What do you mean no caffeine?

Something is strange about China. The only coffee they seem to want to sell me is nescafe. Everywhere I look, nescafe. Nescafe in jars, in pouches, in ready made cups (just add hot water and go!). Everywhere. Where is my normal, non-instant coffee? No where. The international supermarket is the only place I could find it.

Did I mention I bought the wrong one and am now stuck with decaf or *shudder* nescafe?

What did I do to piss you off God? Seriously, tell me and I'll try to rectify the error. All I want is my coffee, damn it. :p

Over and out.

On Censorship

Today I'm going to whine. Wait for it...

My internet has been acting shitty in the past week. Do you know why? Tomorrow is national day. And guess who has shut off vast tracks of the internet? That's right, ladies and gentlemen, the Chinese government. I couldn't even get on MSN last weekend...(sorry Chris, I know I promised but it's only just started working now >.<'). Oh, and for a while, everything except Yahoo and skype was blocked. Honestly, what am I going to do to the Chinese government? Well, nothing. I'm not exactly the leader of a rebellion force, now am I? And if I was, I would be much more inclined to do something now facebook and youtube aren't distracting me.

But honestly and truly, while I understand that they fear being overthrown, shouldn't they win favour of the majority and LET those who don't approve talk about them? Blocking sites just makes them more hated, especially by me. I want to watch Bill Bailey on youtube, not government protests. It's fine. And if I do want to find something out about the government, there are ways to do it I'm sure. This isn't 1984, but it's starting to feel like it.

And I hope this blog entry doesn't get me in trouble. I might laugh if it does.

Wait, what?!

Ok, so it's been a while.  I appologise, I appologise, I have just been busy.

You know, studying and all that stuff.

In more interesting news, Kelly's birthday was on Friday.  So we had a lovely night out in which I decided to get full-on Hannah drunk, accidentally flash someone, and look like an anime character.  The pictures will be up soon ;D  I know you're all very excited.  Tomorrow, we are drinking some of the many beers we bought Kelly and throwing her birthday cake (which has become rather...mouldy, for lack of a better word...) out of the 3rd floor window.  Onto unsuspecting Chinese people.  SUCCESS.

So what did the night consist of?  Shots.  Lots. Of. Shots.  Still cost us only £40 each for 8 HOURS *read it and weep bitch* of drinking shots and cocktails.  Who says China isn't awesome?  I also ended up on the back of someone's bike going to withdraw more money haha.  I have bruises everywhere, good times, good times.  Kelly wore a reggae hat and compared herself to an angry duck, I fell over, Hari hurt his hand, and Fifi...well, we sort of lost him for a while we're not sure what happened.

So good night all round.  The pictures will tell the full story, I promise.

But anyway, I feel MUCH better about being here now.  Yes, yes, I may have missed a class this morning, but I was TIRED.  And the damn alarm didn't go off, I only woke up at 8:20 and we have to be in class at 8:50 THAT IS NOT ENOUGH TIME FOR A SHOWER DAMNIT.  China is warm and I was sweaty and gross.  I went to class at 10:40 though :)  And I made NOTECARDS.  Look at all this effort I am putting in.

Things that make me HAPPY about China:

-Taxis that are cheap

-Cheap food (£11 for a massive steak and chips :D)

-Awesome clothes

-My ORANGE hair hehe

-My awesome contact lenses

-Dumplings

-Bao (like...buns with a filling...idk how to explain it haha)

-My hooker shoes

This that make me UNHAPPY (read: emo) about China:

-Lack of William Martin Shaw! <--VISIT ME DAMNIT

-Lack of all people from back home really :/

-Lack of DECENT bread

Yeah, bread is a big issue for me.  I found coffee though.  Coffee, coffee, coffee....COFFEE! 

I'm going to go though...I think it's better for all of us.

Oh, and if ANYONE knows of a tattoo/piercing place in Beijing that is clean, LET ME KNOW.  I need a new nose ring and labret bar...I'm living with improvisations here >.<'''

Once I find a toaster

Arrived in Beijing:  Sept. 2nd, 2009.  9:55am

Realised things would get difficult:  Sept. 2nd, 2009.  10:30am

I've been in Beijing for 11 days.  11 days of awe, excitement, anger, frustration, and epic confusion.

The first couple of days were spent exploring and trying to organise things with the uni, as well as getting food poisoning and projectile vomiting.  Not so fun.  I miss bread.  I miss cheese.  And dear LORD do I ever miss toasters.

The issue I did find myself having was the lack of organisation.  I really, really don't want to piss on anyone's parade, but DEAR JESUS.  No emails telling us what to expect when we arrived.  No notification that we would need all the original documents from the doctors (except you can't even get the origional copies of blood work without the doctors getting really, really awkward in Switzerland).  No notification that we would need passport pictures.  No frikkin information given to me about what the medical test would be ONCE I got here.

Speaking of medical tests...can we say unhygenic?  The woman would not wear gloves until I shouted at her to wear them.  And she was taking blood.  Just EW.  And, and, and, we were all just in a BIG MASSIVE QUEUE WAITING FOR THEM TO TAKE OUR BLOOD!  *phew*  Sorry, I know I sound so bitchy...but seriously, this is the country that is so paranoid about the Swine Flu...and yet...NO GLOVES!

Experiencing a little culture shock at the moment, as you can probably tell.  The staring is getting to me, the laughing at my accent is getting to me, and the constant frustration of not being able to have a decent conversation with people in shops is getting to me.  I do love the food, I love the experience of culture, and I love the Reggae bar we found where the owner is willing to teach us Beijing slang and put up with our mistakes.  I love the shoe shop assistant (this little old man) who said I have good taste but my feet are just too big for China...but come back tomorrow when they have more stock, he might find me something in a size 40.

So I guess it's good and bad.  I miss everyone so terribly, and there have been instances when I have thought maybe I should have stayed home.  But then I think...Jesus, how can I be so selfish?   I have an oppertunity like nothing else.  I get to experience China as a student.  It's relatively safe, I'm not going to run out of money, and I have a support system.

Everything will be fine...once I find a toaster.