No costumes today. No kids coming to the door saying "Trick or Treat." Homesickness likes to creep up on me once in a while. Fall is my favorite time of year back in New England and the hardest time to 'not be there', in New England, in the USA, is right about now. The funny thing is that China has so many great qualities to it that homesickness never really sticks around too long. It doesn't seem to be capable of anything more than the occassional bother. My friends, primarily Liana (who I've finally discovered is actually named Jiao Wun Wun), Tan Yen, and Long Tso, are a constant reminder that I'm in the place that they're from and since they are fascinating people it follows that their homeland is also fascinating. Another reminder is the mountains right outside of town. They're like no other mountains I've ever seen and a simple look at them makes homesickness take a backseat for a while. I expect Christmas to be even tougher than this, but something tells me I can deal with that when it comes. I didn't come to China to whine about how much I miss pizza and blonde girls. I'll head back to the states someday. The big question in my mind right now is, "Will I want to stay there when I do return?" The honest answer is, "I don't know."
China has an amazing ability to piss me off one second and then make me smile the next. People I don't know ask me for my phone number and it becomes annoying. Little kids wave at me and it makes me laugh. Kids are shocked when they find out that I'm not very good at basketball. Adults seem impressed when I say that I'm not cold in this weather. I see homeless animals all over and it makes me angry. People want to meet me just because I'm white and it's a good/bad experience depending on my current mood.
I'm planning a trip. My class schedule seems to be in a constant state of change, it just won't sit still. One week I'll be working my full contract load of classes and then all of a sudden, like this week, my boss will tell me I have 7 days off. I might head to the city of Nanchang to see a friend or I might head to Changsha. It's high time that I explore more than just Kaili. Xijiang and Zenhyuan were nice cities but I didn't spend too much time in either one. So, my current goal is to get my ass out and about so I can really see the country. Maybe I'll avoid the tourist traps. Maybe I won't even bother with things like the Great Wall or the Terra Cotta warriors. Maybe I'll just go where the locals go. Go to the places that small town NH boys never hear about.
A few comments on my schedule. It changes every few weeks and I can't get a straight answer as to why this happens. Mistakes are a regular thing when it comes to schedule making and it's honestly not my fault. I don't make my own schecdule. I receive schedules from Henry and Ms. Fu. I find, all too often, that some kind of unexplained change has happenned. A class has been moved to a new time or a new day and it sure as hell wasn't on the slip of paper that was given to me. Or maybe Ms. Fu said that I did not have class on Wednsday when she actually meant that I did have class on Wednsday. Stuff like that. My work schedule is actually pretty easy but all the changes and the lack of people informing me about the changes can be pretty damn aggravating sometimes. However, I worked a lot harder than this back in the states and that helps to keep it all in perpective. As long my pay continues to arrive in full and on time, I can deal with nonsense like that.
Language. Chinese is hard and the fact that Kaili really doesn't have any classes for foreigners who want to learn Chinese makes it even harder. And although I don't have a 'real' teacher, I do have three good Chinese friends who take it upon themselves to help me learn whenever they can. I think I'm at a level where my Chinese is just basic enough that I can feel relatively comfortable taking a solo trip to just about anywhere in the country in order to mispronounce the names of food in a restaraunt or stare in blank ignorance of the question that the lady at the train station asks me. In other words, I expect plenty of errors, misunderstandings, and complications but I expect to find ways of working out those errors, misunderstandings, and complications.
Happy Halloween! My night will include a half-full bag of peppermint patties, thanks Heather, and possibly a dinner with Dave and Lucia. Most of my other friends are currently out of town for work, so it's possible that tonight will end up being a bit more quiet than I'd like for Halloween. But, I don't intend to let things stay that way. I intend to plan my trip. I intend to explore. Maybe tonight will turn out to be quiet but tomorrow won't.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Cast of Characters
I want to focus this blog on the "characters" in my regular everyday life here. I use the term "character" loosely because I'm using it as a term for, people, animals, and the city of Kaili.
Kaili itself is a small city, however there are a lot of people in it. It's pretty small by Chinese standards, but there are times when it feels very crowded to me. I had expected something smaller, probably because it had been described to me as a small town. I've spent a lot of time in small towns. I know what small towns are. This is no small town. Kaili is a small city. There are plenty of buildings, markets, shops, stores, restaraunts, and conveniences, nearby. This is not a cowtown, but a short walk south, west, or north, makes you forget that there is any sizeable town in the area. Out there it all becomes mountainous farmland and small houses with rice paddies behind them. Some of the best moments I've had in this city are the ones where I'm simply walking and looking at the world around me. Overall, I'm happy with my placement here. A larger city would've probably driven me crazy by now. There is almost nothing western in Kaili. I've found some Dove chocolate and there's a buffet restaraunt that serves what the menu refers to as pizza. The menu calls it "pizza" but I don't. I'm still getting use to life here but it has enough good parts to make life pretty good.
