September 11, 2008

I had my first day of class two days ago. I don't think I've ever been so nervous in my life. I was especially worried about not having enough material, and the material I did have seemed boring, especially after hearing what Zach had planned. I just had introduction activities and the syllabus. Zach had all sorts of games, vocab, and gave them an assignment. Plus he's got the next few weeks of assignments planned out. I feel very behind.

Anyways, Zach and I left for school at 8am because I wanted to make copies at school and I wasn't sure how easy it would be. So we stopped by the Foreign Affairs office to find out what to do. We were worried we would get stopped by the guard on the way in, but we weren't. We were stopped by some lady standing at the door to the Admin Building. Luckily, some party members walked by, said something to her, and she let us pass.

So we got up to the Foreign Affairs office to find out it was a good thing we stopped because Maggie had sent us both texts that we should stop by that neither of us got. So we got our ID cards from Maggie, and gave her money to get passes to Mountain Resort. I easily made my copies at the computer in the office. We were way too early. So we sat around for 45 minutes looking at the Chinese version of Vogue before we headed off to class. Luckily, Maggie came with because Zach was about to go to the wrong room.

My first class was to be English Nursing for Sophomores. I got set up in the room which, BTW, had a real slate chalkboard! Real Slate! Not that crappy stuff that's hard to write on. I havn't seen that stuff for years. Of course, I'm used to white boards now, and had to be wary of chalk dust.

My class showed up about 5 minutes late. Apparently they have a class before mine. I'm debating whether I should set my foot down and make them be on time. It seemed like a lot of them were on time, they just came and left.

When I started talking, all of the students got intense looks of concentration on their faces. Good, they were paying attention. When I went over the syllabus, I got a few laughts at how they weren't supposed to speak Chinese and a few gasps when I went over my attendence policy. Apparently they thought it was really strict, but Laura said it was just fine, they just didn't like it coming from a foreign teacher.

So the first game, they had a hard time understanding, and I had a hard time getting people to volunteer. I had them all write down questions, and then somebody pretended they were me. Even though they had the questions right in front of them, they didn't want to ask them. It was like pulling teeth. It took 15 minutes to get through two people. Finally I gave in and just told them about myself. And class here is very formal, they all stand when they speak.

So the next game we played, I tossed a ball to people who then were supposed to answer questions. The problem I had with that was nobody would catch the ball! And instead of telling one fact, they told me a bunch. So we never got through all of them. :(

I did hand out a questionnaire during class, and I had them suggest a Chinese name for me. I got a few good suggestions:

Mengya-elegant and beautiful
KeXin-
Liu Ya Xuan- Liu is a family name, Ya is graceful, and Xuan is used in names of studies
Ya Jing-demure and beautiful

I then had them journal and I dismissed them.

After class, one girl named Tara (I had them pick out English names as well, the most interesting of which was Torocat) came up and asked me questions about the GRE. Luckily I had taken it, and was able to give her information on it. I might like to have my GRE study guide sent over to let people look at. I also had a student ask for my phone number, but I didn't want to give it out. Oh there were 40 students in my class.

Zach and I then went to lunch with Laura and Maggie, where we got lunch cards and sat and talked for a while. Then Zach and I headed back to our apartments.

An interesting thing I did last weekend was go to a Chinese barbeque with the rest of the Drake crowd in Chengde and a girl named Serena and her mother, who we met at the KTV (a karaoke place that has private rooms instead of a bar, and you pay by the hour. There are no bars in Chengde that we've seen). That was probably the best meal we've had in China yet. They had fried bread that we dubbed French Toast with a sort of sugary glop you put on it, and we decided to go have it on Christmas morning. And it had wonderfully marinaded meats that you cookd yourself on a hot plate in the middle of the table, and these amazing rice dishes that I couldn't get enough of. I swear I ate enough for three people, and Serena kept ordering more food! After the meal, Serena bought us all lotus seeds, where were good, and then we played the Chinese version of hackey sack in the public square, where we were joined by various Chinese wanting to show off their skills to the Americans. Probably the most amusing part of the night was when Serena gave Chris the Chinese name "Shui Ge," which means handsome boy. It seemed fitting, since he'd already had a marriage proposal.

