The Weekend & Monday

Saturday I went with my roommates to this electronics district,
where they have very large buildings, about 6 stories packed with
stalls and booths and counters for electronics retailers. Any
computer part, MP3 player, A/V equipment, etc was there. One roommate
bought a new battery for his computer, and the both of them bought
web cameras for 130 RMB ($15) for both. I was looking for a place
that would upload some new software to my cellphone so that it could
work, because I found a guy at a store near my apartment that would
do it. However he wanted to charge more than a company in the states
would charge. I figured I could find it done cheaply at the
electronics district, however that was not the case. So I got this
guy to do it for a little more than $30 and now it works fine. I can
justify a cellphone here because our apartment phone rings softly and
has no message machine, plus everyone lives either far away or in a
locked apartment building. The way you get a plan and minutes here is
you just buy a card which goes in your phone and is your telephone
number, and then you buy a credit card thingy which has a code which
adds more minutes to your telephone number. Its pretty simple.

Sunday was entirely ultimate frisbee. This time it was a lot
more competitive as the good players came out and 2 new college
graduates came out. One of the "captains" explained the offense for
the Hong Kong tournament and the people going there tried to work on
that during pickup. I am going to the Hong Kong tournament on October
22-23. It is looking like it will only be about $350 or possibly
less, less than the $500 quoted to me previously. The great thing
about our pickup/scrimmages here is that you get a lot of ultimate in
for one day. We must play a few games worth of points. So you are
tired at the end but get as much time as you would like. Then we go
out to dinner afterwards.

Next week, starting October 1, is some sort of holiday. It means
that I am out of school from Saturday to Friday, then we are back in
school saturday and sunday and monday etc. I did not find out about
this until last week, and I would like to do something but don't know
what to do. I could go on a trip with my school to Inner Mongolia
(referring to a region in China, not the country), that is a little
over $200. I'm wondering if it would be wise to save that money or
not. However a week in Beijing while some of my friends are out
traveling might get old. Any comments?

This past week

In response to some emails/comments:
Hi Bernice.
Ben, my Chinese is Ok; I can survive in Beijing by asking how
much things cost, telling the taxi driver where to go or where to go
on the subway, telling the cellphone store people that their SIM
cards cost too much and also that my phone needs to be fixed because
it can't use Chinese SIM cards. However I really cannot understand
people very well. I am learning to get bits, but thats the hardest
part. I have two teachers at school, one of which talks in almost all
Chinese to us, and that teaches me to listen. So I'm getting better.
Mrs. Tucker, the main reason I haven't updated is because I've
been pretty busy and lazy. Since I started 8 am classes this week, I
have to wake up around 7, and I've managed to be occupied each night
until late. However, I just managed to get my Bank of China debit
card to work, at first it had USD$ in the account and ATMS wouldn't
let me use it, so I had to go back and tell them to convert the $ to
RMB. I've met some girls, nobody has distracted me that much though.

So I left off at Sunday night. I went back to the hair saloon,
taught some English words, and found out they were having a mid
Autumn festival party. They invited me. Around 10 they started
clearing this room out and setting up a TV and speakers and a
microphone. Then all the employees of this hair salon/massage parlor
started pouring in. Chinese businesses are like rabbit holes, they
have a lot of space that you don't initially see, they keep going and
going, plus they have tons of employees. I hear the strategy is
employ everyone, but don't pay them as much. They are happy to work,
everyone is employed and there is barely any bad crime. No murders or
rapes from what I hear. Anyway there were about 50 people in this
little place. The party started and they sang pop songs with the
karaoke and did dances. Then they played musical chairs. Everyone got
to play, so there were a bunch of games. They invited me to play, so
I played and won. Its really crazy because when the music stops,
you've got about 50 girls just screaming. They just scream when the
music stops. So then I was in the winner's circle. So I won. I'm now
the musical chairs champion of the place. Everyone got a bag of
fruit and moon pies and a toothbrush and toothpaste as a gift for the
mid autumn festival.

Over the week I went to class, went to the police station to get
a temporary residence permit, went to a classmates apartment and
spoke Chinese and English with some Chinese people learning English
he knows. I took my language partner out to dinner with some other
WorldLink people. We went to an "Italian" restaurant and got a pizza,
it was a lame pizza. Then we watched Fantastic Four at my apartment.
I also ate some seaweed soup one night at this girl in my class'
apartment. Asian people like their seaweed, I don't.

