Beige-and-gray-jing, China

Greetings from Beijing! I can't see sun, clouds, or blue sky for that matter. The smog causes constant grayness and dust everywhere! It's been 3 days, and I have already been blasted with a gale of dirt and dust, yanked around by the wind, and soaked from a monsoon. I have also gotten lost on campus, learned to bike with no hands, and gotten ripped off on a few Chinese purchases. I have eaten fake pizza and fake McDonalds, but I have also eaten good rice and have started perfecting my chopsticks skills. Not in the least, I have a new name: Lee Meiguei. My new Tsinghua friends helped me make it up. Lee is my family name and Meiguei is Chinese for "roses". It sounds really pretty! Chinese people say their last name before their first name. Chinese in general is a complicated language because there are four tones. So, one sound could mean four different things depending on the tone you use for it. By the way, the only people who can speak English are children and some Tsinghua students (but even then you have to speak v..e..r..y.....s..l..o..w..l..y!
I'm getting the basics down for getting around! I have learned "hello", "bottle of water", "this", "thank you", "yes", "no", "I don't understand Chinese", "I understand Chinese", "I am American", "I am Canadian", "one", "two", "three", "four", "Tsinghua University Northeast Gate", "I love you", and "I want chicken".