FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL
I've taught three classes this week for a total of seven periods. The first week of classes is always the easiest, so I hear. We covered introductory basics about the class and spent quite awhile in a question/answer session. My students have a lot of questions about American culture and the differences between Americans and Chinese. The students are very respectful and eager to learn. Most already had English names, although I think we will have to change some of their names to something more appropriate. One gentlemen said, "My name is Fish because I like fish." I told him we would have to change his name because it doesn't work well in the U.S., but he seems reluctant to want to change it. In the Chinese language, I think any character can be a name so many times the students will just choose something they like in English and make that their name.
Wednesday after class I began working on lesson plans for the rest of the semester when I got a call from a new friend here in China. She wanted to hang out. We walked around the neighborhood for awhile, and she showed me where she lived on campus. She is a sophomore this year, but her English is very good. Derek, Brian and Cindy had gone shopping with Helen, our waiban, to buy a few electronics, and when they returned, Derek, Brian, Sofie and I had lunch at Happy Guy's. Brian bought the Chinese version of Coke Black (the coke/coffee mixture), but here it tastes like cigarette smoke. It was horrible, but Derek kept drinking it "hoping" it would taste better with each new sip. He's odd sometimes!
After lunch the boys and I went to the Jeremy and Rena's apartment. Their girls haven't started school yet so they've been very bored the past several days. We thought we might offer a fun distraction for a few hours. In Shiyan there is a place called the People's Park. It's a large park in the center of town with walking trails, ponds, non-flowing waterfalls, and a small amusement park (really, it's just like a local carnival). When we approached the carnival rides, everything appeared to be closed. There were men repairing or painting some of the rides. There were very few other visitors. We thought it must be off-season.
We soon walked to an area where a few booths were set up. They had B.B. guns with which you try to shoot balloons to win prizes. They had Whack-A-Mole, but I don't think they were moles you hit. They had bean bag tosses and a few other carnival games. The workers who previously had been relaxing or napping in their chairs came to life and tried to get us to play their booths. The boys, of course, showed off their gun shooting skills and won the coveted prize of unsalted sunflower seeds.
The whole atmosphere of the amusement park was very eerie - something out of a horror film. It's like we stumbled upon the oldest theme park in the world that should have shut down years ago but was open just for us. There was one ride that looked fun. It was basically a luge - you sit on a small, plastic board on wheels type of thing that has a stick in the middle which serves as the break. There are no seat belts, and for most of the track there is nothing holding the vehicle to the track. Jeremy and Derek braved what I thought looked like the ride of death. First, the ride took them up a very steep hill where they had to strain to keep from slipping off. Then it shot them around this winding track. It was unbelievable how fast they were going with nothing to protect them if they slipped off (no belt, no helmet, nothing). They survived, but no one else attempted the ride.
Next we happened upon a roller coaster ride. It wasn't a very big roller coaster. It had no loops and didn't go too far off the ground. It was very rusty and looked like it hadn't been ridden in awhile. We were debating on whether or not we wanted to pay 10 kuai for the ride (a little over a dollar) when Brian said we MUST experience a Chinese roller coaster SO he paid for all of us. There were four cars, but they weren't attached. Jeremy and Breanna rode together in the first car, Antasia and I were in the second, Derek and Courtny in the third, and Brian in the last. The cars weren't made for two American-sized girls with giant child-bearing hips (: to ride together so Antasia and I were squeezed uncomfortably next to (and slightly on top of) each other. The belt to strap us in was literally a brown leather belt that tied around our chests. Derek and Courtny's car didn't even have a belt so the conductor guy just motioned for them to hold on tight. Before Derek came here, he learned how to say "I'm going to die" in Chinese never expecting he'd be able to use it, but he got his chance afterall!
I can't even adequately describe how terrifying the ride was. We started the ride by slowly going up an incline. At the foot of the incline, our car felt like it partially came off the track at which point we were thrust upward. Then at the top of the incline, our car took off winding jerkily around curves and up and down small hills. It didn't last long, but what a ride! It was fun and scary and ridiculous all rolled up together.
