This Bird's Word

Don’t worry, I’m not calling you Surely.

Last time we had a little chat I had just found a place to live. Things are slowly calming down. As much as they can “calm down” in Chinerland. Yes, I have a place to live and it is the hottest new bachelors pad in Kunming. And don’t you fret I am uploading pictures as we speak. Yes, yes, I know it is a little bland right now, but just wait till I put the Club 21 spin on her.

So Friday rolled around, I grabbed my bags and headed on over to the new “rice pad”, thank you dad for the clever name. The landlord had promised me a couch, and woah did he surprise me with a LEATHER couch! Heck yes sir. I was anticipating a flowery, oriental, plaidstripedpolkadot but no, my landlord is the MAN and hooked me up with some quality brown leather. Alright, I have spent way too long describing this couch; however, it is more than a couch. That baby is also my bed because the mattress I currently own is about 3 inches in depth. Not the best for mah spinal column. And I have curtains! Long story, I spent too long on my couch, maybe I’ll tell it later if I have nothing else to talk about.

Friday: Move in. Then I hit up “The Hump” with my new found friends Sarah (the lifesaver) and Carly her roommate. The Hump is one of the most famous hostels in Kunming where all types of fellows and gentleladies kick back (Saw some killer dreads…my mullet may be having some work done to it, I’ll letchya know don’t worry.)

Saturday began my quest for my scooter. The BEST, most logical, rational, environmental AND most enjoyable mode of transportation ever created by man. Minus maybe a Harley Sportster. The scooter consists of: two low pressure wheels, a weak battery, sketch steering, and a throttle more sensitive than my left big toe (it’s given me trouble for yeeeaaars.) I lucked out and purchased the infamous personally dubbed “lil red dragon.” This sucker can fly. I’ve already mastered down the weave, the head on traffic dodge, public-bus leap, and taxi swerve. Okay…so the bus one is a lie, but don’t worry I’m careful, I use my mirrors

I witnessed two girls get their noses pierced. Ouch. OUCH. Enough said.

Today was great. Got to hear some truth spoken and had some great fellowship chill time. Tomorrow the plan is to finally get my schedule! Maybe get some internet in the pad, the B pad that is. OH yah and get a bike. I was given the name of a local bike shop by a friend and they gave me a sweet discount and they take expeditions out every Saturday into the nearby villages! At least that’s what I could collect from  his broken English and my fractured Chinese. All in all, we may have a very prosperous future ahead of us!

AHHH! I cannot believe I almost forgot. In all this blogging and updating, the best night in Kunming almost slipped through the inner workings of the world wide web. I was able to witness a local underground breakdance competition. I’m telling you. This was straight out of Step Up 4: Kunming Kix. But for realz. There was this one kid, I would say about 9 or 10, who broke it down better than anyone I’ve ever seen. There were crew battles, one on one take downs, one-handed handstand jump contest?, and a whispy windmill competition. It was a good night.

So I’m wrapping the weekend up with my first watch of “127 Hours.” So far so good. Hope all is well and everything’s just going swimmingly.

The Orient has taken this Bird flying

Well…this could be a long one…

Where to start? I arrived in Kunming safely! The plane was a little spotty, I was about one stomach drop from loosing the contents of my belly. Even though I made it, the little Chinese boy next to me wasn’t as lucky!

First things first. The university did one thing right, they picked us up form the airport! Things were going to be grrreat. I arrived at the university excited to get my schedule and settle into my room.

Ohhh was I wrong. Haha welcome to China, Ben. The next few hours felt like I was in the middle of enrolling in a school in China and didn’t know how to speak Chinese. Oh wait… They shoved paper after paper into my hands, asked us to pay for a tuition we had already payed, then gave us a 5 page placement exam to take in 30 minutes. PWNED. I don’t freak out very much. This was one of those few occasions. However, the best part is yet to come. After completing their exhibition of shenanigans, they told us we were “ok to leave, and to come back next week for orientation!” Oh, wait one problem…we were supposed to stay in the dorms? They forgot to mention that they were full. Ha oh just a little piece of info that would have been nice to know PRIOR to our arrival in Kunming.

