So can i say that i have never had such a smooth flying experience. All the planes took off on time, and landed early! Our flight from Denver to Vancouver was only 1/2 full... if that, so i got to lay out and sleep for a while, which was good b/c of the 1/2 hr. of sleep i got monday night. The flight to Beijing was crazy though... Chinese people are LOUD!!! we were in the very back of the plane surrounded by chinese people who were always switching seats, standing when they weren't allowed, taking pictures and videos, and getting luggage in and out of the overhead bins! besides that the only thing i could complain about is the Cup O' Noodles (Ramen) that i was supposed to eat for one of our meals (YUCK!). Gratefully that was meal #3, and all the other meals were good!!! best thing though... i got to sit next to Samuel :)
When we landed i was shocked that customs did not exist!!! ok, maybe they did... but they didn't make us declare anything, and only scanned our carry on luggage. we should have brought more drugs!!! (and of course we mean Tylenol.. haha) We actually got out of the airport within 40-50 minutes.... which is surprising b/c that airport is MASSIVE!! no kidding... its like 3 times the size of any airport i have ever seen!!! but when we got out we jumped on a 3 hour bus ride to Tianjin to meet up with Samuel's friend Jan. While on the bus i was shocked when we got in the city and there were Bicycles on the HIGHWAY!!! i have never seen such crazy traffic... cars merging all over cutting people off, everyone running red lights, pedestrians and bicyclists all over the road. i was shocked we didn't hit anyone or anything! Luckily Jan was at the bus stop waiting for us and got us a taxi to our hotel... which was the funniest adventure yet. i guess since we are American we are rich and they want to rip us off... so as we pulled out our luggage the taxi driver screamed at us saying Samuel put a scratch in his bumper (which had about 10 scratches on it). Jan and the taxi driver went at it for about 5 minutes and the hotel manager came out and told him to leave, so 10 minutes later he finally left. Jan tried to pay him some money, but he didn't want Jan's money, he wanted Samuels... so he went home without any! During the adventure i went inside and 1/2 way through it the other BYU students came in laughing... they could tell from the way the taxi drive was acting that he was driving Americans... so they figured we had just shown up!
The hotel is not bad... they first put us in a room with 2 beds, but we got switched to a 1 bed room. Its small... but the AC works great, the bed is firm and the sheets are comfy. We have a mini fridge and a mini closet and of course our hot water pitcher so we have good water to drink. Breakfast this morning was also very good... It was a Traditional Korean Breakfast which pretty much means Rice, Kim chi, beef, soups, and other food that i would classify as more of a lunch/dinner... but at least it was good and free!
I ALSO GOT A JOB!!! 3 of Samuel's friends took us to dinner last night at a Korean Restaurant (Yes... we are in China but we keep eating Korean food... hahaha) and one of them that served his mission with Samuel has been here for 3 months privately teaching English, and he is leaving on sunday... so he said he would give me his students!! it pays 150RMB and hour... and all i do is read them books i guess... i will get more information on it later. I will just be teaching Korean kids.
So that is China so far... the food is good, the hotel is comfy, the people are all over, but we are being taken care of. thank goodness for Samuel's friends in this city... i don't think last night would have gone anywhere near as smooth without them.
4 comments:
I am so glad you two made it safely. It sure sounds like a great adventure so far. Can't wait to ready more. You two take care of yourself and enjoy this opportunity.
Whew!! So glad you got there okay. You are certainly having an adventure and you've only been there a couple of days. There are bound to be more stories. Congrats on the job. That should be fun and easy. We miss you but we're surviving.
Sounds like a fun adventure! I bet it's good to be there after all of that traveling. Have fun!
I can't believe that taxi driver! Wow that is crazy and funny at the same time. I'm so glad you found a job. You are so blessed to just be handed students like that. I would love to hear details on this private english teaching job! So you should take a picture of your hotel room and the store with the dead cow hanging from the ceiling so when you write i can paint a more correct picture in my mind. I love you Anna! It's hard for me to imagine that you are as far away as you are. Thanks for making this blog. I'm loving it.
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