Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Squat Toilet Master and First time Bargainer
I peed in a squat toilet for the first time today. There was no door for the bathroom stall either or a lock for the door so I just opened up my umbrella and used it as a door. I spoke to a friend at home and he warned me about bringing an umbrella where ever I go because sometimes the bathrooms don’t have doors. The duty went well. I did not fall in the toilet nor did I pee on my own pants or shoes. I also brought my own Kleenexes and hand sanitizer so I was all set. It was no big deal…muahaha I conquered the squat toilet!
I also bargained for the first time today at YiFu mall by Zhangbei Fitness. The guy wanted 60 for a hair straightener, but I said it was too expensive and he asked what price I would give and I said 20 kuai, and he said "no no no no...bu ke yi" and this straightener was big. Well, even before I went to this guy, I went to a lady and she wanted 70 and I said too much and I said 25 and she said Nooo and shooed me away so I just walked away and she didnt want me back so oh well. Anyways, this guy said no no and suggested that the 26 kuai ones are for the smaller ones and I said I didnt want a small one, so I just said "ah ok, suan le" and started walking away and he told me to come back and said "okay, 45, and I still said no, 25", but he kept saying no, and he started describing how good this straightener is and how its a bigger iron, and I said "thats okay, its too expensive, im a poor college student so thats okay" and he pulled me back again and said 40, and I said no, and he said "whats the highest price you are willing to pay" and I said 27, and hes like "what!? 1 kuai higher???" and I said "yeah just one kuai".
Then we stood there while he was thinking then I just said "thats okay, thank you" and he pulled me back again and said 30, and I said "30.....alright. 30 it is." and he asked if I wanted to test if it worked, and he put it in the outlet and I felt the heat working on the straightener but I wanted to make sure because straighteners usually take a few minutes to heat up, so I said "can I wait 5 minutes just to make sure it works?" and hes like "Oh see, you can feel the heat, it works" and I insisted on waiting just to make sure and he said "if it breaks, you can bring it back". But I really didnt believe him because he wasnt going to give me a receipt of any kind anyways, and whats the probability that he will say "Oh yeah I recognize you!". So then he allowed me to stay and test it for another 5 minutes, and test it on my hair too while he was helping others. Sadly, I went walking around even more and I found this other lady with another straightener that was 45 kuai and it even had 3 heat settings! Not only that, it was brand new because she pulled it out of a nice box and all too. DARN! I probably could've talked it down to 30 kuai too, but oh well, thats okay, first time bargaining anything at all so now i've learned my lesson.
Then I also got 3 notebooks for 10 kuai. That was the set price and everyone seemed to be going there to buy their notebooks so I just went with the posted price. Plus, I walked around the entire 4th floor of YiFu mall by the Agricultural Bank of China and all of the notebooks seemed 2 or 3 kuai more expensive anyways, so no wonder everyone was going here to get cute notebooks from him. Some people already wanted 5 kuai just for one notebook! Others wanted 12 or 15 for thicker ones, which is about equivalent to the 3 I bought put together. YiFu Mall had a lot of cute clothes, but when I first got there around 10:30am, people were still in the process of opening their stores. I had no idea how to ask the price of the clothes so I just said "Zhe jian duo xiao qian?" and then they would respond in something that I wouldn’t know then that’s when they knew that I wasn’t from here and could take advantage of me. I only looked at the clothes. One trend that basically everyone says is something like "welcome, take a look around and if you like it, try it on". At first, I had no idea what they were saying so I asked them to repeat it, THEN that's when they knew that I was a foreigner.
Then I went into a store with a very nice young lady who could tell I was a foreigner but still helped me. I liked a khakis trench coat, and I asked how much it was, and she responded with something that I didn’t understand, then I said "I don’t understand" and she repeated and started giggling, so then I repeated it again and she responded in something like "we can negotiate on the price, how much do you think its worth?" So a big old light bulb went off in my head about bargaining. She told me to try on the coat, and it was nice, but the sides were a bit too wide...like a dress. So I said it was a little too wide and I didn’t like it and she said it was okay and said to drop by again to look at anything else later.
Another light bulb went off in my head when I went to look at coats that this older guy was selling. Oh by the way, almost everyone will be hand stitching designs because they are really bored, sleeping in their shops, or playing with their computer. Most of them don’t really pay attention to you until you stay there for more than 2 minutes. That is when they know that you are interested. So anyways, back to the coat story. I saw a coat where the label was "Charlotte Russe" HAHAHA. I asked 'duo xiao qian" and he started laughing at what I said (so for future reference, DO NOT SAY "Duo xiao Qian". You should say "zhe ge zen me mai." translation (how do you sell this one?). I learned to say that instead because I heard another girl say it when she was looking at notebooks and it seemed to work WAY better and less people knew that I was a foreigner. Anyways, the Charlotte Russe coat sold for about $15 US dollars haha...not that I was going to buy it anyways.
