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Fear and Loathing In Qingdao
What an adventure this last couple days has been! I arrived in Qingdao yesterday morning and made my way to my hotel. They didnt have record of my reservation which, in and of itself is no biggie, but combine that with a very significant language barrier and you have an interesting six hours on your hands. They switched my room a couple times and I was a little bit frustrated, but it all worked out. I walked around the city for a few hours and had a great brunch at a five star hotel (I am of the travelling philosophy that it is best to find the cheapest accomodation and eat like a champ.) After that, I finally got things situated at the crib, and, because of all the chaos, was able to find a friendly spirit that was able to help me navigate the language barrier.
This morning, I met with a real-estate agent and we searched for an apartment in some nice parts of the city. Afterwards, I met with the above mentioned friendly spirit, a local named Jack, and he and I went to the gym. Afterwards, he and his girlfriend treated me to a great dinner, Hotpot. If you haven’t tried it, you should. Similar to fondue; you choose from an assortment of fresh meats and vegetables and you dip it in a boiling bullion and then into a tasty sauce. In a word, Yummy!!
It is great to have a couple local friends right out of the gate, because it means the foriegner is less likely to get taken for a ride when it comes to apartment searches and can avoid other potential pitfalls.
Tomorrow, I am meeting with the local school here to check into a Mandarin program and then I will have a better idea of where I would like to live. This place is my favorite Chinese city so far. I did a fine job in researching cities in China, and this place has it all; great restaurants, shopping centers, and gyms. The city is also very clean and has a wonderful waterfront. Yesterday the weather was splendid and lots of people were out there flying their kites, etc. I am still working out the kinks and will be able to put together some proper posts over the next few days.
By Adam | Permalink
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Dear Adam: Sounds like Stranger in a Strange Land, but admire hooking up with Jack and his GF for the hotpot, the gym, and the apt. Where in the world is this place? Large city? Far from the coast and Beijing? Any hot babes? Admire your stick-to-it-iveness of going back to China and making a go of the language. Mandarin — we’ll all be speaking it soon, eh? Post regularly. Best, David Jory (Like my Chinois-nom de plumes?
Hi Adam,
fantastique update… wish you good luck for your new life!
Cheers Beat
Glad to hear you landed safely in China and I am looking forward to following your adventures and learning about the do/don’t in Chinese culture.
Good luck Adam!
-RG
Love your new web site. I will be watching it often. Glad you are surviving. Zippy and I are really missing you.
Love, Mom
hello,guys. I’m Jack,Adam’s Chinese friend .Glad to seen your comments. I’ll do my best to help Adam become a Chinese. hahaha
What an interesting site. I will definitely be using your experiences to plan my trip coming in the fall. I have also used the links here to arrange tickets and such, they were very helpful. I wish there were more sites such as this to let people know of experiences in deifferent lands. I will pass this along to all of my friends who travel. What a terrific resource.
Qingdao sounds great, Adam; especially the ‘clean’ part. I’ll be keeping tabs on your adventures - keep the stories coming. Training will keep me stateside for a while, but first chance I get I’ll be back over there. Hope all continues to go well.
Regards,
J.B.
Nice! I love to hear about people enjoying fondue around the world as it is one of my favorite things ever 
Glad to hear you are doing well and i will absolutely keep an eye on this new site of yours
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Hi Adam!
Wow - fabulous adventures. I think this is a brilliant idea, blazing a trail and describing the journey for all those out there who dream of doing the same thing.
Please share some photos when you can!
Take care out there… until our paths cross again,
Stephanie