We left the park after the roller coaster ride of a lifetime. Near the supermarket that we shop at is a long alley way that serves as a fresh produce market. We've bragged about the chicken strips from there so much that Jeremy and Rena wanted to get some for dinner that night. Jeremy likes to walk everywhere so instead of taking a bus, we all walked. However, we stopped at nearly every shop on the way to the market - clothing, shoes, electronics, whatever kind of shop that looked interesting. The market was crowded, but we got the chicken strips and I bought some kiwi fruit. Then we parted ways and headed home. The boys and I bought street food at the bottom of our hill, went home, and settled in for some LOST time.
Yesterday we didn't do too much. I worked some on lesson plans, but it was a rainy day - the kind where you want to relax and read or watch T.V. I wasn't very motivated so I didn't get a lot accomplished. Jeremy and Rena invited us to dinner yesterday. Rena is quite the cook and prepared homemade macaroni and cheese, barbecue weinies (sort of), corn, cornbread and apple pie. It was great.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Monday, September 04, 2006
MEETING
Yesterday morning we all met in Brian's apartment. We were supposed to meet in mine, but my air conditioners were not doing their job and with too many people, it gets hot fast. It was really amazing. After the meeting, several of us went to eat lunch. We tried Happy Guy's, but he didn't have room for us so we tried some place new. I sat at a table with Andrew, Jamie and a few other new friends. It was a great lunch with great company.
When we got home, I was supposed to start working on my lesson plans for today, but I wasn't feeling well - sinus stuff - so instead we watched a few episodes of LOST - again! "Dr." Cindy came upstairs to give me some Vitamin C and Zinc pills, and she fixed me some hot tea. After we finished LOST, I was feeling really horrible, now feeling nauseated in addition to my sinus stuff. So Brian and I planned a little bit for our class tonight, and then I went to bed. The boys decided to eat supper at McDonald's, but I opted to stay home and sleep. I did get up for 30 minutes to create my lesson plan for this morning's class, but then I went back to bed.
I feel much better this morning. I took some Dayquil which always does the trick for me. Class begins in 45 minutes. I'm a little nervous, but I KNOW things will run smoothly. They always do.
Yesterday morning we all met in Brian's apartment. We were supposed to meet in mine, but my air conditioners were not doing their job and with too many people, it gets hot fast. It was really amazing. After the meeting, several of us went to eat lunch. We tried Happy Guy's, but he didn't have room for us so we tried some place new. I sat at a table with Andrew, Jamie and a few other new friends. It was a great lunch with great company.
When we got home, I was supposed to start working on my lesson plans for today, but I wasn't feeling well - sinus stuff - so instead we watched a few episodes of LOST - again! "Dr." Cindy came upstairs to give me some Vitamin C and Zinc pills, and she fixed me some hot tea. After we finished LOST, I was feeling really horrible, now feeling nauseated in addition to my sinus stuff. So Brian and I planned a little bit for our class tonight, and then I went to bed. The boys decided to eat supper at McDonald's, but I opted to stay home and sleep. I did get up for 30 minutes to create my lesson plan for this morning's class, but then I went back to bed.
I feel much better this morning. I took some Dayquil which always does the trick for me. Class begins in 45 minutes. I'm a little nervous, but I KNOW things will run smoothly. They always do.
Saturday, September 02, 2006
TEACHING ASSIGNMENT
Yesterday morning Derek and I decided to try something different for breakfast. Normally we just walk down our lovely hill to the market and buy either dumplings or something fried (and I say something because we seldom know what it is). But yesterday we walked past the market, turned right, and walked a ways down the main street. We crossed the street feeling very much like we were playing Frogger in trying to avoid the cars. In the six days we've been here, Derek and I have learned the names of a few delicious dishes. Unfortunately, none of them are breakfast foods so we were pretty lost in knowing what to order. We saw a large wok with something that looked like hashbrowns so we pointed at it and ordered two portions. Then we went inside to sit down, and a Chinese man greeted us. He was enjoying the same breakfast of which we were about to partake, and we soon began chatting. He's a professor at our school, and his English was very good. He suggested we order a bowl of dou fu nu (I'm totally making up the spelling of that dish) which means bean curd brain. We didn't know what it meant when we ordered it, or we might have hesitated before giving the go ahead. It actually just turned out to be a bowl of very soft bean curd, or tofu, in a light liquid with sugar. It was pretty fantastic. We talked with Mr. Fan, our new friend, while we ate, and then he paid for our breakfast, and we walked back to our apartments together. He also lives on campus - just in another building. He's 64 and ready to retire, but because of his experience, the school has asked him to continue teaching. He was terribly interesting to talk to.
