OperationCDMC

I have now been in China for one month...surprisingly, the time has gone by rather quickly. I am currently sitting around my apartment enjoying my free time until my next class. As usual, I have had some very interesting things occur over the past few days.

On Thursday afternoon, I was supposed to have a class of freshman students from 4-6PM. I waited in the classroom from about 3:50 until 4:05ish and only one student came to my classroom. I finally called my director, who informed me that class was canceled and that I would have both my Thursday afternoon and Friday morning classes at the same time...Friday at 8AM. My first thought was "oh great, a class of 80 students...just how I wanted to spend my Friday morning." Little did I know that my Friday morning class (which was today at 8AM would have 150 students. I walked into the classroom and almost fell over (the students had the same reaction because they all thought they had a Chinese professor and approximately 75% of the students had never seen a white person before...let alone been taught by one). It took the full two hours for each student to introduce him or herself and then I dismissed them. I went back to my director and asked why I had so many students and she informed me that there were a few people that simply wanted to sit in on my class...80 is not a few people. On top of this, I was on the bus this morning with the dean of the English college, who informed me that I was to teach a Saturday afternoon class starting tomorrow. This was the first I had heard of this, but apparently I am supposed to teach oral English to adults who are going to Singapore to study. This class is supposed to be the next five Saturdays, of which I will be gone for three...interesting conundrum. I asked my director, who knew nothing about the class, and she is going to attempt to have it moved or taught by someone else (although I am the only foreign English teacher, so who knows). I have another class of freshman this afternoon, it is in a classroom that only seats 40, so we will see how this turns out. I will keep you posted.

Today was also my first payday. It was slightly sketchy, to say the least. Michelle and I went the accounting office and brought them a slip of paper that said how much we were to be paid. They did not ask for our ID or for anything that would say we should be being paid. Instead they had us sign the paper, then they stamped it, turned around and opened a decent sized vault. The woman then counted out our pay in cash and handed us a large sum of cash, saying "good-bye." I have decided that anyone could be paid in this room if they have a piece of paper with a sum of money written on it...this could be quite lucrative. I have not decided where to put my money yet. Normally I would open a bank account, but because I do not speak Chinese...I see that being a terrible fiasco.

I am leaving Chengde in 10 hours to go to Shijiazhuang to visit Jenna and the other foreign teachers from Drake. Erin and Ben are also coming in from Handan. I am looking forward to it, but riding the train again does not excite me that much. I will post again and let you know what the shiz was like.

Hello all,

I am sorry that it has been so long since I have posted, but life here has been busy and yet not at the same time. I finally have internet in my apartment and I have found a way to operate my toilet without too much effort.

I have been teaching at the college for two weeks and have met all of my students (except for my freshman, who are undergoing soldier's training until Thursday). the second time I had my Monday afternoon class, my students sang happy teacher's day to the tune of happy birthday. It was rather comical and in it they referred to me as "Teacher Yeremy" (yes, that is a "y," and that is how they pronounce my name in China...). For the rest of the week I received text messages from my students wishing me a happy teacher's day and asking if I needed any help. One student even called me last night (Saturday night at 9:30PM) and asked if we had homework due on Monday...wow. I have a full teaching load this week and have still not planned what I am going to teach about, but I figure I can do that tomorrow.

When we first arrived in Chengde, I thought that Michelle and I were the only foreigners. Before CJ and Aleks arrived, we had not seen another non-Chinese person at all. We were surprised, however, to discover that there are several other foreigners here (including two others from Drake, one from Serbia, one from South Africa, and one from Honduras). Michelle and I have spent several nights with our new foreigner friends and have had a lot better food since eating out with people who actually speak some Chinese (who would have guessed). All-in-all, life is going much better here, now that we have found other people to talk to.

Some interesting things that I have observed/have happened to me in the last two weeks:
1. Michelle's list of things one must have in order to be Chinese are 100% accurate (you can check them out on her blog at thegreatPRC.blog.co.uk)
2. When I attempted to purchase a case of beer and the price came up incorrectly it took at least fifteen minutes for the cashier, Michelle, a manager of sorts, and me to grunt, gesture and point enough to get the correct product/price (this was followed by Michelle's new purse not having a price tag and then us setting off the theft detection devices at the door...we did not steal anything, they forgot to take the thing off her purse...this all happened in Chinese, which made it ten times more frustrating)
3. MIchell, CJ, and I attempted to order food at a restaurant by ourselves one day (the same day as the supermarket fiasco). We ordered green beans, fried calamari and chicken...or at least we thought we did...the waitress brought us out spicy spinach, whole fried crawfish with their heads still on, and some dish that looked like small brains...we payed and went to KFC
4. their are several hundred people in chengde that sweep the streets clean every single night with brooms that look like they are made of twigs (they are very inefficient). Some, however, have twig like brooms with feathers on the end, I have decided that they must be the supervisors because their brooms actually work.

Things that I really miss from the US:
1. disinfectant wipes...please send me some...or lots
2. driving (I would never attempt it here because no one appears to follow traffic laws...even police officers)
3. Cheese / Milk...I never knew how much I liked it until I lost it
4. Carpeting (I have not seen any carpeting, at all since I have been here)
5. tall doorways...I am surprised I have not had several concussions with how often I hit my head. I have to duck to go through any doorway...
6. Doritos..I love them and I miss them
7. being able to talk to anyone (when there are only ten people in the entire city that speak your language fluently you can get kind of lonely)

That's it for now...talk to you soon. Hopefully, I will stay more on top of this blogging thing. (I will also post pictures soon, but for now I am going to sleep)

Well...I have now been in China for 7 days and I felt it was time to write down some of the random stuff that has happened (Michelle is on the phone, so I have some time).

