So, first full day in China yesterday. A lot of fun overall just trying to get our bearings, walking around and getting the hang of some of what is going on, but still, its hard to think we got here just two days ago. One of the main things that has stood out since we came from the airport and walking and taxiing around, is that traffic lanes and laws are more of guidelines rather than set in stone rules. Whether its zooming down the road in two lanes, turning at a 4 way stop intersection right between a line of other turning cars or honking at the car in front of you to notify them that you are about to pass them very quickly and closely. Riding in taxis is an experience unto itself, as they are all pretty much Jason Bournes on the road. Yeah. Being a pedestrian is an experience too with walking across the street being compared to something like Frogger, just jumping across lane by lane trying to avoid cars… or, you can be like us the most of the time and just wait for a green walking signal at an intersection, but even then you have to be wary. So for breakfast, Dumplings were on the menu, 4 of them with a really good saucy pork inside… I think that is going to be the usual breakfast for our whole group. Paired with some Minute Maid orange juice in Chinese, and you have an all-star breakfast there. We then went to the International Education building to get registered for Chinese classes and to ask questions about how to get around town and everything. Randy, or Dr. Kluver, or the Big R, or Bambi, our accompanying professor, then took us one of the student stores where they have everything you pretty much need for very cheap prices. I got stuff like a soap dish, some tissues to take around in case I need to use the bathroom in town (don’t expect to see toilet paper everywhere you go), a notebook for classes, some Milk/Coffee Pretz (basically flavored breadsticks from Japan) and some candy, all for 21 kuai, which is basically 3 bucks. Niiiiiice. I still have to wrap my head around this exchange rate, that something that is five kuai is not five bucks, but is really less than a dollar. So we took all that stuff back to our dorm rooms and met back up to go to the local shopping area called Jusco. We hopped on a bus, which is another 1 kuai experience in itself, and made it over to Jusco, which is basically where you want to go if you need some nicer quality stuff to use or have. While in there, I spotted a Yoshinoya Beef Bowl, which was my stomping grounds in Yokosuka, so that made me really excited and I hope to be going back for some beef bowl here soon. After another big dumpling lunch and a sampling of the famous Tsingtao Beer made right here in Qingdao (bleh, still beer=gross), we headed in taxis for an antiques market that Randy was set on finding again. This market that we found after about 3 hours of walking around random Qingdao was massive and totally cool, with like jade, antique and more modern stuff all over the place. It was also our first experience with bargaining with shopkeepers, some of our group being much better at it than others. After another crazy taxi ride back to Ocean University, we found a market for some dinner and sampled some different food from around this place with street vendors. We found some good chicken yakitori (or small pieces of chicken grilled on a stick) and some really, really good flat bread that was really filling. Later that night, just walking around, we ventured down to the beach area to watch a group of folks doing some dance/exercise while balancing balls on these racquets while doing intricate moves with them and throwing the balls up in there air and stuff. That pretty much summed up the first full day. Today, June 4, we had our first Chinese classes. There are 6 of us in my beginning class, and our teacher, Xing laoshi, kind of splits up our exercises in the book because 3 of us have had the 1 semester of Chinese already while the 3 others are totally new to the language. That 3.5 hours went by fairly quickly also, and oh yeah, we had another dumpling breakfast, yum. We then went to Jusco since we didn’t have our Communication class until 4pm, and had lunch there and just walked around some more. Other than that, things are going well, we are all still getting our bearings but we are doing pretty well overall I think. Friday at 1 we will head out to Qifu and Ti’an, which had Mt. Tai, one of the 5 holy mountains in China, and the birthplace of Confucius there. So that is all pretty cool overall, and it should be a pretty good weekend. I plan on getting pictures into my Kodak Gallery here soon and will give everyone the link here so you all can look at the pictures so far.

Sooooo…. that was a long little 14 hour flight on over here… yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.  So we are all sitting in the Hong Kong airport at 7am Hong Kong time, half awake and all that good stuff.  The airport is good and nice but yeah, I’ve got a good little film of ewww on me, but oh well.   We dont fly out until 1040am and don’t get out to Qingdao until 3pm, where we will get our rooms and stuff and relax and then I think head out to town for our first dinner.  Right now, Alex is testing our wikipedia and stuff, and none of my usual news sites are coming up… not good.  hahah.  Aight, I think we are all about to go explore, so I will leave it here for now.

 

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