After having lunch, Brian, Derek and I bought bus passes. Basically, you put a certain amount of money on a card and can use it to pay the bus fares instead of having to carry around correct change all of the time. We then went to a DVD store and bought shamefully cheap DVDs. I bought two movies, one being the new Superman movie, for about a dollar each.
A couple days ago Derek bought the first season of LOST - the apparently highly addictive TV series. When we got back from shopping, we decided to pop in the first episode. Right now we watch our movies on our computers. The teachers from last year left a room full of boxes of things for us - anything from cooking supplies to books to electronics to really random objects. Included in that stuff was supposed to be a DVD player, but it has mysteriously disappeared. So for now our computers work fine. Anyway, we were halfway through LOST when our waiban (foreign teacher's office) called to tell us we had a meeting in 30 minutes with the English Department. Regrettably, we were unable to finish the entire first episode of LOST until later!
We met in a conference room with about 5 people from the English Department. They officially welcomed us and shared their expectations for us - basically they require that we be responsible teachers which seems fair enough. It wasn't long before everyone but Eric left. Eric was in charge of giving us our teaching assignments. I will be teaching two classes for English majors which is composed of sophomores. Eric said one of these classes consists of students from another school that is associated with our school. I didn't really understand what he was talking about, but he told me the language abilities of these students would probably be limited. How limited? I don't know, and I'm a little concerned. Eric said I should adjust my curriculum according to their limits. We'll see; maybe we'll all be pleasantly surprised by their abilities. Anyway, one class begins this Monday from 8:10 to 9:45 (periods one and two) and the other begins Wednesday, again periods one and two. Then I have another class on Monday evening from 6:45 to 9:10. It's an elective English class, and there is no textbook which means there's quite a bit of flexibility in what is taught. The class size of my other two classes is between 35 and 40. This elective class consists of 80 students. However, they've decided to split the class into two: I will teach 40 students and Brian will teach the other 40. But we have to share the same grade book and teacher's log. We'll be teaching separately, but in every other way, the class is effectively one class. Make sense? I'm excited about this class. I think it will be fun to plan with Brian. Two minds are better than one, right? In addition to these classes, there are two other activities I must participate in: English Corner and Lectures. English Corner is every Friday night, and for two hours I talk with whoever comes to practice their English. We can chat about anything that's not controversial. I think each of us teachers will take turns hosting the English Corner. We'll also take turns giving two hour lectures to whoever wishes to attend them. They said that a couple hundred students usually come to the lectures, and we can speak, again, about anything not too controversial.
Cindy and Brian both begin teaching next week, but Derek was only assigned one class consisting of freshmen. The freshmen spend the first six weeks of school going through orientation and military training so Derek's class doesn't begin till October! Brian thinks they'll probably assign Derek some more classes before too long, but until then he's free to do whatever he pleases.
After our meeting with the English Department, we met Jeremy, Rena, their girls, and Andrew and Jamie (two teachers at the medical school here in Shiyan) for dinner at Happy Guy's. I met Andrew and Jamie in Searcy back in May, but this was the first time we saw them since they arrived in Shiyan (they missed our plane back in L.A. and were delayed a day from arriving).
After dinner we all came back to our apartment where Brad (another teacher at the medical school met us). We spent an hour or so talking about what brought us here and discussing logistics about future meetings. There are 12 of us right now with one other coming in October - Darla (who is a returning teacher and will be at the medical school).
Courtny, Jeremy and Rena's 15 year old daughter, wanted to spend the night with me which was fine with me. My apartment's pretty bare and I'm lacking entertainment accommodations, but she didn't seem to mind. The boys, Courtny and I finished watching episode one of LOST and then watched two more episodes after that. We're pretty much hooked.
Today it rained - all day. So what else do you do on rainy days but settle in and relax, and we did just that. We watched three more episodes of LOST. Brian thought we should ration it, but over here you can buy box sets of anything for really cheap so I figure when we're through with season one, we'll have season two and then there's always 24 or Prison Break if we actually even have time to watch anything after school starts.
Brian and Cindy took Courtny back to her apartment around 5:30, and then Derek and I met them at McDonald's because we had made plans to have dinner with a Chinese girl named Mandy. Mandy has been pretty involved with the foreigners for awhile. She actually e-mailed me before I came to Shiyan to welcome me and to ask for my friendship. Anyway, we ate at this pretty nice restaurant and had some great dishes - pumpkin with sprinkles on it and sweet and sour fish were two of my favorites. In China you seldom order individual plates at most restaurants. You order several dishes and everyone shares.
