Day 1 - Arrival

So after surfing the Net for an hour, I finally found out that Blogspot, not Blogger, is blocked in China. Didn't know there was a difference...

Edit: Found the difference. Apparently, I am unable to actually see this post after I've posted it since my blog is at blogspot...Wow.

Anyway, it's been a little over a day since I first touched down in China. I landed yesterday at 10:12 PM here. The flight was terrible. I woke up around 6:20 AM CST, along with the rest of my family on Wednesday. My mom had to leave to drop my brother off at school at 6:50. I was very proud of myself in that I only teared up. I hung out with my dad for about half an hour before we left for the airport. I got a beautiful text message from my Canadian twin that, unfortunately, did make me tear up, despite her promise that it wouldn't :P

At the airport, I was able to hold it in very well...until we got to the point where non-ticket-holders could not go further. I started crying like a baby. I'm surprised they were able to match my face with my passport picture. I stumbled through security (I had two hidden laptops in my carry-on that I should've but forgot to put on the conveyer belt). I waved a quick good-bye to my dad and headed off to my gate. I didn't break down as much as I thought I would, so I treated myself to a vente frappucchino at Starbucks. Bad idea. If you're a nervous flyer, never have caffeine right before you board, especially if the flight's super long.

From Houston to Minneapolis, I listened to the same song ("Bleeding Love" - Leona Lewis version) over and over again for the duration of the two-and-a-half-hour flight. I was supposed to have an hour rest before boarding my next plane to Tokyo, but my boarding gate was on the other side of the international airport, so it took me about forty minutes just to get there. When I turned on my cell phone, I sent the thank-you text message I wasn't able to coherently make earlier. My flight to Tokyo was eleven hours and fourteen minutes long. Utter torture. I would drift off into sleep and wake up, expecting two hours to have passed and cursing when I realized only twenty minutes have passed -_- What's worse is I sat next to this Japanese teenager who gave off Unabomber vibes - he didn't speak a word throughout the entire trip, even when the Japanese flight attendant asked him what he wanted to eat for his meal. Instead, he just gave creepy smiles and pointed.

When I got off at Tokyo, I felt like crap. I could hardly move. The only thing that pushed me through customs and to my next gate was the fact that there would be seats there for me to lie on (just my luck, there were no seats for me to lie on when I got there). I was also upset to learn that despite T-mobile's promise that you can text from any country, I could not get signal in Japan.

I told the flight attendant that I didn't feel too well and wanted to lie down on an empty row of seats. She and the other flight attendants arranged for me to have an empty row to myself. Unfortunately, the row they gave me was the exit row with seats whose armrests don't lift up -___- So I had to lie in a very uncomfortable and awkward position from Tokyo to Guangzhou, which was about five hours of air-time. However, this time I managed to fall asleep for about four hours, so I felt quite awake when we finally landed.

I waited with the rest of the passengers for our luggage for about half an hour. When I finally got my stuff, I realized that everything inside was either frosted, frozen, wet, or cold. Oi. So I lugged both of my suitcases toward the exit where a huge group of people were waving at me. And despite spending the last thirty hours in an airport/airplane, I felt quite warm inside. They had all taken two cars over to pick me and my two measly suitcases up, so only one car ended up going with me to my aunt's house. They kept asking me if I wanted to eat something, drink something, wear something because it's so darn cold. Despite being a little bit chilly and despite having not eaten in the lasty thirty hours, I told them I was all right. Heck, all I wanted to do was to get in a bed.

So around midnight, I finally crawled into my bed, the first of eighty nights I'll be staying in China.

The next day, I ended up waking up at six in the morning. I don't know why I woke up so early, but I began to unpack my belongings and clean up. Around seven, my aunt, whom I call Guma #3 (she's the third-youngest of my dad's older sisters. Weird, I know, but that's how they differentiate relatives) woke up too, and decided to take me to a place to have breakfast with another aunt and uncle (Guma #2 and Guzhang #2). It was a huge breakfast (in English, you call it dimsum and usually have it for lunch, but in China, you have it for breakfast), and it was only 10 yuan (which is less than 1.50 USD). The hostess gave me a weird look when I asked for ice water since no one in China drinks ice water at a meal, certainly not at breakfast.

