Arriving in Beijing

        I was supposed to meet my friend Austin in Beijing near his school at roughly 4:30 in the afternoon. My flight arrived in Beijing at 3:00. I was supposed to take the subway. Due to some circumstances outside of my control, I entered China without any of their currency RMB or Yuan. I eventually found an ATM and proceeded to the subway station where I discovered the complete and utter lack of English skills throughout China. I asked the subway ticket agent how to get to the University stop, which was actually very easy to find. She looked at me with a completely blank stare. Fortunately, a man who spoke very little English overheard our conversation and figured out where I needed to go. He then proceeded to show me the entire way, or nearly. He essentially adopted me on the subway, made sure I followed him through the various stops, helped me buy my ticket (I was worried he was going to try and pay for me), and showed me the rest of the way to go. It was very kind of him and entirely unnecessary. The Beijing subway system is well laid out, easy to follow, and all in English (as well as Chinese of course).

        I finally arrived at my stop at about 5:30. Austin is nowhere to be found of course. Thankfully, I do have his cellphone number, which as far as I can tell is an American number (it starts with a 1 and is 11 digits long, 1 is the US country code for those of you that don't know). After unsuccessfully attempting to call on a pay phone using my credit card, I finally attempt asking the various Chinese people who are walking by if I might borrow their cell phone. The third one finally understands my hand gestures and allows me to use his phone. Austin picks me up soon after and I'm off.