I had the workmen come today to replace the heating pipes in my apartment. I've never been so appaled in my life. My reasonably clean apartment was reduced to shambles as the furniture had been moved to get to the walls, and any bits that fell were just left where they happened to fall. There was no cleaning up afterwards like they would in the US. My apartment was completely covered with cement, tile, brick, brick dust, mud, stones, metal piping, plastic pipes, and even a tool that they forgot. I have spent all night cleanin the apartment. Oh, and they dug a 3"x3"x3' trench across my kitchen, and then left without filling it in. I had to call Maggie, who had to call the campus repairmen, who had to call someone to come cement over the hole. I was furious. And neither Zach nor I have working washing machines, so neither of us can do laundry. Pooh. Something needs to be done soon because I'm running out of T-Shirts.

Tom

I would like everyone to meet Tom. Say hello, Tom! Tom lives by himself in the apartment across from me and likes to observe the goings on in my apartment. I often catch him at his window, staring over towards my apartment. We swear he knows what is happening before I do. I suppose that is good, if anything were to go wrong, Tom would be there and know what to do.



I did catch Tom once watching me intently as I cleand my apartment. Of course, part of the problem was probably because I was cleaning in my swimming suit, not wanting to get my clothes full of bleach.



Oh, Tom has two neighbors, Dick and Harry, who take showers together. These are the things you notice when you have big picture windows overlooking the apartment on the other side.

Sept. 3rd, 2008

Three exciting things happened today: 1. We went to campus today, 2. I got my bathroom fixed, and 3. We found an awesome little restaraunt that we will be frequenting.

First, Zach and I got up and met Maggie somewhere around 8:45 am. We took the bus downtown where we stopped and waited forever to get my cell phone SIM card from China Mobile. Apparently numbers with lots of 6's and 8's and especially ending with them or even ending with two of them makes them really expensive. Unlike ending with 4, which are really cheap because 4 is considered an unlucky number because the chinese word for death and the number four sound very similar, it's just a matter of tone (sĭ vs. sì).

So the #10 bus with the green label takes us to campus after about an hour's bus ride. But you do get to see the outlying temples of Summer Resort on the way. Bus six takes you to the two remaining open temples.

Chengde Medical Campus is new and quite large, having been built in 2006. Once at campus, we met Laura, our other Waiban, who took us to another building to meet the other English teacher, who is Chinese. We got our schedules (incidentally in Chinese) and talked about what we would be teaching. Most of our students have been taking English for 10+ years, and they read and write it very well. Our job is to improve their listening comprehension and verbal skills. How I'm supposed to do that in classes of over 100 students I have yet to figure out.

Once we finished talking to the Chinese English teacher (who was, BTW, very animated), Maggie and Laura showed us some of the rooms we would be teaching in, which I must say, were a little worrisome. Mostly because they had trash all over them, and I'm so used to a clean atmosphere. I had a teacher tell me once that a messy stage makes for messy acting. I have a feeling that is what is going to happen here: messy room makes for messy teaching/learning. Zach and I got a bit of a shocker when we found out we would have some classes with 100+ students. For Oral English! How is that supposed to work? I guess I'll figure it out.

Laura asked me a few questions that I enjoyed answering. Some of the signs on the buildings had English on them as well as the Chinese character, and she asked me if the English was correct. I had to explain to her the difference between pre-medical and pre-clinical classes, and that the building labelled "Experiment Building" shoud actually be named "Laboratory Building."

