Hello from the blue city

Ni Hao laizi Huhehaote—Hello from the Blue City!

It’s been a crazy past couple of days and if I wait too long I will have too much to say. The Fourth of July weekend was full of packing with a quick jaunt to Utah Lake where I got to test out my water skills. I haven’t been out on the boat since the car accident and I was a bit nervous. It felt great though! I didn’t try to ski but I did surf and I got up fairly easily! I did almost lose my swimsuit bottom which hasn’t happened to me before. I guess I still haven’t worked my booty back up ;)

We left for the airport at five in the morning on Monday, flew to San Francisco then from there boarded a plane that would be our home for the next 12 hours. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. They had Disney Channel shows! Ah Hannah Montana. Good times. Beijing was grey and humid and hot but Nova and her boyfriend, who met us at the airport, were happy and helpful. They helped us lug our massive amounts of luggage around the city as we stared and tried not to fall asleep. We left the luggage in a locker at the train station and then went to have dinner. Our first authentic Chinese meal! I didn’t eat much ;) Actually the pork and rice were fine. The chicken and beef had red peppers in them and while they tasted ok I’m such a spice wuss that a taste was all I had. After we went to Tienamen Square to watch the lowering of the Chinese flag. We didn’t see much because there were so many Chinese tourists and frankly a lot of them seemed more interested in us than the flag. Only one group of teenagers had the guts to ask us to pose with them everyone else just snapped candid shots of us. I was pretty tired but I tried to keep a smile on my face. I was pretty grateful to head back to the train station though. Before I got on the train we took a potty stop and I experienced my first squatting toilet. I’m surprisingly good at it but I won’t explain any further—gross! We mostly just slept on the train and arrived in Huhehaote around 7:30 AM Wednesday morning (where did Tuesday go?). We met the director of the children’s choir that we’d be working with and they brought us to our home. It’s nicer than I thought it would be in some ways and nicely ghetto in others. Mitch was a little appalled at the lack of outlets. Only four in the whole place! And with a fridge, washer and rice pot that doesn’t leave much for our many electronics. Somehow we will survive.

There are two American restaurants here: KFC and of course McDonalds. KFC was a bit weird but good ole Mickey D’s is going to be a nice comfort when I’m missing American food. Besides food, the biggest difference that I’ve been able to pinpoint in the feel of the cities is the flow of people. Mitch and I were both feeling disoriented as we wandered the cities which is to be expected but I couldn’t figure out why. It really is similar in a lot of ways to big cities in America but there was something majorly different. Ok so granted the signs are all in Chinese which is different but still there was something else. There are also as many bikers on the road as cars but I was expecting that. It took a few scary taxi rides and a lot of walking before it hit me. In New York City there is a flow to cars and people that you can actually relax into and let it sweep you along but here the cars, bikes and pedestrians are all on a different path. When those paths cross it’s like they are rudely being forced to recognize one another and each has the right of way. It’s interesting to see cars forced around massive amounts of pedestrians and people stopping just inches to the side of an oncoming bus. The taxis live in a completely different world than anyone else. I bet they have to get their horns replaced much more often than their brakes. The horn seems to be much more useful to them. I’m not much of a horn translator but I think it says something like, “Hey! Here I am whether you like it or not! So move over!!” As you can imagine Mitch and I LOVE taxi rides.
We were able to meet the kids that first night. We were pretty tired (although it was only 9 PM) but really wanted to meet them. They were in a class that we just took over for forty minutes while each of them stood and introduced themselves. Apparently they had been working hard on those introductions and it showed. Mitch and I were really impressed. They are very cute! They are all around fifteen years old but don’t look older than ten! They seemed to quite like us and are eager to teach us Mongolian—I’m having a hard enough time with Chinese!
The next morning we had to go to the health clinic and get physicals. Our first stop was to get blood drawn and it was all we could do to keep Mitch in his chair. Fortunately the hospitals here are clean and very professional and that phlebotomist rocked! And I should know. I think my favorite part was the ultrasound. She went straight for the kidneys so I quickly told Nova to tell her that she might not be able to find one of them because of the car accident. Fortunately the gigantic scar on my belly had already tipped them off and no one seemed too surprised. She did say that there is only a bit of the left kidney left—the rest has been absorbed by my body—and that the bit looks fine. Good news from China! Looks like they won’t be trying to cut me open to get it out! Wahoo!
Later that night we got to go to a Chinese show at the Opera House because the children were the opening act. Mitch and I were quite impressed. They had a nice clear tone, their harmonies were distinct and clean and they actually looked like they were having fun! I had assumed that we’d be seeing an opera at the Opera House but I was wrong. It was actually a dramatic dance retelling the story of Chinese orphans being sent to live with Mongolian families. It was well televised and because the cameramen seemed to find us almost as interesting as the show it was a little difficult to pay attention with the bright lights of the tv cameras shining in our faces. But for dignity’s sake we kept our heads up and eyes open even though it was past our bedtime.
As predicted we are having a lot of adventures halfway around the world. We miss you and love you all!