I have just experienced longest most uncomfortable travel experience ever. In total we traveled from 5 am Wednesday to 12 pm on Thursday (American time). That means we traveled for 19 hours. But! We did meet some new friends along the way, and learned a few very valuable lessons about traveling long distances. I have to say I was somewhat apprehensive about actually getting to the Hong Kong airport, mostly because I assumed that everything would be in Cantonese. But to my surprise, everything was in Mandarin and English. And since the flight was 15 hours long I desperately needed to brush my teeth, and because I was delirious from the flight I drank a little of the water afterward… I FREAKED OUT WHEN I REALIZED WHAT I HAD DONE. Luckily though, Hong Kong filters all of their water, unlike Mainland China. By the way, that airport is BEAUTIFUL! They had to build a separate island just for the airport because Hong Kong didn’t have enough room for it. We had the usual lost luggage and translation issues but everything turned out fine... after we raced to the shuttle and lost the professor.
When we finally made it to Xiamen, it was around 11:30 pm and all of us were exhausted. We struggled to fit our MASSIVE amount of luggage on the tiny bus, but we eventually succeeded. It was funny though because our Chinese escorts thought we were only staying for two weeks, and each of us had at least 3 big bags. Basically we looked crazy. The two people escorting us are grad students at Xiamen University studying sociology.
Getting to our hotel rooms was such a good feeling! All I wanted to do was sleep, because I hardly slept at all on our flight. I cleaned out the suitcase that was covered in shampoo, brushed my teeth, washed my face (in clean water!) then passed out. Our room is pretty small, around the same size as an Eckerd dorm, but it has a bathroom and a turn down service. Waking up this morning was sooooo difficult. Professor Chittick woke us up around 7:45 am and asked if we wanted to get breakfast- we, of course, said absolutely not let us sleep. When we finally got up to get ready I turned on our water boiler before I got in the shower then when I got out I poured a glass to brush my teeth with… little did I know… the boiler was not plugged in!! So I drank the contaminated water. (I feel like this might be a reoccurring theme in my blog.) After we finished getting ready we had a few minutes to grab a snack at the little shop below our hotel. It was so tasty. Basically it was just a sweet roll, but nonetheless, it was hen hao chi! (That is Chinese for delicious).
Today was incredibly busy. I have such a headache from trying to figure out what everyone is saying. First we went to our “opening ceremony” which was definitely not what I expected. All that happened was that we were introduced to professors in the sociology department, given tea, and then we had to take our placement test!! It was seriously so hard. But I suppose I’m glad it’s over. Afterwards we tried to open a bank account, sat there for a good 45 minutes before they told us they wouldn’t have time until after 2:45. So, we decided it was definitely time for lunch. They sat all 12 of us in a private room and we ordered around 14 different dishes, and came no where near finishing it all. Now… try and picture how much it would cost for 14 huge plates of food in the U.S.- and divide that by 3 and it still would be cheaper than that. For the whole meal we only paid around 25 dollars!! I could live like a queen here, seriously. Also, the food was to die for! I have to say my favorite was the eggplant (Qie zi) I’m not even sure how to describe it. Another dish that I loved was the oyster omelet, sounds kinda gross I know- but it is seriously hen hao chi. After we left the restaurant everyone was feeling the effects of some FEIRCE jetlag. We decided to at least get our bank accounts worked out, then pick up some cell phones, but as short a task as that seems- it took at least 3 and half hours. In that time though my roommate, Des, introduced me to squid jerky- YUMM! That will definitely be my new snack of choice.
I have to say, so far, this trip has been INCREDIBLE and it's only the first day. The campus is so so so beautiful, the weather is nice, the people take videos of me as I pass by, our new Chinese friends are fun and interesting, and I seriously just can't believe I'm actually here. Sorry to say it.. but I don't miss the U.S. very much right now.
Sincerely Yours,
That Girl Kate
“Maturity, is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists, unless laughter can be said to remedy anything”
Kurt Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle
p.s. I never actually got sick from the contaminated water. BUT I will not just drink it willy nilly because nothing happened today!
