The Pied Piper

Every few days I go to the market to supplement my rather diet of cafeteria food. I’m trying to eat more fruit and add some nuts to this lacklustre fair. I certainly will be glad to return home and eat crunchy vegetables. Do you know that they even boil their lettuce? It’s limp and slightly warm—yuck! I know that I should be thankful that I have something to eat, but I just can’t get past the fact that my lettuce is boiled.

I was at the market the other day and I noticed a young girl of about nine years old following me. I turned, said hello; she giggled, waved and ran off. A little while after that two girls were following me. This time I asked them how they were. They even answered in English, giggled and ran off. Soon, there was one more added to my entourage, all very curious as to my purchases. They followed me around, giggling and speaking to me in Chinese.

The “teacher” in me couldn’t resist, so I had them repeat the names of the produce that I was purchasing and the numbers we saw, etc. I would ask them “what is this?” and they would respond, altogether, in English. We were by the frozen food section and I had them repeat I like ice cream, yum yum. We marched around the bulk food section, repeating I like noodles, yum yum. I like cookies, yum yum.

All in day’s work!

This is the city of Xiamen (formerly known as Amoy) as we left the Ferry Terminal to go to Gulangyu. This Island is located on the Taiwan Strait. Keep going 100 km the island and you will get to Taiwan; a few more thousand kilometres and you would hit Vancouver.

This island is about 2 km long and 1 km wide with a population of 20,000 people.

Small homes (flats) line the narrow streets. You will notice that often the sink is outside. People will wash dishes, themselves and their clothes at this sink.

Of course, the streets are packed with tourists and residents. The locals say that Gulangyu is a “peaceful, relaxing” environment. I beg to differ! The crowds are similar to Best Buy on Boxing Day!

The island boasts that there are over 200 pianos on it and that most people take piano lessons. Here is an advertisement telling of the piano festival coming soon. To the right is a piano that had to be brought from the ferry to the concert hall on a cart. They still had to get the piano up a hill, so at this point the leader was gathering some recruits with brute strength to get the piano up the hill.

The island is carless and there are very few bicycles as well. People get around on foot or by handcarts. There are quite a few hills due to the rugged terrain and everything that is brought in by the ferry must be taken by handcarts to their final destination.

A day with the Paparazzi

Yesterday we went to Gulangyu Island. (Incidentally, by using my deductive skills in word formation, I have figured out that when a location name ends in “yu” it means island; when it ends with “du” it means street; when it ends with “hu” it means lake—not bad, eh? Just a few more weeks and I’ll be fluent). But I digress.
We had a 15 minute walk to the bus stop; a 45 minute bus ride; a 15 minute walk to the ferry and then a 10 minute ferry ride to the island—nothing seems easy to get to, that`s for sure. The island is only 2 square kilometres and there are still 20,000 inhabitants on the island, which I`m sure that number swells as tourists plan their day trips to the island.
The locals are prepared for the tourists as they set up their tables of wares to sell. Between the tables, tourists and umbrellas, there was not a whole lot of room to manoeuvre. There was one restaurant that had about 12 large pails, almost like the kiddie pools that you have for your children on a hot day. In each pool there was some type of marine life—sting rays, eels, crabs, fish and other identifiable species. People would get a net and pick their creature. The net with the unsuspecting being was then weighed and whisked away to the kitchen. The customer was given a piece of paper, presumably with the weight and type of creature, and let inside the restaurant while waiting for their dinner to be cooked.
I was also the subject of many photo-ops yesterday. I was sitting on the curb, merrily eating my Popsicle when I noticed a group of guys talking to each other and looking at me. Then the two brave ones came and sat down beside me while the third friend took their picture with me. They were excited to put their arm around me and have their picture taken with this blonde bombshell...I mean...Canadian. A little later I was taking some pictures and two girls stopped me and had their photo taken with me as well; each taking turns to have their picture taken with the Canadian. So, I flashed them my pearly whites and waved with each person who wanted their moment with the Canadian. I never knew that I could one day be so famous...I should have had paper with me so they could have my autograph...maybe next time.
As I write this, another Sunday has passed. I am so used to spending time with my friends in the fellowship of like-minded people. I miss that terribly. I know that some people have liked the blog and have been keeping up with my adventures. However, I am not privy to some of the everyday happenings of your life, so please, drop me an email just to give me some news about you. I can’t receive any social networking websites, but my email still works. An email with a little bit of news does wonders to help make the distance seem much shorter. I am half way through my time away—only 20 more days and I will be home!

