Yesterday did not go according to planned. Nothing went wrong, but very little that was scheduled to happen actually happened when it was supposed to.
Summer came and got me at about nine~ish. We walked to the bus stop and rode it to another one of the schools. She showed me how to take the bus there on my own, but so far I haven't gone anywhere on my own. The first time I do go solo is bound to be interesting. I think it will take another week before I know where everything is in relation to everything else.
We took the bus to one of the schools, and I got to sit in the back and watch how one of the English lessons are given. It seems pretty easy, but as of yet, I'm not the one giving them. After watching two different classes, we went to the first school from the day before. There I watched Grahme give a class. He's one of the foreign teachers who's been here for a while. From what I can tell of his schedule, mine will be pretty crazy as well. Kid Castle seems to be a bit low on foreign teachers right now, so I may end up teaching more classes than I expected.
Once he was done with his morning classes we walked back to our apartments. I got to go up to his and meet his roommate Chris and Chris's girlfriend Jennifer. After a bit of chit-chat Grahme went with my to the Lotus Supercenter and helped me get a few more things that I hadn't thought of earlier. There are still some things I need to get today.
At about 3:00 we started walking to one of the schools so I could shadow some of Grahmes afternoon classes. We ran into some of the other teachers from Kid Castle on the way, and they told him that he didn't have any classes then because there was a Halloween party for the kids that evening. So we ended up walking back to our apartments. Oh well. It gave me more time to unpack and clean up the apartment.
We left for the school again at about 6:00, this time with Chris. The party was entertaining enough. Not so much party as I would expect though. Mostly it was just a bunch of learning games with a Halloween theme. For most of it the three of us just sat in the teachers lounge and they told me what to expect in some cases, and some tips for teaching and getting along with the rest of Kid Castle.
When we left the party, Chris headed back to his apartment to cook his dinner, while Grahme and I went to the Village to eat. The Village is what the expat teachers here call one of the local side alley marketplaces. I had caught a glimpse of it earlier, but this was my first chance to go into it. It's everything I expected and more. Along the main city streets I had notice some people glancing at me, but in the Village, two tall white guys are like the main attraction in a three ring circus. We ate at a nice little noodle place, and got our meals for a total of 15 yuan. That's about a dollar per person. That's also including the pop Grahme bought us from a different vendor. While he was getting the drinks I had my first experience with a Chinese person randomly coming up to talk to me. He didn't speak any English though, so I think it was mostly for the amusement of him and his friends than an actual attempt to converse. They were very friendly though, so aside from being awkward, it was entertaining for me too.
I woke up at about seven, and was running around doing things till about nine at night. By the time I got home I was to tired to do anything but fall into bed. I'm quickly getting over the jet lag. Aside from getting tired a bit earlier, I haven't had any real effects from it.
Things I Noticed on Wednesday:
1. I saw people burning fame money along the rods in some places. I remember hearing that they do it for good luck when they open a business, but there were little piles of ash all over the place last night. Anyone know what they're doing it for?
2. There was something that resembled a pizza at Lotus. It had corn on it. What is it with Chinese people and corn?
3. Grahme helped me find cereal. I think it's German. It wasn't very good. I probably shouldn't have bought two boxes. Dang. I'll finish them either way, but I'll probably try another kind next time I buy.
4. Drank some Jujube milk. It tastes like something I've had before, but I still can't think of what it is. It tasted fine at first, but after the first couple sips, it was just kind of nasty. Grahme seemed to like it fine, so maybe I'm just weird.
5. I want a map of Xi'an. I'm sure I could find my way around easier if I had a map in my room to look at.
Summer just called. We're going to Jin Yuan today. I have no idea what I'll be doing there so today will probably be as varied as yesterday.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Day One: Teusday
I'm in China! Maybe I just adjust easily, but it doesn't feel like I'm that far from home, or that I've even left. It's like a birthday. Up until the day, you think that you actually think and feel different once your age changes. It doesn't. I guess I thought the same way about coming here. I'm still the same person I was before I got on the plane, and aside from only seeing one non-Asian since I got off, people are generally the same here too. Yes, there are a massive amount of cultural differences, but they're still normal people.