Now the people. I'll start at the bottom:
The bottom is named Henry. Many Chinese people introduce themselves to me by English names. Sometimes that can be a problem when I don't know a person's "real" name, so I try to encourage people to tell me their Chinese names. Mr. Tang introduced himself as Henry and, for some reason, will not tell me his Chinese name. Henry is not a bad man. He's a relatively nice person, but if you've ever worked with a cowrorker who is completely incompetent and a terrible communicator then you've worked with a Henry. Most of the major problems and inconveniences that have befallen me since coming to Kaili can be traced back to Henry. I'm not blaming him for every problem, that wouldn't be fair. But, I can blame him for a lot. There have been too many times where he would simply refuse to answer my questions, not give me necessary information, or not give me the information until 2 seconds before I need it. I do not think the problem is the language barrier. I think it's Henry's poor work ethics. If he didn't have a wife and kids, I might complain to the boss. So would Dave (I'll mention him soon). Henry causes a lot of problems but I still don't "hate" the guy. I don't want him to be fired. I just can't stand being around him. Yeah, I know. Sometimes I can be a real jerk.
King. I wrote about him in my previous blog. He was the guy I met during the debacle that I think of as "The Great Pig Dick Incident of 2010." I refer to him as my "friend." Quotation marks are necessary. I don't do this because of what I ate. I simply don't consider him a real friend because I barely know him. I met him once and we kind of got along but he kept putting his arm around me, I told him to stop doing that, then he proceeded to get drunk and do it again. I played the role of the friendly foreigner who just went along with everything. Drink baiju? Sure. It tastes like ass but ok. More chicken. Sure. Don't mind the fact that I just told you that I'm full and I know you understood me. I know. I can be a real jerk sometimes, but I just don't want to be friends with people who annoy me. I better move on to people I actually like.
Long Tso. This is my friend from Zenhyuan. I spent 2 days in his hometown. He's good guy and loves to talk. It doesn't matter whether he's speaking English, Mandarin, or Miao. He never shuts up. It's mildly annoying but it's also a topic of funny conversations between myself and Long Tso's other friends. He's going to go study in England soon, which is a bummer for me. My friend is leaving, but he loves it over there and I hope he has a good time.
Ms. Fu. This is my boss. She always has a rather bassett houndish look on her face. Droopy and sad. I consider myself lucky to have her as a boss, because although there have been a few miscommunications between us and despite the fact that the language barrier rears its ugly head in many of our conversations, I find that she makes efforts to communicate well with me (unlike like some people who's names I won't mention. Cough *Henry*). Ms. Fu really seems to happy with my work and I'm very glad to see that, not just because it means I can keep my job but just because she's a nice lady.
Dave and Lucia. They are my two fellow expatriot teachers here in Kaili. Many times, it seems like we're the only foreigners in this entire city. Dave and Lucia are a married couple. He's Irish and she's Uruguayan. People always assume that we're all best buddies, but the fact is that we haven't really spent a lot of time together. But, we have hung out a few times and I get along with them very well. Dave and I currently on a mission to find dark beer in China and neither one of us has succeeded yet. I plan to spend more time with them in the future. It's nice to talk to people who are experiencing the same kinds of things that I am.
Liana. I don't know her Chinese name yet. Liana works in the school office but she doesn't work for the school. All I know is that she works for an organization that places her at the school, where she works to secure visas for Chinese students who go to study overseas. Part of her job is helping out the foreign teachers at the school with, whatever. That means she has been a major help to me, Dave, and Lucia. I consider Liana a good friend of mine. She's a nice lady and we've had coffee together a few times. Unfortunately, her job is such that she could potentially be shipped off to another school at a moment's notice. I'm trying not to think about the possiblity that I might have to say goodbye to another friend.
Wudan. I mentioned Wudan in my second blog. She was my first real Chinese friend. During my first two weeks here in Kail, Wudan was my helper, my Chinese teacher, and my friend. Her presence was absolutely invaluable to me. After two weeks, I learned that her boss had given her some of ridiculous ultimatum that she just couldn't accept. She had therefore quit her job. This meant that she had to leave her company apartment in Kaili and return home to Changshan. This sucked for me. Two weeks in Kaili and suddennly my best friend was leaving town. I keep in touch with Wudan and I hope to go see her someday. Liana is her replacement.
