First Day Blitz

I am feeling weary at the moment, it is nearing the end of my first day in Kunming and things have not been everything I could have expected; but in some ways they have gone so much better. On the plane I was one of three foreigners, a boy with a cast on both his right leg and right arm and a girl who reminded me of a mid afternoon breeze through a thick forest. Her name, I later discovered was Hannah and she is from Slovenia. She has been living in Kunming for the past year and while she described her Chinese home to me as a ‘concrete jungle’, she happily offered to show me round. Her nature was both zestful and relaxed and a cynical humor perfumed her disposition. My day was going well under her wing, but later we discovered I had gone to the wrong university and in fact needed to go a little further down the road; not a problem except for the 20kg luggage I was carrying with me. Finally, upon arrival I was bombarded in true Chinese style with a sea of instructions before being told that I would shortly need to take a language test – then and there – in order to determine which class I would be put into. This I found distressing because I was weary, dirty and hungry and being asked to expel all my academic potential without warning. Alas, I felt that the test result will be a complete failure and I bare nearly guessed the entire last section; more out of lack of care more than anything else. I just wanted to retreat to my dormitory and let cool water run over my body until I felt human again. Alas, I was told something I couldn’t quite understand about my dormitory not being ready until tomorrow and I would need to stay in the student hostel until then. Ai-ya! I did keep in good spirits and I know that one cannot expect much more from Chinese bureaucracy, but somewhere between trying to find this International Hostel (which isn’t as cool as it sounds) and typing this entry, my spirits have waned. I still do find myself in some great fortunes; the girl I am sharing my room with tonight is from Thailand and does not speak English so we both have to practice our Mandarin in order to communicate. I think this is rather cool, and was pleased to take a walk around with her and get some local foods as an evening meal.