Made it to Guangzhou

After 4 airports, 3 flights, and about 20 hours of flying, I finally made it to Guangzhou.

One bit of bad news: I lost my one big check-in luggage backpack! Somewhere along the way it must have been misplaced or something, because the last time I saw it was in St Louis, and I never saw it at baggage claim in Guangzhou. I filed a report at the airport and a teacher at my school, Susan, is talking to the people at the airport to find out the status of my luggage. I really hope I can get it back eventually, I have some important things in there.

The teacher Susan came to pick me up at the airport and take me to the school the night I arrived. She gave me my apartment key and led me to my 10th floor single apartment where I finally got some sleep after all the flying. Though it needs some moderate cleaning, my apartment is pretty nice. I can see Baiyun Mountain from my back patio.

Guangzhou is pretty hot and humid, but it's nothing I'm not use to after being in Missouri the past month or so. Besides the warm temperatures, I was expecting the air pollution to be pretty awful, with Guangzhou being China's third largest city. However, so far the air seems pretty good, at least in my region - I live in Baiyun District, up north aways from the city center. Instead of the pollution being all-present, it seems to come in bursts, like when a big truck passes by or you walk by a small factory.

Yesterday, Susan and Lilian (the English speaking teachers), the school headmaster, and a couple other school officials and I went down the street to eat lunch at a Hakka restaurant. Like many nice Chinese restaurants, we had our own private dining room and sat around a table with a big lazy-susan that the waitresses set different dishes on, including roast goose, chicken, bamboo chutes and other things along with Hakka wine, which is a stange drink that's like a sweet, moderately alcoholic cooking sauce.

I've been taking some photos, but since my camera cable is with my lost luggage, I can't upload any photos yet. I really hope they can find it and send it to Guangzhou soon.