Tan Yen. Tan Yen is in my photos. There is a reason why I'm writing about her last. She's quite possibly my best friend here and we're kind of in the same situation. We both had to say goodbye our friend Wudan and we're both worried that our friends Long Tso and Liana might be leaving soon as well. Tan Yen and I stick together. She helps me with Chinese and I help her with English. She's the kind of person I want to hug every time I see her. This is not a romantic thing, she's just freakin' adorable that's all.
I'm done with people:
The dog. There's a dog that loves to follow me whenever I go to my apartment. It lives in my building, somewhere near Dave and Lucia. I'm glad the dog has a home but it's filthy and I admit that I'm afraid to pet it. But the dog is friendly I always get a kick out of it following me. The thing that bothers me the most about life here in Kaili is the number of homeless animals I see here. This dog seems to be doing relatively ok. I hope it stays that way.
Steve. Steve is a gecko that occassionally shares my apartment with me. I haven't seen him for a while but he used to show up a lot during the summer.The first time I saw him I kind of freaked out a little, but only a little. After all, he wasn't some kind of horror movie spider or brightly colored multi-fanged snake. He's just a gecko hanging out on the wall. I soon learned a little lesson in Chinese Apartment Ecology 101: The presence of a small gecko population can nearly eliminate the presence of any mosquito population in the immediate area. Steve and his brethren are welcome here any time.
So that's my "character" list for now. I'm going to go wander for a while.
Kaili itself is a small city, however there are a lot of people in it. It's pretty small by Chinese standards, but there are times when it feels very crowded to me. I had expected something smaller, probably because it had been described to me as a small town. I've spent a lot of time in small towns. I know what small towns are. This is no small town. Kaili is a small city. There are plenty of buildings, markets, shops, stores, restaraunts, and conveniences, nearby. This is not a cowtown, but a short walk south, west, or north, makes you forget that there is any sizeable town in the area. Out there it all becomes mountainous farmland and small houses with rice paddies behind them. Some of the best moments I've had in this city are the ones where I'm simply walking and looking at the world around me. Overall, I'm happy with my placement here. A larger city would've probably driven me crazy by now. There is almost nothing western in Kaili. I've found some Dove chocolate and there's a buffet restaraunt that serves what the menu refers to as pizza. The menu calls it "pizza" but I don't. I'm still getting use to life here but it has enough good parts to make life pretty good.
Now the people. I'll start at the bottom:
The bottom is named Henry. Many Chinese people introduce themselves to me by English names. Sometimes that can be a problem when I don't know a person's "real" name, so I try to encourage people to tell me their Chinese names. Mr. Tang introduced himself as Henry and, for some reason, will not tell me his Chinese name. Henry is not a bad man. He's a relatively nice person, but if you've ever worked with a cowrorker who is completely incompetent and a terrible communicator then you've worked with a Henry. Most of the major problems and inconveniences that have befallen me since coming to Kaili can be traced back to Henry. I'm not blaming him for every problem, that wouldn't be fair. But, I can blame him for a lot. There have been too many times where he would simply refuse to answer my questions, not give me necessary information, or not give me the information until 2 seconds before I need it. I do not think the problem is the language barrier. I think it's Henry's poor work ethics. If he didn't have a wife and kids, I might complain to the boss. So would Dave (I'll mention him soon). Henry causes a lot of problems but I still don't "hate" the guy. I don't want him to be fired. I just can't stand being around him. Yeah, I know. Sometimes I can be a real jerk.
King. I wrote about him in my previous blog. He was the guy I met during the debacle that I think of as "The Great Pig Dick Incident of 2010." I refer to him as my "friend." Quotation marks are necessary. I don't do this because of what I ate. I simply don't consider him a real friend because I barely know him. I met him once and we kind of got along but he kept putting his arm around me, I told him to stop doing that, then he proceeded to get drunk and do it again. I played the role of the friendly foreigner who just went along with everything. Drink baiju? Sure. It tastes like ass but ok. More chicken. Sure. Don't mind the fact that I just told you that I'm full and I know you understood me. I know. I can be a real jerk sometimes, but I just don't want to be friends with people who annoy me. I better move on to people I actually like.
Long Tso. This is my friend from Zenhyuan. I spent 2 days in his hometown. He's good guy and loves to talk. It doesn't matter whether he's speaking English, Mandarin, or Miao. He never shuts up. It's mildly annoying but it's also a topic of funny conversations between myself and Long Tso's other friends. He's going to go study in England soon, which is a bummer for me. My friend is leaving, but he loves it over there and I hope he has a good time.
Ms. Fu. This is my boss. She always has a rather bassett houndish look on her face. Droopy and sad. I consider myself lucky to have her as a boss, because although there have been a few miscommunications between us and despite the fact that the language barrier rears its ugly head in many of our conversations, I find that she makes efforts to communicate well with me (unlike like some people who's names I won't mention. Cough *Henry*). Ms. Fu really seems to happy with my work and I'm very glad to see that, not just because it means I can keep my job but just because she's a nice lady.