Trip to McDonald’s

Which trip to McDonald’s would not be complete without a trip to Walmart as well. I guess it is similar to ours in Canada, although their food section contains a lot more noodles; fresh fish, crabs and some other unidentifiable marine life. This Walmart was attached to a mall where I was able to take a peek at the different stores. There were no familiar brand name stores, other than Nike. The clothes sizes are so tiny. I’m sure the sales clerks took one look at me, widened their eyes and were thinking “seriously, you really think we have your size in here?” I have a snowflake’s chance in Hades to find something to fit me! However, I did manage to find these adorable flat shoes. I’m a size 38 and it only cost me 89 Yuan or about 13 bucks!

A few other observations:

· There are “No Spitting” signs instead of “No Smoking” signs

· There is an art to walking down a crowded street with your umbrella without impaling anyone with the points

· You cannot be a polite Canadian when getting on the bus, or you’ll be at the gate until next week.

· Credit card purchases are not the norm; everyone pays cash

· Electronics do not seem cheaper here

Yep, Byron….I ate at McDonald’s.

It’s Friday night and we celebrated with the completion of Week Two of teaching by eating western at a fast food joint! The fries weren’t bad at all. A couple of children just stared at me; some brave ones came up to me, touched me and waved hello. I guess it is a rarity to have white people eat in “their” restaurant. A smile still goes a long way.

The Botanical Garden

We are getting more daring in our adventurous outings. This time we took the BRT (Bus Rapid Transit, which is bus that goes to less stops than the city bus), then we took the city bus to the Yuan Bo Yuen, which literally translates “the garden that has many gardens in the big garden.” So, you get the idea that is huge. The gardens were divided up into sections representing different landscapers or designers from many parts of China.
The landscaping, the material, and its designs all have symbolic overtones. The signs, which were in English, had phrases like “the wood represents...” or “the stones placed in this design represents...” At times, their descriptions were almost romantic or poetic.

I took pictures of many flowers...don’t ask me what they were; they just were pretty. Hopefully, I gained some brownie points with my father whose gardens are parallel to the professionals who charge admission. (I’m sure he wonders if I’m from his DNA since I can’t even get silk plants to look alive in my house!)
On a different subject...
Note to self: If the broth is tasty, don’t stir. Every meal is served with a broth. The broth often has other food items in it to make the flavour more full-bodied. I’m never sure if you are supposed to eat it or not. The other day I stirred my broth; there was a chicken foot and what looked like an eyeball in there! The moral of the story is—taste, don’t stir!

Hitting the Wall

Today has been a tough day. It was my long day of teaching in this heat. The students are adjusting to the teaching methods that I am demonstrating, but panicking over the assignments that they have to prepare. As for myself, although I am certified, I have never taught this particular course before. I have to stay one step ahead of my group of teachers and still remain confident. Because I’m not a “wait-till-the-last-moment” kind of person, I find myself preparing at the last minute which cause me a bit of anxiety.
Another thing that is causing me a bit of anxiety is our airline tickets. Because my visa is only for 30 days, I must leave the country and come back. Someone said that they would take care of this by purchasing our airline tickets to Hong Kong. So far, we have not seen the results of this offer. I have found that the Chinese are very indirect people. They will say one thing but then expect someone else to carry it out. I really don’t want this crucial item to be missed as it is being passed off to other people. We hope to go to Hong Kong over the last weekend in July.
I also find myself beginning to dread cafeteria food. The heat is still troublesome as well. So, if my circumstances come to mind, please think of me in the following situations:
• That I might persevere teaching in this heat
• That I can pace myself accordingly so that I give the appropriate amount of energy towards my classes
• That I may acquire the knowledge of the lessons and be able to explain it concisely and practically
• That I continue to have patience in dealing with a variety of levels of English competencies exhibited by the students
• That I can endure the food
I am very thankful that my colleague and I (mere strangers two weeks ago) are getting along both on a professional and a social level. I am also thankful that even though my diet has changed and my system is not acting as it usually does, I have not been sick. I’m very thankful my computer works and I am able to get Skype. Talking with family members has really thwarted feelings of deep homesickness.
Well, my dear readers, I am off to bed...it’s been a long day.

