Arrived in Beijing

There is a 15 hour difference between Phoenix and China

I did it.  I survived the longest flight I've ever been on:  12+ hours.  Thanks to the two hours of sleep I had the night before, and a nice dose of dramamine, I slept on and off throughout the entire flight.  I also read half of a good YA book (John Green's "Abundance of Katherines") and watched a truly terrible movie on my iPad (WE, directed by Madonna).  

My seat neighbor was a very friendly lady who lives in Beijing, is from Hong Kong, yet went to college in Arkansas.  She gently scolded me for not learning more Chinese before I came (I was proud of my one phrase "May wen te" which means "no problem" - she told me I can't say that all the time!  It was funny, and we had a nice conversation.  She shared some helpful tips about Sichuan food (ask for less oil, less spicy and no msg) and even gave me her cell phone number in case I needed help when I'm in Beijing at the end of April.  Talking to strangers almost always turns out to be a nice experience.  I should definitely do it more.

I was nervous about navigating the Beijing airport, wanting to be sure I followed all the instructions correctly.  The immigration lines were much shorter and moved much more quickly than when I was at Heathrow last year and customs was not a problem at all.  I had been warned that there would be aggressive people trying to get you to hire their "taxis", and that wasn't an exaggeration.  I had to be firm and walk with assertiveness to get past several of them to get out to the hotel shuttle. 

I will say this:  not having access to my phone is difficult.  I know I use it all the time, but didn't realize just how much I rely on it until I was worried that I didn't have the shuttle information or my hotel confirmation printed out (I ended up finding it thankfully).  I'm used to being able to just access my email and the web at all times, and I felt a bit helpless for a moment.  I know this month without my beloved iPhone will force me to develop other adaptive behaviors (and perhaps even read a real map), so it's another opportunity for growth.  It's also an opportunity to more mindfully engage with my environment, as I won't be able to entertain myself by reading Twitter or Facebook while standing in line, or sitting waiting for whatever's next.  People watching will be my new favorite activity.

I'm now in my Hilton hotel room adjacent to the airport.  I've determined what adapter will work for my laptop charger (yay!), and that my iPad charger will work without an adapter at all.  I didn't have any trouble logging into the blog, so I'm optimistic I should be able to continue with this.  

Tomorrow I head back to the airport and take a domestic Air China flight to Chengdu.  I'm grateful that I will be picked up at the airport by one of the librarians from Sichuan University. She'll take me to campus where I will check in to my home for the next month.  More adventure updates to come ...