Feb 1, 2010

January 28-31, 2010

I am cold almost all the time and because of the humidity it's making it hard to stay a constant temperature even in the apartment it sneaks in and makes everything feel damp. :-S. I have a cold now too and the cough is really becoming irritating; it just won't let up! :'-( I am getting a little tired of being stared at all the time and being ripped off every time I go to buy something. It’s funny too, I don’t think I’m too much taller than the average person until one of the teachers gives me a hug or comes right close to me…then I feel like a giant. It’s the strangest sensation because back home I am an average height with an average build and here I am tall and an XL in shirts and XXL in pants. Ha ha ha I know this entry is a little depressing but hey, you get the good with the bad right. And it's not even that bad so I'm pretty thankful.

The next bit of this blog will be dedicated to David Millican's requests. :-) His comments are in Purple:

Tell us about the environment. What are sunrises like? I haven't seen a sunrise yet, I've only seen the stars and moon once since being here. It's pretty cloudy and rainy which is making everything foggy, I'm sure there's a ton of smog mixed in with it too so it's blocking the horizon from sight on most days.

How the air smells. For the most part it just smells like a city. The exhaust from cars, the smells from restaurants, pee. Ha ha. Sorry I had to add that one. Every once in a while I'll pass a certain spot that smell gross, usually like urine or some nasty food. The men will just pee wherever they feel like; usually on the side of buildings or in the bushes, and the mothers will bring their kids to a convenient place to pee if the kid needs to go. Bushes, trash cans, and the side of buildings are all fair game.

The street sounds, continuous, loud or not. ALOT of honking. The cars will honk to let you know they are coming or that you are in their way. I live close to a main road so for me yes it's continuous, but not terrible. It dies down quite a bit in the evenings. When you're in the markets it's pretty standard: lots of people wandering around, some shouting, some browsing, most staring at the foreigner ha ha ha.

Can you hear nature, birds, the wind. Yup I hear birds hear and there, I'm not sure if they're peoples pets or not. Every once in a while I will see a flock of birds flying around. There's a few dogs wandering around, I think they have owners but I'm not positive on that one, I see chickens wandering around in this one area with a bunch of bushes, and cats…I've only seen a couple of them though, maybe they are preferred eats to dogs ha ha ha. Not too much wind yet…but the monsoons haven't hit yet either. I'm a little nervous for those.

The humidity. The humidity isn't as oppressive as I thought it was going to be, but it's still always there. It makes everything in my house damp.

What about how things are laid out? It's a bustling city like any other. Cars, buildings, and people everywhere. All the buildings I've seen are pretty much just cement towers; I haven't been to the wealthy part of the city so I don't know what those buildings look like.

Width of sidewalks, do pedestrians have the right of way? Not really…and the definition of sidewalk changes here. They have them and they're about the same size as back home, maybe a little bigger but the cars use them as well. So you'll be walking along and hear a honk behind you and just kind of wander to the side to let it pass and then you return back to the middle. It was a little unnerving at the start, but I'm pretty used to it already.

How many cars are there? Hmm good question…lots during rush hours and then it dies down to a normal amount during lunch and evening. It's comparable to Deerfoot I think.

Buses? Yup there are buses and I haven't been packed onto one yet, they come frequently enough that I've been fine on them. There are also the bike people…I don't know what they are called: it's a bike with a twin seat attached to it and the biker will take you where you need to go. As a foreigner though they try to charge you more. They are convenient but can be scary because they just weave through traffic.

Trains? Yes there are trains around…. I haven't been that far yet though so I haven't seen them.

Are planes flying overhead regularly? There are planes, but I'm far enough away from the airport that I don’t here them.

How clean is it? Cleanliness…for the most part it's ok. They have people that sweep the streets to clean up all the garbage, but Wenzhou seems to be such a dusty place that everything seems dirty all the time. I haven't seen too many pan handlers, but once again I haven't really gotten out too much yet.

What about colours? Grey…mainly because of the dust. Once night hits there are some buildings with neon lights, but not too many.

Advertising signage? Media, magazines, newspapers? Honestly, I haven't even paid attention to these… :-S oops. I'll try to keep my eyes open. Some of the advertisements you see are cartoonish. It'll be nice pictures of say people and then a gaudy color behind with cutesy font types.

Thank you David for helping me with ideas of what to write…I'm not very good at explaining everything. :-)

It did make me think of something else though…the fashion! It's crazy, there are women who wear these quilted pajamas out with makeup and high heel shoes. One of the bigger trends I've noticed is black tights or leggings with little black shorts, whatever kind of top and a waist length jacket. This outfit will pair with anything from hiking shoes to thigh high boots. I do give them props on shoes though; almost every girl owns some of the nicest shoes I've seen. There are bows on everything! I wore my white sweater one day to school and just tied the belt thing in a knot and the principal fixed it for me by re-tying it into a bow.