On Friday my class and some others went to the Great Wall. It is
about 1.5 hours from here. The entrance area down off the mountain is
sort of rural but there are tons of people lining the entrance with
their booths trying to sell you stuff. It goes "Hello, (used as name,
not hi) 1 dollar, hello, hello". My theory is they address you as
"hello". Its like that everywhere, someone wants to offer you a ride,
its "hello, where you going". So then you climb an incredible number
of stairs through the woods to get up there. They are very steep.
Everyone from my school there was panting and sweating profusely and
taking breaks. But they were all wimps, I went the whole way, my skin
got a little hot but whatever. So up at the great wall it was pretty
cool. The temperature was very nice, on the cool side. The wall is
very large. We walked a ways, took some pictures etc.





The visibility was poor, like normal, so we couldn't see the wall extend very far
but thats ok. To get down the mountain, we went to this slide place,
where you buy a ticket and ride this toboggan cart down a metal
track. That was awesome. You get going pretty fast and take some
sharp turns.

Friday evening I went to WorldLink for a trip to the Chaoyang
Theater for an acrobatics show. Thats in the city, about 30 of us
went. The show was amazing. You have seen Chinese acrobats here and
there. These guys were like that except x 10. I was just like, thats
impossible. So that was fun. After that 6 of us walked to a jazz
club, the original Jazz club in Beijing. Its a nice place, with
Italian food. We hung out there for a while, it was good music. I
heard some classics that I called, the people I was with were
impressed. We went home, I saw my friends on the street, went with
them to a Korean bar/restaurant, then went to an apartment and hung
out for a while.

I am getting used to being in China, when I was first here, 2
things would happen:
1. I would be doing something like watching a movie with my
roommates, or playing frisbee with mostly white people, and I would
forget that I was in China. I would then realize it and it was sort
of shocking, like oh yeah, I'm in Beijing.
2. I would have dreams where I was with people I know in the
U.S. and we would be doing something like going on a cruise or going
to a birthday party, and I would see someone I know, and they would
be like, I thought you were in China? And then I would realize that I
was supposed to be, and figured I had flown home for the weekend.
Then I would think, how am I getting back? I have no way of getting
back, I have class. Then my brain would slightly wake up and I would
realize that I am in China. Sort of like when you have a nightmare
and then realize that you are in fact still alive or something like
that.
So now that stuff doesn't happen any more.

Now today I have learned that I can get my cellphone fixed here,
and I will head to an electronics district to see if I can find a
good price.

Sunday

First thing today as I went to Worldlink, I saw a crowd of people by the hair salon. There was some music, and it seemed it was a race outside between the hairdresser assistants and the massage girls. Today is the Middle Autumn festival so I guess they were celebrating. Look at the picture.



Today I met my language exchange partner through WorldLink. They took us to a restaurant and gave us cards with names and a number on them, indicating who our partner was, and their were a bunch of Chinese people there. My partner is a 25 year old girl named Lu Yan Xia. I asked if she had an English name, and she didnt, but said she wanted one, so I told her I would think of a name. I suggested a few that started with L, and she said she liked Lindsay. Here is a picture of her.



We ate lunch with the guy I met named Mark and what turned out to be his 2 language partners, because one Worldlink student didn't show up.



At the beginning it was very hard to communicate. After lunch I figured out how to say let's go somewhere and do something.
So the girls took us to their university and we sat and watched a men's league soccer game which was going on at the soccer field. Their university is not as nice looking as ours, it seems to be mostly all Chinese. The girls were all studying English. They signed up through Worldlink to get a language partner to practice English with.
We sat and watched the soccer game, Mark and I talked by ourselves, because Mark hasn't had class yet so he knows nothing. Lu Yan Xia sat alone and was writing something, which turned out to be a note to me. It said:
Greg,
I can't communication with you. I feel badly, begin from today, I'll work hard. I hope. I'll communication with you as soon as possible. Thank you for me make name. lendsy.

So I said it was ok and told her it was communicate not communication.

Then we went to near their dorm and talked for a while. Another girl and her language partner showed up, and this girl spoke the best english out of them all. At this point I was getting good at communicating with the girls, because we both knew to speak slowly, and we figured out how to explain things. So the speaking was going well. I asked them all if they would like to go watch a movie at this western/bar club called Lush near my apartment that has movies on Monday night. So they said ok. Then they asked us out to dinner at their student cafeteria. So we ate there and talked and then Mark and I and this other guy named Greg from California left.

