The Great Firewall of China

This entry's a little late. I arrived in Beijing to find that I couldn't access blogspot, so I had to find a creative workaround... thanks Rob!


We made it safely to Beijing on Monday. I didn't get quarantined by the Chinese government, but the University decided that we should all stay in our hotel for the week and not go to campus, just in case. our gracious hosts gave us a welcome basket of face masks, thermometers, antibacterial wipes, and powdered health drink. yum. We all had dinner together - my first real Chinese food meal and it was all good! the duck was very tasty - other things we had were tofu & egg soup, mushrooms, steamed fish, and lots of veggies. There's a market around the corner from our hotel where they've got lots of street food that looks pretty tasty.

Yesterday we had our first class. Since our hosts had given us our quarantine kits, I I was still feeling under the weather, I thought It would be proper to wear my face mask to class to show that I didn't intend to infect all my class mates with H1N1. They all stared at me, so I had to explain again that I didn't have Swine flu, and it was just a little cough.

I feel much better today, though I can feel that the air quality is going to make it a little more difficult for me to totally back to to normal. Yesterday we ventured into the city for the first time. I made friends with a beautiful girl in my class named Tshow Jing Pin (her name means Crystal, but she goes by Amy). Amy offered to show us around the city. First stop - Shopping! On the way we stopped at an arcade (I couldn't resist) and played a beat-matching game with japanese drums, and another game where we threw plastic balls at a screen trying to hit fish in a pond, or knock out a boxing bull, or knock bottles off the shelf.

We went to the Sheitan Hua Way mall - a super colorful shopping center where they sell everything you could imagine. On the first floor they sell colorful candy and snacks (and souvenirs, and small electronics... i think a man tried to sell me a vibrator). We ate at the food court - I had the Chinese version of Macarona Mbakbuka - Super spicy noodles with beef. Other treats similar to libyan food I discovered here - there's a flatbread pastry/ pancake thing that's just like fteera they fill with sesame paste or onions and spices, also we had a delicious dish at lunch they call a "dry pot" which is a sizzling pan of chili oil, onions, garlic and vegetables and tastes just like tabahij. Most of the food has been deliciously spicy, and I haven't had anything super exotic yet, but we're going to the Wangfu jie street food market soon, and there will lots to write about there, I'm sure. Oh yea -- and last night we went to Sanlitun to hear a band from the Philippines and the singer told me I look like Alicia Keys. I'll take it.