So I spent about 2-3 hours just walking around every floor looking and comparing products. I got used to people saying their normal phrase of when you go into their little shack store and look at their things. When you go and look at bags (purses), they will say a different phrase, such as "if you like a bag, you can go ahead and try it on and see how it looks". I wasn’t sure what they were saying at first so it was a dead giveaway I was a foreigner. BUT! Now I know...muahahaha!! I spent 30 on the hair straightener and 10 on notebooks, totaling 40 kuai, which is about $6.15 US Dollars. YES! The mall started getting really busy around noon and 1pm so I would suggest going around that time instead because all of the shacks were open and people would pay attention to you.
They sold pets on the 4th floor! Sadly, they were horribly cramped.
In a nutshell:
1) Say "zhe ge zen me mai." to ask for the price. After they give a price, drop to about half, then just stay with your price for a while until they start lowering their price enough where you can increase it by about 5kuai or however much you are willing to pay.
2) Remember, if one place isn’t willing to sell you a product for the price that you bargained for, just walk away. If they don’t pull you back, just let it go. There are MANY other places where you will find the same product or an even better product for the price you want.
3) If you are looking for a specific product, for example, a certain style Gucci tote, just ask them and they have other styles stashed in another shack. In addition, I saw the same exact jacket in about 5 different shack stores so don’t be afraid if they say that this is the very last jacket that they have. They are most likely lying to you anyways.
OH! And I tested into C13 class!! YAY! I was either expecting a B or a C level anyways (the higher the alphabet, the more advanced the Chinese class). I was looking at the list of students that will be in my class and I saw that there will be a few Japanese and I also saw an American. I got my free books and I will start classes tomorrow! I will be in teaching building No. 1. Bright and early, 8am! I hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow. Today has been raining all day and my boots are all wet.
In addition, I just found out last night that each floor has a kitchen. It has 2 microwaves, 4 sinks and 4 stoves? No wonder my roommate cooks every meal with her friends! I thought they cooked in their rooms haha. This means I can go and buy frozen dumplings to cook and eat instead of eating out all the time.
OH NO! I broke the plastic hinge on my computer! NOOOOOO!
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
New Phone Number
Hey everyone in case you have the sudden urge to call me, my cell phone number is 137-1826-7904 so if you want to call me dial 011 86 10 and then 137-1826-7904.
Monday, March 29, 2010
OWLS and House Points
Went to take my placement test this morning in the YiFu building at 8am. I found out where my placement test was when I registered. It was on the bulletin board outside of building 3. The placement exam was very simple. There was a section of fill in the blank with the correct word, and reading a passage and answering if it the provided statement about the passage was true or false, and also choosing the correct sentence out of 4 possible sentence structures. The very last part was writing 100 words on one of the questions that you can choose. There were 3 possible choices and you just pick one to write about. The questions I got was: 1)do you like exercising? What kind of sports do you like? 2) Talk about a special person 3) Why did you come to Beijing? What do you hope to accomplish here?
I chose number 2. It was easier than the others haha. I forgot a lot of the words if I were to answer question 1 and 2. To answer question 3, i used some of the other vocab words from the actual passages and questions that were on the test. After the written, the teacher asked us several questions as to if we have studied Chinese before, where we are from, and to read some passages outloud to her. She asked if I had difficulty with the exam and I said it wasn’t very difficult so she gave me a harder passage to read.
There were many words that I did not recognize so I just skipped them. I didn’t make it pass halfway of the passage and she swapped it out with an easier passage. Again, there were a few words I did not know and she asked me how much I recognize and I said about half. Then that was it! Super easy. I hope I get into B or C. A is the easier, B is a little more difficult, and as you go up the alphabet, it gets more and more advanced. We will have to go to building 3 to check on our placements and what classroom we will be in.
They will post them up between 2-4pm. After checking the placement, we will go to R100 in building 3 (I think) to pick up our free books.
After the exam, I went to Chau Shi Fa grocery store to get breakfast. I got two white buns with pork filling. They were rather plain tasting. It was 2 for 3 kuai (so 50 cents US), and I bought this container with a free water/ tea bottle, and a pair of wooden chopsticks which came with a wooden spoon. So 3 + 13.90+ 3= 19.90…about 3 US dollars. I think I might go to the other grocery store in wudaokou because it is cheaper there. I will buy fruit and sandwiches or something there.