Dave and Lucia. They are my two fellow expatriot teachers here in Kaili. Many times, it seems like we're the only foreigners in this entire city. Dave and Lucia are a married couple. He's Irish and she's Uruguayan. People always assume that we're all best buddies, but the fact is that we haven't really spent a lot of time together. But, we have hung out a few times and I get along with them very well. Dave and I currently on a mission to find dark beer in China and neither one of us has succeeded yet. I plan to spend more time with them in the future. It's nice to talk to people who are experiencing the same kinds of things that I am.
Liana. I don't know her Chinese name yet. Liana works in the school office but she doesn't work for the school. All I know is that she works for an organization that places her at the school, where she works to secure visas for Chinese students who go to study overseas. Part of her job is helping out the foreign teachers at the school with, whatever. That means she has been a major help to me, Dave, and Lucia. I consider Liana a good friend of mine. She's a nice lady and we've had coffee together a few times. Unfortunately, her job is such that she could potentially be shipped off to another school at a moment's notice. I'm trying not to think about the possiblity that I might have to say goodbye to another friend.
Wudan. I mentioned Wudan in my second blog. She was my first real Chinese friend. During my first two weeks here in Kail, Wudan was my helper, my Chinese teacher, and my friend. Her presence was absolutely invaluable to me. After two weeks, I learned that her boss had given her some of ridiculous ultimatum that she just couldn't accept. She had therefore quit her job. This meant that she had to leave her company apartment in Kaili and return home to Changshan. This sucked for me. Two weeks in Kaili and suddennly my best friend was leaving town. I keep in touch with Wudan and I hope to go see her someday. Liana is her replacement.
Tan Yen. Tan Yen is in my photos. There is a reason why I'm writing about her last. She's quite possibly my best friend here and we're kind of in the same situation. We both had to say goodbye our friend Wudan and we're both worried that our friends Long Tso and Liana might be leaving soon as well. Tan Yen and I stick together. She helps me with Chinese and I help her with English. She's the kind of person I want to hug every time I see her. This is not a romantic thing, she's just freakin' adorable that's all.
I'm done with people:
The dog. There's a dog that loves to follow me whenever I go to my apartment. It lives in my building, somewhere near Dave and Lucia. I'm glad the dog has a home but it's filthy and I admit that I'm afraid to pet it. But the dog is friendly I always get a kick out of it following me. The thing that bothers me the most about life here in Kaili is the number of homeless animals I see here. This dog seems to be doing relatively ok. I hope it stays that way.
Steve. Steve is a gecko that occassionally shares my apartment with me. I haven't seen him for a while but he used to show up a lot during the summer.The first time I saw him I kind of freaked out a little, but only a little. After all, he wasn't some kind of horror movie spider or brightly colored multi-fanged snake. He's just a gecko hanging out on the wall. I soon learned a little lesson in Chinese Apartment Ecology 101: The presence of a small gecko population can nearly eliminate the presence of any mosquito population in the immediate area. Steve and his brethren are welcome here any time.
So that's my "character" list for now. I'm going to go wander for a while.
Poor old men, fake phone numbers, pig dick, e.g.
Stuff that happenned.
There was the day when I was crossing the street from the town market as an old man walked behind me. This city has ridiculous traffic and it seems that the only rule of the road is "If you're driving something that has wheels you can do any damn thing you want." So I guess the driver wasn't technically breaking any rules when he slammed into the old man with the car going close to 10mph. The old man rolled off the hood of the car and fell. There were many people watching and many others near the man, but I was the only one who made any immediate attempt to help the poor guy. I'm not trying to paint a picture of myself as better than the people who were around me. If anything, I was pissed off at the people around me. No one was doing anything. No one was trying to help. It made me angry. I offered the man my hand, hoping that he would understand what I was doing. He stared at me like I was some kind of old horror movie monster come to life. Finally, the driver came out of the car and helped the old man up. They were speaking Chinese and I couldn't understand a word. What else could I do? I backed off to the sidewalk and watched, very curiously, to see what would happen next. They talked. The old man seemed to assure the driver that he was ok. There was no exchange of addresses or phone numbers. No one called the cops or the ambulance. In the end, all that happenned was that the old man walked away and the driver got back in his car. This was my first week in Kaili. I thought "Where the fuck am I?"