Prison Break

We had another prison break today. Sometimes, the four cement walls of my “cell”, I mean...room, become rather small. The university is outside the city centre and therefore walking to something, other than the grounds itself, becomes a necessity for my sanity’s sake. So, once again armed with the BRT stops, I replicated a hand drawn map and set out where we wanted to go.
We get the sense that the people are not that adventurous, or at least not independently so. Nancy had found on the internet a coffee street in Xiamen, which were restaurants where western food was served and a greater possibility of English speaking staff. We had asked around about directions to the street and if it were possible to get there with the BRT. We were met with responses that “no, it was impossible, you would need to take a taxi.” “It’s too far.” “It really can’t be done.” Then there was the whole dilemma of Chinese niceties whereby someone would suggest that they would take us; but we sense that is more of a polite thing to say rather than an actual gesture that they are willing to fulfill. We were sure—by our map—it could be done without a taxi and on our own.
With umbrella in hand, a map in our pocket and a spring in our step we headed out to the bus stop. This is about a 15 minute walk from the university. We rode the bus for another 45 minutes, seeing all the tall buildings both new and old; businesses both corporate and singularly owned; and a sea of people come and go off the bus. We reached the bus terminal and started to walk in the direction that we mapped out. For the most part we were walking along the Yundanghu which is a lake (not sure whether or not it is a man-made or God-designed lake). Many people were fishing or taking a nap along the path. It was quite a beautiful spot. Once we walked around a portion of the lake, we saw the street we wanted.
A 15 minute walk to the bus; a 45 minute bus ride; and a 35 minute walk by a lake and finally we were at a quaint little cafe. All this by ourselves! We sat under the umbrella at this outdoor cafe and watched the world go by. With a breeze, it was actually pleasant to sit and watch the variety of people that frequented this while sipping a chocolate latte with whip cream. I did not find the walk very difficult and yet, I get the feeling that the people here do not walk very far to places. It seems like a half hour walk is unheard of, but in any case, I’m glad that we did it.
We walked a little farther to an Italian restaurant. I ordered a chicken burger with fries (Don’t laugh, Paris. I’m always encouraging him to try new things when we are at a restaurant and he often defaults to the familiar comfort food of a good burger). It was nice to have real bread that seems fully baked. I also got an ice cold can of Sprite along with a glass filled with ice cubes! It truly was cold!! For a place that is so hot, the people really don’t seem to relish cold drinks. In fact, it is a sad fact to relate that I am getting used to room temperature water. Again, to sit on comfortable chairs (all I have in my room is a wooden desk chair), enjoy the breeze and food that I can recognize and name were just what the doctor ordered.
Soon, it was time to take our 1 ½ hour trek back home again. Another pat on the back for an adventure well done.

Canada Day

The sign said “An English talk about Canada will be given by the two Canadian teachers from Waterloo Uni. about her natural beauty, people panticularly young people, family life and life on the campus at 7:00 p,.m.” After realizing that it was not my natural beauty that they wanted me to address, we were faced with the age old question “what do we say?” Fortunately, Nancy’s (my colleague) son was able to pull some pictures for us and send them to us in a PowerPoint presentation.
About 150 students were in attendance and we showed pictures of all the provinces, territories and their capitals and highlighted the landmarks for which they are famous. We showed pictures of our towns, where we worked and of course our families. I am not sure if I was pleased or disturbed that several girls went crazy over the pictures of my two sons. We showed them how Canadians spend their leisure time especially with snow sports. Xiamen has weather like Florida, so the concept of snow is very strange to them. I think the talk went well and I hope that we were able to educate them and maybe even inspire them to expand their horizons, if not their travel plans in the future.