Oh by the way. The packets of milk that I bought the other day turns out to be yogurt (酸牛奶) or sour milk…I didn’t recognize the first Chinese character (sour) so I bought yogurt instead of milk haha. Whoops. So I will need to go back for some milk. I will also have to pay room and board today. Boo…
Special Dedications for making my life easier in China:
Of course, Andrew, who talked to AT&T for like 4 hours trying to get my phone situation figured out. They kept giving me the wrong un locking directions and codes and it was just extremely frustrating. Good thing he talked T-mobile into giving him an extra 300 roll over minutes that will be good until June because he probably spent just that much time talking to my banker, my parents, and my phone company to solve all of those problems of paying tuition, getting money transferred over, my cell phone, and worried and crying mothers. Thank you for attempting to create a checklist for me for the process of registration and getting settled. Unfortunately, my situation was different because dorm 4 was filled and all, but it still gave me a general idea of what I was supposed to do when I got here. You also filled in the specific locations of shopping malls and grocery stores on my school map so that I would know where to go. This was very helpful and I would’ve died without it. In addition, China blocked blogger, facebook, and youtube, so you have been the one who has been keeping up with my updates for those sites and helping me keep other people who care about me updated too. Thank you for all the frustrations that you had to go through to make me better settled in this new city and new school. Thank you for having your computer on all the time and waiting to talk to me at weird hours because of the 13 hour time difference. And for this, I shall grant you infinity house points…plus an imaginary 100,000 roll over minutes!!! And add in a pot of Kevin’s chili to top off the prize…that’s if it’s not spilled on the floor.
Another very important person to thank is Ella Ly. She was the one who travelled an hour from her home to come here and show me the area. She was very generous and very helpful when I asked her for advice about food, the subway, the malls and tips on bargaining. Since she is a graduate of BLCU, she was very familiar with the area. Thank you for spending basically most of your Sunday with me shopping and eating around BLCU and taking me to Zhong Guan Cun. I need to treat her to food again.
Also my parents and everyone else back home, I honestly couldn't have done it without their loving support. Hopefully this blog that I'm keeping will give you guys a glimpse of what I've been up to and you will all continue reading up on my journey here in Beijing.
I chose number 2. It was easier than the others haha. I forgot a lot of the words if I were to answer question 1 and 2. To answer question 3, i used some of the other vocab words from the actual passages and questions that were on the test. After the written, the teacher asked us several questions as to if we have studied Chinese before, where we are from, and to read some passages outloud to her. She asked if I had difficulty with the exam and I said it wasn’t very difficult so she gave me a harder passage to read.
There were many words that I did not recognize so I just skipped them. I didn’t make it pass halfway of the passage and she swapped it out with an easier passage. Again, there were a few words I did not know and she asked me how much I recognize and I said about half. Then that was it! Super easy. I hope I get into B or C. A is the easier, B is a little more difficult, and as you go up the alphabet, it gets more and more advanced. We will have to go to building 3 to check on our placements and what classroom we will be in.
They will post them up between 2-4pm. After checking the placement, we will go to R100 in building 3 (I think) to pick up our free books.
After the exam, I went to Chau Shi Fa grocery store to get breakfast. I got two white buns with pork filling. They were rather plain tasting. It was 2 for 3 kuai (so 50 cents US), and I bought this container with a free water/ tea bottle, and a pair of wooden chopsticks which came with a wooden spoon. So 3 + 13.90+ 3= 19.90…about 3 US dollars. I think I might go to the other grocery store in wudaokou because it is cheaper there. I will buy fruit and sandwiches or something there.
Oh by the way. The packets of milk that I bought the other day turns out to be yogurt (酸牛奶) or sour milk…I didn’t recognize the first Chinese character (sour) so I bought yogurt instead of milk haha. Whoops. So I will need to go back for some milk. I will also have to pay room and board today. Boo…
Special Dedications for making my life easier in China:
Of course, Andrew, who talked to AT&T for like 4 hours trying to get my phone situation figured out. They kept giving me the wrong un locking directions and codes and it was just extremely frustrating. Good thing he talked T-mobile into giving him an extra 300 roll over minutes that will be good until June because he probably spent just that much time talking to my banker, my parents, and my phone company to solve all of those problems of paying tuition, getting money transferred over, my cell phone, and worried and crying mothers. Thank you for attempting to create a checklist for me for the process of registration and getting settled. Unfortunately, my situation was different because dorm 4 was filled and all, but it still gave me a general idea of what I was supposed to do when I got here. You also filled in the specific locations of shopping malls and grocery stores on my school map so that I would know where to go. This was very helpful and I would’ve died without it. In addition, China blocked blogger, facebook, and youtube, so you have been the one who has been keeping up with my updates for those sites and helping me keep other people who care about me updated too. Thank you for all the frustrations that you had to go through to make me better settled in this new city and new school. Thank you for having your computer on all the time and waiting to talk to me at weird hours because of the 13 hour time difference. And for this, I shall grant you infinity house points…plus an imaginary 100,000 roll over minutes!!! And add in a pot of Kevin’s chili to top off the prize…that’s if it’s not spilled on the floor.
Another very important person to thank is Ella Ly. She was the one who travelled an hour from her home to come here and show me the area. She was very generous and very helpful when I asked her for advice about food, the subway, the malls and tips on bargaining. Since she is a graduate of BLCU, she was very familiar with the area. Thank you for spending basically most of your Sunday with me shopping and eating around BLCU and taking me to Zhong Guan Cun. I need to treat her to food again.