Plane Rides (aka The Sitting Marathon)
Sunday October 26, I didn't sleep the night before so I could more easily sleep on the plane. Instead I sat in the bathtub for about 7 hours reading a book. I didn't expect to have a bathtub in China, so I wanted to get one last good use out of it.
My mom knocked on the door at 2:30M and told me it was her turn, so we could leave at 3:30. For once I was ready before she was. I slept most of the two hour drive from our home to the Pittsburgh airport. That was probably a good thing since I had to be semi functional enough to find my gate. Everyone at the airport was surprisingly nice for it being so early. The baggage check-in people even started early. I had been to this airport a couple times before so I was able to find my gate pretty easily. From there, I had an unremarkable flight to Newark.
The staff at the Newark airport were just as helpful as the ones in Pitt. I guess I kept expecting a repeat of the Georgia airport when I went to Costa Rica where everyone seemed to be very angry with everything they could. My time at the Newark airport consisted of a bathroom break and getting a fruit salad at McDonalds. (Is that an oxymoron?) While waiting at the gate for my flight to Beijing, I turned on my laptop and called my mom on Skype. I think some of the people around me may have been wondering what I was doing talking to my computer.
The flight to Beijing went about as well as it could have. For a fourteen hour flight, it didn't completely suck. The seats had the little screens on the back, so I was able to entertain myself with a couple movies I haven't seen before. Unlike what I expected, we flew in a generally northern direction over the Arctic and Russia. I managed to sleep for a couple hours. How many? I don't know. Like I said, there was nothing wrong with the flight, but it's hard to say good things about something that made you sit down for 14 hours. The best thing I can say is that I had an aisle seat, and the the people I sat next to were nice.
The Beijing was a jumble of terrifying relief. Relief, because I wouldn't have to sit down for a while, and terrifying because I was on my own in a non-English speaking country. Things went about as smoothly as the could Customs was easy. My belt buckle set off the beeper, so I got patted down by a good looking Chinese girl. I can only hope she enjoyed it as much as I did. I quickly learned that the signs at the airport, though in English as well as Chinese, can only give you a vague idea of where you need to be going. Luckily for me, people told me I was going the wrong direction before I could actually get lost. Once I found my gate I got out my laptop to see if I could email or Skype my mom again. Unfortunately I couldn't read the greeting page, so I wasn't able to figure out how to get to their internet.
I slept for the entire flight from Beijing to Xi'an, so there's really nothing to say about this. I only woke up long enough to let the flight attendant know I didn't want any food. Two our flights are easy now.
By the time I finally got to Xi'an I was mostly in a sleep deprived daze. From the arrival gate it was a generally straight walk to baggage pickup and the exit. It took a little bit to find the people who were there to pick me up. I was even beginning to worry that they either had the wrong time (not my fault) or hadn't shown up. It turns out that there was another baggage pickup farther down the airport and out of sight and they had been looking for me there. Once they (Sara and Summer) found me they took me to the Kid Castle bus (van) and we drove to my apartment. I don't know what it was, but the highway into Xi'an just looked so strangely foreign. Maybe it was all the street lights or just the way people outside of America drive, but it just felt weird. Or it might have just been the fact that I had less than eight hours total sleep in the past three days.
My apartment is nicer than I expected. It's on the fifth floor and has a nice view of the other apartment buildings. There is actually some greenery if you look down from my bedroom window, so that's a bonus I wasn't expecting. I don't think it's been in use for a while, so there's a lot of dust on the floor in the living room. I'm told that my roommate moves in next week. I'm hoping to have enough time to clean up a bit so it looks nicer for her (I think it's a girl) arrival. I don't have internet access or television yet, but hopefully that will get fixed soon. I was right about the bathtub. The shower is connected right onto the bathroom wall. Like Costa Rica the water is electrically heated, but it's in a separate heater so it's not going to zap anyone. We got my bed set up. I love it because it's bigger than my bed at home. It's hard as a rock, but my bed at home was too so I like it.