As I was walking home, a car stopped beside me. A man I didn't recognize climbed out and walked over to me. He didn't speak English and my Chinese was about as minimal as minimal could be. He wanted something, some kind of information, but I had no idea what it was. After a few minutes of listening intently to his rapid fire speaking and trying out my vast arsenal of Chinese phrases (maybe 20 max.) I was finally able to understand the word "dien hwa." "Phone." He wanted my phone number. I'm not in the habit of giving my phone number to people I don't know even when I can communicate with them. On one hand, I knew that I didn't want to give him my number but on the other hand, I didn't want to be rude about it. I probably should've just told him I didn't understand and walked away, but I didn't. I thought about a college friend of mine. She was a beautiful girl who used to get hit on on a regular basis. I remember laughing one day when I realized that she had given an extra annoying guy a fake phone number. On this day, I stole her idea. I gave this strange man a fake phone number. Now some poor schmuck in Hunan is probably going to get a call from this random guy.
My "friend" King invited to me a restaraunt that served traditional Miao food. I was excited. I'm very interested in the fact that, in this part of China, I'm not just experiencing China but I'm actually experiencing Chinese ethnic minority culture. Many Chinese people don't even get a chance to try food like this. For the most part the food was good. There was a central pot on the middle of our round table. Two of my friends were with me and there was King and his friend. I reached into the pot and grabbed something that looked like a slim-jim. I remember it being very difficult to chew. When King told me what it was I thought he was joking. A few minutes later I thought, "Why would he be joking? I'm in China. This is Miao food. For all I know he was completely serious." He was. At this point, my stomach told me that I had two options: 1) spew it all back out over the floor regardless of whether or not I made it to the bathroom in time or 2) drown it. Chinese beer bottles are big and I drank mine like a fish. Other interesting food experiences I've had here have involved bee larvae and grasshoppers, but I knew what those were before eating them.
A girl who couldn't have been more than 12 years old or so walked up to me and said, in perfectly understandable English, "I want to sleep with you." The great thing about being a foreigner is that I can always use the old foreigner standby sentence. When you can't think of anything else to say or if you want to discourage a person from talking to you, you say, "I don't understand." That was all I could think of to say to her. The situation was too creepy for any other response. It worked and she left. I usually encourage these kids when they're speaking English, but not this time.
There's too much to write in one blog, too many crazy/interesting things that have happenned. I realize that quite a few of these anecdotes here are a bit on the negative side, but they're just things that have stuck out in my mind. There are good things too and I will write about them. Catching up on 2 months worth of cultural misunderstandings, language barrier problems, and crazy memories is not easy. I'll keep working on it.
There was the day when I was crossing the street from the town market as an old man walked behind me. This city has ridiculous traffic and it seems that the only rule of the road is "If you're driving something that has wheels you can do any damn thing you want." So I guess the driver wasn't technically breaking any rules when he slammed into the old man with the car going close to 10mph. The old man rolled off the hood of the car and fell. There were many people watching and many others near the man, but I was the only one who made any immediate attempt to help the poor guy. I'm not trying to paint a picture of myself as better than the people who were around me. If anything, I was pissed off at the people around me. No one was doing anything. No one was trying to help. It made me angry. I offered the man my hand, hoping that he would understand what I was doing. He stared at me like I was some kind of old horror movie monster come to life. Finally, the driver came out of the car and helped the old man up. They were speaking Chinese and I couldn't understand a word. What else could I do? I backed off to the sidewalk and watched, very curiously, to see what would happen next. They talked. The old man seemed to assure the driver that he was ok. There was no exchange of addresses or phone numbers. No one called the cops or the ambulance. In the end, all that happenned was that the old man walked away and the driver got back in his car. This was my first week in Kaili. I thought "Where the fuck am I?"
As I was walking home, a car stopped beside me. A man I didn't recognize climbed out and walked over to me. He didn't speak English and my Chinese was about as minimal as minimal could be. He wanted something, some kind of information, but I had no idea what it was. After a few minutes of listening intently to his rapid fire speaking and trying out my vast arsenal of Chinese phrases (maybe 20 max.) I was finally able to understand the word "dien hwa." "Phone." He wanted my phone number. I'm not in the habit of giving my phone number to people I don't know even when I can communicate with them. On one hand, I knew that I didn't want to give him my number but on the other hand, I didn't want to be rude about it. I probably should've just told him I didn't understand and walked away, but I didn't. I thought about a college friend of mine. She was a beautiful girl who used to get hit on on a regular basis. I remember laughing one day when I realized that she had given an extra annoying guy a fake phone number. On this day, I stole her idea. I gave this strange man a fake phone number. Now some poor schmuck in Hunan is probably going to get a call from this random guy.