On the way home this Chinese guy was passing me and he said Ni hao and I said Ni hao and he said your chinese is good, (in chinese). We talked for a while and I told him that I was watching a movie at Lush at 8 tomorrow, because he seemed to want to hang out with me. So I guess he will be there too.

In one hour I am going back to the hair salon to talk some more English/Chinese with the hairdresser guy there.

Saturday

Today I went to bank to switch my currency in my account but
found out you can't do that on weekends. Fortunately I learned that
at certain ATMs my US Debit card will allow me to withdraw RMB. Then
my roommate and a friend of his went to this indoor clothing market.
It is very cramped, but a very big building with all these little
partitions which are little "shops". He told me that everything was
fake or imitation, I saw a lot of name brands. I think they are the
rejects from the factories here. But I think some of that stuff could
be original. Who knows, it was all very cheap and prices were
negotiable. I didn't buy anything though. It was interesting though.
Later we went to the hair salon/ massage partner. My roommates
and one of their friends got massages and I got a haircut. I tried to
gesture what I wanted, I ended up only getting a little bit shaved
off the side but oh well, it was $2.50. After that, my friends were
all still getting a massage, the girls at the saloon ushered me into
that room while every single worker there laughed at me because I
still had my Chinese nametag on my shirt from class the other day. So
I left that room and went back to talk to the hairdress because he
had a Learning English book. We sat down and went through the book,
he would point to words and I would pronounce them and he would
pronounce the Chinese translation. This was late at night so business
was slow and all of the workers there would sit with us for a bit and
laugh at us trying to pronounce things and try their hand at it as
well. He was not very good at pronouncing English words but he had
one or two assistants who were pretty good. So we did that for about
1or 2 hours and I am going back there at 9pm tomorrow to talk some more.
Tomorrow I will also meet my language partner with WorldLink.
This will be a Chinese person trying to learn English.
I also bought the AC/DC Back in Black CD for wu(5) kuai (62
cents). Stuff here is cheap.

Friday

Today I had my first class. There are 15 people in my class, a
few are American. Most of them appear to be older than me. We are in
class 8-12 and 2-4. The teacher mostly speaks Chinese, but can speak
English. We introduced each other in Chinese. Most of the people have
a little bit of experience, but its very scattered, just like me. The
while the teacher would repeat something that someone said and
explain it, or give us new ways to say things. Then we learned about
pronunciation and did a worksheet where we had to get signatures of
other people in the class who could answer a question or fit a
description. For example whoever had the longest trip to get to
Beijing. So the guy from Brazil who traveled 36 hours was the man. So
its hard to say what I learned to say, a lot of the stuff I had heard
before or seemed fairly easy to me, but the most challenging part was
the listening and comprehension. That is why it is good that I am in
almost the beginners class. It will be great practice hearing the
language being repeated. After lunch we took a walking tour of the
campus. The teacher gave us a sheet with all of the landmarks written
in Chinese and English. So we walked around and talked about each.
Like this is a cafe, what do you do at a cafe? You eat a meal. Or,
this is a basketball court, here you play basketball. This is the
foreign student dormitory, that is the Chinese student dormitory. The
tour was very informative.
Later I tried to take money out of the ATM with my Bank of China
debit card, but the money in that account is in USD so the ATM gave
me errors. I also tried to put a SIM card in my cellphone so that I
can use it here, but it is locked to only Cingular and the phone
won't allow me to enter the code that Cingular gave me and said would
work. Frustrating. That night we watched a movie here, Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy. DVD's here are cheap, around $1, and they
usually have movies on DVD out very quickly. We also got Transporter
2, which I think is still in theaters.

Choice Dishes

The first one is beans with garlic and some peppers. I don't know the name. It is really good, I've had it on a few occasions.
The second is lemon chicken. The lemon sauce is pretty thick and the chicken is just sort of filler, so it basically tastes like the lemon sauce and its practically a dessert.
Dumplings are also good.

Thursday

People requesting more photos: I have exceeded my upload limit
for this month, which has only been about 8 pictures. Since I have a
free account, I am limited. BUT, if I pay $25 per year, $2/month, I
can have unlimited uploading. So if viewing pictures is important to
you....you could express interest in contributing to this sum. It
would also encourage me to lug my nice camera around instead of
taking cellphone camera pictures.