Day One
Summer came and got me at about 10:30. BUSY DAY AHEAD! First we walked to the nearest Kid Castle (There are four in Xi'an apparently.) This place is awesome! I wish my kindergarten could have been as cool. I can tell already that I'm going to love this. For about two hours I was given a tour of the building and had a chance to email my mom. The kids seem to be happy, and my arm was tired from waving to them so much by the second classroom.
After the tour, Summer and I went to open up my bank account. It went pretty well, but I wasn't able to deposit $60 because the bills had some tiny tears, or were too folded. They didn't want to risk the machine not taking them or something. I dunno. We ended up having to walk about 3 blocks to another branch of the bank just to get the currency exchanged. I got my bank card though. Really quickly actually. So that's nice. It can be used anywhere too, so I can hold onto it once (if) I return to the U.S..
During the walk to the second bank, I had my picture taken. I guess I needed more face photos for the residence permit. Cost of photos... About $1.50
After the bank and the photos, we grabbed a cab and went to get me a cell phone. So far this is the most expensive thing I've bought while here. I can tell already that Chinese people love their cells. While she was helping me choose one, it took her a while to realize that I didn't want a supergreat phone, but wanted something better than a 200 yuan ($30) phone. I finally settled on a 698 yuan (Bit over $100) phone. I was nervous about how much the plan would cost, but it wasn't that much. The SIM chip was 100 yuan, and the plan is only 15 yuan a month .10 yuan per minute. They were able to switch it over to English which is nice, since I don't speak or read any Chinese at this point.
On the way back to my apartment, we stopped off at the Lotus Supercenter. I didn't get to see all of it, but it looks like a mall and a Walmart rolled into one. There we picked up some basic things I'd need. Food, plates/bowls/cups and basic silverware. There are a couple things I forgot, but I can get those today.
We took the stuff back to my place and then we went to dinner. I have come to realize that food here is spicy, and I'll need to get used to it. Jonna, if you read this, I know how much you like spicy food. You need to come up to Xi'an some time. Everything here is hot. They even serve the water hot! I can't tell how much hot you think is hot, but I think you would love the food here.
After the long day I was happy to get back to my apartment (I love saying that. MY apartment.) and take a hot shower. I was sleepy by that point and just went to sleep. Today sounds like more of the same, but I can't wait.
Observations, Mundane and Otherwise:
1. They have corn flavored candy here. not Candy corn like back home that tastes nothing like corn. this stuff is in the shape of corn, and it tastes like corn. I don't get it. Why corn? WHY?!
2. The pollution here is bad. It's one thing to expect it and another thing to see it. From my bedroom window, I can't see more than four blocks or so. After that it's a foggy wall of gray. Also, almost everything outside is dusty. There's little to no trash on the ground, and everything is very neat, but it's almost all dusty.
3. All of the police and security people I've seen have about the same uniform. It will take a while before I can tell the difference between one and the other.
4. In Jonna's blog, I've seen her mention how many excess employees stores and restaurants have. She was underexaggerating. At the phone place, there were about 3 people per phone brand. At the restaurant, there were three (I saw a fourth show up later) women at the door to greet us. Just that. Their jobs were to all stand there and great people. Walmarts back in the U.S. had a person to do this, but they were also partial security. We also had three waitresses. Lots of overkill.
5. I've been told that Nolan is hard to pronounce. (The trick to saying it correctly is not caring how the "an" part sounds.) I told Summer that she can just call me James (My middle name.) since that's easier to say. I'll tell other people, but I have no idea how it will go.
6. I wasn't able to find any cereal at the grocery store. No Trix. No Captain Crunch. Not even Frosted Flakes. This could be very bad. Summer didn't know what cereal was either, so my my looking for something other than oatmeal could be in vain.
7. Milk comes in bags. I had milk bags back in grade school, but I haven't had any for a while. Later today I'll find out what Jujube milk tasted like. It has some sort of fruit on the bag, so maybe it will be like a cherry or something.
8. I was tall before, but now I'm a freaking giant. I'll have to get used to bending over to listen to people. Summer, at least, is a very quite talker.
Today:
Today, Sarah (I think) will soon be coming to get me. We're going to a different one of the Kid Castle schools. There I'll get to sit in on a class given by one of the other foreign teachers. After that we'll go and get my residence permit, and pick up a couple more things for my apartment.