My "friend" King invited to me a restaraunt that served traditional Miao food. I was excited. I'm very interested in the fact that, in this part of China, I'm not just experiencing China but I'm actually experiencing Chinese ethnic minority culture. Many Chinese people don't even get a chance to try food like this. For the most part the food was good. There was a central pot on the middle of our round table. Two of my friends were with me and there was King and his friend. I reached into the pot and grabbed something that looked like a slim-jim. I remember it being very difficult to chew. When King told me what it was I thought he was joking. A few minutes later I thought, "Why would he be joking? I'm in China. This is Miao food. For all I know he was completely serious." He was. At this point, my stomach told me that I had two options: 1) spew it all back out over the floor regardless of whether or not I made it to the bathroom in time or 2) drown it. Chinese beer bottles are big and I drank mine like a fish. Other interesting food experiences I've had here have involved bee larvae and grasshoppers, but I knew what those were before eating them.
A girl who couldn't have been more than 12 years old or so walked up to me and said, in perfectly understandable English, "I want to sleep with you." The great thing about being a foreigner is that I can always use the old foreigner standby sentence. When you can't think of anything else to say or if you want to discourage a person from talking to you, you say, "I don't understand." That was all I could think of to say to her. The situation was too creepy for any other response. It worked and she left. I usually encourage these kids when they're speaking English, but not this time.
There's too much to write in one blog, too many crazy/interesting things that have happenned. I realize that quite a few of these anecdotes here are a bit on the negative side, but they're just things that have stuck out in my mind. There are good things too and I will write about them. Catching up on 2 months worth of cultural misunderstandings, language barrier problems, and crazy memories is not easy. I'll keep working on it.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Still Random
So, Shanghai. I don't plan to spend much time writing about my experiences in Shanghai because, so far, it really seems to be the least relevant part of my travel here and I'm not a big city person anyway. And Shanghai is freakin' big!
There were approximately 30 of us in the training, mostly Americans, but not all. We had daily Chinese classes in the morning, plus discussions and lectures with experienced teachers in the afternoons. The training was laid back and helpful. We also got to travel around Shanghai and see touristy places such as The Expo and The Bund. The Expo was a kind of showcase for countries from all around the world. Each country had its own pavilion and inside the pavilions were pictures, films, artwork, whatever the people of that country had chosen to represent themselves with. The Czech pavilion was covered in hockey pucks. The Irish pavilion showed a lot of films of famous Irish actors and singers. Each pavilion was different. I found the idea of The Expo interesting, but honestly, I didn't like it. It was unbelievably crowded and hotter than hell that day.
Our trainers took us to some excellent Shanghai restaraunts and that was undoubtedly my favorite part of the training. I often say that I didn't like Shanghai, but if I have anything good to say about it, it's this, "Shanghai is full of great food."
So overall, the training orientation seemed like a mix of learning about what we were in store for and being a Shanghai tourist. My favorite part was meeting all the other people who, like me, had been crazy enough to come to China and try their hands at English as a Second Language teaching. I met a lot of really cool people, but we only had about 6 days together and it just seemed impossible to get to know everyone within that timeframe. I made a few close friends there and quite a few acquaintances, some of whom I'm still in touch with. I have, unfortunately, not been in contact with others. I'm working to change that.
While I was in Shanghai I remember feeling like I was in some kind of a Limbo. I certainly wasn't in the states, but I certainly wasn't in my small Chinese city in which I'd spend the next year. I'm glad that I've experienced Shanghai for a short time and maybe someday I'll write more about it, but now I want to leave Shanghai and move on to the city where I've begun to develop a nice little life for myself.
Kaili.
Kaili is too small to have an airport. The closest airport is in Guiyang which is the closest "big city." Pint sized compared to Shanghai. I got off the plane and was immediately greeted by a smiling Chinese girl with glasses. This was Wudan. She introduced herself by her English name, Tina, and then took me to the airport KFC. Yes, they have Kentucky Fried Chicken in China. At least, they have it in the "big cities." I reiterate, the first thing that happenned in Guiyang was that a pretty smiling girl bought me fried chicken. I was in a good mood.
The drive to Kaili took about 3 hours. Wudan's friends drove us there. I asked a few questions, but after a while it appeared obvious to me that she was tired. I found out later about her chaotic work schedule. She fell asleep and that was fine with me. I didn't need conversation. All I needed was to continue looking out the windows at the amazing mountainscapes outside. I'm from a mountainous state and I love mountains but these aint exactly the Appalachians. They have a whole different appearance to them. Not like any mountains I've seen before. The closest thing I can compare them to are the fjords of southern Norway, but they don't have the great outcrops of rocks that the fjords have and these mountains aren't as rounded off. Most of them are fairly small, heavily ferned and bushed, with very steep slopes. It' fairly common to see a rather impoverished looking house on the side or base of a mountain around here. And if you see the house there, look for the rice paddy. It's never far away.