This is when the Man upstairs intervened: in the form of two Polish students. They helped us sort out our misunderstanding…sort of. They were able to get us a room in the International Dorms for a week while we were supposed to find an apartment off campus. This was a daunting task seeing as we were in China and it was a small city of 6.8 million peeps.

Then my Main Man up there sent me an angel in the form of a mutual friend, shout out to Jeremiah Shaw for saving my life, Sarah. She is a former student from OU living in Kunming teaching English. She has literally driven me around for two days, on her sweeeeeet scooter, and helped me to find a place to live! I just got back from signing the lease for a studio apartment on the 18th floor in a complex called “Think UK.” It is a pretty sweet location: about a 15 minute bike ride from the university.

All things aside, I feel extremely blessed to be able to rely on Someone who is so much bigger than me. He is sovereign and has complete control. If I didn’t have Him I don’t know what I would do.

So that’s been the past 36 hoursish and it has been one crazy ride! Thanks for the thoughts/prayers: they have been felt!

This Bird is floating on

Alright I’m leaving Hong Kong in about 2 hours. So I will give a quick summary!

Big city. New York? Hustle and Bustle. British?? Trisquits and Bisquits. 2 hour meals. Big Buddah. Blind Musuem. BAT MAN! Subway Urreeeyday. Mainlanders/the rest of China. I’m still not tall . Victoria Peak=4 hour hike. Lost? Nah. Exploring. Taxi. Roads somewhat equal to moving staircases at Hogwarts. Too many people. Delicious food. Too much food. Way too much food. Coconut water. Gross. Clubs. Ha…747 mixed with Jersey Shore. Asian edition.

All and all I had a good time. It was short and sweet. I don’t think I could spend much more time in a city like this. It’s cool to see and to visit, but not the wanton in my fish head soup, smell what I’m cookin?

Well I’m gonna pack up and head outta here,

This Bird’s going to the otha side!

Top o’ the morning to ya.

I’m having a nice Sunday morning coffee time with myself in a local shop with free Wi-fi. Which apparently, is harder to find than I originally thought! Oh where to begin…

My Hong Kong adventure started with me getting dumped at the airport and having no idea where I was supposed to go. I finally contacted my friend Kelly, who I am free loading with right now in one of her many distant cousins apartments, and proceeded to take a taxi to the apartment. Kelly is also going on to study in Kunming with me. The next day was an interesting one. We aimlessly walked around in the morning, found ourselves in a museum, wondering why everyone was rubbing Aphrodite’s naked body…then someone explained to us that we were in an exhibit for the blind. Needless to say, we didn’t get much out of that. We continued to wonder around, you can see the photos from the harbor that I took that day. In the afternoon we met up with one of Kelly’s friends Sylvia, who also studied at OU but now is in law school in Hong Kong. They showed us around the city for a while then I attended one of her lectures with her and found myself with my head in my lap fast asleep. Haha I guess not much is different half way across the world…

That night we went to dinner and had a short evening because I still wasn’t adjusted to the time difference. Slept like a baby.

Now the next day was one for the books! I woke up early and wondered around the city for an hour or so, playing the role of that typical tourist with my camera slung around my neck taking obnoxious photos of everyday life I found fascinating that was oh so mundane to them. I then sat down in a coffee shop to rest for a while. Preparing for my afternoon adventure. It started with Kelly and I being whisked away from our apartment by some more of Kelly’s relatives. I was overwhelmed by a flurry of British accents and talk of trinkets, biscuits, and tea time. They were extremely accommodating and more than kind to us, giving us tips on sight seeing in Hong Kong, and fascinated that we were going to travel onto the “mainland” to study. The lunch, or the marathon feast, was incredible. We partook in traditional Dim Sum at the local Hong Kong country club and I literally ate for two and a half hours straight. As I said…incredible.

