A Vacant Beijing

     Upon flying to Beijing, the airport was surrounded by thunderstorms. To my disappointment, we circled around the city multiple times. A few passengers had their window shutters open, and I craned my neck for my first look into China. All I could see were dark clouds and distant flashes of lightning. We received several updates, but they were all the same: delay, delay, delay. It was already past 11PM Beijing time.
     Slowly the clouds cleared up just barely enough to see shadows of buildings and the lights shining off of them. And then....... We were landing.
     We landed so quickly that I did not have time to register my emotions. I was officially on Chinese soil!
     As soon as we exited the plane, our delegation leaders instructed us to stow away our cameras and to not take photos while in Immigration. Something about their tone made me keep my camera hidden until we left the airport completely.
     After a short ride up an escalator, we came up into a huge expanse. I was utterly shocked by how clean and polished the airport was. The floors literally shined. If you've heard the expression "clean as a whistle," that would describe what I saw. It was truly the epitome of perfection.

     The Olympics were held in Beijing in 2008, and China spent much on the cleaning of the city of Beijing. Four years later, it is still evident. I cannot imagine a cleaner airport.

     I was shocked at how empty the airport was. Yes, it was past midnight, but the ginormous airport seemed....vacant. It was an area to be packed, and it seemed as if only workers and the passengers from our plane were the only ones present.

     Soon we were met by our delegation manager, a native to Beijing, Phoebe. She was young with a short haircut and a bright smile.

     She first led us through the airport and we took a short pause at the restrooms. I did not have to go and Phoebe and Chuck were talking. (Chuck was my delegation leader). She asked him if any of the students knew Chinese and he said yeah, that I did. He called me over and then Phoebe and I spoke in Chinese. She only asked what my name was, and I replied with my Chinese name (Xu Meng An 许梦安). She said "Great" and that was it. The students from the restrooms returned and we continued on through the airport. I felt pleased; she had understood my Chinese. I always have a doubt within myself that I am not good enough, and I was assured at that moment that I had done at least something right.

     The way out of the Beijing airport was long and confusing. If I had to navigate my own way out, I would have been easily lost.

     At last we were outside, and there awaited our luggage van and bus. I breathed in the cool midnight air. It was unfamiliar, but not strange; it was an interesting taste. 

     The ride to our hotel was relatively short: only forty minutes. The bus (along with every bus thereafter) had a microphone that our tour guides would use to tell us about history and culture and such. This night, however, Phoebe gave us some general rules and told us about tomorrow's (er, technically today's) agenda.

     Phoebe also gave a special introduction to our driver in Beijing: The second best driver in China. That is, the best driver is always in jail or the hospital for his crazy driving. ;)

     We then had the remainder of the bus ride to ourselves. I looked out the window at the quiet Beijing street life. I was surprised by how similar Chinese trees were to the ones we have here in North Carolina. Beijing also had fascinating road systems!  There were multiple levels of roads, all on top of one another. It was as if they were bridges that criss-crossed one another. (An ingenious way to keep down traffic!) As we neared our hotel, many shops with neon lights broadcasted their stores in both Chinese and English! One store in particular caught many people's attention. It read "Sex Store" underneath the Chinese characters. I was shocked at it's openness. I had thought something of the sort would not be so explicitly advertised (especially in China). 

     At long last, we arrived to our hotel.  And again, the atmosphere felt vacant. I had thought that Beijing would be more active, even at night. But the more I thought about it, the more I began to believe that maybe it would be Shanghai that would be more of the busy-night city I had imagined.

      We received our room keys and roommates (two people per room, except for one group of three girls) and made our way to the rooms.  After settling in, I asked my roommate to go with me downstairs to talk to our leaders (we had a buddy system). When we were downstairs, I told Phoebe about there not being any vegetarian meals available on the plane. She said she would make sure the restaurants would cover our needs.

     A lot of stress dispersed after then. I ended the day by writing about my first experiences in Beijing. In just a few hours we would arise to go to Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and a culinary school. I quickly fell asleep.

Our delegation leaders from left to right:

Mr. Kipkee

Mrs. Stevenson

Phoebe

Kristin

Chuck