We have a home in China.
We arrived in Beijing late Sunday night September 2nd, and spent the night at the Grand Hyatt. Monday morning we checked into our new apartment at Millennium Heights Tower Apartments, which is within the second ring road and within walking distance of the Forbidden City. We spent a good portion of the day simply unpacking our 8 suitcases; can't wait to unpack our air shipment! I'm all ready making mental notes of what we don't need in our new home, and am planning how to get these back to the US and speculating as to which family member might volunteer to store our unnecessary belongings. I am disappointed that we cannot hang pictures, even with 3M adhesive hangers as there is wallpaper on every wall.
As a graduate of Asia for Beginners: the Singapore Way, I found the BJ subway system reasonably easy to maneuver. However, I've only ridden on one line, I should try switching lines before making my final pronouncement! Tom and I found our way to Carrefour, the French Wal-Mart on Tuesday by taking the apartment complex's shuttle bus. The other passengers on the shuttle appeared to be native speakers, if not all Chinese. We lao wai or foreigners were largely ignored until we arrived at Carrefour and Tom confirmed in Chinese our pick up time and location. Three of our bus companions turned and looked at Tom in surprise and awe. I thought it was pretty funny, realizing the women were probably trying to remember if they'd said anything they didn't wish us to know! Carrefour was unusually busy, at least in my memory. It took us 25 minutes to check out, which made us late for the shuttle. We figured we'd have to hail a taxi back home. As we exited the Carrefour complex, we saw that our shuttle bus was still parked on the street so we ran to the shuttle through a long parking lot with our bags flying, only to find we were the first ones back. Breathing heavily we fell into our seats and speculated that the driver might have to account for everyone he brought. Anyway, I think it broke the ice and our fellow passengers got on the bus obviously apologizing to us for being late. Later in the day we ran into a couple of the shuttle bus women and learned that one, Grace, is actually from California and she and her husband have only been here four months. She is of Chinese descent and speaks the language; I think I need to get to know her!
We found our way via the subway to Jenny Lu's, another grocery store where I shopped at alot when we were here years ago. The Jenny Lu chain serves the expats with familiar foods imported from "home", of course at a cost. However, they have great deals on DVDs, and we bought the movie, The Iron Lady for $2.50 USD.
Just so we don't get too comfortable, on Wednesday we had to hop on the high speed train from BJ to Shanghai to register for our resident permits. The train station is very modern and fairly clean. The lay out is well organized, but the average Chinese passenger hasn't yet learned the etiquette of the queue. In other words boarding the the train can be a nightmare for the average westerner. Once aboard the train cars are really nice. We traveled through the Chinese countryside at a fast 266 km/h (162 mph) and the 1300 km or 811 miles went by in in less than 5 hours with 2 stops. The train can reach a top speed of 380 km/h or 240 mph, so we were just poking along! We will be able to return to BJ next Wednesday, the 12th.
-- Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.
~~Neale Donald Walsch
We arrived in Beijing late Sunday night September 2nd, and spent the night at the Grand Hyatt. Monday morning we checked into our new apartment at Millennium Heights Tower Apartments, which is within the second ring road and within walking distance of the Forbidden City. We spent a good portion of the day simply unpacking our 8 suitcases; can't wait to unpack our air shipment! I'm all ready making mental notes of what we don't need in our new home, and am planning how to get these back to the US and speculating as to which family member might volunteer to store our unnecessary belongings. I am disappointed that we cannot hang pictures, even with 3M adhesive hangers as there is wallpaper on every wall.
As a graduate of Asia for Beginners: the Singapore Way, I found the BJ subway system reasonably easy to maneuver. However, I've only ridden on one line, I should try switching lines before making my final pronouncement! Tom and I found our way to Carrefour, the French Wal-Mart on Tuesday by taking the apartment complex's shuttle bus. The other passengers on the shuttle appeared to be native speakers, if not all Chinese. We lao wai or foreigners were largely ignored until we arrived at Carrefour and Tom confirmed in Chinese our pick up time and location. Three of our bus companions turned and looked at Tom in surprise and awe. I thought it was pretty funny, realizing the women were probably trying to remember if they'd said anything they didn't wish us to know! Carrefour was unusually busy, at least in my memory. It took us 25 minutes to check out, which made us late for the shuttle. We figured we'd have to hail a taxi back home. As we exited the Carrefour complex, we saw that our shuttle bus was still parked on the street so we ran to the shuttle through a long parking lot with our bags flying, only to find we were the first ones back. Breathing heavily we fell into our seats and speculated that the driver might have to account for everyone he brought. Anyway, I think it broke the ice and our fellow passengers got on the bus obviously apologizing to us for being late. Later in the day we ran into a couple of the shuttle bus women and learned that one, Grace, is actually from California and she and her husband have only been here four months. She is of Chinese descent and speaks the language; I think I need to get to know her!
We found our way via the subway to Jenny Lu's, another grocery store where I shopped at alot when we were here years ago. The Jenny Lu chain serves the expats with familiar foods imported from "home", of course at a cost. However, they have great deals on DVDs, and we bought the movie, The Iron Lady for $2.50 USD.
Just so we don't get too comfortable, on Wednesday we had to hop on the high speed train from BJ to Shanghai to register for our resident permits. The train station is very modern and fairly clean. The lay out is well organized, but the average Chinese passenger hasn't yet learned the etiquette of the queue. In other words boarding the the train can be a nightmare for the average westerner. Once aboard the train cars are really nice. We traveled through the Chinese countryside at a fast 266 km/h (162 mph) and the 1300 km or 811 miles went by in in less than 5 hours with 2 stops. The train can reach a top speed of 380 km/h or 240 mph, so we were just poking along! We will be able to return to BJ next Wednesday, the 12th.
Tom went to work at the Shanghai office this afternoon, while he's gone I might find my way back to the art museum. I spent two days there the last time I was in Shanghai and didn't see it all.
The following is a link to our photo blog with pictures of our flight from the US to China. Photo link
-- Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.
~~Neale Donald Walsch
No comments:
Post a Comment