Here we go!!

First off, I have to say that Korean Air is AWESOME! The food rocks, the stewardesses are uber helpful, the planes are great and the Icheron airport in Seoul is a mammoth beast of beauty. An all around pleasant surprise to the beginning of my trip.

I got into Qingdao this morning around 9:30am and was met by Vivian, Sonny and Kevin at the airport. The drive to the school and apartments was about 20 minutes and kinda awkward to say the least, due to my complete inability to speak or understand Mandarin. Conversation was sparse and brief. We got to the school and then went on to the apartment where I met my roommate Nathan, who has gone completely out of his way to help me out on my first day in China. He has been here for two months and is still learning, but is light years ahead of me in the ‘getting around department.’ He and I went to the local Dillards-esque department store to look for some bedding, pillows and towels. That location was unfruitful and a smaller mini mall next door unearthed the goods I was after.

Nathan left for lunch around noon and I had quiet time to Skype talk to my crew (Kat, mom, and dad). Then I took a nap and when I awoke, I began unpacking. Extremely easy considering the small amount of things that I brought.

My first venture out alone was interesting because believe it or not, I still couldn’t speak Mandarin and buying things is hard when people ask questions in a language you can’t understand. I went to a small Korean store for some staple items and played a game I like to call “charades and blank looks” with the clerk who checked me out. THANK GOD for digital read-outs on cash registers, otherwise we would have been there all day.

I have now had my first run in with a Communist Regime. As soon as I got here, Nathan and I were chatting about this and that and he mentioned that YouTube, Blogger, and Twitter are inaccessible due to a certain 20 Year anniversary of a certain event that rhymes with TeaCinnamon Pear. Darn Commies, never can let Freedom Ring through web videos, and useless tweeting. Oh well. This bad boy was written in Word and copy/pasted. Boo Yah!