Xi'an, day one.

Just arrived in Xi'an. First impression--I'm loving it. It's big and crazy and dirty and loud. Reminds me slightly of Cairo, but everyone is Chinese. I'm back to the whole adrenaline rush when you cross the street. My favorite. Tomorrow we are going to visit the Muslim quarter. I'm really looking forward to it. Speaking of Muslim, I am realizing, to my chagrin, that I am quickly losing my Arabic. I couldn't remember the word for 'friend' today, and a couple days ago I couldn't come up with the number seven for the life of me. It makes me sad. I wish I brought my Arabic stuff so I could review...

We are living for two weeks in one of the universities here. Our rooms are fabulous. It is cold here, but we have actual heat and it's phenomenal. Central heating. What a concept. Xian, I love you. The building we're in is basically a hotel. Our room gets cleaned everyday, beds made, etc. Beautiful. Actually, one of my favorite parts of Xi'an thus far (we've only been here for half a day so I have limited moments to choose from) is the grocery store. There is a HUGE supermarket right around the corner from the university. I've gotten SO tired of the dinky "supermarket" (thought there's nothing super about it) we go to in Xiamen. There is never anything new or exciting there. Nothing ever changes, and there isn't even that much to choose from to begin with. To be able to go grocery shopping in a store with seemingly limitless isles was quite the treat. I enjoyed every minute of it.

We are only traveling around for three weeks, but somehow I managed to fill my entire suitcase. I don't even know how that works. I used the same suitcase to go to France for 6 weeks, the same suitcase to go to China for 4 months, and now the same suitcase to travel for 3 weeks. Each time it's been filled to the brim. How does that even work? I don't know. I don't think that packing is one of my strong suits. It stresses me out and then I don't get anything done. I'm sure my mother could testify to that fact. I seem to remember that packing to come to China involved me sitting on my bed and my mom holding up, one by one, every article of clothing I owned and asking if I wanted to take it. The whole afternoon I sat on my bed answering yes or no, while my mom folded. Good times. I love my mom.