Also my parents and everyone else back home, I honestly couldn't have done it without their loving support. Hopefully this blog that I'm keeping will give you guys a glimpse of what I've been up to and you will all continue reading up on my journey here in Beijing.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
So I went to the grocery store outside of the east gate where the McDonalds was, and got my sim card for 45RMB and a 100yuan calling phone card. I went outside because I had my laptop in my backpack and the grocery store guard told me in order to go in and shop I needed to leave my backpack behind, which I didn’t want to do. Good thing they sold sim cards near the entrance so I didn’t have to put my backpack down with strangers.
These were for sale at the grocery store ^_^
After buying the phone card, I looked across the street for the internet café but I couldn’t make out the words. Plus, the internet place (CERNET) opened at 10am and it was already 9:45am so I wanted to get my internet first, but clearly, it didn’t work.
I feel so stressed out right now. I realized that all day yesterday on the plane I only had 2 gingerales and I brought with me an unopened Sprite from the plane. I finished all of the water I brought along with me, so I went downstairs to the first floor where there was a mini convenience store in the same building as my dorm. I bought a 2.2Liter bottle of water for 4 kuai. I was going to buy a 5L water bottle but the guy said it was 18 kuai! Which doesn’t make sense because if a 2.2L was already 4 kuai, the 5L should only be 9 kuai ( I didn’t do the math).
I found my name and Andrew’s name on the registration list posted outside of the Register’s office. It told me where I am supposed to go to take my placement exams, but in order to go into the classroom, I need to pay my tuition.
I’m so stressed out. I don’t have a phone, internet, money, barely any water and food, and toilet paper. I’m also supposed to pay room and board in 2 days. I need to get online so I can have my dad transfer all of the money over to my M&I bank so I can use the check card I brought with me. I think it also functions as a credit card, but I am really not sure so I don’t want to use it. AHH I don’t even know what time and what day the placement exams are…it didn’t say on the board. So confused…not happy…about to cry. Everyone seems to have everything together and here I am, can’t get anything to work and is broke and doesn’t have any form of communication to call back home and get things sorted out. Not only that, everyone in this building closes their door so I have no friends. P.S, grocery store officers don’t let you bring a backpack in…stupid… stupid TV won’t turn on either…oh wait it works now. Chinese MTV? Sean Kingston music video?
Oh and also, while I was looking at the information on the registration board, it said that dorm 4 is only 6-7rmb a day and all the other dorms were about the same price. I calculated it out and turns out that this dorm, building no. 17, may be the most expensive living place because it is around 9-10 US dollars a day.
I kept waking up last night. I went to bed at 8:45pm, then woke up at 1:25am and couldn’t sleep. I fell back asleep for an hour then woke up at 2:30am. Then I really couldn’t sleep because that would mean that it was 1:30pm Minnesota time. I was going to watch The Office on my computer and I was afraid that it would be too bright and wake my roommate up so I watched Garden State on my ipod. The movie was almost over and then the ipod ran out of batteries.
After I got back to my dorm and failed at the internet and everything else, now I’m hit with the air pollution of China. I was only outside for maybe an hour and my eyes feel sticky and my nose is yucky and my hands just feel gross. GAHHH… I’ve done all of the things that Andrew told me to do and where to go, how to pay how to get internet, but even with all of those tips, I am failing because nothing is working.
Hmm…you know, if my phone really does die because I can’t successfully unlock it with the new sim card, I can get a new phone
These were for sale at the grocery store ^_^
After buying the phone card, I looked across the street for the internet café but I couldn’t make out the words. Plus, the internet place (CERNET) opened at 10am and it was already 9:45am so I wanted to get my internet first, but clearly, it didn’t work.
I feel so stressed out right now. I realized that all day yesterday on the plane I only had 2 gingerales and I brought with me an unopened Sprite from the plane. I finished all of the water I brought along with me, so I went downstairs to the first floor where there was a mini convenience store in the same building as my dorm. I bought a 2.2Liter bottle of water for 4 kuai. I was going to buy a 5L water bottle but the guy said it was 18 kuai! Which doesn’t make sense because if a 2.2L was already 4 kuai, the 5L should only be 9 kuai ( I didn’t do the math).
I found my name and Andrew’s name on the registration list posted outside of the Register’s office. It told me where I am supposed to go to take my placement exams, but in order to go into the classroom, I need to pay my tuition.
I’m so stressed out. I don’t have a phone, internet, money, barely any water and food, and toilet paper. I’m also supposed to pay room and board in 2 days. I need to get online so I can have my dad transfer all of the money over to my M&I bank so I can use the check card I brought with me. I think it also functions as a credit card, but I am really not sure so I don’t want to use it. AHH I don’t even know what time and what day the placement exams are…it didn’t say on the board. So confused…not happy…about to cry. Everyone seems to have everything together and here I am, can’t get anything to work and is broke and doesn’t have any form of communication to call back home and get things sorted out. Not only that, everyone in this building closes their door so I have no friends. P.S, grocery store officers don’t let you bring a backpack in…stupid… stupid TV won’t turn on either…oh wait it works now. Chinese MTV? Sean Kingston music video?
