Great Success

At 7:00 this morning, we set out for breakfast. We found dumplings (10 for about 30 cents). Then, we tackled the living situation once again. After speaking to several different people in various offices, we finally found somebody who knew what was going on. She pointed us to the hotel where the summer program students are supposed to stay. So we checked out of the first hotel with all of our luggage, caught a cab, went 10 minutes in the wrong direction, had the driver read the address off the pamphlet again, and arrived at the new hotel. After paying for the entire month’s stay, in cash, we arrived in our room. It’s actually quite nice; a suite with two single rooms, a small common area, a bathroom between the two of us, air conditioning, and internet for around $11 per person per night. All in all, much better than the foreign students’ dorm.

After a quick breather, we set off to complete a few more errands, as it was still only 11am. The new place is further from campus, about a mile or two, which made for another long walk in the heat and humidity. Thankfully, before the day really heated up (y’know, from the 90° it started at), a thunderstorm came through. Caught out, Carl and I took refuge with twenty or so Chinese under a bicycle parking awning and watched the torrential rainfall for half an hour until a woman came by selling umbrellas for 10 yuan. Opportunist.

Buying cell phones and bikes was relatively uneventful; just the usual little bargaining game that you have to play for almost everything here. Sometimes it can be fun, but after some time it becomes tiresome, and especially difficult to put up with after you’ve been on your feet all day. Good thing everything is dirt cheap anyway.

Now that it’s 6pm I’m exhausted, having had a full and successful day of settling in. I would enjoy another foot massage, but I’m too tired and lazy to find a place again.