Plane Rides (aka The Sitting Marathon)
Sunday October 26, I didn't sleep the night before so I could more easily sleep on the plane. Instead I sat in the bathtub for about 7 hours reading a book. I didn't expect to have a bathtub in China, so I wanted to get one last good use out of it.
My mom knocked on the door at 2:30M and told me it was her turn, so we could leave at 3:30. For once I was ready before she was. I slept most of the two hour drive from our home to the Pittsburgh airport. That was probably a good thing since I had to be semi functional enough to find my gate. Everyone at the airport was surprisingly nice for it being so early. The baggage check-in people even started early. I had been to this airport a couple times before so I was able to find my gate pretty easily. From there, I had an unremarkable flight to Newark.
The staff at the Newark airport were just as helpful as the ones in Pitt. I guess I kept expecting a repeat of the Georgia airport when I went to Costa Rica where everyone seemed to be very angry with everything they could. My time at the Newark airport consisted of a bathroom break and getting a fruit salad at McDonalds. (Is that an oxymoron?) While waiting at the gate for my flight to Beijing, I turned on my laptop and called my mom on Skype. I think some of the people around me may have been wondering what I was doing talking to my computer.
The flight to Beijing went about as well as it could have. For a fourteen hour flight, it didn't completely suck. The seats had the little screens on the back, so I was able to entertain myself with a couple movies I haven't seen before. Unlike what I expected, we flew in a generally northern direction over the Arctic and Russia. I managed to sleep for a couple hours. How many? I don't know. Like I said, there was nothing wrong with the flight, but it's hard to say good things about something that made you sit down for 14 hours. The best thing I can say is that I had an aisle seat, and the the people I sat next to were nice.
The Beijing was a jumble of terrifying relief. Relief, because I wouldn't have to sit down for a while, and terrifying because I was on my own in a non-English speaking country. Things went about as smoothly as the could Customs was easy. My belt buckle set off the beeper, so I got patted down by a good looking Chinese girl. I can only hope she enjoyed it as much as I did. I quickly learned that the signs at the airport, though in English as well as Chinese, can only give you a vague idea of where you need to be going. Luckily for me, people told me I was going the wrong direction before I could actually get lost. Once I found my gate I got out my laptop to see if I could email or Skype my mom again. Unfortunately I couldn't read the greeting page, so I wasn't able to figure out how to get to their internet.
I slept for the entire flight from Beijing to Xi'an, so there's really nothing to say about this. I only woke up long enough to let the flight attendant know I didn't want any food. Two our flights are easy now.
By the time I finally got to Xi'an I was mostly in a sleep deprived daze. From the arrival gate it was a generally straight walk to baggage pickup and the exit. It took a little bit to find the people who were there to pick me up. I was even beginning to worry that they either had the wrong time (not my fault) or hadn't shown up. It turns out that there was another baggage pickup farther down the airport and out of sight and they had been looking for me there. Once they (Sara and Summer) found me they took me to the Kid Castle bus (van) and we drove to my apartment. I don't know what it was, but the highway into Xi'an just looked so strangely foreign. Maybe it was all the street lights or just the way people outside of America drive, but it just felt weird. Or it might have just been the fact that I had less than eight hours total sleep in the past three days.
My apartment is nicer than I expected. It's on the fifth floor and has a nice view of the other apartment buildings. There is actually some greenery if you look down from my bedroom window, so that's a bonus I wasn't expecting. I don't think it's been in use for a while, so there's a lot of dust on the floor in the living room. I'm told that my roommate moves in next week. I'm hoping to have enough time to clean up a bit so it looks nicer for her (I think it's a girl) arrival. I don't have internet access or television yet, but hopefully that will get fixed soon. I was right about the bathtub. The shower is connected right onto the bathroom wall. Like Costa Rica the water is electrically heated, but it's in a separate heater so it's not going to zap anyone. We got my bed set up. I love it because it's bigger than my bed at home. It's hard as a rock, but my bed at home was too so I like it.
