fortes.com

I can’t seem to finish writing this post, it’s been sitting as a draft for days. I find myself continually procrastinating, mostly because I’m not a talented enough writer to do the experience justice. I’ve decided to try anyway. It’s long, so I’ve broken it up into a few posts.

I’ve been in Beijing for a few days now. It’s been hectic, to say the least.

Day Zero

After a 24 hour journey, I arrive at the “hotel” supplied for my internship. It’s part of the Beihang University and is better described as a fancy dorm. I got there by taxi, thanks to an indecipherable printout of chinese characters. Luckily, the instructions were unambiguous, because I would can neither answer nor understand anything the driver is saying (OK, that’s not quite true. I’d learned a little Mandarin, enough to say vital phrases such as “I don’t speak Mandarin,” “I don’t understand what you’re saying,” and “What?”).

Although it’s 7pm, it’s still quite hot out. And muggy. Haze covers the city; I can barely see the sun.

Neema meets me at the hotel/dorm and tells me how happy he is that I arrived on when the weather was so nice. Apparently，95% humidity and more smog than I’ve ever seen in my life constitutes nice in Beijing.

I stay in my room long enough to find my basketball shoes, then proceed to play 2 hours of basketball on no sleep in the blistering heat of an indoor basketball court. I’d forgotten how much I love playing basketball, even if it takes three games before I feel like I can breathe.

I passed out quickly when I return to my room, but not before setting the A/C to 17 degrees. I barely slept, despite taking sleeping pills in the middle of the night. I’m still on some strange mix of Lisbon and Seattle time.