Goodbye, Dayon... Ni hao, Tianjin!

As I'm sitting here in my new living room in my new home in China, sipping instant coffee out of my new mug, I can't help but smile and think, "This is my life now."

On Wednesday morning, my mom and brother took me to the airport.  Of course I wouldn't be me if I didn't forget something at home, so about 15 minutes into the trip we had to turn around and go back home.  We FINALLY got to the airport, checked in, secured a window exit row seat (score!) and said our goodbyes.  Two of my amazing friends surprised me at the airport to see me off! We all held it together (even my mom!  she was a champ!), said goodbye, and off I went!

 The rest of the day was a series of flights that went way smoother than any I've ever had.  As someone who always either sets off the metal detector, loses a bag, misses a flight, has something stolen, etc etc etc, I was understandably a little nervous about so many flights and such a long flight to China. Amazingly, I wasn't patted down in security.  I found my gate (right next to Starbucks...one last soy latte for the road!) and walked onto a pretty empty flight with the exit row to myself.  I stretched out and snoozed until we landed in Dallas.  I had a super short layover so I channeled my inner Chinese, pushed my way to the front of the plane, and booked it to my gate.  I made it with a few minutes to spare!  I even found the other teacher I was supposed to be traveling with, which I wasn't expecting to happen until Seattle.  On the flight from Dallas to Seattle, I accidentally sat in the wrong seat (whoops!) and didn't realize it until about an hour later.  Luckily a screaming baby took the empty seat (my original seat) behind me.  I sat next to a Chinese man named JP.  We had a great chat about China and he even wrote my name in Chinese for me on a barf bag (thanks, JP!).  When we got off the flight he helped me with my luggage and even helped me find my next gate.  What a gem!  I grabbed lunch with the other family from the school and waited....and waited.  I called my mom one last time and before I knew it we were being herded onto the plane to China!

Beautiful view flying into Seattle

I had held it together pretty well until I got onto the flight to China, and then I had a moment of panic...like, "WHAT HAVE I DONE?!?!" That went away pretty quickly and excitement set in.  The flight was about what I had expected...crowded and long...but soon we were landing in Beijing!  I got my luggage without a problem and waited for my traveling buddies to find all of their bags.  Their daughter MJ and I had a great talk until she got bored with me and crawled under the cart for a quick nap.

People from the school were there to pick us up. An hour-and-a-half bus ride later, we were in Tianjin.  A handful of people from school came to help carry our bags up to our new apartments.  My host family, a couple that has been so helpful and amazing, was there to meet me.  They showed me my new apartment and helped me get settled.  Everyone left and I walked around my empty apartment (my roommate wasn't due to arrive until Saturday) without really knowing where to begin.  There are four bedrooms - 2 upstairs and 2 downstairs.  I ruled out one super tiny, crowded bedroom right away.  I liked a bedroom upstairs, so I lugged all my bags upstairs and started to unpack.  After giving it some more though, I decided I wanted one of the downstairs rooms instead, so I drug everything back down the stairs.  By that time I was too tired to unpack anything so I went to bed.  After tossing and turning all night, I finally got up at 5am and started getting unpacked.

Yesterday we went to a store called Metro, similar to a Sam's Club.  I used my first squatty potty...and lived to tell about it.

 I got a few necessities (microwave, water tong, hangers...) I ate lunch with my host family, went to the bank to exchange money, unpacked some more, got my internet set up, and had a delicious dinner of homemade BBQ wings, potatoes, and snap peas.  After going to bed at 8 and sleeping pretty well, I'm feeling pretty good!  I'm still feeling a little out of sorts but everyone has been so kind and helpful.  I'm just excited to get settled in and start normal every-day life.  Thanks for all of your words of encouragement during my move!  They are appreciated more than I can even express!  :)

Bye for now!