Jan 16, 2010

Well Hello Everyone!

I apologize for the length of this blog. We haven't started classes yet and so are being shown around the town. Also, our internet gave the IT guy some problems and it took some time for him to get it up and running. The next ones will be shorter.

January 13, 2010
I've made it to China safe and sound. In just my trip here I have had the luxury of using one of the squatting toilettes, carrying my luggage up flights of stairs (thank goodness it was only the third floor), and eating a "sausage" which was like little bits of corn surrounded by a corn paste (it wasn't terrible but I don't think I will be hunting it down to have another).
The cab ride to the apartment was good; there was barely any traffic so we didn't need to worry about too many cars. When we arrived though, there was an interesting line up of parked cars. There were three rows of them all the way down the street with just barely enough apace for our van to drive between them.
The apartment is much bigger than I was expecting. I think my room is bigger than Caleb and Linnea's at the house, the living room has enough space for two couches and a chair; they are all smushed together though, the kitchen is tiny; it's probably the size of our bathroom and there is no stove :-(, and the bathroom has the washing machine, a shower that's just on the side of the wall, and a normal toilet. All in all I think I've lucked out with this place because it is very nice. The walls are all clean and the floor is a sparkling granite (or maybe marble); I'm not really sure either way it seems to be holding the cold very well. I'm comfortable with it, Brandy's a bit cold though.

January 14, 2010
Effie and Romanty took us to get bank accounts, cell phones and do some shopping in the markets. We stopped at a tea shop where they would make any kind of tea for you to try; Brandy and I bought some delicious milk tea. As we strolled along we stopped at a stand to try some mountain sheep on a stick; it was ok but I don't think I need to do it again. Maybe the beef next time. For the rest of the day we pretty much just browsed around markets. Effie took us to Europe City which has a bunch of European items and shops I might need to go there later when I am homesick.

January 15, 2010
We went for our first Chinese lessons today and I bombed! They're introducing us to the sounds of pingying (the phonetic version of Chinese).
Romanty took us out to dinner tonight, I think as a welcome to China thing. That was my first experience with strange foods. There was a giant bowl of snails; you were supposed to suck them out of their shell. I ended up using a toothpick. There was also a beef pot that had every part of the cow in it…I could only eat the green peppers from it. There was a delicious dish that had a bunch of cubed things with a kind of firm tofu texture; it's made from some kind of veggie that doesn't translate. The rest of the dishes were fairly normal.
Afterwards a few of us went to a pool hall. Wow…they are fancy! Not at all like Canada's; these ones have guys in suites waiting and watching for the moment you've finished the game so they can re-rack it for you. It was a lot of fun.

January 16, 2010
Today we got to go to the branch school and sit in on some lessons. The first one had 5 kids in the class and the second one had 7. :-)
Frances (the principal of the school) took us for dinner with the other foreign teachers and a couple of the Chinese teachers, I think that was the best dinner we've had yet. All the food was delicious and fairly normal. The craziest was a fish head which wasn't so bad.