beijing - the beginning

i lost most of the day today, arriving in Beijing at 5 pm (5 am Canada time) and my lack of sleep on the plane had me dead asleep on my feet the moment i landed.
Yasmine (my guide, Chinese work counterpart, and my friend overall) and her coworker Alice met me at the airport with their driver Mr. Sun (pronounced 'soon'). 

the drive from the airport to the apartment took about 45 minutes but due to the craziness of both the traffic and the drivers here, it felt like my life was flashing before my eyes every two minutes.  so, what was really only a 45 minute drive actually felt like a lifetime to me (true story, i'm sure i developed some grey hairs to prove it).  therefore, when we arrived at the apartment, not only was i glad to have my feet on solid ground again, i wanted to give Mr. Sun the biggest most heartfelt hug for getting me there in one piece.  but as i just met the man, i settled for a million and two "xièxiè's"(pronounced see-ay see-ay) instead!

after having a long (and much needed) shower, Yasmine and Alice offered to take me out for dinner.  i didn't have the heart to tell them that my stomach was still writhing from all the plane food and that i was pretty sure if my head hit a pillow i would die blissfully, so out into the bustling beijing night we went in search of sustenance.
we ended up in a little place not even two minutes from the apartment but because of all the crazy (and i mean insane) traffic on what, in Canada, would luckily pass as a one-way street (here in beijing it's 4 lanes; two each direction with a bike lane and a sidewalk), it took us about 10 minutes to get there.  once inside i had a look around and it immediately reminded me of a place much like a harvey's or a wendy's, just a casual place to pick up some quick food.  Yasmine echoed my thoughts and indicated that it was considered 'Chinese fast food,' a place to get cheap food, fast.  i would soon discover just what she meant.
unfortunately, the menu was entirely in mandarin so my first dining experience would be left to the appetite whims of Yasmine and Alice.  luckily, however, the waitress did see my "off in space" look while i was looking at the menu so, to help me out, she brought me a picture book of the food (which aided very little as i was still unsure about what  i was looking at half the time - chicken, pork, fish, and tofu look alarmingly the same when you don't have the words to tell you what it is).
but with a little concentration and a lot of "what's this?" and "is it spicy?" we ended up with three bowls of congee, a huge plate of glazed chicken with veggies, another massive plate of tofu with peanuts and jalepenos, and a monster plate filled with glazed duck, green peppers, onions, all surrounded by little sesame buns. this was definitely quite the fare.  in my opinion, the amount of food we ordered could easily fill 6 people--but no, Yasmine tells me this is a standard order for three people.  "okay", i thought "3 big burly men, maybe...but one chubby canadian and two asian toothpicks, this is unreal!" definitely not a typical burger-and-fries fast food experience that's for sure!
so, as i indicated, it was really fast, all of the food was served to us within ten minutes from ordering and to my surprise, it all tasted hot and fresh!
--before i continue i must say, congee is the most delicious food ever and i am determined to learn how to cook it when i get back home (i can hear the fire alarms going off as i write this).  but seriously...watery rice, chicken, green onions, and beans...delicious! incredible!  --
sorry, back to my point...so the food was fast but i also mentioned cheap, was it ever!  the whole meal cost 37 RNB which, if i did the math correctly, is about $6 and change canadian...for the entire meal!!  i was flabbergasted to say the least!

anyway, after being (very) well fed and once we got back to the apartment i excused myself to Yasmine and Alice and i was asleep before my face hit the pillow.
definitely not the most exciting first day in a foreign country but one i certainly had much to say about and one that i won't be forgetting any time soon.

flightmares (toronto - beijing)

an entire 16 hours dedicated to flying.
excrutiatingly long line-ups, turbulence, 6 different movies with a multitude of d-list actors, no sleep, and a tray full of warm mushed-up goop being marketed to me as food.
yep, that pretty much sums it up.
i hate flying.
can't wait to do it all again in three weeks from now.

compartmentalized cares - on the eve of the beginning

underwear?
check.
toothbrush?
check.
passport?
check.
this list could go on forever...

i have never been the most efficient packer and this time is no exception.  tomorrow i leave for China for three weeks and to be honest, packing for a weekend to visit my parents is hard enough nevermind packing to go to a foreign country for almost a full month!

what is my forté, however, is procrastinating.  so, as my carry-on luggage is crying to be stuffed, re-arranged, and re-stuffed, i decided this would be the perfect time to start a blog. 

so, my intent is to be a better blogger than i am a packer;  i hope to get on here at least once a day to shed a little light on my experiences and day-to-day encounters while i am in China. if all goes well (meaning, if blogger is accessible over there, unlike facebook) then i hope to  post some pictures, funny occurences, and any cultural tidbits that i may come across during my travels.

before going any further, i should post a warning: readers beware!  i can't guarantee that all of my posts will have substance.  some of them may be mindless banter, pieces of poems that i may have started at some point in my day, basically, just be prepared for lacklustre postings at best.  besides the sheer pleasure of dilly-dally, the reason i decided to construct this blog is moreso for retrospective and nostalgic purposes;  the fact that i get to share with those who are interested enough to read it is just an added bonus!  another caution:  if capitalization is your thing, you will not like this blog; for some reason i prefer to casually type in lowercase and as an editor-type person myself, i know how annoying this can be (sorry!!).

.and so i've digressed.

the time on the clock is telling me that i've procrastinated enough and the pile of miscellaneousness (??) sitting beside my bag is telling me it's not going to pack itself.

therefore, tomorrow, i am off an adventure; i will be careful to pack away my anxieties to the best of my abilities and by sunday afternoon, i will be 10, 614 kilometres away.  yep... just another girl halfway around the world.

au revoir, adios, and Zàijiàn.
*toodles my friends*