When we were finishing, a guy with a guitar got up on stage and played an Oasis song. He was pretty good, though it's always funny hearing a foreigner sing an English song. After playing several songs, he and his accompanying keyboardist sat down with us. The keyboardist is part owner of the restaurant, and Brian knew him from before. He told us to come back next Friday because they were going to have a Western themed dinner in honor of us. The food will be barbecue, pizza, and something else American. They'll also play Western music. I was blown away. So we're planning on going back next Friday and bringing the other foreigners with us.
Yesterday morning Derek and I decided to try something different for breakfast. Normally we just walk down our lovely hill to the market and buy either dumplings or something fried (and I say something because we seldom know what it is). But yesterday we walked past the market, turned right, and walked a ways down the main street. We crossed the street feeling very much like we were playing Frogger in trying to avoid the cars. In the six days we've been here, Derek and I have learned the names of a few delicious dishes. Unfortunately, none of them are breakfast foods so we were pretty lost in knowing what to order. We saw a large wok with something that looked like hashbrowns so we pointed at it and ordered two portions. Then we went inside to sit down, and a Chinese man greeted us. He was enjoying the same breakfast of which we were about to partake, and we soon began chatting. He's a professor at our school, and his English was very good. He suggested we order a bowl of dou fu nu (I'm totally making up the spelling of that dish) which means bean curd brain. We didn't know what it meant when we ordered it, or we might have hesitated before giving the go ahead. It actually just turned out to be a bowl of very soft bean curd, or tofu, in a light liquid with sugar. It was pretty fantastic. We talked with Mr. Fan, our new friend, while we ate, and then he paid for our breakfast, and we walked back to our apartments together. He also lives on campus - just in another building. He's 64 and ready to retire, but because of his experience, the school has asked him to continue teaching. He was terribly interesting to talk to.
After having lunch, Brian, Derek and I bought bus passes. Basically, you put a certain amount of money on a card and can use it to pay the bus fares instead of having to carry around correct change all of the time. We then went to a DVD store and bought shamefully cheap DVDs. I bought two movies, one being the new Superman movie, for about a dollar each.
A couple days ago Derek bought the first season of LOST - the apparently highly addictive TV series. When we got back from shopping, we decided to pop in the first episode. Right now we watch our movies on our computers. The teachers from last year left a room full of boxes of things for us - anything from cooking supplies to books to electronics to really random objects. Included in that stuff was supposed to be a DVD player, but it has mysteriously disappeared. So for now our computers work fine. Anyway, we were halfway through LOST when our waiban (foreign teacher's office) called to tell us we had a meeting in 30 minutes with the English Department. Regrettably, we were unable to finish the entire first episode of LOST until later!
We met in a conference room with about 5 people from the English Department. They officially welcomed us and shared their expectations for us - basically they require that we be responsible teachers which seems fair enough. It wasn't long before everyone but Eric left. Eric was in charge of giving us our teaching assignments. I will be teaching two classes for English majors which is composed of sophomores. Eric said one of these classes consists of students from another school that is associated with our school. I didn't really understand what he was talking about, but he told me the language abilities of these students would probably be limited. How limited? I don't know, and I'm a little concerned. Eric said I should adjust my curriculum according to their limits. We'll see; maybe we'll all be pleasantly surprised by their abilities. Anyway, one class begins this Monday from 8:10 to 9:45 (periods one and two) and the other begins Wednesday, again periods one and two. Then I have another class on Monday evening from 6:45 to 9:10. It's an elective English class, and there is no textbook which means there's quite a bit of flexibility in what is taught. The class size of my other two classes is between 35 and 40. This elective class consists of 80 students. However, they've decided to split the class into two: I will teach 40 students and Brian will teach the other 40. But we have to share the same grade book and teacher's log. We'll be teaching separately, but in every other way, the class is effectively one class. Make sense? I'm excited about this class. I think it will be fun to plan with Brian. Two minds are better than one, right? In addition to these classes, there are two other activities I must participate in: English Corner and Lectures. English Corner is every Friday night, and for two hours I talk with whoever comes to practice their English. We can chat about anything that's not controversial. I think each of us teachers will take turns hosting the English Corner. We'll also take turns giving two hour lectures to whoever wishes to attend them. They said that a couple hundred students usually come to the lectures, and we can speak, again, about anything not too controversial.
