Hump Day

So the first week has been passing by and there a quite  number of things going on.

Primarily, I am pretty much finished settling in. I know where the best place is to get groceries and where I can find some great street food. The food on campus is really good and really cheap. Keep in mind that this statement is coming from me. I’m kind of a freak when it comes to trying new food, so you might not like some of this stuff so well.  It is definitely all Chinese and all pretty, well, unhealthy. Most of it is rice of some sort and different spiced meats and such. That is fine every once and a while, but I can tell that eating all of that all the time might not be the best. So yeah, I should probably search for some of the more green options in food.

Oh, and on the subject of food and its close relatives. I have found what I have been looking for. COFFEE. Now of course they have plenty of coffee over here. There are a number of coffee shops; but what surprises me about these shops in China (a traditionally cheap country) is that the coffee is even more expensive over here. It is sold at a slight premium to our prices back in the states. I suppose that is due to the rising middle class and their desire to seem as American or refined as possible. So, while I am spending a whopping $1.00 on lunch every day, I would end up tripling that for a cup’o’joe. Somehow that just doesn’t sit right with me. So this process has led me on a search of Coffee beans to use in a French press in my apartment. And what do you know NOBODY has them. All the supermarkets sell is the little premade powdered coffee flavored stuffs. I’m not a terrible coffee snob, but premade coffee in little packets should be a federal offense. Anyway I stopped by the olefaithful Starbucks and got me some Esspresso Roast, and I am set. It may not seem like much, but –man- a cup’o’joe and some toast in the morning is just the thing for this guy!

My mornings-ummm!

I think you might be interested to know that things in my classes at the University are interesting to say the least. We (the roommate and I) are the pioneers (guinea pigs?) for this new program from State. It is a really great program set up, but between you and me and the rest of the internet, it has been pretty frustrating getting all of my information for classes. In short not too far from a goat rope. But hey that is what I signed up for and I’ll keep you up to date on all the crazies going on.

Oh and I thought some of you might like to know that I found a group of believers over here for Sunday mornings. The meeting place is on the other side of Beijing and it is strictly for passport holders (ie, foreign visitors), but it is really neat. This Sunday I will be going there again and I will be sure to get some more pics for ya.

BICF.org