Welp, I’m back in China and it feels great. My flight was non-stop this time and I even had the middle seat free so I could really stretch out. It was about as comfortable as a 14 hour flight can possibly be (read: not comfortable at all).
I was greeted by the famed fog of Beijing and it was *almost* comforting. I swear the smog oppresses the sun here worse than the Egyptians did the Israelites (or the Egyptian government did their people? Is that still topical?).
I’ve been here two days and its safe to say the the red tape and bureaucratic BS that I experienced in Shanghai is alive and well in the nation’s capitol city. Yesterday I tried to pick up my student card after I registered for classes. After waiting in line for 20 minutes, I approached the woman running the show and she explained to me that it would not be ready until today. I went to the office today and explained my desire for a new card to the same woman, being sure to reintroduce myself (as all of us laowais look the same to chinee peeps), and it was as if I was asking for her liver. She shot me a look so dirty I felt the need to bathe in Purell. Needless to say, I left the office sans card. I’ll go mingtian and hope the third times a charm.
I’m off to buy a bike and explore the city. More updates as I settle in.
Zai Jian bitches
Sucs
p.s. – (I still love parentheses)
American Paisa 
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