Cindy and Brian both begin teaching next week, but Derek was only assigned one class consisting of freshmen. The freshmen spend the first six weeks of school going through orientation and military training so Derek's class doesn't begin till October! Brian thinks they'll probably assign Derek some more classes before too long, but until then he's free to do whatever he pleases.
After our meeting with the English Department, we met Jeremy, Rena, their girls, and Andrew and Jamie (two teachers at the medical school here in Shiyan) for dinner at Happy Guy's. I met Andrew and Jamie in Searcy back in May, but this was the first time we saw them since they arrived in Shiyan (they missed our plane back in L.A. and were delayed a day from arriving).
After dinner we all came back to our apartment where Brad (another teacher at the medical school met us). We spent an hour or so talking about what brought us here and discussing logistics about future meetings. There are 12 of us right now with one other coming in October - Darla (who is a returning teacher and will be at the medical school).
Courtny, Jeremy and Rena's 15 year old daughter, wanted to spend the night with me which was fine with me. My apartment's pretty bare and I'm lacking entertainment accommodations, but she didn't seem to mind. The boys, Courtny and I finished watching episode one of LOST and then watched two more episodes after that. We're pretty much hooked.
Today it rained - all day. So what else do you do on rainy days but settle in and relax, and we did just that. We watched three more episodes of LOST. Brian thought we should ration it, but over here you can buy box sets of anything for really cheap so I figure when we're through with season one, we'll have season two and then there's always 24 or Prison Break if we actually even have time to watch anything after school starts.
Brian and Cindy took Courtny back to her apartment around 5:30, and then Derek and I met them at McDonald's because we had made plans to have dinner with a Chinese girl named Mandy. Mandy has been pretty involved with the foreigners for awhile. She actually e-mailed me before I came to Shiyan to welcome me and to ask for my friendship. Anyway, we ate at this pretty nice restaurant and had some great dishes - pumpkin with sprinkles on it and sweet and sour fish were two of my favorites. In China you seldom order individual plates at most restaurants. You order several dishes and everyone shares.
When we were finishing, a guy with a guitar got up on stage and played an Oasis song. He was pretty good, though it's always funny hearing a foreigner sing an English song. After playing several songs, he and his accompanying keyboardist sat down with us. The keyboardist is part owner of the restaurant, and Brian knew him from before. He told us to come back next Friday because they were going to have a Western themed dinner in honor of us. The food will be barbecue, pizza, and something else American. They'll also play Western music. I was blown away. So we're planning on going back next Friday and bringing the other foreigners with us.
Friday, September 01, 2006
Mexican Food!
Yesterday we met with Angel and Steven from the Foreign Affairs Office. We have to have work VISAs to be able to teach, and they needed us to fill out some things. Then we told them some of the things that were wrong with our apartments, and they pretty quickly worked on most of them. I tried washing my clothes last night, but the water wouldn't drain so I have to get them to fix my washer. I really need to be able to wash my clothes. Since there's no dryer, it takes a lot longer for my clothes to dry hanging outside.
For lunch a teacher from last year who has been here for three years but is now moving to Ningbo stopped by to visit Brian. Trip, the teacher, is leaving today so we didn't have much time to visit. We all went to eat at the iron bowl restaurant - they cook and serve rice in iron bowls, and you can choose which dish you want on top.
The rest of the afternoon, we didn't do too much. I've listened to the first Pimsleur Chinese lesson, but it's a little overwhelming. Brian is really patient and often explains how to say something several times for us.
Jeremy, Rena and the girls invited us over Mexican last night. I haven't gotten to the point where I crave food from home, but the Mexican food was a nice reprieve from Chinese. It was really good.
Yesterday we met with Angel and Steven from the Foreign Affairs Office. We have to have work VISAs to be able to teach, and they needed us to fill out some things. Then we told them some of the things that were wrong with our apartments, and they pretty quickly worked on most of them. I tried washing my clothes last night, but the water wouldn't drain so I have to get them to fix my washer. I really need to be able to wash my clothes. Since there's no dryer, it takes a lot longer for my clothes to dry hanging outside.