So now I'm officially in Kaili. Good. I made it. Again. So I'll let the suspense build for a while and go watch TV. I'll write again soon. Good night.
There were approximately 30 of us in the training, mostly Americans, but not all. We had daily Chinese classes in the morning, plus discussions and lectures with experienced teachers in the afternoons. The training was laid back and helpful. We also got to travel around Shanghai and see touristy places such as The Expo and The Bund. The Expo was a kind of showcase for countries from all around the world. Each country had its own pavilion and inside the pavilions were pictures, films, artwork, whatever the people of that country had chosen to represent themselves with. The Czech pavilion was covered in hockey pucks. The Irish pavilion showed a lot of films of famous Irish actors and singers. Each pavilion was different. I found the idea of The Expo interesting, but honestly, I didn't like it. It was unbelievably crowded and hotter than hell that day.
Our trainers took us to some excellent Shanghai restaraunts and that was undoubtedly my favorite part of the training. I often say that I didn't like Shanghai, but if I have anything good to say about it, it's this, "Shanghai is full of great food."
So overall, the training orientation seemed like a mix of learning about what we were in store for and being a Shanghai tourist. My favorite part was meeting all the other people who, like me, had been crazy enough to come to China and try their hands at English as a Second Language teaching. I met a lot of really cool people, but we only had about 6 days together and it just seemed impossible to get to know everyone within that timeframe. I made a few close friends there and quite a few acquaintances, some of whom I'm still in touch with. I have, unfortunately, not been in contact with others. I'm working to change that.
While I was in Shanghai I remember feeling like I was in some kind of a Limbo. I certainly wasn't in the states, but I certainly wasn't in my small Chinese city in which I'd spend the next year. I'm glad that I've experienced Shanghai for a short time and maybe someday I'll write more about it, but now I want to leave Shanghai and move on to the city where I've begun to develop a nice little life for myself.
Kaili.
Kaili is too small to have an airport. The closest airport is in Guiyang which is the closest "big city." Pint sized compared to Shanghai. I got off the plane and was immediately greeted by a smiling Chinese girl with glasses. This was Wudan. She introduced herself by her English name, Tina, and then took me to the airport KFC. Yes, they have Kentucky Fried Chicken in China. At least, they have it in the "big cities." I reiterate, the first thing that happenned in Guiyang was that a pretty smiling girl bought me fried chicken. I was in a good mood.
The drive to Kaili took about 3 hours. Wudan's friends drove us there. I asked a few questions, but after a while it appeared obvious to me that she was tired. I found out later about her chaotic work schedule. She fell asleep and that was fine with me. I didn't need conversation. All I needed was to continue looking out the windows at the amazing mountainscapes outside. I'm from a mountainous state and I love mountains but these aint exactly the Appalachians. They have a whole different appearance to them. Not like any mountains I've seen before. The closest thing I can compare them to are the fjords of southern Norway, but they don't have the great outcrops of rocks that the fjords have and these mountains aren't as rounded off. Most of them are fairly small, heavily ferned and bushed, with very steep slopes. It' fairly common to see a rather impoverished looking house on the side or base of a mountain around here. And if you see the house there, look for the rice paddy. It's never far away.
So now I'm officially in Kaili. Good. I made it. Again. So I'll let the suspense build for a while and go watch TV. I'll write again soon. Good night.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Whirlwind of ideas and thoughts
I am by no means an organized person, so if this blog turns into a mish-mash of words that don't make any more sense than an upside-down dada painting, then I apologize. Right now I'm sitting here with a Rush song playing on Pandora and one thought running through my head: "I'm in China, having all kinds of interesting experiences that most small town American boys never get to have and I enjoy writing. So, why haven't I written a blog yet?"
Well, here it is. I'm just about 2 months into my 10 month long adventure in this country, so my first few blogs will probably end up being a series of flashbacks and opinions about things that have happenned in these past two months.
Let me mention that even though I will be writing about the things that bother me along with the good stuff, I am, ultimately, enjoying my experience here.
I suppose the beginning is probably a good place to...umm...begin. That means Shanghai. No. It means New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New Hampshire again, Boston, and then Shanghai. All the while with my brain telling me two very different things: "This could be a very stupid idea, Rob. Remember what happenned in Korea?" and "Don't be a coward, Rob. You want to do something with your life, don't you? Find a career? This might be it." I should mention that I attempted teaching English in South Korea back in 2005. It was hellish. I will definitely be comparing my experience here with my experiences there. I don't like admitting that my negative experience in Korea has left me with a sense of paranoia and with some trust issues, however I feel that those things may be useful to me. No one's going to screw me over this time. I'm too ready. I'm en guarde. Maybe it's paranoia but it's a kind of healthy paranoia. If my boss is going to try to cheat me out of my money and then fire me when I demand my check, leaving me jobless and homeless in the middle of Asia (exactly what happenned in Korea), I'll see it coming 10 miles away. I have no reason to believe that that will happen here, my situation here doesn't have that ominous feeling to it. But, it's hard to relax when you've experienced corruption from an employer.