Oh and also, while I was looking at the information on the registration board, it said that dorm 4 is only 6-7rmb a day and all the other dorms were about the same price. I calculated it out and turns out that this dorm, building no. 17, may be the most expensive living place because it is around 9-10 US dollars a day.
I kept waking up last night. I went to bed at 8:45pm, then woke up at 1:25am and couldn’t sleep. I fell back asleep for an hour then woke up at 2:30am. Then I really couldn’t sleep because that would mean that it was 1:30pm Minnesota time. I was going to watch The Office on my computer and I was afraid that it would be too bright and wake my roommate up so I watched Garden State on my ipod. The movie was almost over and then the ipod ran out of batteries.
After I got back to my dorm and failed at the internet and everything else, now I’m hit with the air pollution of China. I was only outside for maybe an hour and my eyes feel sticky and my nose is yucky and my hands just feel gross. GAHHH… I’ve done all of the things that Andrew told me to do and where to go, how to pay how to get internet, but even with all of those tips, I am failing because nothing is working.
Hmm…you know, if my phone really does die because I can’t successfully unlock it with the new sim card, I can get a new phone
Everything going wrong
Nothing is working out for me. I went to the grocery store and got a phone card and a corresponding China mobile sim card. I placed the sim card in my phone and typed in the unlocking password but it was denied again. This is the second time that it was denied and I have a total of 3 tries. I have one more try left but I don’t want to do it without having AT&T on the phone to help me or to double check that I have the right passcode or else after the 3rd try, my phone will no longer be useable and ill have to get a new one.
Not only that, I went to the registration building to register and they gave me a tuition bill and told me that I need to pay my tuition today. They also told me that I can pay by traveler’s check or credit card or cash, but I don’t have a traveler’s check or enough cash. I have my check card with me but I don’t have that much money in it. I should have brought along my Wells Fargo check card because that was where my China money was saved. Shoot…and I don’t have a phone either to contact Sophie (Andrew’s friend) to help me, nor do I have internet after I paid my fee. It was supposed to be 140RMB plus a 50RMB installation fee, but I bet you I got ripped off because the crabby lady charged me 250RMB for one month’s unlimited use. I plugged in the Ethernet cable and followed the System user guide she gave me, but it keeps saying that I did not pay yet and something else in Chinese. My roommate, YunSoo will be getting out of class at 12:30, so hopefully she will come back and help me.
My Dorm Room:
Right now, all the food I have left to eat is a BBQ pork bun that I brought from home, a strawberry yogurt cup I got from the plane, a chocolate bar, raspberry shortbread cookie, and a small packet of airplane pretzels. I want to go to the bigger and cheaper grocery store at the UCenter but I want to wait for my roommate to come back so I can get this internet working. Her computer is here, but I don’t want to break in and use it without permission even though she has a fully working internet service.
Not only that, I went to the registration building to register and they gave me a tuition bill and told me that I need to pay my tuition today. They also told me that I can pay by traveler’s check or credit card or cash, but I don’t have a traveler’s check or enough cash. I have my check card with me but I don’t have that much money in it. I should have brought along my Wells Fargo check card because that was where my China money was saved. Shoot…and I don’t have a phone either to contact Sophie (Andrew’s friend) to help me, nor do I have internet after I paid my fee. It was supposed to be 140RMB plus a 50RMB installation fee, but I bet you I got ripped off because the crabby lady charged me 250RMB for one month’s unlimited use. I plugged in the Ethernet cable and followed the System user guide she gave me, but it keeps saying that I did not pay yet and something else in Chinese. My roommate, YunSoo will be getting out of class at 12:30, so hopefully she will come back and help me.
My Dorm Room:
Right now, all the food I have left to eat is a BBQ pork bun that I brought from home, a strawberry yogurt cup I got from the plane, a chocolate bar, raspberry shortbread cookie, and a small packet of airplane pretzels. I want to go to the bigger and cheaper grocery store at the UCenter but I want to wait for my roommate to come back so I can get this internet working. Her computer is here, but I don’t want to break in and use it without permission even though she has a fully working internet service.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Arrival into Beijing
Got to school, went to building 3, they then told me to come back tomorrow after I get a room to stay in, then they directed me to building 2 to find a dorm but building 2 said that they were all full and dorms in building 4 were also all full, so they told me to go to building 17. Taxi fare was 90 yuan. When I first got there, I got dropped off near building 3 on the south gate. A student named Vivian helped me carry my luggage in and also find the building 3, so I said ill call her and treat her to a meal. She was very nice and she spoke a little bit of English. She was a computer science major. After being directed to several places, two more girls helped me find building 17. I forgot their Chinese names, but one was studying management and I don’t know what the other one said. Building 17 is near the west gate. This dorm is for international students and it is very close to the place where I can buy a phone card and purchase internet. It is also very close to the volleyball court, the field, tennis courts, and basketball court. Also, it is close to the shopping mall and grocery!