This morning I had a "placement test". It was just an interview
that lasted about 3 minutes with 2 chinese teachers and they
basically determined I have learned characters before, so I get to
skip out on all the pronunciation and pinyin stuff. I met a bunch of
new people also, since we waited around for about 2 hours while
everyone in our classroom went through this interview.

I met 2 guys from Wisconsin, who both go/went to University of
Wisconsin, and they knew similar people. Small world. I met a guy
from Mississippi, the first southerner I've met, and he has a good
southern accent. A young guy from Canada who is a computer engineer
who started some business and does some international business and is
deciding to learn the language. A mechanical engineer from Germany
who works for VW and since he is also from Hong Kong and is Asian and
was encouraged to learn Chinese. A guy from Brazil who has a business
degree.

We went to McDonalds after our interviews because we all wanted
a real breakfast. But it was too late so we ate "hanbaobao" aka
hamburgers. The Canadian and Brazilian talked a lot about
international business which was really interesting. Supposedly as of
5 years ago only about 5 tourist or some sort of businesses have
permission from the Chinese and Brazilian governments to operate
between the two nations. So those two guys agreed that knowledge of
Portuguese and Chinese could ensure one a job acting as a middle man
and taking a cut off of all business and making some good money.

Tomorrow morning I assume the real classes start. I guess, I
don' know, I am anxious to begin learning. The language barrier is
pretty annoying sometimes.

In regards too what the meals are like:
I think every meal I've eaten with a group we've gotten Kung pao
chicken. Its chicken and peanuts and I think either pepper or bean
skins in a sauce. Its pretty good. When you go to dinner with a group
you put the dishes on a circular rotating platform in the middle of
the table so that you can spin it and grab food from the dish you
want. I would say my favorite dish has been some sort of beans. They
are long and green and are sort of crunchy, it seems like you are
eating the skin. They have some sauce that they were fried in and
they are very good. I'll try to get a picture of them up. Dumplings
(bao zi) are also very good. When I went to lunch with Corrina
Carroll and her son Michael, they took me to a restaurant they said
was famous for its dumplings. So we just got about 4 servings of them
and ate them.
I've had some tea, some of which I like, some which I don't.
Another good dish is lemon chicken. The coating was very sweet and
you barely tasted the chicken, we said it was almost a dessert.

Wednesday

Today I had orientation for WorldLink. I met some people, more
people from the states, which is always nice. I met 3 guys, Jesus
from California, who wants to teach Chinese in China; Mark from Hong
Kong, and Bryan from California who is doing this while he transfers
from UMichigan to USC. He will start at USC in the spring semester.
After orientation, which was basically lunch at a restaurant and a
very brief tour of the BLCU campus, I looked at the campus gym with
Mark and Bryan, theres not much to gym, and then we walked back to
WorldLink. They wondered what they were going to do so I told them I
was playing indoor ultimate frisbee that night and they could come
and they said they would.
So we went to my apartment which is about 40 minutes from the
WorldLink office, luckily I dont need to go there often. They envy my
apartment since they are in the student residence which is basically
a dorm room. Then we got on the subway and went to Tiananmen square.
They had both arrived within the past two days so for the first time
I'm actually showing somebody around Beijing.
We walked around Tiananmen square, its a big place, and then ate
at a Japanese restaurant. Then we went to a cellphone store and Mark
bought a SIM card. With my knowledge of Chinese culture and how they
don't like the number 4 because its pronunciation sounds like death,
and my knowledge of a few phrases, I was able to get Mark a 40 kuai
($5) SIM card with a few # 4's in the # vs a 100 kuai ($22.5) SIM
card which had no 4's and a few lucky 8's. I kept asking for a lower
price , 90, 80,70.... and noticed the appearance of the 4's. So that
was cool. The cell phone store workers were teenage girls and it was
very amusing to them when I was trying to ask how much the rate per
minute was. You have to pay for a certain number of minutes, and I ,
with my horrible and limited chinese, was acting as interpreter for
Mark. Anyways, I don't know how to say minute and the girls were
laughing at me, so it was kind of funny. I ended up telling them
where I live and what school I go to.
Then we went to the Kerry Center, which is a very very nice
hotel. They have a sports complex on one floor and we played indoor
ultimate for 40 kuai ($5). The rules are; you play on a basketball
court, stall count at 7, and you score in the key. And once you score
it is make it take it and you switch directions. So you score and
instantly turn around and head the other direction. Played with about
4 per side. Its pretty fast paced and somewhat tiring, as well as
very hard to score. So that was fun. Afterwards I used the sauna and
hot tub and took a shower, because it was a nice place and i guess my
40 kuai got me access to all that. We took a taxi home. I have been
told by "Doc" (ultimate player) about a tournament in Hong Kong in
late October that Beijing is traveling to, and to "make it happen".
He says its no more than 4000 kuai ($500), and that it is a blast, so
I think its an appropriate time to break open my savings account.
Tomorrow morning I have a placement test. I've done some
reviewing, so my skills are better, however I dont know if doing well
on this test would be that great. I am in the intensive course so I
have additional afternoon classes, 30 hours/week vs 20, and I get the
impression that things move pretty fast.

