RECONNECTED

Aahhhh I FINALLY have Internet after three days of utter deprivation – how do people go without it?? My VPN has also been acting up ever since I got here, and I’ve done troubleshooting for hours – finally got through with a code that already gave me the same error message ten thousand times … but somehow it worked the 10,001th time. As a warning, my blogging may be quite erratic, since I don’t know when the VPN will drop on me again. Anyway, here’s my belated entry from Friday (and pics in no particular order):

At the Forbidden City - packed with tourists, but still an experience...

Finally moved into the HBA dorm at BLCU (Beijing Language and Culture University), or should I say, hotel room? Accommodation is NICE – a single with a bathroom, TV (complete with Korean and English channels as I’ve already discovered KBS), and unlimited AC. I can’t but help feel a little guilty because foreign students’ dorms are quite a luxury compared to regular dorms at Chinese universities, but I guess you can’t complain about the perks you’re given.

 One of the many bizarre works at 798

I’m getting more of a hang on public transportation in Beijing – I really start appreciating a city once I figure out the subway system. Sure, it opens up access to places you can go, but on a metaphorical sense, I feel more attached to a city if I have a place I’m going to and I know how to get there, blending in with the rest of the transit crowd. Plus, it gives you a nice feel for what kinds of people are in the city. And how could I forget to mention flat fare rates? You can go from one end of the city to another for 2 kuai (~35 cents)!!! So China has some things on Japan …

Oh yeah, who wants some starfish? Tasted kinda ... fishy. Found at Denghua Night Market, along with snake meat, chicken hearts, and the works

On a more negative note, Yale health kind of messed up my medication for the food in China … the pharmacy only gave me two pills of azithro (the loaded meds with huge side effects) and none of the other kind – enough for one bout of stomach problems, so I guess I need to develop immunity in one try. Note to future Fellows – doublecheck your prescription before you head off to China! (Maybe it would help to pick it up before the travel clinic closes too…)

Ugh, currently watching Korean medical shows featuring plastic surgery and an unbearably sappy feature on K-Pop stars working with charity. Same ol’ … I’m actually going to Korea for the first time since I was two after my time in China, so this should be interesting. But until then, gotta give China its due. 

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