Odd Side by Sides

I am very intrigued by the odd juxtapositions of things around here (hey, I’m an English teacher, I’m allowed to use unique words that merely mean something is beside something else). For instance, some of the buildings on campus here are very new and very modern looking; however right beside it is a crumbled old building with window panes missing and bits of brick falling out. Garbage is strewn around the mound of rocks and stones. People are still living in what I call squalor conditions which reminds me of pictures that you see of a low housing community.
I took the bus yesterday to one of the supermarkets and I could see a variety of modes of transportation. A person will be on a moped weaving in and out of traffic with a surgical mask on, so as not to contract any airborne diseases and yet not wear a helmet while driving on a congested street where certain dismemberment or death seems almost imminent.
I sat with a beautiful young Chinese woman who looks like she’s 18 and yet she’s 30 years old. Her clothes were elegant, tasteful and very attractive; her shoes were fit for a princess. She is dainty and has the most enviable porcelain skin. Yet, she scoops her rice like a hungry wolf and talks with her mouth full!
Their education system is built on the acquisition of knowledge and it is seen as prestigious to have educational accomplishments yet the use of that knowledge is non-existent. It is all knowledge with no use; theory without practicality.
And I still, for the life of me, cannot understand how a modern building can still have public squat toilets—that’s one I’ll never figure out!

School and Studies

I may never complain about the snow and cold again! Yesterday, I was teaching all day in a room that seems to have more of a cool air exchanger rather than an air conditioner. The temperature, according to the website, was 35 C with a humidex of 43. Not to be indelicate, but I was sweating buckets! The sun seems pretty intense as well as this city is located close to the equator. I have begun to be like the local girls here and use an umbrella anytime I am outside. Instead of protection from the rain, I am using it as protection from the sun. I am drinking lots of water, but my ankles no longer exist. I must say that the weather is a huge hurdle to which I must become accustomed.
It certainly has been an interesting experience as I share ideas of how we teach in North America and the system that is established here. In our systems we are much more student centered; whereas the system here is more teacher controlled. The teacher controls the learning environment which is strictly mandated by the establishment. The teachers are under a great deal of stress because they teach to the test. There is not a lot of room for questions on the part of the students; the teachers impart their wisdom and the students must accept it. I am presenting new ideas to them; some of whom embrace with enthusiasm while others are more skeptical.
I went to another market today close to the university. I took the bus system again and just pointed to where I wanted to go and the attendant gave me the right token. I still get stares from people as I am on the bus. Some people will openly stare; others will be less overt about it. I’m not sure if they’re thinking “what on earth is she doing here?” or if they’re thinking “aww, the poor girl.” In any case, a smile works in many languages. I was able to buy some fresh fruit and I found some crackers with wheat bran in them—finally some fibre! (who knew that I would be excited about eating more fibre!) I bought some nuts, raisins and a few cookies all for 64 Yuan. It always looks so expensive when I get to the till; but that’s only $10.00.
So far, I have been 10 days without cheese, cereal, milk, salads, and Tim Hortons iced caps and English Toffee! So, I say the next time you are at Tim Hortons, you must raise a cup in honour of my ability to be deprived!

A Different Day

Today is Sunday (at least for me, anyway...the rest of you are still snoozing away). So far, it has been slightly different than the usual way of spending my Sundays. I missed going to our second home and spending time with friends, singing, and listening to words spoken from The Word. I was able to find a radio station on the internet that had some of those elements that I was searching for. Not exactly the way I prefer it, but if anything, I’m learning to be more adaptable (I’m just questioning how far I can really stretch and I just hope that I don’t snap?) It makes a person realize how important elements of their personal life truly are and how it is so easy to take things for granted. Continue to think of me as I learn to be adaptable, stretchable and teachable. (Paris may be getting back a whole new woman!)

