Ni hao!

I'm here:
I've safely arrived in Beijing and it is RIDICULOUSLY hot! The time is 12 hours from Eastern Time, so I haven't changed my watch, but I'm still adjusting to the change. I'll be teaching English classes to freshman at Tsinghua University (they call it the MIT of China) starting Monday. Other than being a little confused about how things work around here, I'm looking forward to it.
The flight:
Leaving Chicago, we sat on the plane (in the heat) for nearly 2 hours before we took off. There were some maintenance problems, so of course everyone was a little nervous, but once we were in the air it was fine. Oh, except for the fact that my friend Hillary and I were all the way in the back and couldn't see the movie screens. So, I missed the 5 movies they showed... It's ok- I really wasn't dying to see Robots or the Vin Diesel movie. Didn't eat most of my first meal either- all they had was beef by the time they got to us... gee, thanks United. Well, all that matters is that we arrived safely and the Tsinghua students are taking VERY good care of us.
Other news:
We purchased bikes yesterday (only $21!!!) and it's worked out pretty well so far. Many students say it's difficult to keep the same bike for all of their years in college because they usually get stolen. Some seniors are on their 3rd or 4th bike. Hopefully we'll be ok...