Yantai is my Home

So, I arrived in Yantai yesterday at around 12:40pm Beijing Time. As soon as I got into the baggage area, I looked for my name beyond the claims area. There was my name spelled correctly on a sign. Steve, my foreign experts liason was there to greet me and take me to my home. He wheeled my bags for me outside and we got in a Ludong University Van. Steve speaks English very well, and he explained everything. I am staying in a Hotel for now, until they get my apartment ready. The Hotel is comfortable. The staff let me borrow their power converter until I move to my apartment. I went to bed at around 7pm, because I was so tired from travelling for 27 hours! Yikes. The good thing is I woke up at around 5am, and got out the door at 6am. I took a lot of pictures as a Iwalked around, making sure not to look too touristy. I was able to purchase breakfast, with my limited Mandarin, well nonexistent Madarin skills, mostly by pointing and nodding and opening my Lonely Planet Mandarin guide. Breakfast was a cup of really sweet coffee, a bun filled with meat sauce, and some spicy cucmbers; mmmmm. I enjoyed it, and I feel great. I have spent the last two hours wandering around, looking ofr the ocean. I saw the sun rise, and remembered: the sun rises in the east, so I headed that way. However, the coast is not completely easterly in Yantai, so I never found it. I did remember that the breeze usually comes in off the coast, so if I don't find a good map tomorrow morning, I will head towards the direction of the breeze.

I am in an internet cafe now (1 yuan), and there are about 80 computers all lined up neatly. Nobody has tried to haggle me about prices yet. In fact except for the very seldom surprised look, I feel right at home. Every once in a while someone cocks their head sideways in surprise and gawks for a moment, but I keep my eyes glued to my path or destination and make an effort to look purposeful. The town is fairly divided. The area adjacent to the campus is door after door after sign after sign of little internet cafes, restaurants, convenience stores, and pharmacies. Where I ended up while looking for the ocean, every building was a big more western style looking building, with big clear windows and large doors.

I saw a bunch of dogs walking around. One really cute little black and brown dog followed me for a while.

I will upload my photos when my internet connection comes up.