Tuesday

Today I walked to the Bank of China and opened an account and
got a debit card. Then I walked to the WorldLink office and picked up
my backpack that was lost by the airline. Its a decent walk there, I
got to see my surrounding areas. Not much to say about the trip. So
that took about 3 hours. When I got back I listened to music and read
up on my Chinese from my high school textbook. I would really like a
native Chinese speaker to practice with but I haven't met anybody
nearby, once I start classes I will get a language partner, who is a
local trying to learn English. That should be fun. Then my roommate
came home with some of his/our friends and they brought food and a
cake, because on Tuesdays the bakery makes cakes. We basically sat
around and talked for a while, 2 of them went over some [chinese]
characters.
So I didn't really do much today, and I am feeling sort of
restless. Good thing I have orientation tomorrow. I would like to get
some exercise but the streets are too crowded to run on, I might run
the 11 flights of stairs up to my apartment, its just that some of
them aren't lit so its tricky.
Also, this afternoon was the first sign of sunshine and blue
skies after we had some light rain in the morning.
Tomorrow is my orientation and possibly indoor ultimate frisbee.

Monday

Today I went to the embassy and met Carroll and registered myself
with the US embassy. I exchanged some money with her and left. At the
street entrance to the embassy compound there is a large group of
Chinese people standing around. Once I walk out, I was swarmed by
them handing me pamphlets and brochures. Must have been about 20
people handing me things. I was laughing and people sitting outside
at the cafes right there were laughing too. So I just took all their
junk and kept it, I'll take a picture. It was quite amusing. Walking
back to the subway I passed a guy selling Polo Ralph Lauren shirts
for 25 kuai = $3. I considered it but I'll find them somewhere else
if I want some. Then I saw a guy selling a Beijing 2008 Olympics
shirt and I bought one of those for 30 kuai, almost $4. Actually kind
of expensive! Going into the subway I guess I went into the entrance
to the subway market and found myself at another Polo and Lacoste
shirt stand. I walked up to see if any prices were listed, but I
think that unless you are in a true store, they are "flexible". So I
asked how much and she said 40 or 50 kuai, 5 to 6 dollars, I can't
remember. I don't know any more Chinese so I just start English
because I wasn't interested and its kind of funny since she is firing
Chinese at me so I just start saying "I saw 25 kuai down the road!"
Then I say broken bits of Chinese like " I don't buy" or I'm sorry
and then goodbye.

I came home and then bought a cup of noodles. What is surprising is
that at Ukrops you can get those Ramen noodles for 6 cents with the
ukrops card and the cup is about 75cents. Here in China where it
seems these things are a staple, the cup of noodles was 2.30 kua,
about 30 cents. Thats not much cheaper!
I posted some pictures from my apartment on Flickr, the link is on
the right side of the blog, or its www.flickr.com/photos/gregericksen
This was a clear day since you can clearly see the crane and
mountains in some of the pictures. I didn't know there were mountains
until today and usually the crane is behind some haze.

Tomorrow I will go get my formerly lost bag from the WorldLink office.

Sunday

Some more observations:
-I have changed my opinion of Beijing drivers from bad drivers to
incredibly skilled drivers. They are just very aggressive and in a
rush. What would warrant the finger in the US is just squeezing into
a tight lane and is accepted as not impolite. Also, they honk a lot,
which I initially assumed was because they were pissed off or was
telling someone they are too close. Now I realize it either means
hurry up or "I'm here" you could be the only car on the road and see
some bikers and pedestrians that might not see you and you just give
a warning honk letting them know.