Day One
Summer came and got me at about 10:30. BUSY DAY AHEAD! First we walked to the nearest Kid Castle (There are four in Xi'an apparently.) This place is awesome! I wish my kindergarten could have been as cool. I can tell already that I'm going to love this. For about two hours I was given a tour of the building and had a chance to email my mom. The kids seem to be happy, and my arm was tired from waving to them so much by the second classroom.
After the tour, Summer and I went to open up my bank account. It went pretty well, but I wasn't able to deposit $60 because the bills had some tiny tears, or were too folded. They didn't want to risk the machine not taking them or something. I dunno. We ended up having to walk about 3 blocks to another branch of the bank just to get the currency exchanged. I got my bank card though. Really quickly actually. So that's nice. It can be used anywhere too, so I can hold onto it once (if) I return to the U.S..
During the walk to the second bank, I had my picture taken. I guess I needed more face photos for the residence permit. Cost of photos... About $1.50
After the bank and the photos, we grabbed a cab and went to get me a cell phone. So far this is the most expensive thing I've bought while here. I can tell already that Chinese people love their cells. While she was helping me choose one, it took her a while to realize that I didn't want a supergreat phone, but wanted something better than a 200 yuan ($30) phone. I finally settled on a 698 yuan (Bit over $100) phone. I was nervous about how much the plan would cost, but it wasn't that much. The SIM chip was 100 yuan, and the plan is only 15 yuan a month .10 yuan per minute. They were able to switch it over to English which is nice, since I don't speak or read any Chinese at this point.
On the way back to my apartment, we stopped off at the Lotus Supercenter. I didn't get to see all of it, but it looks like a mall and a Walmart rolled into one. There we picked up some basic things I'd need. Food, plates/bowls/cups and basic silverware. There are a couple things I forgot, but I can get those today.
We took the stuff back to my place and then we went to dinner. I have come to realize that food here is spicy, and I'll need to get used to it. Jonna, if you read this, I know how much you like spicy food. You need to come up to Xi'an some time. Everything here is hot. They even serve the water hot! I can't tell how much hot you think is hot, but I think you would love the food here.
After the long day I was happy to get back to my apartment (I love saying that. MY apartment.) and take a hot shower. I was sleepy by that point and just went to sleep. Today sounds like more of the same, but I can't wait.
Observations, Mundane and Otherwise:
1. They have corn flavored candy here. not Candy corn like back home that tastes nothing like corn. this stuff is in the shape of corn, and it tastes like corn. I don't get it. Why corn? WHY?!
2. The pollution here is bad. It's one thing to expect it and another thing to see it. From my bedroom window, I can't see more than four blocks or so. After that it's a foggy wall of gray. Also, almost everything outside is dusty. There's little to no trash on the ground, and everything is very neat, but it's almost all dusty.
3. All of the police and security people I've seen have about the same uniform. It will take a while before I can tell the difference between one and the other.
4. In Jonna's blog, I've seen her mention how many excess employees stores and restaurants have. She was underexaggerating. At the phone place, there were about 3 people per phone brand. At the restaurant, there were three (I saw a fourth show up later) women at the door to greet us. Just that. Their jobs were to all stand there and great people. Walmarts back in the U.S. had a person to do this, but they were also partial security. We also had three waitresses. Lots of overkill.
5. I've been told that Nolan is hard to pronounce. (The trick to saying it correctly is not caring how the "an" part sounds.) I told Summer that she can just call me James (My middle name.) since that's easier to say. I'll tell other people, but I have no idea how it will go.
6. I wasn't able to find any cereal at the grocery store. No Trix. No Captain Crunch. Not even Frosted Flakes. This could be very bad. Summer didn't know what cereal was either, so my my looking for something other than oatmeal could be in vain.
7. Milk comes in bags. I had milk bags back in grade school, but I haven't had any for a while. Later today I'll find out what Jujube milk tasted like. It has some sort of fruit on the bag, so maybe it will be like a cherry or something.
8. I was tall before, but now I'm a freaking giant. I'll have to get used to bending over to listen to people. Summer, at least, is a very quite talker.
