It's like they have a different word for everything...

Greetings! We made it here to Chinatown--finally. So who's ready for our recap?

We flew from St. Louis to L.A. on Sunday night. When we first got to the Lambert airport we heard two different irate dudes shouting "American Airlines sucks!" over and over after dealing with various customer service folks. Having been in similar situations with airlines, I could sympathize. But we also knew that there was bad weather throughout the U.S. (except the west coast, the direction we were headed). So we said our goodbyes and got on the plane. Our seats weren't next to each other, but we were able to trade with some dude. So we were in the very last row of the plane, but at least we were together. The flight to L.A. was fine, except that the flight attendants were ambivalent and not really friendly or helpful or explanatory in any sort of way. Case in point: when we landed at LAX we were already running late, but we noticed that we were sort of just taxiing around out in the middle of nowhere. So finally the pilot comes over the speaker and says something to the effect of "LAX is doing some construction work in our terminal, so we have to stop in a remote area and take buses in...". And then the power went out on the plane. No explanation, other than the flight attendants saying stuff like "boy, I hope nobody's claustrophobic" under their breath and joking around about it. Like, listen ladies--I've got a plane to catch. So when we finally got off the plane, we had to wait because the first bus was already full of all the rows in front of us. We got inside and realized that our two hour layover had turned into 45 minutes. Luckily, Rory had experienced LAX before, so he knew where we going.

We got in line and begged the really cute Chinese lady for seats next to each other. Remembering that I had recieved my "Air China Rewards" card in the mail, I pulled it out and asked if that meant anything. It did. We got to sit next to each other at the front of the plane, right behind first class. Sweet. The Air China flight was pretty smooth, though lacking the amenities of a Korean Air or JAL flight, but my hips appreciated the wider seats. We took some sleeping pills and it was like we woke up in Beijing. But we started the flight late, so we landed late and had 35 mintues to get through customs, get our luggage, go through security and hop on our last plane to Yantai. Well, that didn't happen. Going through customs and having our passports checked took a really long time. I mean, really long. So we were running to the baggage area, feeling on top of our game, looking for our stuff. We saw two bags immediately. So far so good. And then we see Rory's computer come out on the belt, which it wasn't supposed to do at all, seeing how every inch of the box is covered with "FRAGILE" tape. There was a little damage done to the monitor, but nothing a little super glue can't fix. So we were just waiting for our last bag--one of mine--and it never came out. So we had to go file some paperwork or something. Usually something like this would freak me out, but we were like "screw it--we're in China--who cares?"

We thought for sure we had missed our flight, but luckily it had been delayed because of bad weather in Yantai. So we went to some coffee shop and drank a couple of beers. At 8:00 in the morning. But I tell you what--a beer never tasted so good. Even with the missing luggage. The flight to Yantai was a piece of cake, and it was funny because once we were out of Beijing, or even in the other little ariport terminal (for the domestic flights), we were back to being completely outcast. There really weren't any other whiteys at all-- I loved it in Korea, and I love it now. So we landed in Yantai, and we got to walk down steps off of the plane, just like the president! hahaha. We got what was left of our luggage and looked for school folks. They were holding a sign with our name on it and everything. Pretty sweet. Mei Huan and Dui (I don't know about the spelling) met us at the airport. Dui is an English teacher and Mei Huan is in the personnel office. They were so nice, and Yantai was so freaking beautiful. But they kept telling us "Weihai is more beautiful".

I think they assumed that we were going to just be super-exhausted, and really, we probably should have been, but we were too excited to think about sleep. We went to our school--which is about 50 minutes from the Yantai airport (closer than I thought it would be). It's sort of out in the middle of nowhere, in a really industrial, wasteland-looking area. But it is massive! I mean, I looked at the pictures that had been sent to us, but they really don't do the school justice. It's like three times the size of my high school, and it's on the side of a mountain with sea right by it. I've never seen so many steps. It looks (as Rory said) like "some temple of the future..." Oh my god! It's awesome! There aren't any students here yet (they get here Monday, after their big break), so we really got to explore by ourselves.