-There are 3 predominant cars that you see everywhere.
Brand new VW Passat
Semi old to brand new VW Jetta's
Brand new Audi A4's and A6's.

Then there are the taxis which are very cool looking Hyundai Elantras
for the most part.
What I'm saying is that the majority of the cars are very cool
looking sedans that are kept very clean and look a lot cooler than in
the US. I have also seem some car models from major car companies
that we dont have in the US, like a Nissan or Honda. They also look
very cool.

Today I met Carroll Corina, ( Mrs. Schuler's cousin) and her son
Michael for lunch. I ended up taking the long way on the subway, out
into the "suburbs" i guess you could say. So I was about 20 minutes
late to lunch but they didn't care. We ate at a nice restaurant and
the food was very good. She works at the embassy and tomorrow I will
meet her to register myself with the US embassy.
Right after lunch I went to the Beijing Ultimate Frisbee meeting
place which was nearby and we rode in a van and taxi to the fields.
We then played a game. Those people are very cool, all of them are
expatriates I guess is the word. Frisbee was fun, afterwards we all
went out to dinner and I heard of bunch of their individual stories,
then I rode home in a taxi with 3 people who are also at BLCU or
Worldlink and live nearby to me. Now I am here, I don't know when
this will get posted since the internet isn't working, but as soon as
it connects it will go out.

Saturday

Some observations:
-There are a lot of people here, and they are doing stuff out and
about at all hours.
-Traffic can be ruthless, lanes, lights and general rules are
sometimes obeyed.
-I will probably die while I'm here from the pollution in the air or
by getting run over. Oh well, they say the haze is better in the winter.
-A lot of Chinese people don't acknowledge lines or patience. Getting
on a subway they just barge on before the people can get off, like
they think the doors will close at any moment or something like that.
And then walking around subway stations many look like they are in a
nervous hurry. If you are at a ticket counter buying a ticket, maybe
its just because I'm white but some dude will just walk up next to
you and slide his money through the window. A guy did that when I was
exchanging currency and the lady picking me up from the airport
smacked his hand and yelled at him.

Friday night I went out to dinner with my roommates and their
friends, 6 of us total. We walked a little ways and went into a
restaurant. You order as a group and share the dishes. It was good
food, and we didnt even finish half of it. We each spent 20 kuai,
which is 20 divided by 8, so $2.50. Not bad. The rest of them went to
a club called "Propaganda" and I went home and went to sleep, 31
hours after waking up for my flight.

The next morning I sat around and waited for them to wake up and then
sat around watching British shows that a roommate had on his
computer. Then we walked to the subway and met 2 of the girls that
they know and rode the subway into the city. We walked around a
shopping district. My British roommate described places as being
rabbit holes. You walk into a place that looks like a small hole in
the wall and it goes on forever and its a huge cafeteria with 15
different food places and tons of people. We went to a mall with lots
brand name stores. They have fashion shows for digital cameras in
malls where models walk out holding a small camera. So we did that
for a long time, I didnt purchase anything besides food and later we
went home. Overall I spent 47 kuai, just under $6. Thats 2 subway
tickets, dumpling lunch, and an Orange Julius from a Dairy Queen at
the mall. Later I bought a bath towel that I needed.

Tomorrow I will eat lunch with the cousin of Mrs. Schuler( my chinese
teacher from High school). After that is Ultimate Frisbee with
Beijing Ultimate.

In Beijing

I made it to Beijing. It was a very long trip. It is Friday 4:05 am Eastern time, and I woke up at 2:30 am Thursday EST. But its 4:05 pm Beijing time so I've got an evening to deal with.

One of my checked bags did not make it to Beijing, hopefully it will arrive tomorrow and get sorted out. Beijing is very hazy and you can sort of smell the bad air. It is also very active, the traffic is horrible, the concept of "lanes" is a fuzzy one. You basically go where you want and then honk your horn. I was picked up by a girl named Helen who is learning English at a University here and does the airport pick ups to help her english, and some guy who drove us. So Helen and I talked and I explained a lot of English to her.

They took me to my apartment, which is pretty nice. I have 2 roommates. Andy is from Australia and James is from the UK. They have been here for about a week so they have more of a base than I do. They seem nice though.
I want to take a nap but I'm worried I will sleep for a long time and wake up in the middle of the night.

Toronto

I'm in Toronto in the International terminal.