The rest of the day consisted of us aimlessly walking around in search of a couple catholic churches, which we ended up finding (I’ll put up some pictures).

……skyping with my dad hold on….you can wait 15 minutes if you want to read this in real time…..

K I’m back!

Last night I got a good dose of the night life scene in Hong Kong. We went out for someones birthday. Dinner was at Outback Steakhouse…that was comical to me.  We ate dinner and made small talk. Like I had mentioned before, Hong Kong locals do not think highly of “mainlanders” or basically anyone from China. To me, it’s just another form immature racism that is hurting this world and hindering the poor even more. BUT you guys don’t wanna hear all that

After dinner we went out to the clubs and I was able to watch some people make fools of themselves and some creepy old British dudes literally “do the creep.” Youtube it.

All and all it has been a fun weekend! Hong Kong would not be my ideal vacation. The only thing really to do here is to walk around an urban jungle and buy expensive things. Not my cup o’ tea aye mate?

Well that’s about it. I’m going to finish my coffee and try to connect with my friend Ganga on skype but it’s not looking promising….

Next time I get on here I’ll probably be with “mainlanders”…uh oh!

Well…originally I wasn’t thinking about Michael Jackson when I titled this, but I guess he deserves a little credit…I mean he IS the King of Pop.

I am supposed to be leaving my house in 45 minutes. Then I’m getting on one of those big sky planes and flying to what I hope to be an incredible adventure! This past week has sure been one crazy roller coaster. I have really come to appreciate all of the people in my life that mean so much to me. It has been such an incredibly encouraging past few days; the amount of love, support, and kind words I have received have been such a blessing.  I’m trying to find the words to describe this feeling without being disrespe…ah crap I did it again. Man, I guess pop stars have a bigger influence in my life than I thought! But in all seriousness THANK YOU to everyone who has played a role in making this past year so much fun! You guys rock. For everyone else…there’s still time! My plane doesn’t leave until 7:30 and Starbucks sounds real nice

So this is where I say Bon Voyage! Wish me luck, and I hope the next time I am updating this I am chillin with some Asian fools in Hong Kong! Oh yeah…I am staying in Hong Kong for 4 days then flying to Kunming where I will be studying at Yunnan Normal University. (Side note: they want me to take 18 hours…pshhhhhhh I just said HMD Duuuuu!)

Thanks again, I can’t say it enough. I love you guys and I’ll be back in a jiffy!

This Birds leaving on a jet plane

I guess I’m supposed to start this out sounding as though I am an expert at something. You know, to get your attention so that you would want to read all these ramblings. But I’m going to shoot you straight. This isn’t my thing. I like people, not computers. So I will do my best to keep you updated on my travels, my experiences, and my choices. However, I know I’m not special and heck I wouldn’t wanna sit down and read a bunch of people’s opinions either. So we can set this up like a friendly chat over coffee. I sure do like coffee chats.

My names Ben. You can call me Birdwell, Birdman, Birdweezey, or just Bird. My last names Birdwell also…I’m not sure why I’m explaining this, most of you…ok I’ll stop fooling myself…all of you already know who I am. I’m doing this for you guys after all. You know, so that you can live vicariously through me, that’s what it’s all about anyways, right? It’s 2:00 am and I’m trying to figure this out.

Hopefully not all of my entries will be this jumblejambled. I leave for China in approximately 124 hours. That’s about 5 days. Or less than a week. The larger you get the closer you get, you follow me? Well good luck keeping up with this, I’m already lost. I can’t believe it is actually about to happen. I will be traveling across the world to relocate for 5 months. I love adventure and I like spontaneity, so hopefully this goes as unplanned and ill prepared as can be.

So come along, jump on the train…It’s sure to be a joyful ride

That’s my word…the Bird’s word

Haha totally kidding, I won’t sign off like that EVERYtime.