I will need to pay for my room and board, which is 85 yuan a day for 65 days for the term, plus a 600 yuan additional fee. This is due within three days. I will have to get the bank set up in order to pay them. Tomorrow, I will have to stop by the register’s office in building 2 to get registered.
So my roommate is Korean and her name is YunSoo Cho. She is studying some sort of Korean university to Chinese University relations? She got here on March 3rd because I guess that was when the semester started. I was a late arrival and people found it weird that I came so late when school started a couple of weeks ago haha. Everyone who asked me where I came from was surprised that I was from the US. They said I don’t look the part.
At the airport after I got off the plane, all foreigners had to get in line to get our visas and passports checked. The line was enormous. There were a group of Korean travelers that were having trouble communicating with a Chinese officer that picked on them to get their passports/ visas checked and they brought copies instead of the originals and almost got denied entrance. It was funny because since there was a language barrier, the Korean people were just laughing because they couldn’t understand and the Chinese officer just got pissed…it was very funny. All of the Chinese officers “randomly” picked all of the dark skinned people to ask to see their visas/passports. The guy behind me appeared Indian so he got picked on, and then the guy across from me was African American who was from the US. After the official went away, he turned to the American lady behind him and said “I thought this was going to be the beginning to a bad movie”…where the black guy gets pulled aside and investigated hahahaha. After that, you go down the escalators and take a lightrail train to the carosel for baggage claim. After that, you walk straight to customs, but when I went by, no one even did anything for “customs”. You just walk right out of the door to a crowd of people holding up name signs.
For taxis, you go down to the B1 level and get in line. Then you just go to a taxi that looks open and tell the driver the location. The taxi ride from the airport to school was about a 20-25 minute drive. He was very nice and asked around to help me find my building. Unfortunately, since all of the dorms were full because the semester started on March 3rd, I had to walk all around campus and see people give me weird looks because I was walking around with two large luggages. When I first got here, I showed them my passport/visa and register papers, then they asked if I wanted to room with a person from Kazahakastan, but I didn’t want to so I asked for a Korean.
They give u a “key” which is this plastic thing with a metal circle plate at the end. You put this metal end on the corresponding metal portion on the door and the door opens. All electricity was on when I got into the room because my roommate was studying. She already got internet through her Ethernet cable because she got here early. Shes been studying Chinese in Korea for 2 years, but she is much more advanced than I am. She has a mini netbook and she also has a water boiler, some kind of pan thing she bought, and all of her toiletries set up in the bathroom. The bathroom is a bit weird. There is no separation between the toilet and the shower. There is a drain on the ground, a maneuverable showerhead and a drape that you can pull so the toilet won’t get all wet.
Oh and then my roommate just went out to get something to eat. It seems like there may be somewhere close with food because she was just in her lounge dorm clothes…not sure. Ill ask her tomorrow.
On the plane, I got seated in the middle part of the plane by the wings. To my left was a Chinese man, and to my right was Ester, an 86 year old lady from Indiana who was going on an Asia cruise with her husband, who was a doctor at Purdue University. They were both old and she said they lived in a retirement nursing home. She said the last time her and her husband came to China was 20-25 years ago because her husband worked on a hospital ship as a doctor during a war? So they decided to take this trip to see China during the times of no war. They will begin their cruise in Beijing and make certain stops, then eventually stop in Hong Kong. I am assuming that they will also go back to the states from the HK airport. She was very nice.
During the plane ride, the movies “Precious”, “Pirate Radio” and the tv show Family guy were on rerun over and over and over. I went to the bathroom once during the entire trip. My butt got achey and sleeping was a little difficult at times. I also took Dramamine after 6 hours after my first tablet in Minneapolis. The first airplace snack was a bag of pretzels and a drink. Lunch was sesame chicken with rice and steamed vegetables, tea biscuit with butter, oatmeal chewie snack thing, pretzels and a salad with sesame garlic dressing. I couldn’t finish it all because I was afraid that if I got air sickness, id puke it all up. The guy next to be ate all of his food in 5 minutes. Then there was the choice of noodles or a ham sandwich for the “midnight snack”. I chose the noodles and it turned out to a mini cup of instant noodles. The ham sandwich was on white wonder bread and it was just half a sandwich.
Then “dinner” was a choice between teriyaki beef noodles or a turkey and cheese sandwich. I got the turkey and cheese sandwich. It was on a sour dough bread with some kind of cheese with dark things in it…it was good. I only ate half so I can save the other half in case I got hungry later and it was too late to go out searching for food since I am so unfamiliar with the school. It also came with yogurt and a pecan cookie. I saved all of that so now I have a sprite, a bbq pork bun from home, a yogurt, an oatmeal chewie bar, mini pretzels and a Symphony chocolate bar that Heather from church gave me. I need more water but I’m not sure where to go for that. I will have to wait until tomorrow . Outside gets dark around 6ish.
