Where is Gali(nette)?

So... Beijing. I like it here and when I first set foot in the airport and on the trip from the airport I was thinking "yeah, I could totally live here, heck I think that when I'm done with my PhD, I'll move to Beijing." Now my feelings have changed a bit. I don't think I could live here. It's mainly the people, I do not feel any connection with them. I love Finland mainly because Finnish people and I get along so well and the moment I saw them, I knew I loved them all. I may make fun of them or say how weird they are but they are still the most wonderful set of people I have ever met in my life.

I'm not saying that every inhabitant of Beijing is like the people I saw on the street today or in the hotel. There might be people I would love, the guy at the Chinese Embassy in Helsinki was awesome, but then again maybe Finland has gotten to him. It's not the language, I think Chinese is great, I love listening to the radio here, I might even go as far as saying that I like it more than Finnish. It's the people. There is just something in me that does not agree with them. It's not like they're looking at me like I'm a circus freak, actually I was rather surprised today in town at how most people did not even seem to notice me, just one guy tried saying "hello" and another turned his head to get another look when he passed me on his bike. I must say that was a rather pleasant surprise, I was expecting so much worse from everything I've read about Beijing. Most likely it's because I was just wearing my "work" clothes (they're never touristy) and walking along without a camera and with something that looks like a purpose.

As you can guess, I'm just writing this whole thing up because I feel bad saying "second thought, this place is not for me". Given the chance, I would move here but not without somehow regretting part of it. Most likely this is all due to culture shock, I'm not really used to the ways of people here and it all just seems so less refined. I bet that it's just because it's a major city, I have to plan a longer trip in smaller cities and in "real" China. Indeed, I do believe that Beijing, like Hong Kong, must have its own culture and everything.

We'll how it all changes tomorrow. After I give my presentation in the morning, I signed up for a trip to the most visited part of the Great Wall, it was rather cheap and it will mostly be with French people, I will be able to complain about it in all impunity. This is supposed to finish at 6pm, so I think tonight I'll make a plan of all the places/stores I want to visit and I'll try to get some of that done tomorrow night. Sadly enough it gets dark so fast here that I will only get a limited amount of time.

Man. I am so hardcore geek I even scare myself right now. At the hotel I had the choice between no internet in my room, 10 yuan for 1 hour, 50 yuan for 1 day or 160 for a month. Well, since I'm here till Sunday, I decided I couldn't live without my phone and my internets so here I am.

And of course, first thing I got was the annoying Firewall of China so I geeked my way out of it in exactly two seconds. I rule this world. But seriously, they wouldn't let me IRC, how could I survive that? Internets and no IRC? Mean people.

Oh yeah, and the hotel? Holly shit molly, it's awesome. Like seriously awesome beyond words.