A Match for New York?

Before departing for China, I went to Los Angeles hoping that I would find another New York.  Those of you, who have been to Los Angeles, can understand my disappointment when I found an extremely large suburb.  I am not saying that I didn’t like LA.  On the contrary, I loved it – so much so that I am considering becoming bicoastal!  When I arrived in Beijing, I finally found what I had been looking for -  a competitor for New York.  Another Super City - sky scrapers, pollution and a real hustle.  Beijing is massive in both land mass and population.  I had heard that the pollution was bad, but I found it absurd.  In fact, when we departed from the airport it seemed as though a fog had descended onto the whole of the city (I was reminded of Bolvine in the Thirteenth Warrior, preparing to fight off the eaters of the dead!). 

We drove to an apartment on the outskirts of the city, which was surprisingly nice, but quite different from a New York apartment.  I was lucky enough to not have a roommate due to a computing error of some kind.  Although we were suffering from severe jetlag, we were not given the opportunity to rest.  Instead, we went through yet another AFS orientation. (I am feeling very oriented!)  We were told that the next day, weather permitting, we would visit the Great Wall.  Unfortunately, the weather did not permit, and we visited a sports center and a massive art complex (which was quite impressive).

 

I was very excited and relieved to hear that three other AFS students were assigned to Jiamusi: a girl from Italy, a boy from Finland and another boy from Germany.  Early the next morning we boarded the train for the next leg of our trip – 24 hours to Jiamusi!  Fortunately I was so exhausted that I slept for about 18 hours, the rest of the trip, we got to know each other and passed the time playing cards.  You can imagine our anticipation to meet our families as the hours passed.

My new home town:  Jiamusi

When we arrived, we were surprised to be greeted by quite a crowd!  Each of our host families and our teachers came to meet us.  We quickly sorted out who belonged to whom and the four AFS students went our separate ways with our new families.  My host father, my host mother, my host aunt, and my host brother (who is a couple of months younger than I), all went out to lunch for a fantastic traditional Chinese meal.  Fortunately, my host brother speaks a little English or, we really would have been lost.  The four of us then returned to their apartment complex, which is at a fantastic spot overlooking the river, and I was shown the ropes around the building.  After a few misunderstandings, including one in which my host brother wanted to take a shower with me, (it’s a long story) I went to bed for a night of much needed sleep.