Long story short, Sabrina called around trying to find us a hotel, and finally we contacted Chris' contacts at the school he's about to work at. They were supposed to pick us up at the airport, but they were no shows, so we figured we'd get a hold of them now, since we had no place to sleep. Finally, it all worked out, and someone was coming to get us and figure out the sleeping arrangements. I also had my first encounter with a squat toilet, and what I expect to be my last solid shit for the next three months.
Jessica, Chris and I went off to a side street and got what I can only explain as street meat squared. They had a large table laid out with ingredients of everything. You basically picked it all out, and told them what you wanted, and they started a propane frying system where they cooked it in front of you. This very act of cooking in front of you is why we deemed it to be edible. The lady wasn't even speaking Mandarin, she was speaking a dialect, and some other girls ordering from her ordered her to speak Mandarin in case she was ripping them off. I have a feeling this is going to happen to me a lot. Anyway, she finally ended up making our meals, and (I think) clearly overcharging us, as I saw someone else pay 2 yuan for a dish, and we paid 15 for our two dishes. A beggar showed up around the same time, and since I had no money, I turned her away quickly. However, Jessica was in the middle of paying, so I warned her, and the beggar kept pushing in towards Jessica, and holding out her collection tray, right next to the cash (literally not an inch away from the money the entire time). The worst part is that the cooking lady came around the table and handed the money to Jessica in a clearly visible manner to the beggar, to make sure the beggar was within reach. She was helping the beggar see, and access the money. Jessica brushed past the beggar and finally we got out of there with our food.
We got back to the hotel, and lo and behold! A white person! Her name is Jenny, and she works at the school Chris is going to be working at. She arranged everything, so we'd stay at her apartment, and her friends' apartments. The funniest part is that she stood out so much just for being white that I recognized her as someone who walked by Starbucks earlier. It turns out that her friend (Jordana) also walked by Starbucks and saw us as well. I'd say it's a small world, but white people stick out like a sore thumb here, so I wasn't surprised.
We got to Jenny's apartment, and finally got to put down all of our luggage. We all chatted and finally ate. At this point, I think the four of us had been up for about 30 hours, but we were wired. We met Jenny's friends, and all split up. Jessica and I stayed with Jenny, Alex went upstairs and slept in Jordana's apartment and Chris slept at Thomas' apartment. I got to plug in my laptop for the first time since before the plane ride (That's when I started this whole list of events). Still no Internet though, China has an astounding lack of wireless access points. And an odd smell I can't quite place. Somewhere between fish and burning oil, with a bit of Toronto air mixed in.
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