We put all of our stuff in our room--and it really is like a dorm room. No kitchen, but we do have a mini fridge and our own water cooler, which is awesome, because we've heard about the water situation before and how sick it can (potentially) make you. We don't have a western toilet, we just have squatter, but we're already sort of used to that, too. I mean, there's no use complaining about it--it is what it is. And just because I have to shit in a hole doesn't mean I'm not going to love China. We also have the luxury of a water heater in our bathroom, and we don't have to monitor how long our showers are, like everyone else. So I'm very thankful for that. Me likey warm showers. We went to the Chinese dining hall (the Korean and Western dining halls will open when the kids come back) for lunch. I couldn't really handle it (some familiar-looking squiddy stuff. mmmmm...), so I mostly just ate rice. After that Dui told us to take a deep sleep, but we couldn't really do that either. So we went to the closest market. It is as close to us as Mojo's was to our old place.

We walked down this long road, with people riding past on all these cool bicycles and these strange, three-wheeled cars. After seeing all the bike lanes--as well as the old ladies and young girls in stilettos biking around like it's nobody's business--I'm thinking a sweet bike (yes, of course, with a basket) will be something I can handle. At the market we bought some "Weihaiwei" beer, some bathroom slippers, tp, food, all kinds of shampoo, conditioner, blah blah blah--basic sundries, you know. And it all cost about $18. I can get used to this, I think. Holy cow is stuff cheap here.

There was a little girl running around the store with her little sister. She kept coming up to us and saying "hello! hello!" over and over, and I remembered how much I loved that back in Korea. I don't think that little kids will ever get old to me. We went back to the dorm room and got ready for dining hall dinner. Some more fishy-goo, eggs, rice and some bun-like things. As long as there is some sort of bread-y or rice thing with the meal (and there has been thus far), I think my stomach will handle it. But with this meal, the second I took a bite of eggs, I started feeling (the now super-familiar) rumble tummy. So I went back to the dorm to have a really hellish bathroom experience while Rory trekked down to the pharmacy to engage in awkward conversation and to pick me up some Chinese medicine. It worked, and we fell asleep around 9:30 pm.

When we woke up (at 4:00 am), I opened our windows on our back porch/balcony (which is pretty awesome, by the way), and we couldn't see anything! There was so much fog coming in off of the water, it was crazy. As each hour passed, we could look outside and see a little bit more of our campus--all of these looming buildings and stuff. Really cool. Even when we were driving from Yantai to Weihai, we started to hit the fog, and it looked like all of these massive industrial trucks in the other lane were just coming out of nowhere.

Today we are going to take the bus into the center of the city with Dui and the other foreign teacher who arrived late last night. Her name is Cecilia, she's South African, and she seems like a real "take no shit" kind of lady. Which is sort of intimidating at first, but I think that we can totally pull off the good cop/bad cop routine. She has already lived and taught in China and Korea, so she knows what's up. Let's just say the first impression of her was that she is sort of intimidating, but I think she will be like a den mother to us. She is 45, after all. I guess Rory and I are just looking at it all a little differently--we have much more of a casual, laid back attitude about this experience. I mean, we already had the worst experience someone can have working in a foreign country (a little melodramatic, yes, but still...), so figuring out the water heater on our own and having diarreah seem like really miniscule things.

I can't wait to go "into town"--we seem like country mice out here in the middle of nowhere. It's really cool, though--I like the idea of rolling out of bed and going to teach. It's like we're in college again or something. I just can't say anything bad about anything yet (except the flight stuff), because I am just so thankful to be here, safe, with Rory, meeting all kinds of (incredibly) nice people. And we're starting to learn some key chinese phrases, like "I'm full." Good to know.

We'll post pictures later, after we find a voltage converter. I'm just stoked that I was able to get this site in English. If you press enough buttons, you can change the language. Noted.