| Well, I am in China now. Should have said this much earlier, but it's been crazy since we left.
Since I am a bit tired, this hopefully won't be too long.
Me and C left the airport around 6ish to get to the airport in Philly. We said our good-byes to a few others. We then went around, getting our tickets, and readied ourselves to board the plane (and me, my first).
The first flight was exactly as I thought it would be, just sitting in some seat for a few hours. C was really kind and gave me a window seat so I could watch us launch off. It was an interesting experience, being in "free float". Very cool, and it was extremely interesting how the land seemed to be "divided" up into squares. Very pretty though.
We then had about an hour or two of rest, where we each looked around. I made the unwise decision to let C go first, but because she wnated to look around, but rather I needed to have some of my stuff checked by customs. I was slightly pissed with the experience, as I got someone who handed me a sheet, then said "Alright, when you are finished, just press the button and I'll be back". I pressed it five times, and over the course of ten minutes, he did not return. I heard my flight being announced, as i ran over to the flight attendents to explain the situation, who told me to try one mmore time and be back within ten minutes. THANKFULLY, someone else showed up and signed it, but ugh. I am trying to figure out what God was teaching me in that situation.
Anyway, then came the second, ELEVEN hour flight. Actually, first, the plane was awesome, as it was two stories of seats. I have heard of such planes, but only seen the smaller ones. So it was quite cool to not only see one, but be in one. THis one also had a big TV in front, and they gave us ear phones to listen to music or whatever show was on. They also had two people, one that spoke Japanese and the other, English, to tell us where we were going and such. We also got three meals, which led to a slightly amusing situation.
Anyway, I watched one movie, but mostly worked on a book I am revising/co-authoring for roughly six or so hours. After about the sixth hour, my mind was going nuts, mainly because of lack of sleep, and working on it so long. So I rested my eyes for a bit (I don't sleep in cars, and as I figured, planes as well), all the while looking up every so often to see what was on, or, if a movie wa snot on, how close we were and how cold it was (and brrrr, it was cold at times!).
Fast forward to about five hours later as we finally land for the second flight, in which I am estatic, only to realize I had one more, three hour flight to go. Nevertheless, we had an hour in between to look around (we were in Japan at the time), in which, while I didn't see that much, I did find that those in Japan really DO love Hello Kitty.
Anyway, we got on our third flight, which was a bit nicer as we each had our own TV. I watched Miss Congenality 2, save for the last five minutes, as I accidently clicked a button, having it restart from the beginning which I had to fast forward for about ten minutes though only to run out of time. Anyway, we were given dinner on the plane, which was VERY amusing as four hours earlier, we just had breakfast. Heh, I officially lost a day!
Anywho, we landed, with a beautiful sight to see. Beijing at night is very beautiful, I tell ya! We then went through about three different lines of customs, the last literally being a room full of people. We then took a taxi home, in which I got my key, went to my room, and almost immediately slept. Hey, on the bright side, no ill effects of jet lag. I adjusted immediately.
THe next day was my first day there, as we had a worship service, kinda to get us in the swing of things. I then went out with some people, getting my first chinese meal, consisting of rice, chicken, nuts, vegetables, and of course, tea! It was pretty good, although since I didn't have breakfast or anything like that for a while, I would hav eeaten anything.
We then got back, before going out to the Wu Mart, in which I bought a few supplies. That was also my first experience of "culture shock", in which they all spoke a totally different language and with me not even knowing Na Hao! The Wu Mart itself was huge, with three floors, the first jewery, nail clippers, and other stuff, the second being food, and the third being clothing, book bags, and the like.
Oh well, it was an interesting experience, as I had to almost totally rely on others, something I try to avoid greatly. Perhaps it was the Lord's way of teaching me to deal with trusting people and learning that I can't do everything on my own.
Some more things I first noticed was:
=There are no forks at all in China.
-Milk is actually usually warm to start with. You had to be careful in what you get. Not that it's bad but yeah, you have to be careful.
-It's a lot harder not being able to use English than I thought.
There are some more but I am tired and hence I think I will leave with an amsuing thing I learned the last few days....a few new um, "creative" ways to say you need to use the restroom.
-I want to buy a penny.
-I am going to the loo.
-I am going to the post office.
-I am looking for my aunt (when asking for the restroom).
And my fave...
-I am looking for a man to talk about a horse.
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