Please Keep Clea

It's 6 AM on Monday Morning in Beijing, China and in two hours I'll start my first lesson in Survival Chinese. I've been here 4 nights now, and if I don't start writing some things down they'll escape me forever.

The few days before I left were a blur. Pack up my room so Tyler could move in, pack up Tyler's room so he could move out, help move Tyler into my room, get ready for the stuntman to move into Tyler's room for the summer, finish up preparations for The 7 Books Project (more details on that later), pack a small backpack with clothes and supplies for 2 months (4 days longer than the last trip) which includes clothes for being in a city, working in an internship, hiking through the forest etc...

I made it to the airport on time where every TV was screaming about SWINE FLU!!! We flew over the top of the world via the North Pole, and successfully landed in Beijing 14 hours later where we were scanned by infrared cameras for any signs of disease. My teacher just told me that the plane that came in after us was quarantined for 3 hours, the passengers were kept out of the terminal and forced to go onto the tarmac where they were inspected before being let into the country. They sent a Mexican man home... after the SARS scare they are taking no chances with this shit, and I can totally see why.

Have to speed this up as to not waste digital paper: landed in Beijing at 2pm, got our luggage, hopped on a bus that took us to the Minda University in downtown Beijing, it honestly feels like driving on a newly build 405 freeway and heading into a cleaner Los Angeles, settled into our dorms, went and had dinner, hung out with Chinese girls at a dance party on a soccer field, went to sleep, woke up at 4:30 AM, couldn't fall back asleep, went for a run on the track next to our school, watched the sun come up, Chinese breakfast, 1 hours bus to the Forbidden City, saw Tienanmen Square on the Chinese equivalent of Labor Day which is one of two major holidays here, hundreds of thousands of people everywhere, walked through the Forbidden City, lost the 2 Chinese people who came with us ironically, Chinese people kept taking pictures of us, they rarely see white people I guess, and the black kids we're with might as well be movie stars, I held a baby for a picture, Forbidden City is incredible and gigantic, and requires at least a week to see it all, went to some more temples, exercised my right to carry an open container everywhere, money is like Monopoly money and it goes pretty damn far,yesterday we woke up at 5 am again, went to the Great Wall of China yesterday, got all choked up on the drive looking out the window listening to the Beatles Love album, climbed the great wall, unbelievable, it's over 8000 miles long, that's like LA - New York - LA - Mississippi, they built a toboggan ride down from the top, it's like ancient wonder of the world meets Disneyland bobsled without snow, came home, went to dinner with Chinese ambassador students last night, went to bed, and here we are.

This place is incredible, I see why people fall in love with the country as it's unlike anything I've ever seen, can't wait to leave the city and see the countryside. All for now, updates soon.

- Josh