I am also participating in the common ritual of hanging my clothes out to dry. At least it is not dirty laundry that I am airing out! Despite the humidity, the clothes dry fairly rapidly. There are no pictures on the washing machine, so I have no idea if the buttons that I am pushing is going to create the desired result. At this point, as long as they are clean and the clothes haven’t shrunk, then I’m doing well. In this case, reading the signs is of no help at all—it’s all in Chinese.

I had my first “dance” with social negotiations today; I’m just not certain who is doing the leading. I am sharing with a group of teachers about some of the methods that we incorporate within the classroom in North America. I often will use pair work in class or group activities; rarely are my learners sitting in the desk the whole time while I talk. There was a question from this group of teachers whether the experienced teachers would be placed with the new teachers. In my opinion, this is necessary for a mixture of talent, experience and knowledge among a variety of people. It promotes a higher degree of discussion. There seems to be some resistance to this format. I am asking myself is this a matter of saving face for the older teachers? They may fear embarrassment or failure in front of the new teachers who are probably younger. Or, is this a matter of control, where the older teachers seem to want (or possibly need) control of the learning situation? After all, it can be frightening having a foreigner come and share new ideas with them. How much do I exert my control over the situation?

Saving face is a big factor when dealing with this culture. I want to honour and respect that; however, the premise of me coming to share ideas with them is also that they may learn new things to apply to their profession. At what point do I “lead” in this dance and at what point do I let them “lead”? Well, the song is going, so I will let you know how the song ends. As well, on a lighter note, my clothes came out just fine and are drying quite nicely on the balcony.

An Amazing Race, without the Race part

Today, my colleague and I decided to be brave and take public transit. I remember the words in MacBeth when one of the characters was encouraged to “screw thy courage to the sticking place.” Well, that’s what I had to do, muster up the courage and just do it! There is a system called the Bus Rapid Transportation (BRT) which is faster than regular city buses. We thought that we would just go to the end of the line; walk around and come back to where we are staying which is at the beginning of the line for BRT. It seemed like the safest way for fewer mistakes. We also didn’t want to be gone too long as our bodies are still adjusting to the heat.

I was able to get a map of the stops on my computer. I copied the names of the stops and roughly drew a crude map. Armed with my picture dictionary, we walked down the path behind where we are staying to the first stop. Now, you must realize that pedestrians are expendable around here. Although they may be small, those drivers on electric bikes are aggressive: they wait for no one. We got to the bus gate and I showed my list of stops and pointed to the last one. The gate attendant held up 3 fingers and I gave her 10 Yuan and thankfully, she gave me change. It roughly cost 50 cents to go across town which turns out to be a 40 minute ride.

The gate attendant gave me a blue token. I hung on to it, but watched carefully what people were doing with it. The token got us through the gate and we waited for the bus. Thankfully, we do look like foreigners and another bus attendant showed us which bus to get on. We got on and we were on our way! I felt like the people on Amazing Race as they have to try different ways of getting around. You’re trying to be alert and be observant of the the scenery at the same time.

I find that the buildings are an odd mixture of old and rundown and new. It’s almost like the rundown buildings are being squeezed out by the newer and much taller buildings; like they are going to take over eventually whether the tenants like it or not. There definitely is no prize for architectural creativity. The buildings tend to look the same. The only thing that is the same is the fact that people hang their laundry out to dry. There are no dryers and people just hang their clothes out on makeshift lines anywhere they can.

Our bus took us right to the waterfront of Taiwan Strait. We left the bus, making sure we knew what the building looked like. Our blue tokens were not given to the bus driver but dropped in the slot to allow the turnstile to let us in.