The campus (new campus) has five major buildings that I could tell. There was the Admin builing, the Life Sciences, Lecture, and Experiment buildings, plus the library. Ther might have been one or two others, but I can't remember what they are. They have plans to put in a playground (? I guess no school is complete without a playground) and swimming ool, and new Teacher apartments are being constructed on a hill overlooking the campus. Too bad we were to early for those! The campus even hasa little village we would call "collegetown." The buildings are all grey and red with white and silver trimming, and there are a heck of a lot of stairs. And th classrooms seem a little old fashioned, despite being only two years old. I think it's due to the effect of wooden doors that have cracked and peeling paint (and sometimes holes), and no custodial staff. I'm used to fireproof doors, plastic desks, and constantly cleaning staff to make buildings look spick and span. Maybe I could give extra credit to people who clean up the room before class starts...? (j/k)

Anyhoo, the campus visit only lasted until 11:30, so Zach and I went back to our apartments. I took a nap, and right on time, the repair guy showed up. He replaced the showerhead so it no longer leaks, and he fixed the toilet and replaced the button on the flusher so it mercifully stopped running. Yay! Of course, no three hours after he left, Chris broke the string that turns on te light to my bathroom, so now I just have to leave the bathroom light on. Oh well, at least that is silent.

And the last exciting thing? The five of us stumbled upon a little restaraunt that has really good food and a waitress that speaks English and was exited to practice on us. w00t. We got to try a meat that was "like horse, but not a horse." We came to the conclusion it was donkey. That was he best dish we've had so far in China. Well, besides the spicy chicken and peanut dish.We also got "Pig's Fingers," which I think was pigs feet boiled with potatoes. Oh, and the donkey dish had AMAZING potatoes and it had almost a gravy, which I liberally applied. There was also this noodle and mushroom soup that wasn't too bad. That restaraunt is now my No. 1 favorite. It's located on the street that has some sort of road construction going on, and becomes a cluster F*** of cars during rush hour. Oh, and we got to eat in a private dining room with a Lazy Susan. It was a nice dining experience. We're still wondering what the green sacks that were hanging from the picture were. I guess we'll never know. I can't wait to eat at that restaraunt again.

Oh, and we went to McDonalds today, which is pretty much like McDonalds in the US. I guess I'll be eating there when I feel homesick. It's cheape than in the States, too. Zach and Chris bought some happy meal toys and plan on incorporating it into their lesson plan by having students pick random items (like the Darth Vader toy) and market and sell it to the class. I remember doing that in Mrs. Menne's speech class in the 11th grad, and I think I might steal the idea.

August 29th, 2008

I didn't get to write when we touched down in Beijing because my journal was in my backpack, which was in the overhead compartment. And I've been too tired to write the past two nights.

After we landed, we walked through the gynourmous Beijing airport to customs, which was really easy and uneventful. We didn't even have to claim anything. Both of my checked bags arrived safe and sound. I changed money, and after a little searching, Zach and I found our Waiban, Maggie, who was there with somebody else from the school. Maggie speaks English very well, but the other person doesn't speak a word of English. Zach says he keeps expecting him to turn around and say "Surprise! I can speak English and I've been understanding you all along!"

From Beijing, we went straight to Shijiajuang in Hebei Province, where Maggie told us we would get our work permits and complete our medical examinations.

Shijiajuang is very polluted, one of the most polluted cities in the world. In Beijing, you could see that it was polluted about a mile in front of you. In Shijiajuang (The Shizz), it is so polluted, you can see the haze starting fifty feet in front of you. We are two hours outsied of the city right now on the way to Chengde, and there is still a haze that could almost be fog, but it's not. Zach and I determined that Shijiajuang would be a good city for weekend visits, but not for living in. We're glad we're living in Chengde.

Yesterday morning, Zach and I were obliged to skip breakfast in lieu of the impending blood test. On the way to the medical exam, the driver started taking the back streets. They were so narrow we almost couldn't get the car through. On either side of th street, we passed countless shops and houses, often with broken windows and rusty metal screens. Faded pictures from too much lights (I can't say sun expures because it's permanantly grey from pollution) adorn the windows of shops. Most are pictures of hair models in salon windows. I'm sure what was once a vibrant, in-style picture seems a little old and outdated, but maybe that's just the effect of the fading.

