one week down.

Today marks my ONE WEEK anniversary as a Beijing citizen. I'm already feeling very proud of that fact. More and more, I'm starting to understand life here (I think I will probably write that in every entry, so just bear with me).

The weather in Beijing has been BEAUTIFUL--sorry all of my Minnesota friends. Currently (and forecasted for the next 10 days), it is supposed to be in the 50's-60's and sunny. Really, smoggy Beijing has proved to be quite lovely! I think that definitely makes adjustment a little easier.

This week I have started to settle into a routine (which will no doubt be unsettled the minute I get used to it). I have a 1.5 hour Chinese language class every morning, and then I hop back on the subway and head into work until around 5. Then, I go home and... read or watch movies. That's because I only have one friend in Beijing, so I spend most evenings with my boss and his wife :) The language class that I just started is really kicking my butt. The first day, we just had speaking practice, so that means repeating tones, and learning the generic "Ni hao, ni hao ma", but it got progressively harder from there. Also, the first day I was the ONLY English speaker in my class! My teacher didn't even speak English, and the rest of the students were Korean. It took me half the class to give myself the pep-talk I needed to finish the second half and stay focused! But actually, I have come to think it is better that there is so little English because I am really forced to focus and figure out what's going on. Plus, there are now some more students in our class (most of whom speak English), which makes that a little easier. Today in class, our teacher decided that we really need to learn our characters (the Chinese writing), so she stopped using pinyin (English letters for Chinese words), and just started writing characters all over the board and expected us to know what it said. AND, most students actually understood! I was sitting in my desk, trying desperately to match the characters in my book to the ones on the board, and then I heard her say "Kay-tee", and she pointed to some characters. All I could say was "I have no idea what you are asking me". She laughed at me and moved on... so I think she understood how lost I was.

Other than that, life in China is never boring. I walk down the street from my office to the subway, or sit on the bus, or pretty much do anything and all I can think is "wow, I am seriously living in China". Life is so different here. There are people in every inch of space, rushing to get to where they need to. There is no concept of personal space (trying riding bus during rush hours--there are not even words to describe this), no concept of "pedestrian rights" on the street (I am so thankful every time I cross the street and am still intact), and such a fascinating blend of "new" and "old". I walk down the street from my bus to work and I look at these new, beautiful and huge office buildings while I'm being knocked off the sidewalk by a man in a rickshaw and street vendors. There is really no other place like it.

Some news on the apartment front: I have a few options, but nothing is definite yet. One option is to live in a lower-cost place, but it would take over an hour to commute to work (including a 30 minute walk to get to the subway). The other option, which just presented itself today, is to live close to work (and right next to my language class), and right in the middle of a district where many young foreigners and students live, but for almost 3 times the cost. SO, I'm waiting to weigh out my options... but I am thankful that I have them.

OK, I should get to work. Blessings to all, I love hearing from you!