Stranger in a strange land

Well, I'm finally here. After all the preparation, after all the anticipation, I'm here. And they're taking really good care of me. Sorry, bad hostage joke. Seriously, Beijing so far is really cool (and I mean that literally). It's cold here y'all. I haven't seen much of the city yet because I'm over here for work at the moment but that should change this weekend. Here are the highlights thus far in bullet form:

• one of the stewardesses on the short flight to Chicago sounded exactly like the soft-spoken female cop in the Police Academy movies and yes, she's the one that gave the safety speech. I'm not sure if people understood why I was laughing. I was just hoping Steve Guttenberg wasn't on the plane.
• the Beijing airport is the biggest thing I've ever seen (and the cleanest).
• it's perfectly fine to not say a single word to your driver of the past 45 minutes except "bye bye".
• real Chinese food is really good (and Alex, they actually have more than just Chinese - in case you were wondering (and I know you were)). Check that one off the list.
• there is a complete disregard for all driving rules in this country and a honk doesn't mean someone pissed you off...it means you're about to do something crazy as if to say, "Hey, watch this." This, of course, through the terrified eyes of the passenger in the back seat.
• 10 deg F sounds a lot better than -12 deg C but it's still pretty damn cold.
• jetlag's not that bad when you have no idea what time it is.

No pictures yet unless you want to see a fuel dispenser factory in China and I'm sure that's not the case. I'll post more once I get into the more fun part of the trip (and I've caught up on my sleep). Until then.

Fortune of the day - praying in a speeding car does no good unless you're driving.