I found myself strangely relaxed on the plainride to China. I guess that I had set myself mentally. I'd had plenty of time to think about what would happen if I chose not to try. I'd probably have continued on in the field of Environmental Education in some capacity. A nice field of work, but nothing I've ever wanted to make a career out of. After nearly 5 years of taking kids on hikes and saying things like "This is called an American Toad and it's skin has a poisonu.....Billy stop throwing sticks!" I just had to move on.
So, Shanghai. Dragging all of your bags through a Chinese airport and then onto a ridiculously crowded Shanghai train, riding nearly all the way across the city, and then carrying your bags for approximately half a mile is akin to the feeling of running up and down Mount Monadnock a few times. I don't recommend it. I finally got to the hotel where I'd start training only to find that they did not have a room for me. I ended up sharing a suite room with one of the other English teachers, a guy named Tom. Tom and I each got a free night's stay because of that and it was no big deal because we had a good time hanging out and drinking baiju (Chinese rice wine. ) I will write about baiju again and if I could put a vomiting emoticon next to the word, I would.
After two days of wandering my immediate area in Shanghai, the other trainees began to arrive. This is where I'll stop for now because it's kind of like a chapter break, but mostly because I enjoy eating even more than I enjoy writing. I'll blog more for sure. This is fun. I'll dose up on rice noodles and red pepper, work out, catch up on the last episode of "House", and come back to the computer either tonight or tomorrow. Like the Dave Mathew's Band song, "So much to say. So much to say."
Well, here it is. I'm just about 2 months into my 10 month long adventure in this country, so my first few blogs will probably end up being a series of flashbacks and opinions about things that have happenned in these past two months.
Let me mention that even though I will be writing about the things that bother me along with the good stuff, I am, ultimately, enjoying my experience here.
I suppose the beginning is probably a good place to...umm...begin. That means Shanghai. No. It means New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New Hampshire again, Boston, and then Shanghai. All the while with my brain telling me two very different things: "This could be a very stupid idea, Rob. Remember what happenned in Korea?" and "Don't be a coward, Rob. You want to do something with your life, don't you? Find a career? This might be it." I should mention that I attempted teaching English in South Korea back in 2005. It was hellish. I will definitely be comparing my experience here with my experiences there. I don't like admitting that my negative experience in Korea has left me with a sense of paranoia and with some trust issues, however I feel that those things may be useful to me. No one's going to screw me over this time. I'm too ready. I'm en guarde. Maybe it's paranoia but it's a kind of healthy paranoia. If my boss is going to try to cheat me out of my money and then fire me when I demand my check, leaving me jobless and homeless in the middle of Asia (exactly what happenned in Korea), I'll see it coming 10 miles away. I have no reason to believe that that will happen here, my situation here doesn't have that ominous feeling to it. But, it's hard to relax when you've experienced corruption from an employer.
I found myself strangely relaxed on the plainride to China. I guess that I had set myself mentally. I'd had plenty of time to think about what would happen if I chose not to try. I'd probably have continued on in the field of Environmental Education in some capacity. A nice field of work, but nothing I've ever wanted to make a career out of. After nearly 5 years of taking kids on hikes and saying things like "This is called an American Toad and it's skin has a poisonu.....Billy stop throwing sticks!" I just had to move on.
So, Shanghai. Dragging all of your bags through a Chinese airport and then onto a ridiculously crowded Shanghai train, riding nearly all the way across the city, and then carrying your bags for approximately half a mile is akin to the feeling of running up and down Mount Monadnock a few times. I don't recommend it. I finally got to the hotel where I'd start training only to find that they did not have a room for me. I ended up sharing a suite room with one of the other English teachers, a guy named Tom. Tom and I each got a free night's stay because of that and it was no big deal because we had a good time hanging out and drinking baiju (Chinese rice wine. ) I will write about baiju again and if I could put a vomiting emoticon next to the word, I would.
After two days of wandering my immediate area in Shanghai, the other trainees began to arrive. This is where I'll stop for now because it's kind of like a chapter break, but mostly because I enjoy eating even more than I enjoy writing. I'll blog more for sure. This is fun. I'll dose up on rice noodles and red pepper, work out, catch up on the last episode of "House", and come back to the computer either tonight or tomorrow. Like the Dave Mathew's Band song, "So much to say. So much to say."
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