Zach and I were worried that our exam would be on one of these back streets, in which case Zach woud have refused to go in. Luckily, we came out onto a main street where there was a nice clean building labelled "Foreign Affairs Examinations." The only scary thing was when the Flombotomist (blood draw person) took his gloves off to put the needle in because he couldn't feel the vein. It took two practitioners to draw my blood because the first couldn't find my vein. I got poked in both arms and now I have a beautiful purple bruise where they drew blood. Amusingly, the hospital had labelled rooms like "Surgery" and "Internal Medicine," but were just a standard hospital room circa 1920with a few updates. There was a room called "Facial Features," which I thought might be facial mapping, but it was just an eye test.

Maggie, Zach, and I wen't shopping for cell phones. It was really hard to find a good cell phone that didn't take all or half of my cash. I found one eventually, a legal one I can take to a service center in Chengde, should I need. After this, Maggie left us to fend for ourselves in the shopping center while she went to pick up our medical exam results. We now wonder if we might not have gotten a better deal on cell phones if we hadn't taken Maggie with us because then she wouldn't have been threto tell us all the features of a phone and why it was so expensive. Zach alo says the stand owners think we are rich enough to hire a translator, so they won't lower the price. Once Maggie left, Zach and I wandered the shopping center in search of appliances. We got around using my phrasebook and asking "Duoxiao qian?" in which the worker would answer with a number (in Chinese) which we would have to translate, or pull out a calculator. We would then haggle down the dealer by offering half,who would then come back with another offer and so on. The cool thing about the shopping center was that it was arranged by product, and everything in that store was electronic. First floor was cameras, MP3 Players, and large electronics. 5th floor was cell phones, 4th was printers and burnable CDs, 3rd was computer stuff. I don't remember what 2nd was. Most of the things we got were less than half of what we would have bought it for in America. I found and AWESOME Nikon D40 for 6300 Yuan (930 USD) and maybe if I save enough from my paychecks and I can haggle enough, I can buy it near the end of my stay.

Chinese food in China is nothing like what it is in the USA. You order it because you think it is one way, but it tastes completely different. Chinese cuisine is mostly a guess and check game. Guess what it is and try to check. We did go to a Pizza Hut last night, which was very similar to Pizza Hut in the US, it just had different types of pizzas.

Zach and I almost became the proud owners of a new puppy (we were for about 45 minutes), but we decided there were too many unknowns, so we gave it away. It couldn't have been any more than two weeks old. Sad thing is, I was probably it's best chance of surviving that young. Maybe we'll get a dog in Chengde.

People in the Shizz seem to just bunk down for the night wherever they can. On a deserted door step, in front of a hotel. We passed one man who was sleeping on the marble railing that led down to one of the street underpasses. I don't know how he could sleep with all the honking and people passing by. I'd be scared someone would do something to me in passing. But I guess when you do it enough, you become accustomed.

By the way, drivers in the Shizz use their horns ALL THE TIME. Talk about desensitization. They honk when they pass, they honke when they come to an intersection, they honk when they want you to get out of their way. A bus nearly blew my ears out when he honked right next to me because we didn't get out of the way fast enough. It gets really annoying after a while because it seems so futile. I hope it isn't like this in Chengde.

MSP Airport, 5:00 am

Here I sit in MSP airport, waiting to get on the plane. We got here at 4:00 am, but the ticket counters weren't even open. When we finally got to check in, the lady thought my visa said I had zero days to be in country. At least she figured it out, otherwise I would have been in deep trouble.

Zach and I are watching the news and I just heard some interesting news: Obama named Joe Biden as his running mate. Paul Larson is going to be very happy. Zach says he already is. Apparently Paul changed his facebook status almost right away.

I think it finally hit me that I'm going to China when I checked into my flight this morning. After I scanned my passport, it asked me if I was going to Beijing, China and I had to click "Yes." Wow, I'm going to China. For a year. No going home, no changing my mind. I'm going to be stuck in a foreign country with nothing familiar around me for eleven months.

I'm going to need sleep soon. I feel like I'm getting sick, but I don't know if it's from my allergies combined with lack of sleep, or if I'm really getting sick. I just hope it goes away once I get some decent sleep.

I think this is all I'm going to write right now because I want to read the packet Dr. Arroyo gave me on journaling before I journal too much. I'll write again when we are about to touch down in Beijing.