For lunch a teacher from last year who has been here for three years but is now moving to Ningbo stopped by to visit Brian. Trip, the teacher, is leaving today so we didn't have much time to visit. We all went to eat at the iron bowl restaurant - they cook and serve rice in iron bowls, and you can choose which dish you want on top.
The rest of the afternoon, we didn't do too much. I've listened to the first Pimsleur Chinese lesson, but it's a little overwhelming. Brian is really patient and often explains how to say something several times for us.
Jeremy, Rena and the girls invited us over Mexican last night. I haven't gotten to the point where I crave food from home, but the Mexican food was a nice reprieve from Chinese. It was really good.
CHINA!
I left OKC on Friday, August 25th and flew to Salt Lake City. In SLC I met up with several others including Brian and Derek, two of the other teachers at the Automotive Institute. From there we flew to LA where we met up with the rest of the crew heading to central China.
The flight from LA to Guangzhou, China was a long one - I think around 15 hours, but I lose track when I cross so many time zones. The flight wasn't so bad. I slept quite a bit. The worst part was that they didn't show any American movies. Each seat had a TV built into the back of the seat in front of it, and it got about seven or so channels. They showed a French movie with English subtitles, several Chinese shows, and periodically very old Tom and Jerry cartoons - my personal favorite. We arrived in Guangzhou around six something in the morning and left there a few hours later for Wuhan.
The first thing I noticed when we arrived in Wuhan was just how hot and muggy it is. I really thought the Oklahoma weather was terribly hot, but it is nothing compared to the weather in Wuhan. We were all sweating just as soon as we stepped outside.
In Wuhan representatives from our school were waiting to pick us up. From here our group split - many of the teachers were staying in Wuhan to teach, but a few of us still had to travel to other cities. At my school, there are four of us: Brian, who has been here before - two years ago - is from Nashville. He's our salvation right now because he can communicate and knows what foods to order, what places to go to, etc. Derek is from Houston and just graduated from Harding - a Spanish major. Cindy is from Alaska and is the only one with actual teaching experience. She's married, but her husband is staying in Alaska.
From the airport we went to eat. Our first official Chinese meal consisted of several different types of dumplings and a few other dishes. Helen, the woman who picked us up, wanted us to have a pleasant eating experience so she made sure to choose dishes that were sure to please us. She did a great job. After eating we settled into our hotel rooms where we napped a bit before going for dinner. We all went to bed pretty early that night.
Monday morning Helen took us to a hospital to have a medical exam which is required in order for us to be able to teach. We were there for a couple hours and had an ECG, and ultrasound, chest X-ray, blood pressure and eye tests, and had blood taken. While waiting for the paper work to go through, we ran into a few other teachers who will also be in Shiyan: Brad who is a returning teacher and is at the medical college here and Jeremy, Rena and their three teenage daughters who are at the technical school.
After the medical exam, and a quick meal of tasty noodles, we left in our van for Shiyan. It took about six hours, but the drive was beautiful - especially as we neared Shiyan. The area is very mountainous and absolutely amazing.
Once we arrived in Shiyan, we were dropped off at our apartments. We live in the foreign teachers building. The first floor is the foreign affairs office, and the second through fifth floors are apartments for the foreign teachers. After meeting Steven - the head foreign affairs guy - we were given our apartment keys and left to our own devices. I had a few problems with my apartment on the second floor, but Steven had mentioned we could move up to the fourth floor if we wanted. Since we didn't have those keys yet, I spent my first night on the second floor. I hardly unpacked though because I knew I would be moving the next day. Derek was next door, and Cindy and Brian were on the third floor. Brian has since decided to move up to the fourth floor across from me, which I'm grateful for; I like having a neighbor.
Our apartments have two bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen/dining room, living room and a front and back deck. There really aren't good views from either deck - mostly buildings - but at least on the fourth floor, I can see some trees. My shower is interesting. I don't have a tub or anything that separates the shower from the rest of the bathroom. Basically, there's a shower head that comes out from the wall, and when I shower, water runs all over the floor, though it's not quite so bad with a shower curtain. After my shower, I take a squigee and push the water down the drain. It's pretty easy, and I kind of like the fact I don't have to clean a tub. I never did like cleaning tubs!
I'm moved in completely now, but my house is really bare. I'm going to have to have Mom send me some things and I'll need to buy stuff to decorate it. I never was a decorator, but I think I really want my place to feel more homey.
