Thursday 30 July 2009

Arrival = Quarantine

I'm here and it's all good, although due to the swine flu paranoia here it's not exactly an ideal situation. After arriving in the vast, airy and sparkling Beijing airport we were all given facemasks and then took a coach to a hotel the other side of Beijing, so we got to see a bit of the city which looks totally fascinating and crazy.

We may be in a plush 4 star hotel but we are confined here for a week. Twice a day we have our temperature taken and when walking around the hotel we are meant to wear our masks, but that rule has been allowed to slide I think. It's very frustrating being in central Beijing but not getting to go out and explore the many sights, temples and shopping complexes we are close to. I've been randomly allocated a room with this Swedish guy called Love (pronounced Loo - vey) and he is awesome. He's very... Swedish, but also chilled and an interesting guy and we get along well. In particular we love a lot of the same tv shows - he seems to only watch English and American stuff. Luckily he bought a Wii and laptop with him which has saved us. So much free time and nowhere to go.

Just can't wait to start the TEFL course and get to the uni campus!










View from hotel window