Beautiful Beijing

August 31, 2008: 7 a.m.
An 11 hour plane trip later, I am in sunny, blue skies, Beijing. Although this plane trip was a much shorter flight than my trip to Australia, 16 hours, I was overwhelmed by how tiny the seating was. The whole time I was squished between my mother and some other fellow, both whom had terrible breath (Hi Mom!). Other than that, the man to my right was manically fighting for the arm rest. Talk about how chivalry is dead, and no, I did not kill it. (Hi Willy!)
I also have a secret for everyone who uses United to travel internationally. Be smart and check-in online and be sure to have a printer. To keep the long story short, I was halfway through checking-in online the day before my flight, but was too lazy to go to the printer, SO I had to wait in the line of 100 people rather than the line of 3 smart people who printed their ticket online earlier. So the secret is out...check- in online!

I'm glad to have survived my first half a day back in Beijing, and let me tell you, it was wonderful! The weather was better than back at home! This morning, it is 7 a.m. at the moment, the sky is blue with minimal clouds and it is so beautiful! The last time I was in Beijing was in 2005 and it has drastically changed since then. I am not in the center of Beijing, but 3 rings outside of it, I think. I got to see what I thought was my dorm room, but of course I picked out the best looking one from the outside, and just claimed it to be my future living quarters. Hopefully, I will not be unpleasantly surprised when I am offered the dingiest space possible. I'll probably go visit today, even though it's Sunday, but fellow Alliance students seem to be extremely helpful. I'm in dire need of mani/pedi grooming and YAY there is a store right across my dorm building. Not to sound all high maintenance, but I cannot cut my own nails if my life depended on it. I would end up with tiger claws or something of the sort, since my nails grow long extremely quickly, and really thick.

I got a cellphone yesterday, as well. A tiny, cheap, plastic one, but hey, emphasis on the cheap. It's just too bad I couldn't use my American phone, since there is no place for a SIM card. However, I still get texts! So friends and family, text my home cell number so I can still fulfill my 250 text plan!

The conveniences of Beijing are extraordinary! Not as convenient as when I was in Taipei, but because Beijing is so much larger, this is expected. For it's gargantuan size, Beijing is extremely accessible. Little news stands on ever corner, food places everywhere, shopping you can't believe, and the list goes on... Now I really need to lock my money up and throw away the key!

Uh oh! As I write, the clouds are rolling in. Maybe my weather predictor is a bit off, but I still say Beijing has transformed into something I cannot even begin to describe. There are trees and flowers EVERYWHERE!

Before I fall over with hunger, I'm going to breakfast. I will be back with an update of pictures and such. Lots of love from the east!