First Week

[Written on Saturday, August 28, 2010.]

I have only been in Beijing since Tuesday, but already there is so much to write about that I feel the need to write an entry now. Here’s a recap of the past few days.

Monday-Tuesday:

My mom took me to the airport early Monday morning. Even though I’d known this day was coming for months, it still kind of shocked me. I would not be returning to the US for nine months, to me, an unfathomably long period of time. I remember how happy I was to come home to the United States, and to go back to Yale at the end of last summer. And there I was (here I am?) leaving all those things behind again. I still can't quite comprehend what it means to live in China for a whole school year, except that others have done it before me, and found the experience to be palatable enough (hopefully an understatement).

At any rate, the actual flights were pretty uneventful. Besides the fact that I accidentally dumped the entire contents of one suitcase out on the floor in front of the ticket counter at the Albany airport while transferring some items into my other suitcase, and that I unwittingly walked outside of security at the Newark airport in search of the shuttle to terminal C and had to go through the line again (both of which betray the one hour of sleep I’d had the night before), the day went smoothly. I was able to sleep for a good fraction of the flight to Beijing, and arrived at the Capital Airport in one piece. Well, three, after I picked up my luggage.

I spent Tuesday night at the Hejia hotel, near Tsinghua, in a double room with another IUPer. One of her friends (yet another IUPer) met up with us, and we all went to dinner at a Xinjiang restaurant on the BCLU campus nearby. I spent the evening enjoying and readjusting to the Beijing ambiance.

Wednesday:

On Wednesday, I moved into my apartment. I’m living with Song Fang, a young IUP teacher, and Zhang Li, another young Chinese woman who is working for Google. Our apartment is in Dongwangzhuang xiaoqu, a residential area a few blocks from Tsinghua’s east gate. So far, I’m quite happy with the arrangement, for several reasons. Dongwangzhuang, though a tad further from Tsinghua than some other apartment compexes, is relatively cheap and, seemingly, not overrun with foreigners. It’s pretty quiet (for being in the middle of a Chinese city), and there are plenty of restaurants and shops in easy walking distance. I’m also pleased that, de facto, the language of choice in the apartment will be Chinese. It’s true, I may not have given myself much breathing room for speaking (or venting) in English, but, then again, I didn’t choose to come to China for my personal comfort, either.

Back to Wednesday. The plan was to meet the landlord, Wang Ayi, at the apartment at one in the afternoon. I was a little nervous because I didn’t have a cell phone to reach her in case anything went wrong. Fortunately, we both showed up at 12:40, and things went smoothly from there. After lugging two fifty pound suitcases up to the fifth floor apartment (no freight elevators here), I was pleased to find the apartment very much as the description and pictures had indicated. After dropping my stuff off, we walked to the local police for my temporary registration. Then I was free to start getting settled. I walked to “Lifestlye Market,” a gigantic supermarket a few blocks away, and bought a bunch of items I had decided not to pack – sheets, a towel, toilet paper, shampoo, etc. When I got back to the apartment, Zhang Li, was there. We talked for a little bit, and she seems very nice. I’m looking forward to getting to know her better. I then made my bed, just in time to pass out on top of it, suitcases still unpacked.

Thursday-Saturday:

The past few days I have spent exploring the area, buying more items for my daily life, and preparing for the placement test. Yesterday, I walked over to the building where IUP classes are held on the Tsinghua campus. Walking at a relaxed pace, getting lost a couple times, and stopping frequently to look at my map, it took about an hour to get from the apartment to the classrooms. I’m hoping that time will halve as the commute becomes second nature. I may also buy a bicycle to speed things up a bit. On the bright side, it will be a good source of exercise over the next year, and science hill will seem like a joke when I return to Yale next year.

Tomorrow I have plans to meet up with a PiB friend who is also back in Beijing. I’m looking forward to it, not only because it should be fun, but also because the peaceful solitude I’ve enjoyed the past few days is starting to turn into loneliness. Fortunately, my flatmates will be returning from their visits home in a couple days, and IUP starts this Monday, so I will soon have all the socializing I can handle. I’m actually looking forward to the start of IUP. I think I’m ready for it.
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