First Week in China

Hello everyone. We have been in Xi'an, China one week today. It is Tuesday, September 2, 2008. I have taken a few pictures, but as of yet we do not have internet access at our apartment. We are using an internet cafe on the old campus of Northwestern Polytecnical University. Each day has been an adventure. Some days better than others. It is frustrating trying to get internet, we eat things that we have never eaten or seen before. We have taken hot and cold showers, slept on beds that are definitely harder than what we are have used in the past. Shopping at the Super market is the adventure of a lifetime. We can't even read what the milk label should be. Yesterday we shopped and loaded our groceries on a modern "rickshaw" and then jumped in the back and hoped and prayed that the man would peddle us to our apartment! Sorry, no picture of that yet. Pictures are coming. We were told at BYU that "not all apartments are created equal," and that is certainly true, as our apartment is rather old, dark, dank and smelly! We have started classes at the new campus, about one hour away on modern buses. The students are wonderful, bright and very eager to learn about us and the USA. I will write more as soon as we have internet at our apartment, hopefully next week at this time! This is China!