Fast-Forward One Week

I've now been in Beijing almost a solid week, and I must say that time has flown. I feel like I never have a moment of silence to myself. I go from waking, prepping for day, breakfast, and work training. Throw in some frantic apartment

searches during the day or squeezed {squoze? ha ha} in there somewhere... {{usually through screenshots of Chinese websites {switch off VPN}, upload the pic to Google Translate app {switch on VPN}, and then highlight the part I'm trying to understand.}} My phone "text" history is with a bunch of Chinese numbers where I'm usually doing something very similar to the copy & paste, translate, reply back in English or translate it back to Chinese and paste my response in Chinese.

Nothing could go wrong with this plan. :)

I'm slowly getting accustomed to donning a mask before I step outside {still figuring out how to stop my glasses from fogging while it's on ha ha}, flipping my VPN on & off, depending if it's a function/search on a Chinese or western app. Checking the air quality as I wake up is a normal routine. The food fascinates me and nothing has been too strange at all yet. Metro makes sense. I watch time nostalgically and think of family and friends waking up as I'm winding down and ending the day as mine begins. Such a weird feeling.



I'm surprised how I can get by without knowing much more Chinese than a handful of phrases. That being said, that's not the long-term solution for me. :)




All things considered, I think the first week has been a raging success.