hello from beijing university!

ahh, well it's been a long journey, but i'm finally here in china. our flight from the US to Tokyo went smoothly, but once we reached Japan the chaos began. i won't get into too much detail, but we missed our flight to China and got stuck in narita airport for a couple hours. our only tools of survival was a phone card and wild hand gestures. japanese people are so funny when they try to speak english! =P

my first glimpse of china was on our ride from the airport into the city. it's a lot modern than i expected and incredibly humid and smoggy. for example, the moon was a dark red color. i thought it was beautiful until i realized it was like that because of all the pollution. breathing isn't the same in china. there is no such thing as clean air and you're breathing other peoples' air instead. a lovely thought, right? chinese driving is crazy too. signal lights mean nothing to people and there is no such thing as "predestrians first." i'm glad that i've been able to get around bei da and its' surroundings safely without being run over by a bike or car.

::edit::

i bought a bike yesterday! it was $17.50 US! mad cheap yo! haha...yes, i've even got a basket and bell! now i roam bei da fast on wheels and no longer fear being hit by another bike. the predators have become the prey, the roles have switched! mwahaha...i'm scared of cars now.

my journey to begins tomorrow! ...and boy do i have a long day ahead of me.

lauren and i will board our plane in Chicago, USA and fly non-stop to Tokyo, Japan. we will then transfer planes and head towards our final destination: Beijing, China.

yes, 18 plus hours of airplane travel here i come! i will try my best to document my trip as much as possible- from the time i leave home till the time i return. stay tuned for photos and the accounts of a bejing da xue international student! woot! hehe, now this should be interesting =P

what inspires you?

you know you have problems when you've gotten trapped in a revolving door.

three times.

bah! doors will forever hate me!

8 days left.
in about a week or so i'll be leaving home for China - "the motherland" as some say. i have never been there before and i don't know what to expect. in my mind, China is still a dusty, dry place stuck in the 1950s or 60s.

the excitement hasn't actually hit me yet but i can feel it coming. to be honest, i think i'm just afraid of going more than anything right now. ...and yes, i realize that i'm letting a large chunk of land and its people scare me. >_< i'm such a wuss. i guess i've been thinking about how i'm going to use my time in China because something has been weighing down on me and telling me that i'm not just going there to learn chinese and party my heart out. there is more to this trip.

i think it's time to start thinking of the people.

bah. i haven't started packing and i have no idea what to bring. i hear toilet paper is important as well as squatting skills. are there suggestions for anything else? i need to do a massive amount of laundry, man...a freakin' massive amount!

good, cheap, Ann Arbor fun.  i went back to Michigan this weekend to visit friends and it couldn't have been better!  being broke and bored with the usual "hang out activities" provoked esther and i to devise a creative, low-cost, fun way to spend our time.  what did we do exactly? 

photoshoot, baby!

with my camera in my hand, a pair of pants, shoes and a skirt, we ventured out into Ann Arbor looking for places that, well, weren't Ann Arbor- looking.  the concept was for esther's future cd booklet, and the inspiration was the music she would sing.  much thanks to esther ling for being my model, teresa lin and boni wen for being our assistants, ting chiu as our make-up artist/clothes provider and my digital camera during the creative craziness.  below are just a few of my favorite photographs...the rest can be viewed bigger and better on esther's xanga.

 

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critics and comments welcome.

sigh. i am such a fickle person.

at work. someone save me, please.

coffee isn't free here. instead, like everything else, it must be purchased from a vending machine. first, you can select from the following: regular, decaf, cafe mocha, cappuccino, and two other flavored coffees-hot cocholate is also avaliable. then, you can choose the strength of coffee that you want. mild and regular can be chosen, but strong is highly recommended. lastly, you can finish off with whitener and sugar if you'd like before settling on a 8.25oz or 12oz cup.

sigh. even though i'm offered so much variety, i can't stop thinking about the espresso my friend gave me when she returned from italy. perhaps i should save up for an espresso maker. the smell of ground coffee is arousing.