Ni Hao

Well, its officially been 3 weeks on the ground, and 2 weeks since I set this blog up, so I figured I should quit procrastinating and actually write something.

So, here we go. The first thing I should say is why I am doing this (besides the love of my own wit, especially in written form). Here they are:

1. I think it will be the best way for all (that means the 3 of you actually taking the time to read this) to keep in touch, stay abreast of my time and adventures in this wonderful, awe inspiring and somewhat terrifying place.
2. Seeing as I know no one, I have a lot of spare time to pontificate.
3. There is a certain therapeutic value in being able to explain, vent and generally spew diatribes that will help me keep my sanity while here
4. Some one said I should (and no I'm not making this up).

So now that's outta the way, here is the run down of what's been accomplished to date:

• Got a place in a building called Oakwood Residence. Its rad. Lots of cushy amenities and it turns out its a block away from the biggest bar/restaurant street in Beijing (Gotta be lucky to be good). And yes it has a spare room and yes you can stay.


• Started work. It's good. I was told "produce or you go", so there is no pressure. No that was not paraphrased.


• Tried every variety of Asian food possible. Top of the list is Kung Pao Chicken. No it's not like Chinese food back home and yes I have eaten freaky sh*t. The latest was pig's tail yesterday.


• Managed to FINALLY make it to the Great Wall. It's great and it's a wall, it's name is well chosen.


• Have gone to the markets (will explain that phenomenon later), and Walmart. Like the food, it's just not the same.


• My word count of Mandarin words is up to a whopping 6, and yes 4 revolve around food and booze.


• Yes, there is some culture shock, but luckily Beijing has enough white kid friendly stuff to keep me sane. It was summed up best to me by one expat as "every one has their China days", but for the most part, so far so good.


• Traffic here is dumbfounding. The following link sums it up nicely:
  http://soimgoingtochina.blogspot.com/2007/06/beijing-traffic-lesson-left-turn.html

Well, I think that is enough for now.
Rob

Random thought of the day (I spend a lot of time stuck in traffic):

There are currently 1.34 Billion people on main land China. If you were to try and high five (or punch in the head, depending on the day your having) every Chinese person here, given that it would take 2 seconds (to cock, lock and pop) each time to do so, it would take you 845 years to accomplish. Given the current average age expectancy of 67 years, it would take 12 people a life time to accomplish. I smell a challenge.