Misadventures in the Beijing Airport

It's Friday around noon.  You know how I was saying all those complementary things about the airlines, how airline food tasted alright and everything was organized and running on schedule (okay I might not have said all of it) but I take it all back.

 

Those ten minutes of sleep on the plane ended up being all I got on that flight.  It started to feel longer and longer once we hit the four hours left mark.  Around the two hours left mark I somehow managed to break my headphones.  All the windows are closed the entire time so you don't get to see the blinding whiteness of Siberia or the North Pole.  The cabin is dark and you sit and try to wait.  You can read but after being awake so long, it doesn't really have all that much appeal. 

 

The Beijing airport is a confusing place.  A confusing and hot place.  (Well everywhere is hot in China.  If I had one word to describe China right now it would be hot. )  We got in, successfully made it through customs, found our bags and thankfully nothing had been lost.  At this point we had no water and had been up 24 hours straight (or at least 24 hours if you didn't really sleep on the plane.  My ten minutes don't count against the straight thing.  I'm not even really sure I was asleep or if I just zoned off. )

 

We got our tickets from the group counter after being yelled at in very rapid Chinese.  Then we went upstairs to try and find our flight only to discover we were in the wrong terminal.  This was after our first experience on a Chinese elevator.  Your first experience on a Chinese elevator seems very significant, as it is so different from a Western elevator.  It looks identical, but then the rush of people surges forward.  You have to be quick.  You have to jam your way on, no matter if the elevator is going up or down, because eventually it will go your direction and you need to be on it.  Fitting 20 kids and their chaperones on to two elevators alone is an impressive feat.  Now imagine doing it when everyone has so much luggage.  It's basically a miracle.

 

So after we managed our little miracle, we stared at the ever-changing flight board.  There were so many flights. It took us a while to even figure out our flight wasn't somewhere on the board.  We had to go to the other terminal.  We went down 4 flights of escalators instead of taking the elevators (which was definitely a good idea). We rushed around now slightly frantic for time until we got on a slow moving train that connected the terminals. 

 

The most strenuous part of our journey was definitely security.  It was so confusing.  Theoretically it's like the security in the US.  In practice, not so much.  After your bags go through, you're occasionally asked to take out other stuff.  Several of us (including myself) had to take out all the cords and chargers we had in our bags despite them not being listed on the sign of things to take out.  You're also being shouted at to do it in Chinese or very broken English when it becomes clear you have no idea what is going on. 

 

Once we got through security, we rushed to our gate only to realize we didn't have a gate yet.  The plane wasn't here.  One lady even said it hadn't even left Shanghai yet.  We all went and bought some water and other drinks (I had some amazing peach drink stuff) before collapsing at the gate closest to the information desk. 

 

We eventually found out our gate and went downstairs to wait.  It ended up being two hours.  We got so many funny looks and it was obvious why.  There was a bunch of American sleeping or sitting and talking in English on the floor of the airport by the elevators.  I was awake the entire time, too nervous and confused to sleep.  They also gave us our dinner before we got on the plane since we were so late.  It was absolutely awful.  There was rice and some questionable meat stuff and cabbage.  The entire thing smelled so terrible I felt sick.  I merely picked at the rice.  It was a good thing I wasn't really hungry.

 

Eventually the plane got there.  There is a loose term though.  Our entire flight had to cram itself onto a tiny bus so we could drive to the plane.  It was the most squished I have ever been.  By this point, I'm having some issues standing on my own feet.  I've discovered I get clumsier the more tired I am.  I slept the entire plane ride to Xi'an. 

 

Our teachers came to meet us.  They had a huge banner and were all wearing these really pretty short Chinese dresses.  We drove with them to the school.  Our host families had been waiting there since 8.  It was then quarter to midnight.  They wanted to get out of there and go to bed nearly as badly as we did.  Of course, there were pictures and a bit of ceremony before we got to go to our new homes. 

 

Thankfully, we decided to move orientation and the testing to Saturday, so we had today to sleep. 

 

My host family has been speaking mainly English to me and despite the fact that I should probably be annoyed and trying to get them to change, I'm actually a little relieved about that.  They gave me a tour of their beautiful apartment in English.  They taught me how to get water and use the shower in English.  These are conversations I wouldn't have been able to follow in Chinese and I'm so grateful I actually know what's going on. 

 

It was just my parents who came to orientation.   My sister had a math final today and a toothache so she went to bed early.  I was kind of left on my own and was told to call my mother when I woke up.  It was almost one when I finally went to sleep.  Needless to say I slept until ten thirty, but waited to call till eleven so I could get dressed.  My host sister ended up coming home at eleven from her math final with a friend.  She's off to spend the day with her Grandmother, so I probably won't see her again today. 

 

My host mother should be home any minute.   She works at the school I'm going to, so she said she would be back around 1.  I have to go register with the police and do a few more things around town with her so I'm ready for when I go to orientation.  I'm actually really glad I had the house to myself for a little while.  I was able unpack the way I liked it and also not have to worry about my family members.  They're all trying to be really helpful and make me feel at home.  I'm just a little overwhelmed and also feeling slightly guilty because I know I should be talking in Chinese.  I just want school to start so I can expand the limited vocabulary I have.  It also doesn't help that when I try to speak in Chinese I always seem to mess something up.  It's a bit of a problem. 

 

Hopefully by the end of the day, I'll be able to post this.  I've figured out electricity and how to charge my stuff, but I still don't know how to connect to the Internet.