Today:
Today, Sarah (I think) will soon be coming to get me. We're going to a different one of the Kid Castle schools. There I'll get to sit in on a class given by one of the other foreign teachers. After that we'll go and get my residence permit, and pick up a couple more things for my apartment.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
The Moment of Reckoning is at Hand!
This Sunday I leave for Xi'an It is now a race against time to get my room cleaned out, and my things packed up. I can't take much with me, but I still don't want to leave my mom with more of a mess than usual.
Despite the fact that I've been waiting for this for almost a year now, I'm pretty much speechless. have no idea what to say. I may make an update if I can get wi-fi in the airport, but aside from that, my next post might very well be made from China.
Wish me luck.
Back to packing and cleaning.
Despite the fact that I've been waiting for this for almost a year now, I'm pretty much speechless. have no idea what to say. I may make an update if I can get wi-fi in the airport, but aside from that, my next post might very well be made from China.
Wish me luck.
Back to packing and cleaning.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Hooray! Hooray! It's Update Day!
Visa Status! I had to go to the post office to get my work permit and letter of invitation. (This is basically my part of the paperwork for the visa) DHL doesn't actually deliver out to the middle of nowhere that is my home. They handed the package (It was really just a big cardboard envelope) over the the regular post office to deliver. It would have arrived last Saturday (The 4th), but because the Saturday drivers are usually lazy temps, they didn't feel it was necessary to leave a note saying that they were to lazy to walk the 50 feet to our house to delive the very important papers. It took a bit of internet searching, and a couple phone calls (Mostly on my moms part. Thanks Mom!) to find all this out. So Thursday I went out in the morning to pick up the papers from the post office. After that comes going to the Embassy in D.C. to turn in the papers and get the actual visa. (I'm not sure what it will look like. I'm assuming it will jsut be a fancy stamp in my passport like my Costa Rica tourist visa was.)
So later Thursday, I booked a hotel room and drove the 4-5 hours to just outside D.C. The reason I spent the night is that I had to get the papers in to the embassy by 12:30 on Friday, in order for them to get all the papers and bureaucratic stuff done and get it back to me on Friday. So I spent the night in a Motel 6 outside of D.C. I should have picked a different one, because there was a freaking train that went by the place five times that night! FIVE ****ing times! I did not sleep well. I gave myself an extra hour of sleep-in time to make up for the train's rude awakenings. This was a bad move on my part, but it wouldn't have made a difference anyway.
I got up on Friday at about 9:00. This is really early for me. After the UHC work ended, I immediately reverted back to my old sleep schedule of 4am to noon. So I woke up 9, got a shower/dressed/etc. Google Maps had done fine getting me to the hotel, but they didn't work in the least at getting me to the embassy. they didn't even get me into the city. By 11:30 I had made it into the city but was completely lost. I ended up parking in a random public garage and taking a taxi. I managed to get to the embassy in time, but I hadn't counted on the two hour wait before I could turn in my papers. From what I've read in other blogs, I'll be doing a lot of waiting in lines in China. I hope they aren't as bad as this. The Chinese embassy made a trip to the DMV seem pleasant. Luckily my mp3 player has a long battery, and I was able to fall asleep in my chair for a good portion of the wait. Waiting is actually very easy if you have some music and it's long enough for you to get in a quick nap. Once my number was called, I went up and turned in my papers. This took all of 3 minutes. I can only imaging what everyone in front of me was doing that took them so long.
Because I wasn't able to turn them in, I have to wait till Wednesday to pick up my visa. Why do I have to wait five days? Embassy is closed on weekends. The nit's closed Monday for Columbus Day, because we all know how important Columbus was to the Chinese. I have a dentist appointment on Tuesday. And so I'm going to drive for about 10 hours on Wednesday to D.C. and back to get what will hopefully be the last thing I need to finish before I can finally leave.
So later Thursday, I booked a hotel room and drove the 4-5 hours to just outside D.C. The reason I spent the night is that I had to get the papers in to the embassy by 12:30 on Friday, in order for them to get all the papers and bureaucratic stuff done and get it back to me on Friday. So I spent the night in a Motel 6 outside of D.C. I should have picked a different one, because there was a freaking train that went by the place five times that night! FIVE ****ing times! I did not sleep well. I gave myself an extra hour of sleep-in time to make up for the train's rude awakenings. This was a bad move on my part, but it wouldn't have made a difference anyway.
