Getting set (Beijing, China)

Ok. I'm finally in China and I have finally been able to connect to my blog. It has been damn hard to connect to it and I have actually just managed to see my own posts once. I'm not sure whether it is because it is blocked or that the connections are slow.

I arrived late in the afternoon and didn't really know where I would stay. I started out by sending out a bunch of SMS:s to see if I could get in touch with some friends here. On the airport coach I got in touch with Uma who in turn got in touch with my potential room mate. Arriving by taxi to the university it was already dark. From the university we got into a taxi and drove around the campus to the shady little alley where the apartment is. There we met up with the guy. To welcome us he had gone out to buy dog meat and when we got in it already boiling in the electric cooker.

The two rooms look just like student dorms at a Chinese university. For you who hasn't been in one, most westerners would not consider staying in one. I only share my room with one other guy, the other are three in their room. Some dorms at the university actually has 8 guys in one room, but their room is of course bigger. Still, we live very close to each other which I know will be rather hard to get used to. I have though shared room with other Chinese the last two years.

The dog meat was ok, but personally I prefer to have something to the meat, not just only meat. I got a big back bone and ate off as much as I could. Since I didn't have my bed stuff I had to sleep on the bed as it was. I was actually glad to have a bed at all. I wouldn't want to pay for a hostel and even if I wanted they would probably been full since it is the national holiday week now. The city is full with Chinese tourists. The guy lent me a thin blanket and I slept with my clothes on. It proved to be rather difficult since it was both cold and there was a lot of annoying mosquitoes biting me. The weather has again warmed up a lot and yesterday night I was sweating. There must have been a one day temperature drop of more than 15 degrees!

The day after I was able to get a hold of the girl who has kept my clothes and bed stuff. She keeps her room at the university though she never stays there. Her room mate let me put out the stuff in the hallway and in the evening I rented a car and brought it over to the place. This night I also put up a mosquito net and slept like a baby!

The rent is paid for the next three months, so I guess I will try to stick to this place now. I'm paying 300 RMB a month, which is very good. My only worry is that I won't be able to cope with my flat mate. I don't even know their names and I have no idea what kind of people they. Hopefully my stuff is safe there, though I carry the most essential with me. So far I've walked over to Shaoyuan, the foreign dorm at the university, to take a shower in the morning, but soon I guess I will try to adapt and do it the Chinese way.