I've Landed...

I'm here. I'm exhausted.

Phone number: 011-86-1-64492491. Feel free to call me, as it's much easier and cheaper for people to call me than for me to call the States because I cannot figure out how to use Chinese phones and cards - to make any call on a phone here, you need a card, and the instructions are in Chinese and I can't figure out how to call my phone card number, which would enable me to call the States. As I write this, the time here is 4:08 PM, and it is 3:08 AM EST, which means that I am 13 hours ahead.

Some initial thoughts though:
1. Every time I cross the street, I am risking my life here.
2. Diet Pepsi is not everywhere, as it should be for addicts like me.
3. Showering is a challenge to say the least, and should be an Olympic event in the 2008 games.
4. I suck at chopsticks. A lot.
5. The beds here are rock-hard. Ouch.
6. There is a persistent smell which I cannot identify or classify, and it follows you around and permeates all things, like my bed. It smells like smoke and dust among other things.
7. The lighting here is dim or nuclear-fluorescent-bright. There is no in-between.

Pictures will follow. I have had fun trying to buy toiletries here... you'll see why when I post pics.