Hello Goodbye

RIP Camera #1. I got a call from the service center telling me that my camera would take 1-3 weeks (more expensive to get it done in 1 week) and would cost at least Y1000. I was pretty disappointed to hear the news. I actually had to give my phone to another person to translate for me, so I was mad when they told me the news. I had to go pick up my old camera at the service center and I put the wounded camera to rest. Since this was many people in my group's last night in Beijing, we were all planning a dinner and going out party for them. Before I went back to our new apartment, I decided to browse around for a camera. I went to one camera store and found my exact same camera. This time it was Y2980. That is about $435. No way was I about to pay that much for Camera #2. Especially because I feel really bad that my old one already broke. I talked with the camera man and I told him that a store by my apartment has the camera for Y2300. He immediately told me OK OK, I give you cheap price. Y2300. I knew right away that I was going to be able to bargain my camera down to the price I wanted to pay. So then I began to pull the guilt card and I explained to him that I'm a student and that someone broke my camera and I don't have a lot of money and that my parents told me I can't spend more than this amount of money and the whole works. I wasn't about to get teary eyed over this, but I have to say my skills worked pretty well and I got him down to Y1600. That is almost half the original price. But I was still feeling greedy so I pulled the "walk away" card, where you begin to walk away and they usually lower it a little bit more. Well, I shouldn't push my luck because he let me go. I went into another camera store and did basically the same thing and got it down to Y1600. They wouldn't go any lower though. I tried the walk away and they didn't buy it. I knew that that was probably the lowest any of them would go. I tried a third place and after much haggling, I still couldn't get it below Y1600. I figured I've reached the lowest I could have gone. Camera #2 is now being safely hauled around in my camera bag that I wear like a tourist around my neck. It's pretty sweet and the ladies love it. I think I look like my dad.
I had to jet back to my apartment and shower before dinner and we headed out. We went to a noodle place that made the noodles in front of you. It was pretty good dinnertime TV watching the chefs in the back toss yards and yards of noodles across the kitchen into the pans. They were slicing balls of dough with sharp knives and chopping thin strips of dough into wide noodles. Pretty cool and great tasting food. We went out to Sanlitun Bar District afterwards where we had a great going away party for the girls. They had to catch an early flight out so they left a little bit earlier. The night ended with me, Jim and Adam sometime in the early hours of the morning.
Having such a late night, moving in the next morning was glorious. I had about 4 hours of sleep and hadn't even finished packing. Kirt, a CYCAN leader, helped move me out. Jim and Devon had arranged to move in in the afternoon, but I knew how long moving in can take, so I figured I'd rather get moved in early. I'm pretty lucky I opted for the early move in because Kirt was a fearless warrior. Had it not been for him, I'm pretty sure moving in would have been hell. First things first, my luggage. I already have hoards of junk to squeeze into to suitcases, not to mention all of the stuff I took from our apartment. These items include: toilet paper, shampoo, body wash, laundry basket, tupperware, iced tea, water, instant noodles, powerstrips, converters and other random stuff. Kirt and I were able to get it down in one trip. When we got to my university, it was pretty hard to find building 5 because none of the buildings have numbers on the sides. But Kirt speaks Chinese, so he figured it out after asking a few people. Then, when I was registering, they couldn't find my name in the computer, but Kirt figured that problem out too. I'm also on the 6th floor of my elevator-less building. See first item. (luggage).
All in all, moving in wasn't tough, but I wouldn't have been able to do it without the CYCAN leader. Also, our apartments are awesome. Imagine hotel room with kitchen. The bathroom is a little bit tight. It is very small, a sink and a toilet. The shower nozzle sticks out from the wall right in the middle of the two, so the water pretty much drains through the sink and gets all over the toilet seat. It isn't as bad as it looks or sounds. The beds are extremely comfortable and we have our own patio outside that we can dry our clothes on. I'm really glad I moved in early because when Jimmy and Devon moved in, I was able to get them moved in fairly quick. We had a TBC dinner that night, and it poured on the way over. We got to meet a lot of people and right now we're just trying to remember names. There are a lot of kids from St. Louis Univ., Loyola Chicago, Loyola Maryland, Loyola Marymount (LA), Fordham, Gonzaga, and a few from Marquette and other schools. The Beijing Center is a great program and we keep finding out more and more details about what we're doing for our Silk Road trip. I'll probably write more about that in the next post. After dinner, Jim, Devon, Devon's roommate Brittany, and I went out to get to know a few more people. A lot of our classmates arrived yesterday so they are all jetlagged and tired. I'm really glad I've been here for 22 days because I couldn't imagine getting here and having to leave soon. Our Silk Road trip leaves at 5AM on Sunday, which is 3PM MST on Saturday. I had orientation today too but I dont have time to write about it now. I'll let you know tomorrow what I've learned.