Greg and Kat's blog

The University had a driver meet me at the airport and take me to my apartment. I felt a certain affection for Mr. Li. He spoke about as much English as I speak Chinese. I think we bonded. He liked something about Canada: maybe a singer.

Amy Gu was kind enough to meet me at the apartment. She helped me figure out the heat in my room, which was a life saver. There will be more to say about heating and infrastructure in another post.

After she left, I realized there was no kettle in the room. A hotplate but no pots. No way to boil water. No drinking water. After a brief panic, I found a nearby market still open with bottled water. Also a coffee shop with Internet, so I could at least email Kat.

[Note to self: never arrive in a completely foreign city after dark. Critical things are closed, and it’s much harder to navigate.]

After I got back, the exchange students upstairs told me that there was a breaker for the hot water heater, and life started to look up.

I woke up this morning to snow. An inch of wet nasty snow on the ground, and still falling. When I opened the curtains, I actually said out loud (to no one) “I’m going back to the Philippines.” As I recall, snow is pretty rare in Hangzhou, so it should disappear soon.

Hopefully the phone stores are open this morning and I can get a local SIM with some data. With a little more luck, Amy will be able to find somebody to figure out the Internet in my room and I’ll be properly connected.

Quick update in the afternoon: have a phone with data at least. Snow is mostly melted.