Hello Mudda, Hello Fadda. Here I am at Chengdu, China!

Hey everybody, I made it! Thanks for all of the rides, lodging, help, and love as I made my way over polar icecaps and halfway across the world to begin this crazy adventure. From house-cleaning to box-moving to last-minute visas, I couldn’t have done it without all of you. As you can see, I finally chose a blog name, but I do have to give props to some of the other hilariously clever submissions. The runner-up is the title of this post. Some of my other favorites include:

My China Blog: Red it?
Sino-the-Times: Mao say blog
Chengdu’s and don’t
Jeneral Tso’s Chicken
Chengdulicious

Amazingly, none of my fears about the flight or arrival came true. I had packed exactly 100.5 pounds of clothes, meds, toiletries, and school supplies, so I didn’t have to pay any exorbitant fees. The flight went by quickly. In the States they served us pot roast at noon, then we moved onto lasagna at midnight, and finally ramen-ish noodles right before landing in Beijing.

The Chinese woman in the seat beside me helped me practice pronunciation and showed me how to count on my fingers in Chinese (even counting on your fingers isn’t the same as in English!) I felt sorry for my spunky Chinese seatmate, sitting next to her overbearing, obese American husband, until the duty-free cart came around and she spent more on cosmetics in 5 minutes than I spend in 5 years! Clearly, she and her husband were both having to make some sacrifices for the marriage!

When we landed in Beijing, I could hardly see from one end of the airport to the next. The brand new Terminal 3 that was built just for the Olympics is HUGE! The roof of the terminal has sky-lights that look like a dragon’s scales, and when we stepped out into the air, my eyes immediately began to sting. Luckily, there were Olympic-uniformed volunteers all over the airport who helped me catch my flight to Chengdu in spite of my blindness.

So, what’s it like finally BEING here, you ask? I should start by explaining my direst of expectations and the pleasant surprises I have come upon so far. Based on all I’d read, the worst case scenario was that Chengdu would be a sunless land where I’d have to wear a mask over my mouth to protect myself from the air, where I’d starve due to an intolerance for spicy foods, and where I’d be reduced to communicating only in charades because of the difficulty of the Sichuan accent (and, of course, my complete lack of Mandarin skills). Let’s deal with each of those expectations in turn.

Although the air is overcast and gloomy most of the time, the pollution isn’t too bad until you go farther into the city. I actually saw a patch of blue sky yesterday! As for food, I haven’t ventured out with any of the Chinese-speaking teachers yet, so I’ve been kind of a wimp so far when eating in restaurants. When I work up the courage, I’ll try Hot Pot, an extremely spicy strew filled with all kinds of goodness. There’s a Tex-Mex place in the city if I get sick of noodles, and they just opened up a Hooters?!?

Yesterday, I had breakfast at the school cafeteria for the first time and was served a bowl of soupy rice. A Chinese teacher came and sat down across from me, and I was about to be grateful for the friendly gesture when she plucked the chopsticks out of my left hand and tried to show me how to eat with my right hand. I had been so proud of my skills at eating the soupy-rice cereal with chopsticks, and here she was totally unimpressed because of my backwardness. I think trying to eat with my right hand would be about equivalent to when I tried to pole vault right-handed: dangerous. I’d probably starve within days. I stubbornly switched the chopsticks to my left hand and tried to show her how superior my skills were then, but she just shook her head and moved to another table. I had anticipated some degree of discrimination due to my blond hair and blue eyes, but now I also have to content with left-handed prejudice! Ah geez.