a belated return to the cyber-world.

I hate to do it...but I'm going to be "that" person. The person that sends out a mass apology for her absence in your life through her blog. Yes, not even a mass e-mail, but a blog post. As you probably know, I am still officially internet-less after the big move to the new apartment, and the times I find myself on a computer are few and far-between. Hopefully soon I will be a better friend and keep in contact with you. But until then, please accept my sincerest apologies, and feel free to e-mail me with your life updates.

Life in Beijing is great. It is starting to cool down a little bit (not much, but a little), which makes walking everywhere a little more bearable. The new apartment is fabulous; Pip and I are loving "settling in" and being able to finally feel at home. It's a great location, and it is warm and welcoming (so...please feel free to invite yourself over).
Language study is going alright; I finished my first book and am moving on to the second (yes, I finally made it to Elementary Spoken Chinese...slow, slow progress). I feel as though I spend three hours a day sitting in class, speaking with my teacher, and going home and memorizing twenty new words a night...and I still can only ask for directions.

Since the last post, I feel as though there have been several "oh, China" incidents (both great and not so great) that I have WANTED to blog about, but haven't been able to.
Biggest (recent) mafan issue to blog about: My visa.

So, after Pip and I moved into our new place, we needed to register with the local police. While we were at the neighborhood police station, I was told that my visa expired in three business days. I felt a little annoyed, since I had asked the company that issued my visa when it would expire, and they gave me some lame answer like "when your school wants it to". And, I asked my school, and they didn't know. SO, I found out about three days before it was to expire that I needed to get it renewed. Unfortunately, as a student, "renewing" your visa is a bit more complicated than it may seem. In order to apply for a student visa, apparently once you arrive to China, you need a physical exam (at a specific clinic, and the results take a week to process), plus you need various papers from various places. Once you get all of these things together, then you need to take them to the visa office, and submit for an extension. Once your extension is submitted, it takes about two weeks to process. Unfortunately for me, I had no idea.
SO, the morning I found out, I was in a mad-dash to get my visa done. I rushed out of my Chinese class at 10:15 in order to make it to the clinic in Beijing that does student physicals before it closed at 11. I show the driver the address (because of course I have no idea where it is), and assumed that he knew where it was. To his credit, he mostly knew where to go. Unfortunately, almost doesn't count. He dropped me off randomly (this is one of the many times my not-so-awesome Chinese didn't help me out), and I showed the address to someone else who pointed down the street. SO, I RAN down the street in flip flops and a backpack to get there in time. Once I'm in the building, I'm racing to get forms done...and then they ask for my payment. Which, of course I don't have since I wasn't expecting to do the physical. So, again, I run...this time to the ATM down the block, and then run back.
Once I got my money, I don't really understand what anyone is saying or what is going on, so I just follow people around. The first room I had to go to I got ushered into, urged to sit down, and then they had to draw my blood. Getting blood drawn by a little Chinese woman in a dingy room...not ideal. The following room was apparently some sort of an ECG. SO, I walk in to another dingy room, go behind this curtain, and lay down on this hospital-like bed. This little Chinese woman, who I didn't understand, took these metal clamps and clamped them to my ankle and my arm, and then motioned for me to pull up my shirt. SO, I pulled it up to my stomach, and she motioned very slyly for me to keep pulling it up...so I did, and then she motioned to my bra. Needless to say...I'm laying on this dingy table, exposed to this Chinese woman who is poking and prodding me, and putting monitors all over my chest. It was awkward, but pretty hilarious. The exam continued with an x-ray and all these other crazy little tests. The man who read my heart-rate printout seemed a little shocked my heart was beating so fast until I (tried) to explain to him that I was just running around like a madwoman.

Thankfully, despite all the craziness of running around town, I think my visa should be good to go. I need to go pick it up tomorrow. If it's NOT, then I need to head out of the country. I'm thinking Hong Kong might be a nice trip.

Anyway, a nap is calling my name.
More soon.

Miss you all!!