Greetings from China

Hello friends, family, and others...

As impossible as it may be to believe, I've finally found my way to China. After cancelling three flights due to new visa restrictions and one due to inclement weather, I finally departed the states for good on Wednesday. Apparently the saying is wrong and it's really the fourth time that's a charm. Now that I think about it, that may not be a good thing after all. In Chinese culture, the number four is bad luck. The word for four is si, which is the same as death but with a different tone. In fact, the Chinese are so superstitious against the number four that most buildings and hotels do not have 4th or 14th floors and people pay extra to avoid having 4s in their phone numbers. So far, however, 4 has been my lucky number. I only successfully got my visa after my fourth trip to the Chinese consulate in New York. Does this mean I'm doomed? Is it a warning that I've had so many issues getting here and that everything has worked out on the fourth try? Maybe I shouldn't think pessimistically and just it...but if anything happens to me you know why.

On a positive note, my experience flying with Air Canada was overall quite pleasing. Thirteen hours didn't seem so bad when they offered avant-garde and foreign films on a touch screen on the front of my seat. I watched Son of Rambow and Hors de Prix (Priceless), both of which I recommend highly, and an episode of Gossip Girl, my guilty pleasure. In case you're wondering, I took Air Canada because it is incredibly cheap compared to United and Continental and besides who doesn't love Canadians?

I'm currently saying in a hotel in Chaoyang which is the business district in Beijing. It's incredibly nice for the low price of $50 a night, which is on the higher end in China. There's free internet, breakfast, and a great bed, which was exactly what I needed. Last night I had dinner with friends from GW, Thev and Louise, who have been living in Beijing since last January. We went to a Guizhou restaurant that specializes in serving fish in a hot pot. When you order this they bring the fish, which happened to be catfish, out to you live and drop it on the floor so you can see for yourself that it is indeed alive. I've always had a problem eating a creature that I saw alive and flapping around only a few minutes earlier, but in China anything goes so eventually you learn to give up all your former hesitations.

I've learned that it's best to have no expectations when living in China because anything goes and everything changes. In fact, Beijing has changed so much since I was here studying abroad in Fall of 2006. To my dismay, the vendors selling delicious street food and all the pirated dvd "salesmen" (they actually sell the dvds out of briefcases) are no where to be found. I think this is my greatest disappointment because I've been craving a good jianbing (a Chinese breakfast crepe that is to die for) for the past year and a half.

The traditional hutongs (Chinese alley neighborhoods) have mostly been ripped down and the city has gone through many structural changes. This has all been due to Beijing's hosting of the summer Olympics. While it's a great honor for Beijing to host these prestigious games, Beijing has lost some of it's character and uniqueness. I suppose one perk has been the addition of several new subway lines that connect areas of the city that were pretty difficult to reach before. Enough complaining though, Beijing is still an amazing city and I couldn't be happier to finally be here.

I think my favorite new discovery about China so far is that drug sniffing dogs in the Beijing airport are Beagles! No intimidating German Shepherds or Rottweilers that strike fear into the hearts of law abiding and law breaking travellers alike, but cute, innocent, little Beagles that scamper around wagging their tails. So adorable.

In case you're confused, the name of my blog comes from a picture of a chinglish translation of an entree on a Chinese menu. English signs, t-shirts and translations in China are often hilariously wrong and sometimes even offensive, and they give me great joy. Hopefully I'll post pictures of the ones I encounter soon. I wanted to write this blog to keep all of you updated with my life and share funny stories and experiences. I'll probably attempt to be funny but the majority of you know that my sense of humor is 95% lame and only 5% witty so please humor me with your comments and praise, god knows I'll need some encouragement to continue writing it. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my first blog and please catch up with me every now and again.

Love,
Bonnie