorts of fake iPods), the swarms of English speaking tourist, and also at some artwork. I found a painting I especially liked which was a picture depicting a Cultural Revolution era red guard youth standing with an AK-47 slung over her shoulder with a peeling wall poster of the Chinese character for war in the background. In Silk Alley, The sales people claim to want to give you a better price if you speak Chinese, but I am positive that you'll get charged more no matter what if you look like a tourist. And I certainly do.

I rode the subway back to Wang Fu Jing and headed to Colm's apartment. I went to the Wang Fu Jing underground mall on the way to get some lunch/dinner. Colm had showed me a cheap place to eat called "Mega Bite", which was a series of food vendors tucked away at the back of the mall. I had to buy a charge card at the front desk of Mega Bite which I was to use at the various vendors to buy my food. I spent 10 yuan on a plate of Shanghai Rice, which was rice with sausages, and a fried egg on top, and a bowl of cold soup.

I then returned to Colm's apartment and contacted the teacher I will be staying with to tell her I had arrived safely.

I now have a cell phone, Colm's old one, but with the new SIM card I bought today.