Yes ladies and gents, I have gone abroad. I am now in Beijing. And I must say, it's .... odd. Not different, not bad, just different. But let's recap as to how I came here.
Our host families all dropped us off in front of the Friendship center that Tuesday. We loaded our bags onto the crowded bus, filled with the Vernon group. We drove to Vancouver, sharing anxieties, fears, excitements and other feelings to eachother about the new part of our adventure. We arrived at the YWCA hotel in Vancouver and quickly settled in with a brief meeting about expected behavior, the relaxed schedule and just what would happen. Right after, the Canadians in my group went out and about, braving the Vancouver rain to find something to eat for supper. We couldn't agree, so a few of us went to a shwarma place, Jamies favorite kind of food. After a brief stop back at the hotel, a lot of us, mostly Canadians again, went out to a pub with our Canadians supervisors. I believe most of the Chinese were, what else, shopping! But it was good. Maxime and Becky are cool to hang out with casually and they don't hold onto their supervisor roles too tightly when they don't need to. There was quite a large group of us, from the Vernon group as well. We all tried new and exotic beers, sipping from everyones, trying them all out. I didn't like a lot of them, but was content with sharing my micro brewed cream soda. After a $250 bar tab (between a large group of people though) we wandered a bit. It's always fun in a large group! We hung out in our hotel rooms, just chilling, sharing thoughts about Beijing and recent going-ons.
The next morning, a small group of us (mixed this time) went to the Vancouver Aquarium. It was quite the rainy morning, so we were very wet after walking, taking the bus, walking some more. Worse then the weather was the fact that when we arrived at our destination, we discovered that we were at the Aquatic Center, a pool!!! Not the flipping aquarium! Boy did I feel like a shitty tour guide. But no one minded. Good I think, cuz no one pointed out that mistake beforehand either! We took the "scenic route" along the shore towards Stanley Park. We actually made good time, walking fairly fast. We made it to the aquarium before lunch. After we went in, we split up and enjoyed all the fishies and whatnot by ourselves or in small groups. When we were finished, Ian from the Vernon group and I walked to a Mongolian restaurant where it was cooked on this round flat grill. Interesting was that they charged either a bowl, or all you can eat, but they charged for uneaten food, which I kind of agree with. After working in the Food Bank, I kind of don't like to waste food. So we caught the bus after and came back. I went out with my group to exchange some money. I had planned to visit a friend after that, but she could't come, so I walked across the bridge to MEC, my new favorite store. I bought a dry bag and dry/compression bag for my sleeping bag, so to make more space. Which we needed when we weighed our bags that night to make sure everything was under 50lbs. It was good, because our counterparts needed extra space to bring home souvenirs, mostly chocolate. Oh, the chocolate. But we all made it . Right after, I went out to dinner with some more people. We went to Red Robin's where had a fairly cheap, but delicious dinner. One of the last few burgers I would probably enjoy for 3 months. We were pretty tired after that, but the girls still came to chill in our hotel room. I really like hanging out with our group, very casually, with no restrictions or structure.
The next morning, we all caught the bus to the airport. We did the plane thing; wait in line, check your luggage, blah blah blah. After some people bought some duty free goods, we bought our last canadian meal in the food court. A & W never tasted so good! Fuck you McDonalds! We boarded our Air China plane for a grueling 12 hour flight. Damn't all that my freakin' DS would die early. I read a bit, watched 2 movies and slept. To me, it went by fairly fast, for being 12 hours. The tv/computers they had on the plane were sweet! You could play games on them! So, we touched down through grey smog, or what looked like thick grey fog. Yes, I'm saying it. The pollution people. You aren't coughing and gagging when you get off, but you can't see far into the city! Like 2 or 3 blocks become hidden in clouds. We were told this is exaggerated by the cold winter weather, but we'll see tomorrow. I was quite quiet on the bus ride to our hotel, as I tried to process what was going on; I was in another country. I kept waiting for it to kick in. I saw foreign words, I saw asian people, but it just didn't FEEL like I was in another country, let another content. I was not home. I'm pretty damn sure no one here has heard of Hazelton. Shit, in Vancouver, I even ran into a friend from Smithers!!! I'm going from one of the smallest towns in Canada to one of the largest cities in the world!!! It gradually caught up to me. It wasn't a big shock though. Just small things. We brought our stuff into the hotel, which incidentally is like a goddam amusement park! Seriously! They have rides and gyms and a spa downstairs! AND A TRAIN that connects them all! It's unbelievable! But we'll discover more of that tomorrow. We were hosted to a dinner in a fancy restaurant where we got to try out our chop stick skills. We tried some "authentic" Chinese food. Ｉfound it tastes similar to the food the Chinese participants made for us in Kelowna. But don't tell them that! So far, I don't like soft chicken bones. But it's just day one. Even touching down on the plane, I found ourselves mocking the Beijing pollution and just other things. I didn't want to, but that's how were coming to terms with where we are I guess. When we don't know about something, we usually treat it with fear, questioning it, poking it, sometimes attacking it. We fear what we don't understand. I didn't want to feel that way, but I will try to change that attitude. I want to appreciate it. It will take some time. It just seems like another city right now with a language barrier. We've been given our host families and work placements already! It was decided with no prior knowledge or meeting. We knew about it, but we just don't know about them. So I think we're all scared. Not because where we are, but what we don't know will happen. However, I do like the fact that my host family has a 21 year old daughter. See? Things are picking up already!
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