Today Brian took Derek and me on a tour of the campus. It's really beautiful - very hilly, lots of trees, and of course, some cool Chinese architecture and sculptures. The weather today was wonderful. It was misty and cool. So when we were walking around campus, it felt very much like October in Oklahoma when the air gets crisp, and there's a neat atmosphere on campus. As we were walking, we ran into one of the Chinese brothers. He's older and very friendly. We will be seeing him at the end of the week, which I'm really looking forward to. He was very nice.
Every day we have been eating at this restaurant down the hill from us. The owner's name is Happy Guy - or at least that's what former teachers have called him, and it's stuck. Brian is pretty good friends with him. He doesn't really speak English, but he'll sit down with us and try to communicate, all the time having a big smile on his face. His food is amazing too. Brian is really good about ordering different things for us to try. My favorites so far are sweet and sour pork which is nothing like what we have in the States, a dish with eggplant, potatoes, peppers and garlic, and a dish with beef and potatoes. We've also had some street food which is dirt cheap. Every thing is cheap here. The four of us can eat like kings for four dollars - that's four dollars for everyone altogether not apiece.
Derek and I are trying to learn the language. He's much better at it than I a
m. He remembers things a lot better, but I'm sure eventually it will click for me.
We think school starts next Monday, but because we have freshmen, we may not begin teaching until the week after that. In the meantime, we're just taking it easy - trying to get acquainted to the city and our homes.
Tonight we visited Jeremy, Rena, Antasia, Courtny and Breanna at their apartment. We were all very impressed with their living quarters. I have a feeling we'll be visiting frequently. We all went to eat together. Since there were eight of us, we got our own private room in this particular restaurant. The food was decent, but not as good as Happy Guy's. It was more expensive too, and some of the dishes were so spicy hot, my mouth burned and my eyes watered uncontrollably. It was pretty painful. Afterwards, we went to a DVD/CD/etc. store where you can buy things shamefully cheap. Derek bought the first season of lost for less than 10 dollars, I think.
Yesterday we went to the supermarket to buy cleaning supplies and other essentials. There were so many clerks in the store, and they all wanted to help us. At one point, we were about to be surrounded. I ducked out and went to another aisle, but the guys got surrounded by probably fifteen or so employees trying to sell them this or that. The Chinese seem really to like Derek, although, he does show a lot of interest in them too which probably helps. It crazy though. Besides that, I don't know that we've made to many waves in this city. There are definitely those who stare - especially little children - as well as those who want to speak whatever English they know in our general direction. It hasn't been a nuissance at all. It's kind of fun. Everyone is so friendly here, and they all want to make us feel welcome.
The flight from LA to Guangzhou, China was a long one - I think around 15 hours, but I lose track when I cross so many time zones. The flight wasn't so bad. I slept quite a bit. The worst part was that they didn't show any American movies. Each seat had a TV built into the back of the seat in front of it, and it got about seven or so channels. They showed a French movie with English subtitles, several Chinese shows, and periodically very old Tom and Jerry cartoons - my personal favorite. We arrived in Guangzhou around six something in the morning and left there a few hours later for Wuhan.
The first thing I noticed when we arrived in Wuhan was just how hot and muggy it is. I really thought the Oklahoma weather was terribly hot, but it is nothing compared to the weather in Wuhan. We were all sweating just as soon as we stepped outside.
In Wuhan representatives from our school were waiting to pick us up. From here our group split - many of the teachers were staying in Wuhan to teach, but a few of us still had to travel to other cities. At my school, there are four of us: Brian, who has been here before - two years ago - is from Nashville. He's our salvation right now because he can communicate and knows what foods to order, what places to go to, etc. Derek is from Houston and just graduated from Harding - a Spanish major. Cindy is from Alaska and is the only one with actual teaching experience. She's married, but her husband is staying in Alaska.
From the airport we went to eat. Our first official Chinese meal consisted of several different types of dumplings and a few other dishes. Helen, the woman who picked us up, wanted us to have a pleasant eating experience so she made sure to choose dishes that were sure to please us. She did a great job. After eating we settled into our hotel rooms where we napped a bit before going for dinner. We all went to bed pretty early that night.
Monday morning Helen took us to a hospital to have a medical exam which is required in order for us to be able to teach. We were there for a couple hours and had an ECG, and ultrasound, chest X-ray, blood pressure and eye tests, and had blood taken. While waiting for the paper work to go through, we ran into a few other teachers who will also be in Shiyan: Brad who is a returning teacher and is at the medical college here and Jeremy, Rena and their three teenage daughters who are at the technical school.