Day 1 (Saturday):
We arrived in Beijing at around 3:00 in the afternoon and picked up our baggage / got through customs with very few problems. We walked out into the open area of the aiport and found several hundred people waiting to pick up people, where we wandered around until we found someone holding up our names. We then took a 3 and a half hour car ride to Chengde (so we arrived at roughly 7:00ish). We were shown to our apartments...which definitely do not rock...and then escorted to a chinese restaurant for dinner. I would like to dispel any myths that the Chinese have smaller meals or that they eat only healthy food, over the course of these seven days I have seen someone as small as Ms. Pifer consume more food than Michelle and I at once...interesting. After this large, large meal of eggplant and two types of dumplings, chicken soup, a beef dish and another chicken dish we were taken back to our apartments for the evening. I will eventually post pictures, but let me describe some of the major oddities of my apartment:
1. there is more nasty-dirt like substance in my apartment than in all of New York City
2. The bathroom is as large as a water closet, with a toilet at the back, a sink in the front, and the shower head over the toilet (yes, over the toilet).
3. My kitchen is littered with dirty dishes and my washer is sitting in the middle of my kitchen.
4. I have a living room (where my fridge is located) that has sofas as hard as a brick
5. My bed is like sleeping on the ground
6. My internet does not work (I am currently still using Michelle's computer)
7. and My toilet does not work...
All in all I figured it could have been worse...I could live in the ghetto...oh wait...I do

Day 2 (Sunday):
Our representative from the school picked Michelle and I up at around 9 in the morning and took us to the local police station. We filled out a sheet of paper and we still do not know why we were there... After that our rep took us to a supermarket and said "have a good day, I am going to work now" and that was the last we saw of her that day! We were left to fend for ourselves in a Chinese supermarket with very little Chinese speaking skills and no idea what all we needed (much less how we get back to our apartment...which we don't know the addres of [sigh]). We walked around the market for about 2-3 hours and had a hell of time trying to buy sheets for beds (the Chinese workers tried to help us several times). In China there are approximately 7 billion people that work in each store (this is an exaggeration FYI) and there are 3 workers in every single aisle just waiting to pick up things and try to sell them to you...in Chinese. Once we made our way back to our apartment we cleaned for a while and then went to KFC for some comfort food. We then watched a movie and went to bed.

Day 3 (Monday):
This day was fairly normal-ish...we bought some popcorn chicken and france bread (yes, france, not french, bread) and made that for dinner in the microwave (because we still do not know how to use our stove...) We also watched a few more movies, but were told that we needed to go to the medical college (which is a 30 minute bus drive from where we live) by ourselves on the bus...ummm...ok. We were very hesitant about the next morning, but knew we had to find a bus stop and ride the blue number ten bus...whatever that means...

Day 4 (Tuesday):
We got together at about 8ish to go to the bus station, to find the number ten bus. We actually found it really easily and made it to the college with absolutely zero troubles (for those of you who know my navigational skills, this should be very impressive). We met with our Weiban (international office) and signed our contracts...why we had to go all the way out there to imply sign a paper...whatever. We were also told that we may leave for Shijiazhong (the capital of our province) in the evening. It is a ten and a half hour train ride, but we need to go to the hospital there to have a physical examination, again why we have to travel to a different hospital when we work in a medical school for a physical examination is beyond me, but such is life. We did a little more shopping and then waited around for a phone call about whether or not we were going to the shiz tonight. Well, we got the call and we were going to the shiz...woo! We left our apartment at 8:00PM to go to the train station with Maggie (our international rep). At first we did not have tickets and were turned away because we were foreigners...hahaha...how funny. Then Maggie used her Guanxi (which means connections) to talk to the train director. He took us through the back ddor of the station and we got on the train where we purchased tickets on the train...very sketchy... That night we slept on the train, until we got to the shiz the next morning.

Day 5 (Wednesday):
This was our day in Shijiazhong, it started by us going to the hospital and going through a physical examination, which works somewhat like an assembly line. We started with a blood draw, then moved to the next room for a urine sample, then to the next room for our weight, height, and BP, then to another room for an eye exam...etc. for about an hour. The woman who took my weight told me I could stand to lose a few pounds...who's surprised? I also experienced my first ever ultrasound, from a woman who could not speak to me because she did not speak English...interesting. After this we walked around for a while because our train did not leave for Chengde until 7:00PM. We checked into Maggie's hotel and ate at the restaurant there (which was excellent food, and we tried the special Chengde almond drink). Maggie then left with a friend for the afternoon while Michelle and I chilled in her room and used her really nice bathroom...it was the best moment ever! At 2:30 we met and went to a shopping center where I purchased a watch for $3 and Michelle bought a curling iron for $1.50...wow, China is cheap. We also purchased 6 DVDs for about 6 US dollars including: Pirates 3, the new Fantastic Four movie, the Bourne Ultimatum, Transformers, Oceans 13, and 300. A homeless man then followed me for about two blocks, which made our international rep laugh until she cried and then Michelle knocked over a street vendor's sign and said "bu keqi"...which means you're welcome in Chinese...haha...what a day. At 7PM we got back on the train (where Maggie left us) and preceded to ride the ten hour train ride back to Chengde by ourselves. During this time several people tried to talk to us in Chinese but we simply shrugged and said "nope"....then it was off to sleep.

I will tell you more later, for now I must call my parents!

After searching the Chinese internet for what seems like days, Michelle and I have finally found a place that we can actually make a blog! In China blogger.com apparently only comes in Chinese...but we have found a site that is based out of the UK! Anyway, I will write again soon to update you all on the fun times we have had in China...but first we must start Michelle's blog!