The FIRST Day, it was a long one!

Hey There Lovely People

I am hoping that this update is actually posted as the blogger website is
actually band. I apologize in advance if this update doesn't make a whole
lot of sense. I have seen away for 26 hours and had 4 hours sleep since we
left Nelson yesterday at 7pm. Where to start. I feel like so much has
happened, it's hard to distinguish between where the day starts and ends!

How about the start?
We left Nelson at 6.50pm yesterday heading to Auckland. Chelsea Whyte
(Chelk) was also on the same flights with us through to Hong Kong, which was
super cool as we got to hang out in Auckland and get some Kai together! Our
flight was a midnight departure.

Luckily after establishing a friendship with 'Ralph' the air hostess John
was able to move to row 53 which had extra leg room. This meant that Ash and
I were able to have a bit more room. We were served dinner two hours into
the flight and shortly after we attempted to sleep. It's kind of ironic but
I had forgotten how long a 'long-haul' flight actually was. The only way I
knew I had been sleeping was when I woke up. Had a weird as dreams too! I
think we got about four hours sleep. At 3.30am Hangzhou time we were woken
for breakfast, this was scrambled eggs! Yum! It was only soon after this we
were preparing to land.

At 6am (Hangzhou time unless stated otherwise) we arrived at Hong Kong
International Airport. It was still dark so we didn't get to see much as we
landed. We said goodbye to Chelk as she transited for her flight to London
(WHAT A TROOPER!). We then cleared security and walked for about 2k to our
gate for our domestic flight with Dragon Airways to Hangzhou. We had to
catch a bus across to the Island at the airport.. was kind of weird. The
flight to Hangzhou was nice, we had a second breakfast - I opted for dim
sun? I guess that's what it's called.. was yum!

At 10am we arrived at Hangzhou, had not problems clearing customs, although
there were a few tense moments. It's funny how another country and a
completely different language can cause you to feel uneasy at times. We
collect our bags.. they all turned up!!! We were met at the gate and driven
to our apartment. Our home away from home for the next three weeks. The
driving over hear is completely crazy. Kim Lyon warned me about it but
nothing can prepare you for it. It's like there are NO road rules and
everyone changes lanes and shifts between the two at pace.. crazy!

We then checked out our apartments, I also discovered that my phone will not
connect or recognize the carriers over here. Its set to automatic but also
gives me the choice of CHN-UNICOM or CHINA MOBILE. Neither or which will
give me service. Which is weird because I had service in Hong Kong? If
anyone has any advice or knows how to fix this it would be soooo
appreciated! The other strange thing is that Ashleigh and Johns phone's
connected fine, with telecom also but don't have an iPhone! How does this
work.. not cool.

Anyway.... We then had a shower and started to feel slightly human again,
was 23 hours in flights / airports / transit etc before we arrived here! We
then decided to go for a walk to Wu-Mart which is the supermarket here.
John took us through one shopping mall.. It was filled with shoe shops as
far as the eye could see, cheap ones that come in every shape, size and
colour. Although we have noticed that EVERYTHING has bling on it. It's
crazy! We went looked at female fashion and males fashion, bags.. you name
it we saw it.. crazy!

Following this we walked back towards Wu-Mart and found another shopping
mall that was slightly more up class.. found two cool as jackets.. SO going
back to get them tomorrow. Hangzhou are heading into winter and there are so
many cool jackets and blazers here! I like almost everyone I see.. We
decided that today was the information gathering mission and that tomorrow
we will purchase. We then entered the supermarket... oh wow! Imagine what
it's like in our local supermarkets when its Christmas time and multiply by
about 100 and then your close to the amount of people that were there. It
took two escalators to get to the right floor to purchase food. We that was
another experience all in itself. Have you ever tried to buy everyday items
in another language that you don't understand! It was awesome.. I brought
two 2 litres of juice, a six pack of coke, two packets of what I think are
potato chips, some yoghurt and a duck meal from the deli for dinner which
totaled approx $12 NZD!

The struggle for today is to stay awake to a reasonable time to reset the
body clock. After eating some chips and realizing that there is nothing to
do in the evenings (the tv channels are all in Chinese and most the awesome
websites are banned :-() we went down and hang out with John. This lead
into a walk around the block, it was about 7pm and a nice temperature. We
ended up back at Wu-Mart and looking at more clothes! Mum I think I have
found a sweet present for you!

We then walked back to the apartments. I then went to make my bed and got
the biggest fright and a cockroach greeted me! I ran down stairs and made
John deal with it.. we found two and threw them off the 9th floor... ha! To
clarify they were under the bed not in the bed.. although I am still a big
scared about going to bed!

HIGHLIGHTS:
* Arriving safe with our bags
* Seeing the city and gaining a taste of what it's like for our
International students at NMIT
* Talking with my Mumma on Skype (Mummy's girl if you haven't already
gathered)

LOW LIGHTS:
* Cockroaches!
* The mopping of the shower to stop the water running out of the
bathroom!
Takes like an extra ten minutes to shower.. the drain is raised so the water
battles!
* Cellphone not working :-(

INTERESTING:
John warned us that we would be looked at as we are Blonde.. I got this but
I didn't get this! It's like we are celebrities.. seriously everyone is
looking at you when you walk down the street or in the supermarket. Some
pretend they aren't looking, others acknowledge you and ask where you are
from other yell hello. Something to get used to I guess.

People spit over here.. they clear their throats and spit. It's so sick and
I hate hearing the sound.. But they when in Rome.. who am I to judge?

'Whispering Death' was a term John always used that I never understood. I do
now. He was referring to the scooters and bikes that people run around in.
You see the cars but sometimes not the bikes.. its full on you always have
to be paying attention to what's going on and where you are walking.

The footpaths and roads here lack the foundation. Apparently this is so
that the workers can come back a year later and have work to do.. It makes
sense in a messed up way. But seams to strange when you are walking down
the street.

Ok beautiful people. Its 2.30am NZ time and 9.30pm here.. it's time for me
to crawl into bed. CHINA is incredible, learning so much, seeing so much
and experiencing so much and its only been one day.

Will post some photos tomorrow.

Much love xx

Lucy

(Could someone post or email to say that this has successfully uploaded?)