After the medical exam, and a quick meal of tasty noodles, we left in our van for Shiyan. It took about six hours, but the drive was beautiful - especially as we neared Shiyan. The area is very mountainous and absolutely amazing.
Once we arrived in Shiyan, we were dropped off at our apartments. We live in the foreign teachers building. The first floor is the foreign affairs office, and the second through fifth floors are apartments for the foreign teachers. After meeting Steven - the head foreign affairs guy - we were given our apartment keys and left to our own devices. I had a few problems with my apartment on the second floor, but Steven had mentioned we could move up to the fourth floor if we wanted. Since we didn't have those keys yet, I spent my first night on the second floor. I hardly unpacked though because I knew I would be moving the next day. Derek was next door, and Cindy and Brian were on the third floor. Brian has since decided to move up to the fourth floor across from me, which I'm grateful for; I like having a neighbor.
Our apartments have two bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen/dining room, living room and a front and back deck. There really aren't good views from either deck - mostly buildings - but at least on the fourth floor, I can see some trees. My shower is interesting. I don't have a tub or anything that separates the shower from the rest of the bathroom. Basically, there's a shower head that comes out from the wall, and when I shower, water runs all over the floor, though it's not quite so bad with a shower curtain. After my shower, I take a squigee and push the water down the drain. It's pretty easy, and I kind of like the fact I don't have to clean a tub. I never did like cleaning tubs!
I'm moved in completely now, but my house is really bare. I'm going to have to have Mom send me some things and I'll need to buy stuff to decorate it. I never was a decorator, but I think I really want my place to feel more homey.
Today Brian took Derek and me on a tour of the campus. It's really beautiful - very hilly, lots of trees, and of course, some cool Chinese architecture and sculptures. The weather today was wonderful. It was misty and cool. So when we were walking around campus, it felt very much like October in Oklahoma when the air gets crisp, and there's a neat atmosphere on campus. As we were walking, we ran into one of the Chinese brothers. He's older and very friendly. We will be seeing him at the end of the week, which I'm really looking forward to. He was very nice.
Every day we have been eating at this restaurant down the hill from us. The owner's name is Happy Guy - or at least that's what former teachers have called him, and it's stuck. Brian is pretty good friends with him. He doesn't really speak English, but he'll sit down with us and try to communicate, all the time having a big smile on his face. His food is amazing too. Brian is really good about ordering different things for us to try. My favorites so far are sweet and sour pork which is nothing like what we have in the States, a dish with eggplant, potatoes, peppers and garlic, and a dish with beef and potatoes. We've also had some street food which is dirt cheap. Every thing is cheap here. The four of us can eat like kings for four dollars - that's four dollars for everyone altogether not apiece.
Derek and I are trying to learn the language. He's much better at it than I a
m. He remembers things a lot better, but I'm sure eventually it will click for me.
We think school starts next Monday, but because we have freshmen, we may not begin teaching until the week after that. In the meantime, we're just taking it easy - trying to get acquainted to the city and our homes.
Tonight we visited Jeremy, Rena, Antasia, Courtny and Breanna at their apartment. We were all very impressed with their living quarters. I have a feeling we'll be visiting frequently. We all went to eat together. Since there were eight of us, we got our own private room in this particular restaurant. The food was decent, but not as good as Happy Guy's. It was more expensive too, and some of the dishes were so spicy hot, my mouth burned and my eyes watered uncontrollably. It was pretty painful. Afterwards, we went to a DVD/CD/etc. store where you can buy things shamefully cheap. Derek bought the first season of lost for less than 10 dollars, I think.
Yesterday we went to the supermarket to buy cleaning supplies and other essentials. There were so many clerks in the store, and they all wanted to help us. At one point, we were about to be surrounded. I ducked out and went to another aisle, but the guys got surrounded by probably fifteen or so employees trying to sell them this or that. The Chinese seem really to like Derek, although, he does show a lot of interest in them too which probably helps. It crazy though. Besides that, I don't know that we've made to many waves in this city. There are definitely those who stare - especially little children - as well as those who want to speak whatever English they know in our general direction. It hasn't been a nuissance at all. It's kind of fun. Everyone is so friendly here, and they all want to make us feel welcome.
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