Chicago to Beijing: Prometheus Unbound

So I got to spend a few days in Chicago with my Dad, which was really nice since I won't be able to see him for a while. Got to the airport and all that jazz fine. It was good to see some friends again, since the summer had been spent with a different group of people. The flight was long and boring, but arriving in Beijing was 很激动(really exciting). I've probably taken near 50 photos already, but the internet connection that I have at the dorm is kind of shaky, and super-slow, so I don't know how many I'll be able to load to facebook or photobucket. Anyway, we've moved into our dorms, our Chinese roomates are coming tonight, and we are just taking care of miscellaneous errands, like buying Chinese cell phones and cashing traveler's checks. All in all, pretty f-ing sweet.

Jet lag has been causing me to wake up way too early and to sleep poorly even when I do manage to doze off, but I've been taking advantage of being awake at 5 and 6 am by walking around in the surrounding neighborhoods. I went to a little canal park my first morning in Beijing and got some photos of the wonderful scenery, and this morning Jaime, Eric, Alec, Dave and I went to the nearby (20 min walk) Purple Bamboo Park (紫竹園). It was GORGEOUS! The water and the trees were amazing, and there were lots of people walking around, doing tai chi or qi gong, dancing, selling hot buns... it was so cool. I'm totally gonna be going there a few more times. The park is HUGE (of course, Beijing is a city of 15 million people, so everything is huge). We were there for about an hour and a half, and we saw less than half of the park. More photos coming soon, hopefully.

The food is amazingly cheap. You can get a fine meal for anywhere between 5 and 15 kuai (块), and 1 kuai is equal to 14 cents. Prices for most stuff are pretty swell here. There is a 12 hour time difference between Beijing and Eastern Standard Time, but I still managed to make my first Skype calls this morning. Still getting settled in, and my classes start on Monday. During the next several days I plan to look around for a place where I can take martial arts classes. I found an escrima place, and an aikido place that aren't too far away, but I want to see a lo of my options before settling down. I don't want to spend half my time in China commuting. That all for now. Update ya later.

This Summer

I got my Chinese visa today, so I am officially legally able to travel within the People's Republic of China. I leave in a little over a week. It is exciting and nerve-wracking. The summer has been filled with...

* new circus friends and play times: met some local guys who spin staff, drum, and twirl poi (sometime fire! oooh), and I ended up hanging out with them every Thursday evening. I also met some kzoo people who juggle and unicycle, so I ended up hanging out with a Unicycling Julian a good deal, and I practiced juggling with Dan during the more boring moments of work. I also leard how to pass clubs, and Julian and I practiced with paint brushes during work breaks. What fun!
* mind-numbingly boring work: half the time during the past week work has involved reading or just plain sitting around doing nothing. I have never encountered a lower quality workforce, and it just goes to reinforce my opinion that I will have to find a way to survive by doing things I love and enjoy.
* tons of fantastic reading: native american religion, Upton Sinclair, Zen, Aikido, Gandhi, and plenty of anarchism (Ishmael, Unjobbing, a great intro to the subject by Daniel Guérin, a philosophical text explaining the incompatibility of an individual's autonomy and a controlling state, a good anti-corporate text, and a fantastic anthology of historic essays).
* marital arts: not only did I get to take Jeet Kune Do classes as a local YMCA in Kalamazoo, I also got to teach some basic aikido/judo to some friends that were interested in learning some self-defense. I also got to learn some Philippino stick fighting, which was very cool since I ave done learned any weapons before.

Some of the summer was a little boring, but once I got into my patterns I don't have nearly as much time as I would like. It was nice getting to spend time with some of the people that stayed at K over the summer, but I am very excited for the next stage of my life, my next big adventure. One more week here in Kalamazoo, and then I am headed for Beijing.