Hmm… I guess my roommate is uncomfortable with me sleeping in a way where my feet will be towards her head even though there is a big wood divider between our beds along the wall…maybe it’s a Korean thing or something. I’m gonna go to bed early, I feel sort of dizzy. It’s probably from lack of sleep and dehydration. I basically have been up for 24 hours because it is already 7:02 am back at home. Goodnight!
I will need to pay for my room and board, which is 85 yuan a day for 65 days for the term, plus a 600 yuan additional fee. This is due within three days. I will have to get the bank set up in order to pay them. Tomorrow, I will have to stop by the register’s office in building 2 to get registered.
So my roommate is Korean and her name is YunSoo Cho. She is studying some sort of Korean university to Chinese University relations? She got here on March 3rd because I guess that was when the semester started. I was a late arrival and people found it weird that I came so late when school started a couple of weeks ago haha. Everyone who asked me where I came from was surprised that I was from the US. They said I don’t look the part.
At the airport after I got off the plane, all foreigners had to get in line to get our visas and passports checked. The line was enormous. There were a group of Korean travelers that were having trouble communicating with a Chinese officer that picked on them to get their passports/ visas checked and they brought copies instead of the originals and almost got denied entrance. It was funny because since there was a language barrier, the Korean people were just laughing because they couldn’t understand and the Chinese officer just got pissed…it was very funny. All of the Chinese officers “randomly” picked all of the dark skinned people to ask to see their visas/passports. The guy behind me appeared Indian so he got picked on, and then the guy across from me was African American who was from the US. After the official went away, he turned to the American lady behind him and said “I thought this was going to be the beginning to a bad movie”…where the black guy gets pulled aside and investigated hahahaha. After that, you go down the escalators and take a lightrail train to the carosel for baggage claim. After that, you walk straight to customs, but when I went by, no one even did anything for “customs”. You just walk right out of the door to a crowd of people holding up name signs.
For taxis, you go down to the B1 level and get in line. Then you just go to a taxi that looks open and tell the driver the location. The taxi ride from the airport to school was about a 20-25 minute drive. He was very nice and asked around to help me find my building. Unfortunately, since all of the dorms were full because the semester started on March 3rd, I had to walk all around campus and see people give me weird looks because I was walking around with two large luggages. When I first got here, I showed them my passport/visa and register papers, then they asked if I wanted to room with a person from Kazahakastan, but I didn’t want to so I asked for a Korean.
They give u a “key” which is this plastic thing with a metal circle plate at the end. You put this metal end on the corresponding metal portion on the door and the door opens. All electricity was on when I got into the room because my roommate was studying. She already got internet through her Ethernet cable because she got here early. Shes been studying Chinese in Korea for 2 years, but she is much more advanced than I am. She has a mini netbook and she also has a water boiler, some kind of pan thing she bought, and all of her toiletries set up in the bathroom. The bathroom is a bit weird. There is no separation between the toilet and the shower. There is a drain on the ground, a maneuverable showerhead and a drape that you can pull so the toilet won’t get all wet.
Oh and then my roommate just went out to get something to eat. It seems like there may be somewhere close with food because she was just in her lounge dorm clothes…not sure. Ill ask her tomorrow.
On the plane, I got seated in the middle part of the plane by the wings. To my left was a Chinese man, and to my right was Ester, an 86 year old lady from Indiana who was going on an Asia cruise with her husband, who was a doctor at Purdue University. They were both old and she said they lived in a retirement nursing home. She said the last time her and her husband came to China was 20-25 years ago because her husband worked on a hospital ship as a doctor during a war? So they decided to take this trip to see China during the times of no war. They will begin their cruise in Beijing and make certain stops, then eventually stop in Hong Kong. I am assuming that they will also go back to the states from the HK airport. She was very nice.
During the plane ride, the movies “Precious”, “Pirate Radio” and the tv show Family guy were on rerun over and over and over. I went to the bathroom once during the entire trip. My butt got achey and sleeping was a little difficult at times. I also took Dramamine after 6 hours after my first tablet in Minneapolis. The first airplace snack was a bag of pretzels and a drink. Lunch was sesame chicken with rice and steamed vegetables, tea biscuit with butter, oatmeal chewie snack thing, pretzels and a salad with sesame garlic dressing. I couldn’t finish it all because I was afraid that if I got air sickness, id puke it all up. The guy next to be ate all of his food in 5 minutes. Then there was the choice of noodles or a ham sandwich for the “midnight snack”. I chose the noodles and it turned out to a mini cup of instant noodles. The ham sandwich was on white wonder bread and it was just half a sandwich.
