1/3/07 - It's A Girl

Yes, the person who I’ve sent probably 30 emails to, has sorted out the job in China for me and who I always thought was male, turns out to be female. I only discovered this when I walked out at arrivals in Beijing Airport and she was holding a sign saying “Jonathan Mark Shipley”.

A good start, I thought.

Anyway, Wang Ying and another guy who’s name I can’t remember (and I couldn’t pronounce) met me and drove me to my apartment in the Daxing District. It was about a 45 minute drive and one of the most scary experiences of my life. Horn honking was frequent, as was undertaking on the hard shoulder.

Let’s just say I couldn’t quite work out the right-of-way system over here.

Undersized Beds

We arrived and they showed me around the apartment. It’s a good size and although the building itself would appear shabby over in England, the style appears to be quite common over here.

There’s a double bed (although my feet hang off the end and I’ve slept on less hard concrete floors) and Wang Ying had bought me a new quilt and sheets. There’s also a TV so I can catch up on all my favourite Chinese soaps. No Neighbours or Doctors sadly.

There’s also a tiny kitchen, a balcony and a sitting room. The furniture is also fairly respectable but the kitchen and bathroom could really do with a good clean – something I’m going to do later today.

Real Chinese Restaurants

Having dumped my luggage, we head to a restaurant around the corner for lunch. Without me asking and almost before I had sat down, one of the waitresses had brought over a knife and fork. It is good to see the locals have confidence in my chopstick skills.

Also, just as we were ordering I realised that Silent Night was being played by traditional Chinese instruments on the restaurant sound system. Christmas carols at the end of February – nice.

The food was all quite tasty, I’m not quite sure what it was, but that’s not an important issue over here. Wang Ying then walked me back to the apartment, where we arranged to meet the following morning.

Chinese Plumbing

Soon after she left, the next major incident of the day occurred when I decided to test the shower. Initially it wouldn’t turn on, but then suddenly water started shooting out of the shower head in every direction apart from down, the direction water flows from most showers. I got drenched and spent the next ten minutes trying to work out how to stop it, but failed. I didn’t know what to do.

Eventually I gave in and called Wang Ying. I had been left alone in China for a grand total of 15 minutes and already I was causing trouble. Luckily she returned fairly quickly and called one of the institute maintenance men to come out. He managed to stop the water and declare the shower was broken. Very helpful. He’s meant to be returning to fix it tomorrow.

By the time Wang Ying left for a second time and after all the excitement, I fell fast a sleep. It was 3 in the afternoon and completely ruined my plan to get over the jet lag.

I’ve been here a day and a half now and since leaving the airport I haven’t seen one westerner. I think my cultural chameleon instincts are helping me blend in!? That is apart from the fact that most passers by seem to the stare at me. I’m sure that’s just because they’re amazed at how well dressed I am. Hope you are all well and apologies if you’ve just wasted an hour reading this. (If you’re in the run up to finals – DO SOME WORK!). I’m sure I’ll be in touch again soon…

Johnny X

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See also Lao Beijing Blog