Keith- Reflections of first day in China
My first thoughts on arrival in the Beijing airport were that it was not nearly as big and crowded as I expected. Maybe it was the time of the day or week, but it was far less frantic and crowded than any large US city airport. The flight itself was fine – 14 hours on a plane is just a long time even if you can sleep some. Being about 6’6” tall I was thankful to secure an exit row for leg room.
Stepping outside I was struck by how clear and bright it was – a Carolina Blue sky to welcome this Tar Heel. After hearing how bad the air quality is in Beijing, we were all pleasantly surprised. We are staying at a conference center about 30 miles north of central Beijing in a mountainous district name Huairou. The conference center (and the Science Challenge itself) is on the campus of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. The drive up from the airport by bus was standard highway driving. In fact, since the Chinese drive on the same side of the road as we do in US and the stoplight and road signs are configured similarly, it really seemed a lot like I-40 and the cars were similar too – Buicks, Volkswagens, Audis, Range Rovers, etc. The campus is very new and the surrounding picturesque.
I actually didn’t feel any real effects of jet lag the first night. But it was strange trying to get my head wrapped around the time difference and basically losing a day in travel. The fact we are exactly 12 hours ahead makes it easy to know what time it is back home, but it is still strange to text with my wife and daughter in the morning and it is bedtime the night before.
The four students from NC are terrific kids. Obviously they are very bright, but also very kind and talkative even with us old folks! Once on the ground we were me by three Chinese college students who are our hosts/translators for the week. Iris, Sherleen and Jeremy. Jeremy is by far the most outgoing and talkative of the three. He’s also been to the US a couple of times (New Orleans and Houston) and West Coast whereas Iris and Sherleen have not. I spent much time at dinner asking them about social media in China as I was aware of some government restrictions. Basically they cannot access Facebook or Twitter in China and most Google functions are blocked unless you create a private network. If you are an American using a US device (like my iPhone on Verizon) you can access Facebook and all other sites. But if you connect via Wi-Fi you cannot. But the Chinese are very connected nonetheless and use other platforms like WeChat and text a lot. They have Apple, Samsung, etc. Being a communications guy at heart I was interested in how all that worked.
Tomorrow we have our first full day with a planned trip to the Great Wall of China at Badaling. Going to bed very excited for tomorrow.
