Hello (finally) everybody!

Sorry for the delay in posting. I can't get onto the blogger website from theinternet cafe here in China (local controls or something?) so I'm having to e-mail the posts to John and have him post them for me. It's been quite a week- I can't believe I've been in China for a week, how's that for wild - and rightnow I'm a little tired.
My first couple of days here were pretty difficult. After THE LONGEST FLIGHT INTHE WORLD, and of course one on which my vegetarian meals were never ordered soI had to go fifteen hours without eating, I finally got into a very quietBeijing airport. Then the airline lost my luggage. Then I somehow got scammedinto a taxi ride to my hotel that cost 450 RMB (about $50). The actual runningrate should be somewhere closer to 100 RMB. I went for two days without any ofmy things, and although things are remarkably cheap here - and I do mean CHEAP -the Chinese just don't seem to make underwear in my size.
But I finally got my luggage back a couple of days later, thank goodness, andthings have kind of been looking up since then. China is an amazing place; ourhotel is right on Lake Houhai, Beijing's latest hip night spot - who knewBeijing had hip night spots? - and it's a really beautiful neighborhood. Itbacks up to one of the oldest neighborhoods in Beijing, rows of courtyard housesthat you'd probably recognize from Kung Fu movies called Hutongs, which has beenreally fascinating. Some of these houses are 600 years old. I've never seenanything 600 years old. Unfortunately one of the biggest hot-button issues hereis that these neighborhoods are quickly disappearing as Beijing makes a bee-linefor modernization. Every day we see crews demolishing houses, and a streetnever has the same buildings two days in a row.
We went to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square on Monday, which was trulyone of the most amazing experiences I've ever had. Especially the ForbiddenCity, which is awe-inspiringly vast and ornate in spite of the fact that it'skind of crumbling away. I kind of get the sense that the Chinese are in such aflux right now that they just don't know what to do with themselves. Trying tofind a balance between modernization and their own identity can't be easy,though to tell the truth they've been struggling with it in one form or anotherfor a couple of centuries now. These days it's just taking a different form, onethat's sort of hectic and stressed out because of the fast-approaching Olympics.
One final note before I bore everyone to death: the food here is seriously todie for (which is a good thing, because when you buy stuff on the street you'renever really sure what you're going to get). I really think that AmericanChinese food is ruined for me now; how will we ever go back to Bamboo Garden?
Ha ha.

Love to all of you,
Becca