We walked along the waterfront and across the street to the shops. Everything is compact and I can see why Canada is considered a large, spreading expanse. The shops seemed to be oddly placed. A high end clothing store was right next to a cheap trinket store. Around the entrances of the stops for the city buses were beggars, or others trying to sell fresh food and other wares. It was a bit overwhelming at times. I didn’t buy anything, but just looked for now.

We walked back to the bus stop and did everything in reverse and got home with only one mistake. I was quite proud of myself. I, for one, didn’t take the bus for a race, but I thought the accomplishment of the task was truly amazing.

Who needs signal lights?

I had a driver pick me up today in order to go the RT-Mart. It is in the heart of downtown Xiamen and I guess the place to shop for items. I observed that the lines dividing the highway into lanes are merely a suggestion, which may or may not be practiced. The cars are not that big, certainly no mini-vans or big SUVs. The road is shared by people on bikes, electric bikes and mopeds. Apparently, helmets are optional which is a debatable measure considering that you can be driving along and mopeds can be coming in the opposite direction to the right of you!

I’m not sure why signal lights are installed in the cars because nobody uses them. The drivers seem to nudge the car out of the way and move into the lane. People straddle lanes all the time and I guess if someone seems insistent on moving into your lane, you honk your horn. Why signal when you can honk?

Shopping was an interesting experience. There were a few items that I wanted to make me more “at home.” My diet has been lacking in fresh fruit, so I bought some grapes and an orange. Also, breakfast does not have any type of juice. The closest thing I could find was tang, so I bought that for the morning. I even found a small package of Oreo cookies!! Yay!!!

This store had clothes, stationary supplies, food and other grocery items, cookware and entertainment possibilities. It was very crowded and noisy. In Canada, the music in stores typically is usually background noise (okay, maybe not places like West 49, but I don’t frequent those type of stores very often anyway, except when Byron drags me there to show me the next item on his “need to have” list). However, here the music is turned up quite high and thus people speak more loudly as well.

Prices? Well, you can get 6.5 Chinese Yuan or RMB for 1 Canadian dollar. So, I bought a box of 10 packages of drink mix for water bottles and it cost me $1.16. I bought 400 grams of grapes for $1.23. I saw these comfortable looking shoes which only cost $7.00. According to some websites, the minimum monthly wage is 1,000 Yuan or $147 CD. We would consider these prices cheap according to our wage, but maybe it needs to be that way so the people can live around here.

I made it back in one piece despite the fact, that in my opinion, we had two near misses. And did I tell you that seatbelts are also an option? (just a little bit of trivia for all those who worry about me )

A few Observations

1) There’s a reason why pant legs are rolled up.
2) There is no toilet paper, you must provide your own.
3) I don’t see anyone bringing a newspaper to read while in there.
4) I have not perfected the suggestions as given below
A few Suggestions
1) Bend your knees like you are skiing down a steep hill. Stick your bum as far back as possible to keep from soiling your clothes.
2) Use one of your hands to push your pants and undergarments as far forward and out of the way as possible. Hold your toilet paper in the opposite hand, but avoid using either hand to balance yourself by touching the floor or wall.

First Impressions

I am staying at the university grounds, making use of their living quarters and their cafeteria. There are other buildings such as the library, gymnasium, IT building and huge stadium for track meets and soccer games that I have not made use of as yet. I find that things seem rather plain. The offices of some staff look like they have just moved in. The necessities are there, but little else; the furniture is sparse, enough to get the job done, but nothing seems personalized. There are little decorations on the walls, certainly nothing like pictures of family, or artwork, etc.

Classrooms as well, seem very basic. Our high school students in Canada are used whiteboards, Smartboards, LCD projectors, etc. The classrooms here may be equipped with flipcharts, but little else. I noticed one gal using the photocopier for a manual that she had to do. She was photocopying one page at a time and then collating as she went in order to compile this huge manual—it’s gonna take her 3 days to get it complete! The photocopier was a very basic one—it didn’t even staple or collate.

