The train rolled into Beijing Rail Station right on time, 7AM. A huge crowd of people gathered in front of the station, I couldn’t find my contact Jake. I found someone with a phone, pointed to Chinese characters for “Mobile Phone” in my phrasebook and he dialed Jake’s number for me. So then we finally met and we drove to the family’s home. I met the husband and wife and I think they are just a few years older than me. Later I went to see the language center. They told me the center was “right in downtown” and the family lived “very close,” but I don’t know if I would say those things.
Today, my hosts and I went to a supermarket (similar to Wal-Mart), and then a nice Chinese restaurant for lunch. The other side of the deal is this family wants to practice English with me, so they are having many conversations with me. Then they cooked some dinner (some Xian area specialty), and later had some watermelon.
I’ll talk some more about the place later. No proper wireless in this home and the ADSL internet connection is charged by the hour, so kind of strange. Tomorrow is my first day of school. 1:30PM – 4PM I’m going to have some language classes.