I will only just briefly write tonight, this the first of many to come in China. I am safe and sound and terribly tired. I have essentially been up for 28 hours, having not not seen sunlight for about 24 of those hours. I left St. Louis at about 7:00am, had a lay-over in Detroit until about 3pm, and then made the trek West, chasing the sun. From a desire for some rest, I am fixin' to hit the hard mattress soon, but I will first just briefly mention a few things.
The room that I have here in Beijing is very nice. Two beds, small and hard, a flat screen television, AC, two nice chairs (I'm told I have the nicest ones), and a Western-style toilet. I spent some time swatting some mosquitoes, but that's now settled.
I now have a belly full of my first meal in China (a modest rice dish with spicy chicken on a skewer and a bowl of fried egg mixed with some sort of green vegetable resembling slimmer and tastier green onions). I am told that I should try the traditional food for the Dragon Boat Festival which is happening over the next few days. Simply described, it is some sticky rice mixed with some fruit and wrapped in a leaf. Sounds tasty.
I find the building architecture here most interesting. It seems that when they settle on a design for a building, they figure they must get the most use out of it and build several next to each other. There are basically clusters of building clones throughout the city. We did drive by the Bird's Nest Stadium that was built for the Olympics, and it may be one of the coolest buildings I've ever seen.
I will have some pictures to post tomorrow. No time to take some pictures today. Tomorrow we will learn a bit of Chinese in the morning, have an opening ceremony, and then go to the US Embassy to meet the United States Ambassador to China. As my friend Ren said, "every step here will be a new experience" for me. Tomorrow the next foot falls.
The room that I have here in Beijing is very nice. Two beds, small and hard, a flat screen television, AC, two nice chairs (I'm told I have the nicest ones), and a Western-style toilet. I spent some time swatting some mosquitoes, but that's now settled.
I now have a belly full of my first meal in China (a modest rice dish with spicy chicken on a skewer and a bowl of fried egg mixed with some sort of green vegetable resembling slimmer and tastier green onions). I am told that I should try the traditional food for the Dragon Boat Festival which is happening over the next few days. Simply described, it is some sticky rice mixed with some fruit and wrapped in a leaf. Sounds tasty.
I find the building architecture here most interesting. It seems that when they settle on a design for a building, they figure they must get the most use out of it and build several next to each other. There are basically clusters of building clones throughout the city. We did drive by the Bird's Nest Stadium that was built for the Olympics, and it may be one of the coolest buildings I've ever seen.
I will have some pictures to post tomorrow. No time to take some pictures today. Tomorrow we will learn a bit of Chinese in the morning, have an opening ceremony, and then go to the US Embassy to meet the United States Ambassador to China. As my friend Ren said, "every step here will be a new experience" for me. Tomorrow the next foot falls.