we made it

3 A.M. Saturday morning was a rude awakening...but the journey was just beginning.

After a 6 hour layover at JFK and a 19 hour flight to Hong Kong followed by an hour ferry ride across the bay and a 2 hour bus ride to our school, we made it. I haven't been so exhausted since I hiked Mt. Timpanogos last semester.

After a 19 hour flight, our first stop in Hong Kong was the bathroom. I was washing my hands and this little boy was staring at me in the mirror and when I looked up at him he yelled "hello," giggled, and ran away. Also, I said excuse me when I bumped into someone and they looked at me like I was crazy.

When we arrived in Hong Kong we met up with some of the other teachers after we wandered around for an hour trying to figure out to get upstairs to get McDonalds. We tried and failed for those nuggets. We were still starved because the plane food was nasty so we tried to get fried rice from this restaurant in the terminal. I pointed to the food I wanted to order and several people behind me yelled what I wanted in Chinese at the cashier. Then I didn't have any cash (this country is all about the cash, so different from America) so she glared at me and said something in Chinese so I just left. I may as well have had a sign on my forehead that flashed "AMERICAN" in neon lights. We gave up after that and went to wait for the ferry. Rachel and I passed out on the ferry only to be woken by yelling Chinese ferry workers. We got off the ferry at our port and waited for the luggage. Then we had to carry the luggage to Immigration and then from there to the bus stop a quarter mile away. Yes mom, you were right. The 50 lb. duffle bag without wheels was a horrible idea. I still can't feel my forearm. We all loaded onto the bus for the most bumpy, rickety bus ride I've ever been on. Two hours turned into four hours and we finally made it to apartment building at 4 A.M. We live on the fourth floor (no elevator) and the building is up this hill so it was a sight for sore eyes watching us all struggle to get 4 months worth of luggage to our rooms.

We unpacked all of our stuff  at five in the morning because we were way jet lagged. Jet lag is so real. Waking up at 7 A.M. tomorrow will be rough. 6 A.M. if I want to take a hot shower.

You'd be surprised at how little stuff fits in two 50 lb. suitcases and two stuffed carry ons. I'm going to be real sick of these ten shirts by the time I get home.

We woke up this morning freezing cold. We didn't realize we had a heater...so hopefully tomorrow I don't wake up with numb toes.

Today we met our group and we explored the school a bit. We ate lunch at the school, where we will eat all our meals. I'll just say three quick things about the food....Chinese food in America is nothing like Chinese food in China, I'm going to get real skinny if I just eat rice for the next 4 months, and thank goodness I brought snacks from America.

Later we went into the city to exchange some money and to go to the supermarket. This place had everything from fresh fruit (best mangos I've ever tasted) to electric vacuums. It was like a Chinese version of Walmart. I bought my first pair of shower shoes there. I had to get the men's shoes because my feet are too big for the women's shoes.

The currency here is called Yuan which is worth 6.50 to every American dollar. It totally throws me off when I buy something before I realize my water bottle isn't actually $34 but $8.60. Kind of a ripoff for a water bottle but after drinking filtered water that looks suspiciously like milk, the Evian was well worth it.

We missed dinner at the school because we were in the city so we had to go out and find something. We tried to find this Muslim Noodles place but gave up after 20 minutes because we were all starving. We settled for pizza. Word to the wise, don't eat pizza in China. It will make you nauseous and it has the funkiest smell.

Few quick things I've learned about living in China so far:
-people eat with gloves at restaurants so they don't need napkins
-its surprisingly cold
-its rude to wear sandals/flipflops outside your home
-a lot less people speak English than I was expecting
-it feels very unnatural to brush my teeth/wash my face/only drink bottled water
-I'm pretty much going to have to hand wash everything because the washers here apparently will ruin your clothes
-sleeping bags are a totally foreign concept

It still hasn't sunk in yet that I'm staying in this totally foreign place for 4 months. I'm sure China has a lot of awesome things to offer and I can't wait to embrace it all. And yes mom, I'm glad I brought my own pillow.

after a very long day of traveling

my bed

the whole room

the shower. we have to turn the water heater on 2 hours before we want to shower 

finally sleeping!!! (check out those flyaways. the humidity is unreal)