I got up on Friday at about 9:00. This is really early for me. After the UHC work ended, I immediately reverted back to my old sleep schedule of 4am to noon. So I woke up 9, got a shower/dressed/etc. Google Maps had done fine getting me to the hotel, but they didn't work in the least at getting me to the embassy. they didn't even get me into the city. By 11:30 I had made it into the city but was completely lost. I ended up parking in a random public garage and taking a taxi. I managed to get to the embassy in time, but I hadn't counted on the two hour wait before I could turn in my papers. From what I've read in other blogs, I'll be doing a lot of waiting in lines in China. I hope they aren't as bad as this. The Chinese embassy made a trip to the DMV seem pleasant. Luckily my mp3 player has a long battery, and I was able to fall asleep in my chair for a good portion of the wait. Waiting is actually very easy if you have some music and it's long enough for you to get in a quick nap. Once my number was called, I went up and turned in my papers. This took all of 3 minutes. I can only imaging what everyone in front of me was doing that took them so long.
Because I wasn't able to turn them in, I have to wait till Wednesday to pick up my visa. Why do I have to wait five days? Embassy is closed on weekends. The nit's closed Monday for Columbus Day, because we all know how important Columbus was to the Chinese. I have a dentist appointment on Tuesday. And so I'm going to drive for about 10 hours on Wednesday to D.C. and back to get what will hopefully be the last thing I need to finish before I can finally leave.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Seperate post to keep it away from the geekiness.
I got an email from Kid Castle last night. It turns out the reason my visa hasn't arrived yet is because DHL can't find my house. I wasn't really expecting something that simple(stupid) from holding everything back. I guess I just need to remind myself that if something can happen, it will happen.
I'm not too surprised though. DHL doesn't usually come around here. It's mostly UPS and FedEx.
I got an email from Kid Castle last night. It turns out the reason my visa hasn't arrived yet is because DHL can't find my house. I wasn't really expecting something that simple(stupid) from holding everything back. I guess I just need to remind myself that if something can happen, it will happen.
I'm not too surprised though. DHL doesn't usually come around here. It's mostly UPS and FedEx.
Very Lucky Geek
They actually came! I was laughing hysterically for moment there. I really did expect them to come, but to see them in reality is a whole 'nother thing. And I didn't even have to pay a cent!
What you are looking at is over $400 worth of miniatures, that I got for free because the company that made them put the wrong price on the website.
Oh happy day!
What you are looking at is over $400 worth of miniatures, that I got for free because the company that made them put the wrong price on the website.
Oh happy day!
Monday, October 6, 2008
I'm Such a Freaking Nerd
Someone posted this image on a certain forum I go to.
I bought two.
The chances of bringing one of these to China with me is slim to none, but still... Opportunities like this don't come around every day. I just hope they ship it out before they notice the price on it.
For those of you who see sunlight enough not to know what this is, Warhammer 40,000 is is a tabletop miniatures futuristic combat game. (Feel free to arange all those adjectives to whatever order makes most sense for you.) Remember those little green army men you had as a child? It's like that but with actual rules instead of just throwing rocks at your friends line of men.
So yeah. I'm a real geek. Anime. D&D. Warhammer. I have all the bases covered.
People tell me that I'm good with kids. I think it's just that I never grew up too begin with.
I bought two.
The chances of bringing one of these to China with me is slim to none, but still... Opportunities like this don't come around every day. I just hope they ship it out before they notice the price on it.
For those of you who see sunlight enough not to know what this is, Warhammer 40,000 is is a tabletop miniatures futuristic combat game. (Feel free to arange all those adjectives to whatever order makes most sense for you.) Remember those little green army men you had as a child? It's like that but with actual rules instead of just throwing rocks at your friends line of men.
So yeah. I'm a real geek. Anime. D&D. Warhammer. I have all the bases covered.
People tell me that I'm good with kids. I think it's just that I never grew up too begin with.
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