Then “dinner” was a choice between teriyaki beef noodles or a turkey and cheese sandwich. I got the turkey and cheese sandwich. It was on a sour dough bread with some kind of cheese with dark things in it…it was good. I only ate half so I can save the other half in case I got hungry later and it was too late to go out searching for food since I am so unfamiliar with the school. It also came with yogurt and a pecan cookie. I saved all of that so now I have a sprite, a bbq pork bun from home, a yogurt, an oatmeal chewie bar, mini pretzels and a Symphony chocolate bar that Heather from church gave me. I need more water but I’m not sure where to go for that. I will have to wait until tomorrow . Outside gets dark around 6ish.
Hmm… I guess my roommate is uncomfortable with me sleeping in a way where my feet will be towards her head even though there is a big wood divider between our beds along the wall…maybe it’s a Korean thing or something. I’m gonna go to bed early, I feel sort of dizzy. It’s probably from lack of sleep and dehydration. I basically have been up for 24 hours because it is already 7:02 am back at home. Goodnight!
On the Plane
Sitting on the plane: its 6:13pm Minnesota time. I’ve been on the plane since 12:45. The plane left Chicago and headed north, flying over the arctic ocean near Alaska. Right now, we are flying over the Beaufort Sea. Took another Dramamine, waiting for the sleepy drowsy effects while watching The Office season one beginning with episode one. I feel pretty tired. The plane is huge and its not as bad as the normal domestic planes. Haven’t felt sick yet, and I even went to the bathroom! I usually can’t even walk on the plane but this one is okay. I got seat 25E, which is in the middle of the plane, second seat from the aisle. The bathroom is behind me, so no one is sitting behind me. Getting kind of hungry. Lunch was alright. I got sesame chicken with rice, steamed vegetables, tea biscuit with butter, gingerale, salad with sesame garlic dressing, and this oatmeal cookie thing. I just finished eating my left over Denny’s sandwich (half a slice of moon over my hammy). I wonder what’s for dinner…I’m guessing it should be pretty soon.
Trip Craziness
How did you prep for the trip? Do some research about the shots you need to have for traveling. I didn’t get any because all of the required ones were the ones that were also required for attending high school and college. Also, I double checked with my insurance company and international coverage. They said that if I have medical costs in Beijing, I need to pay in cash and bring the receipts back and the insurance company will reimburse you. The application process was simple. I just went to the Beijing Language Culture University and followed the links that led me to the international student application. I registered for 20 hours of Chinese a week, which will me about 8am-noon of school 5 days a week. I found this kind of schedule to be more fitting because I still have to study for the Dental admissions test and do Chinese homework, and of course, EXPLORE! EAT! EXERCISE!
Apparently, there was a dust storm happening two days ago? The sand was blowing from the Tibet area and middle Mongolia? My parents and grandma told me to buy a facemask, but the media just makes it worse than it sounds.
When I get off the plane, my first priorities is to catch a taxi, get to school, register and get into the dorm that I want, unpack stuff, then go to the corner grocery store and buy a phone sim card. I need to unlock my phone after I insert a China Mobile (carriers may vary) into my phone and type in the code that was give to me by my cell phone provider (AT&T) to unlock my phone. You are only given a total of 3 tries. I have already used one try at home with a sim card that my boyfriend gave me (he went last year), but I think it would be safer for me to buy a new sim card.
How much the tix cost? $1256 from Travelocity! I am flying United Airlines. It will stop in Chicago, then go from Chicago to Beijing. Two hour layover in Chicago, and will be in the air for 13 hours! I will arrive around 3:30pm Beijing time, about 2:30am Minnesota time. Two months ago, tickets were only $950, but I didn’t purchase them because I didn’t get my student visa taken care of. My student visa totaled $205--- $165 for the visa, and then I had to pay extra for express mailing (which I found to be a waste of money because I still received it after a week like normal mail). The visa I received is a one year multi entry. Each stay is a maximum of 90 days. You may exit the country before or at the deadline of 90 days, and then when you re-enter the country, the 90 days stay can start over, so you have to go in and out of the country after every 90 days to stay there.
Advice? NEVER EVER buy luggage locks in the airport. One combination lock was $12.99! The one I had at home was stuck and I was stupid and thought it can be opened with a key, but the swivel hook part was just stuck and you can actually figure it out with a certain pattern of turning (which can probably be found online). I think I got my two locks and a luggage tag for $5 at Target on clearance. The airport is just ridiculous for desperate people like me.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Nevermind Found it
Uhm ok so I found it in the hidden pocket of my gigantor bag...haha I must be really sleepy
Lost Camera!
So after about 3 hours of packing and organizing, I thought I was done and ready for bed. Upon my surprise I realized that I lost my camera!!!
I remember setting it aside after uploading the video blog and now I've searched my entire room looking for it and can't find it anywhere!!! UGH
5 hours until I need to get ready for the airport and one of the most important things that needs to be brought on this trip is missing...
I remember setting it aside after uploading the video blog and now I've searched my entire room looking for it and can't find it anywhere!!! UGH
5 hours until I need to get ready for the airport and one of the most important things that needs to be brought on this trip is missing...
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
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