Food is still an adventure. Every meal is different and I’m still not sure what I am eating. This has been a little difficult for me. The heat is overwhelming so that does not add to the situation. Usually when it’s hot, no one feels like eating and then when you’re not sure what you’re eating, well, let’s just say that your stomach takes a slight vacation. This morning I passed on the noodles for breakfast—I just couldn’t get my head around that. So, I opted for this bread roll. It was big and fluffy; there was a sharp aftertaste to it and in the middle there was this dark brown pasty substance. It wasn’t chocolate—who knows; however, it wasn’t bad. Another thing I had was this cross between a pancake and an omelette. I stabbed at that with my chopsticks and managed to eat it all (although I must confess I did eat some of it with my fingers).

That’s the craziest thing yet—being watched while you eat. Here in China, I look a tad different than the locals: fair-skinned and blond. Some will stop and stare at me attempting to eat with my chopsticks, or encourage me to shovel it in faster, or laugh (I’m hoping with and not at) my inept attempts to get the rice to my mouth. Rice is the staple and even though I never really hated eating rice, I certainly do not love it either. I think that Weight Watchers should promote eating with chopsticks. Eating certainly takes longer and you don’t eat nearly as much. Well, it’s time to eat again—wonder what I’ll encounter next!

It’s a start

I arrived safely in Xiamen today (Wednesday, that is). I’m still not sure what day it is. The airports were sparkling clean; pristine would be the word I would use. Everywhere there seemed to be glass; high glass windows, partitions made of glass and railings down stairways made of glass. I was certainly glad that I didn’t have to clean them. The washrooms were spotless which is the last good thing I can say about washrooms—more about that later.
I was able to buy a mocha and a cookie for 43 dollars! In Hong Kong dollars that would be about $6.00—not bad for airport fare. I picked up my bags without a problem. It’s funny, I felt very territorial about having to give up my suitcases with all my prized possessions in Calgary. I almost wanted to hug my suitcases—all 49.4 pounds of them—when I saw them on the carousal in Xiamen. Customs went as smooth as a hot knife cutting butter. Someone was there to greet us at the airport to take us to where we are going to be staying while we do some visiting with other teachers of the university.
I am eating in the cafeteria for every meal. It is difficult to get used to the smells and sights of the food. For one thing, it’s chopsticks all the way! You get a spoon for soup and that’s it. I’ve stabbed, scooped and slopped the food and none too graciously either.
I am staying in the dorms that are used by the students throughout the rest of the year. It is a typical dorm room: a desk, bed, dresser and nothing much else. There is TV, however, all the channels are in Chinese. The room has a balcony which contains the washing machine, and two sinks plus a drying rack. People hang their clothes outside to dry (although I’m not sure how they can dry in this humidity). Off to the right is a door which contains the shower and toilet. Now, the word “toilet” is a very loose term. Believe me, I don’t think I will ever complain about having to clean three bathrooms in my house ever again (and no, Byron...that does not let you off the hook from cleaning your own bathroom!) Picture the toilet seat stuck to the floor with a hole in the floor in the centre of the toilet seat—yep that’s what I get to use for 6 whole weeks!
I still haven’t quite figured out how to use this thing without having to disrobe completely. There must be a simpler and much faster way. All I can say is, at this moment, I’m very thankful for the baby butt wipes that a friend of mine gave me; they’re going to come in so handy.
My room does have AC, but it doesn’t seem like the ones we have in Canada. I don’t think there is central air at all. The different rooms that have them work, but it seems very inconsistent. At this point, I always seem to look a tad bedraggled.
I wasn’t very hungry for supper with a combination of too much humidity, too little sleep and very new experiences when it came to food. I had something that I could recognize and a cold coke. Pop seems to be the only thing that is cold. Water is room temperature, which in my opinion tastes quite gross when it is so hot out.
So, this ends my first full day in China. Keep thinking about the requests that I made. I hope that I can adjust to the food which seems to take a little getting used to. I’m hoping to go to bed now. I know that it is only 9:00, but I am really tired. We’ll see what tomorrow brings!