**FYI: Blogger seems to be blocked in China. Rita has a sweet proxy set up on her computer that lets her access facebook, twitter, blogger, etc so I can post from here and maybe from my phone, but my access might be limited. I'll update when I can!**
So I think I'll mostly be okay jetlag-wise. I woke up at like 5:30am today and couldn't get back to sleep. Any chance I had was cruelly taken away when the preschool next door started blasting Chinese children's music at approximately 7am so I gave up and finished up my birthday present for Rita (she turns 25 tomorrow!). I have this problem where I make things for other people and then desperately want to keep them when they're done! I also only make things for the purpose of gifting, so the problems kind of feed each other. I preempted it this time by making myself the same thing in another color first so I wouldn't be jealous, yet some how I am! I suppose it's a testament to the quality of the gifts, so that's ultimately a good thing.
Anyway, back to the trip. First of all, I've already completed one of the main tasks I had set for myself during this trip, so really I could just pack it up and go home now: I got my Beijing Starbucks City Mug! (photo to follow-- can't get it to upload here)
While I was waiting for Rita I went into the Starbucks to see if I could add to my collection. It took a fair amount of will power not to buy the China and Tianjin mugs too, but I figured a) I had plenty of time to get a China mug later and not look like a freak/have to carry even more stuff out of the airport with me and b) I haven't actually been to Tianjin and really wouldn't like having to admit that to someone if asked about it and then throw the legitimacy of my entire mug collection under question! That would be terrible. If you can't trust a mug collection, what else do you have?
So the amount of thought I put into buying mugs might reflect the fact that I didn't sleep at all on the flight. A few hours in I decided to take some Advil PM to see if I could conk out for a few hours and help ease the jet lag issues. I timed it very carefully, concerned with the warnings on the back of the bottle making it clear that you should only take them when you have time for a full 8 hours of sleep or else risk killing yourself on heavy machinery later. Once I felt I had taken care of everything I wanted to on the flight (progressed on Rita's gift, eaten my noodle dinner, watched The Adjustment Bureau), I popped 1 pill. (I was too nervous to take the suggested 2 pills since that's the max dosage you can have in 24 hours and Jimi Hendrix was killed by sleeping pills and I didn't trust the smelly man next to me to notice if I stopped breathing). About 40 minutes later nothing had happened and I took the other. I felt a bit drowsier so I curled up with my pillow and blanket and went to sleep, hoping to be woken by wheels hitting pavement. I awoke feeling a bit refreshed and excitedly turned on the flight tracker on the seat in front of me to see how much time had passed. We still had about 7 hours to go. Not even an hour had passed. Ugh. And that was the end of sleeping on the plane.
Anyway, when I was finally reunited with Rita we hopped in a cab back to her place in the Chaoyang district of Beijing. As soon as I left the airport I was hit with the smell. I'd forgotten, but China has a very distinct smell (not in a gross way). It's probably partially pollution and partially all the delicious dumpling and chuanr aromas drifting from everywhere. Actually, now that I've mentioned it, I was completely blown away by the smog. It wasn't great when I left in 2007 but now it's actually kind of gross. It feels like 7pm all day because it's so overcast and grey and hazy. It's also really muggy, which I'm not sure I can totally blame on smog and pollution but I'm going to do it anyway. Stupid smog.
Not much else to report. Rita's apartment is awesome-- she has a 1 bedroom place with all western bathroom and everything (VERY nice to have when staying in this country) and the quintessential white marble floor which is fairly ubiquitous here. I napped for like 2 hours while Rita wrote an article about all of the civil unrest that's been happening around the country (Guangzhou, Inner Mongolia, Xinnian province) and then we got some chicken and OM NOM NOM delicious eggplant dishes with her Italian friend Luciana in the SanLiTun area and then walked home.
Not sure what's in store for today! Rita and I have to go to the police station to register me (has to be done for any foreigners here not staying in a hotel) and then she has to go report on some Spanish cooking stuff so I might wander around this area for awhile. Look for some mobile posts later :)
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