Beijing at Last

Arrived in Beijing at 0440, almost an hour early. Getting the luggage and going through Customs was easy. There were Olympic visitor/info booths throughout the airport, and the young people spoke English. I walked around the new terminal and finally sat at the Starbucks, which is where Michele told me to meet her. Michele is an Australian DCO who lives and works in Beijing, and I am renting a room from her. She so graciously offered to greet me. I told her I would probably be ready at 7 a.m. because I didn’t know how long it would take to get through Customs and I didn’t want her getting up earlier than she needed to, just to wait for me. But, she showed up at 0630. I saw her looking at me as she walked towards me, and we said each other’s name at just about the same time. We took a taxi to the apartment, and after we got settled, we went to the grocery store to stock the apartment because she had been on “holiday” in Australia and only arrived back to Beijing the night before. She had moved to this apartment just prior to her leaving for holiday, over a month ago, and left shortly after.

Traffic is amazing; very aggressive – almost haphazard – and the right of way goes to the car, bike, or pedestrian that gets there first. Rather unbelievable to me, but I guess they don’t have lawyers in China!! The smog is phenomenal. WOW! Even buildings a half-mile away are hazy. As of Sunday, construction sites are closed and cars can only drive on odd/even days, based on their license plates.

Michelle speaks a bit of Chinese, so she seems to be able to get around sufficiently. She had someone write in Chinese characters the address of the apartment on a piece of paper for me, so I will keep that in my wallet to show to taxi drivers to get me home. I learned a few words in Mandarin from one of the Los Angeles/Orange County pharmacy students whose practice experience program I oversee (thanks Lily!), and that has been so helpful too.

I have had no sleep in about 48 hours.