Days 2 and 3

  So!  Now, on the morning of Day 4, I have a little time to recount and reflect on the last 2 days in Beijing.  Wednesday (the day after arriving) I woke up incredibly early - 3 am, 4 am, 5 am, etc thanks to the jetlag despite having not slept at all on the plane. :S  Finally I succumbed to my internal clock and got up around 8 am, but we didn't have to meet Shangying, Adam's Fogarty twin scholar, until 2 pm.  Being still in a bit of a haze, I spent the morning unpacking/inspecting my stuff (only one exploded liquid, thankfully inside a ziplock bag), letting family know I made it safely, and exploring the hotel.  I was proud of myself that I was able to tell the maid to come back tomorrow in Chinese, as well as ask for a refill on the room's supply of water and tea!  At lunch time, I managed to ask for directions to the dining room as well, didn't understand a thing the girl said in response but got the general direction from her arm waving, and then managed to request lunch, pay, and eat without any major mishaps.  I've no idea what I ate, but it all tasted pretty good :)

   That afternoon we met Shangying and Rong Li, my Fogarty twin scholar, and walked down to CICAMS, the institute where we will be working.  It was an interesting juxtaposition of old and new; there is a brand new surgery outpatient building right next to a disheveled grey and cracking concrete research building (ours).  The offices are nice, with computers and such, but the entry ways and hallways have seen many years of use.  Still completely functional though, and that's what really matters!  There are some parts of the Vandy Medical Center North that also date from another century.  We briefly chatted with Dr. Zhao, the head of the cervical cancer research section with whom I hope I will be working, and then headed off to the cell phone store to get us connected.  Thanks to Max, I only had to buy the SIM card and phone number, but Adam had a more grueling experience buying the phone as well, all of which must be done at different counters in the same store!  And (see below) the city buses are all double-deckers and have TVs on them!

   That evening, we met up with a friend of Adam's who is visiting Beijing and went to dinner at a restaurant called 'Da Dong', apparently famous for its Peking Duck.  The duck was in fact fantastic!  The restaurant was in the most expensive, glitzy mall I have ever seen, with a Gucci store and others similar.  There is certainly much wealth immediately next to much poverty here which is a bit strange to get used to.  The dinner we had would easily have cost a hundred dollars each at home but here it was $25, which  still makes it a very expensive meal in Beijing.

   Yesterday we met the Chinese scholars very early and headed off to be examined for health clearance to live as a foreigner in Beijing.  My blood was taken for who knows what by the most skilled plebotomist I have ever seen and I also got a chest xray and my very first EKG.  As far as I can tell it looks normal ;).  Hopefully we will all be cleared in several weeks and we can continue on the process of applying for temporary residence.  Altogether I think it will take several weeks to get all the appropriate paperwork.  In the afternoon, I toured an apartment and decided to live there!  Pictures coming soon after I move in today.   

   Altogether, I have not had any strong emotional reaction yet to Beijing; nothing has surprised me inordinately and I haven't been too frustrated about anything.  I was expecting things to take a while and to have trouble not being literate, but so far nothing has been terrible.  And everyone I have met has been really nice!  Wish me luck as I move into my new apartment today!