After we ate, Guma #3 took me to Beijing Street which is solely for shopping. I got about 60 USD worth of stuff. It's more than I've ever spent on a shopping trip, but I got SO much. About eight shirts and two pants and a pair of silver earrings. After just two hours (it was about eleven-thirty when we finished), we went to Guma and Guzhang #2's apartment since they wanted to take us out to lunch. I hung around my cousin Joanna's room while she prepared for lunch. I'm grateful I have her around; she speaks a lot of English so she can help me keep my sanity as well as serve as a translator xD The four of us went out to a restaurant nearby where we met Joanna's boyfriend (he was one of the people in the group that picked me last night). The meal was quite excellent, except at one point, I almost threw up. My relatives had ordered this worm soup that is supposedly really sweet and nutritious. I can handle watching heart surgery or hip replacements, but I CANNOT watch someone slurp down a giant white worm.

After a huge lunch, we were supposed to go back to a shopping center nearby. However, I just couldn't move after eating all that food, so Guma #3 and I decided to go back to our apartment where we rested a bit and I hung out on the Internet. At around 4:00 PM or so, my cousin-in-law (Saozi #2) and my cousin (...I don't know what to call him; thus far I've been successful in avoiding calling him by anything) came by with their son to take us out to - guess what - eat.

We got to the restaurant and met up with my other male cousin and Saozi #1 and my niece Kelly. We ate yet another hearty meal. Everyone kept pushing me to order something I liked off the menu, forgetting that I can't read a darn word. So I pointed to the pretty pictures that looked good and went with that. Luckily, everyone liked the dishes I picked out (even if I didn't). So after dinner, Kelly helped me waddle down two or three blocks to the second largest shopping mall in China where she took me ice-skating. I ice-skated for about an hour before I had to sit down - the food was weighing me down, and the sides of my skates were cutting into my skin. She decided to skate for about an hour more, so I left with Guma #3 to go back home.

My mom sent me an email telling me that she had been calling me all day but could never get to either me or Guma #3. As soon as I had replied, detailing everything I had done today (and signing it with "I'm a little homesick"), my dad calls. He asked if I'm okay, and I did start crying a little bit when I was talking to him. So after a very brief conversation, I gave it back to Guma#3. When I got back to the computer, I found that my mom had replied with a very loving but short note that made the tears really start coming.

Tomorrow will be an exciting day. Joanna's taking me along on an outing with her friends. All of her friends are English-speakers. Some have even stayed in the U.S. and other English-speaking countries for a prolonged period of time. We're all going up to this mountain about forty-five minutes away. I'm sure it will be an interesting trip.

Today, I learned a lot about the Chinese culture:
1. Chinese people like to eat. Joanna told me it's Chinese custom to eat a big breakfast, a big lunch, and a small dinner and that it's Western custom to eat a small breakfast, a small lunch, and a big dinner. I think Chinese custom is actually to eat a big everything. If you can walk after you just finished eating, you didn't eat enough.
2. Chinese people are frighteningly skinny. Nowadays you see a lot of criticism toward the Hilton sisters or the Olsen twins (I forget which one) for having thin legs. I now can see why my relatives think I'm a bit on the chubby side (even though I wear the smallest size available even in China).
3. Chinese people drive madly and don't like looking both ways before crossing a street. I don't know how many times I almost screamed when it looked like a pedestrian was about to get run over. Traffic here is worse than that in New York City around Times Square. Here, cars will high-beam pedestrians if they walk too slow and will only stop at the VERY last possible moment. Drivers will maneuver in ways you didn't think was possible. Taxi drivers cut everyone else off, even other taxi drivers. The lines on the street are strictly for decoration only. Pedestrians are encouraged to jay-walk; in fact, it's almost impossible to get to the other side of the street unless you run right in front of an oncoming car (though you have to keep in mind that traffic goes both ways). I honestly don't know if these drivers are considered really really good or really really bad.
4. People will suffocate their guests - lovingly. Everyone has asked me if I want to have breakfast/lunch/dinner with them tomorrow, if I'm getting used to the city, if I want to go to their house, if I want to go out with them tomorrow, if I want some water/food/money, if I want to use the bathroom, and/or if I am tired. I know they mean well, but at the end of the day, I'd really like them to stop.
5. In their minds you will always be a five-year-old. My aunt holds my hand when I go to the restroom and even asks me if I would like her to help me. She's gotten me these cute PJs that have a huge duck on the front. She has also shoveled dish after dish of food onto my plate. And everyone looks astonished when I tell them, yes, I am eighteen.

With these lessons in mind, I'm going off to bed :)