Day 2- potty talk

Since we got in late yesterday, I didn't get a chance to take in the 'view'
from my bedroom window.  The building with the gold spires looks interesting-
maybe a temple of some sort...or a Chinese casino, perhaps?!

Today is 'clearly' not one of the good air days-  this is the haze that is
known as 'Beijing daylight'.  On the plus side, I am happy to look out
my guest bedroom window to see TREES!  I was expecting a city of
22 million people to be a concrete jungle.  It's good I have had low
expectations coming in to this drastic change of life, it's the simplest
of things that now make me happy.  It's funny how when your life gets
stripped down of all things and people that are comfortable and familiar,
it doesn't take much for one to find pleasure in the simplest of things-
like a stranger in a foreign country giving you a friendly smile :)

Friday morning we were to all meet up at 8:30 am at the 'North Gate' to begin
our in-processing.  True to Karyn form, I mistakenly headed out the West gate,
and walked the 'block' around my 27 building apartment complex to the proper
meeting point.  The bad news is a city block in Beijing has got to be much,
much larger than a typical city block, even in New York City.  The good news,
is that on my morning hike, I passed by my school!  If I walk directly to work,
and not the roundabout way, it is only 10 minutes away.  Praise Jesus!
No early morning subway commute with millions of other Chinese :)))
It was good I headed out thirty minutes early, as I barely made it
to our meeting point on time- whew.  I worked up quite the sweat.
(Have I mentioned it is HOT in Beijing?!  Like hot and humid, sweat
your balls off- like summer time in the Florida Keys- IT'S THAT HOT!)   

So, our morning was spent at the local police station.  Whether you are a student, employee, tourist, or news reporter- regardless of the VISA you are travelling under- if you are 'new' to China, you must register your passport and credentials with the local police department within 24 hours of your arrival.  While sipping his morning tea and getting ready for work, I don't think the lone police officer working with us had any idea he would have to process thirty new teachers All. By. Himself.  We were a chatty bunch, extremely jet lagged, but eager to get acquainted with one another to begin establishing some connections.  We were told to 'Be Quiet!' at least five times before we took it upon ourselves to spill into the street to continue our conversations.  We simply waited for our name to be called, to begin the process of paperwork and stamp collecting.  I will say, when I sat with the police officer, though he was clearly stressed and not having one of his better days at work, the whole process was quite efficient.  It just took a lot of time for all of us to get through the cattle call.  In fact, the theme of the day was 'Hurry Up and Wait'.  There were still nearly eight of us or so that had not been processed, and it was past lunchtime, so our coordinator simply gathered up the remaining passports and stayed behind to finish the process himself.

The good news was in the wait, we took to milling about the street, and
around the corner we stumbled upon our first open market.  I got a sack of
grapes for less than a dollar- score!  This girl needed a snack, as her
Spanish rice from the night before had long since worn out, lol.

We just hung out at the police station, over four hours in all.

I found it interesting that the police badges have the Great Wall on them.

Knowing they had a bunch of tired and hungry Westerners on their hands,
our guides had the presence of mind to take us all out to lunch- to our first
Chinese buffet.  I assure you, this was no Chinese buffet like I have ever seen.
Less than an hour later, I was longing for Ming's in New Castle, Indiana :/

Could I interest you in half a duck head?!  NO, you say?! 

Perhaps you'd rather have chicken feet instead?!  I could not bring
myself to gnaw on Adolph Van Chickenfoot's feet- it just seemed wrong.
The octopus was tolerable, bordering on pleasant, but I mostly
stuck with recognizable vegetables and noodles.  I see becoming
a near vegetarian in my future.  In China, if it crawls, flies, squeaks,
meows, barks, slithers, swims or otherwise moves or make noise-
it is considered appropriate for human consumption. Oh boy.

Ok folks, it's time to dispense with the potty talk...reasons which will become more clear when I show you a photo.  Those who know me well know that I often experience eh-hem....'gastrointestinal difficulties' when I travel.  Let me just say, that after the 'interesting and expansive buffet lunch' that we were treated to, I became quickly acquainted with Chinese toilets.  When I first walked in, I was like, "Oh, so THAT'S what they meant in the travel guides about the unusual public restrooms in China."

Yes, people, THAT just happened.
With a sick belly, no less.
I signed up for this life- squatting over a hole in the floor!

Thankfully, I had the presence of mind to carry a travel size pack of baby wipes in my purse.  After that intense introduction to real Chinese food, I burned through half a pack.  I must get on some new plan for putting on the 'stress lbs.' that I lost the last several months.  Between the new cuisine, walking miles and miles daily in discovering my new city, and sweating off the balls I never had in this oppressive heat and acrid air, I will likely waste away to nothing by Christmas!  Let me just say, I understand now why I see Chinese people squatting all over the place- in the park, on the sidewalks, at the bus stop, in the stores, etc. Squatting is a position that is comfortable and familiar to them; it is simply a form of rest.  After being here for five days, I can confidently say that I can squat with the best of them :)  Good thing this girl has pooped in a woods before- I was somewhat prepared, lol :)

One other caveat to the whole squatting thing is that the stalls are elevated, which is a good thing, so no one can peek under the door to see your hoo-ha.  However...I keep forgetting that I stepped UP to get in the stall, so consequently I go falling OUT of the stall after I do my business.  To make matters worse, once I wash my hands, I then go tripping out of the bathroom as well, as you must step up ever so slightly.  The entire bathroom is about two inches lower than the floor or hallway you came from, as apparently Chinese toilets are notorious for flooding so they want to contain the sh.....um....the mess. I have not had the first sip of rice wine, but going to the bathroom looks like I have had more than my fair share.  Eventually I will get my feet under me and master the whole toilet scene- beginning to end.

After lunch, and said bathroom breaks to which many of us were in dire need, we continued on with our in-processing.  The rest of the day was spent at the bank, to which opening an account was a pretty easy and painless process.  I like that we walked out with our debit cards immediately- no temporary card was issued. As soon as we were given our card, we were escorted to the ATM machine with a Chinese translator to make our first deposit to activate our account.  Our paychecks are issued the first of the month by direct deposit, so this was an important step in getting set up in our new home.

The last stop was a little more frustrating, and that was getting set up with our phones.  Many folks had phones which could not be 'unlocked' and therefore they had to purchase a new phone.  The phone plans themselves are very different than Verizon or AT&T in the US.  There is no such plan here for unlimited text messaging or data usage.  The bad news, is that the whole process is like purchasing a plan from fifteen years ago back in the States.  The good news is that if you link up to Wifi, which most often is the case, data usage is not an issue. The even better news?  My IPhone 5C did not need unlocked, and I paid my phone plan for the entire year up front- a whopping $78.00!!!  I love this place :)

Not wanting to tempt the fates further, as my belly has yet to join rank in
'loving this place', I decided to not purchase some strange food item off
the street, but went with the familiar instead- dinner at McDonald's.
It was so much easier to point to a picture.  A filet of fish value meal never
tasted so good- for under three dollars.  I love this place!

After dinner I wandered into the local grocery store where I was completely overwhelmed by all the sights, sounds, foods, and packaging.  I lingered there for over two hours, looking at and touching most everything in sight.  I managed to purchase some fresh fruits and vegetables, some basic staples for the kitchen (there are entire aisles devoted to soy sauces and cooking oils) but I couldn't find sugar for my Cuban coffee anywhere.

By the time I lugged my sacks five HUGE city blocks back to my apartment, all I wanted was a bowl of Cap'n Crunch and a big comfy bed.

I couldn't find any cereal either. Dang it.

The bed I will chat about later.  Until then, G'nite, y'all!