I had a fantastic time in Taiyuan. Regardless of the bus ride, it was really good to travel again and to see Sigma, who I have not seen since her 21st birthday party back in late 2006. Who knew when we saw each other again we'd both be living in northern China?
The city was not as bad as I expected it to be. Size wise, it seemed just like the areas right outside the heart of Shanghai- busy, but not overcrowded. I heard it was horribly polluted and there was not much to do, and I think those things are true on some level, but I was expecting much worse. The pollution seemed to me to be about the same as in Shanghai; the sky was generally a hazy gray and you could see the sun and moon as colored, somewhat distinctively shaped blobs in the sky. As far as things to do; well I'm sure for a weekend I was greatly satisfied, but the nightlife was definitely sketchy (our time at bouncing floor club was short-lived but very interesting). There's always KTV in China though, and that's what we did Saturday night. I can't believe I'd been here over two months and still hadn't done KTV with friends yet.
It was cool as well to see how the teachers live; I mean my expat friends here in Dalian are all teachers as well but with Sigma I actually lived the teachers' life, haha. I stayed in her provided "apartment" that was really just a permanent room in the school hotel, I went with her to a teachers' meeting, had lunch with two of her best students, and we even paid two students of one of her friends 50 yuan to clean her bathroom (it was just a little on the sketch side). Oh, and Sigma had a motorcycle too that we rode around in for a bit, it was awesome to feel the wind blowing in my hair.
Saturday I actually cut off most of my hair. It would have been my grandmother's 88th birthday, so I cut off about nine inches and am going to donate it in her memory. The people at the hair salon were soooo confused though as to why I wanted them to just chop off all my ponytail and stick it in a ziploc bag, and I even had to threaten to leave before they would agreed to just cut it off first, and then discuss hairstyles. It turned out pretty well; it's uneven but I've learned at this point that I will never be happy with a Chinese haircut so I am just grateful I look decent with a short haircut.
Sunday then Sigma and I had pictures taken! Photography studios in Taiyuan were so abundant, and all around China in fact, and they're relatively cheap and loads of fun. For about 55 dollars total we got to dress up in two outfits each (the package we got was meant for one person so we had to split some aspects of the deal), get our hair and makeup done full out, and had a professional photographer take our pictures and make us do silly poses and whatnot. I'd actually had it done in Shanghai for my senior photos back in 06, but the guy in Taiyuan actually had a crew! He had people that would just fix our dresses and the lighting and whatnot so all he had to do was call out the poses and take the picture. They turned out GORGEOUS, I mean Sigma's did anyway- especially the ones with this huge black hat (I'll post pictures later). She's going tomorrow to the studio to sort through them and decide which ones we want to keep.
Then I had lunch with my grandmother's younger sister. We went to a hotpot restaurant, and her daughter (my dad's cousin), son-in-law, grandson, and his girlfriend came along too. It felt nice to be surrounded by family again, even though I'd never met any of the other four, since I haven't been around any relatives since I left Shanghai. She reminded me so much of my grandmother, and then she took me to her apartment after lunch and was so kind I just became overwhelmed and started to cry. It was a good kind of cry though; I was really glad I had been able to visit her.
After that then it was almost time to leave for the airport (there was no way I was doing anything but flying back after the horrendous ride out) so Sigma, Aussie David and I went to this tea bar where for 18 yuan a person you had all-you-can-drink teas, and bubble teas, and smoothies and more. Our favorite was this yogurt drink with REAL strawberries mixed in, it was so delicious to have proper dairy again.
Then Sigma saw me off in a taxi; the taxi driver made a comment later in the trip that "your friend didn't look like she wanted to let you go" and I think I wanted to stay more than she did! But the taxi driver also tried to rip me off twice that trip so I wasn't very happy with him in general. I thought for sure I was going to miss my flight because he was taking his grand old time, since he was mad I wouldn't pay him a flat rate of 60 yuan to go to the airport and told him to run the meter instead. (It ended up only costing 40, and when I handed him a fifty he refused to give me change at first claiming he had to pay a toll along some part of the road).
I made the flight though, and actually ended up talking to someone who lives maybe a ten minute walk away from me. He even had a driver and gave me a lift home, saving me quite some time and taxi fare. In fact when I got home I realized I still had time to make Trivia Night, and arrived in the middle of just the second round. It was really nice to be able to recognize so many people when I came home as well; I didn't realize I'd made so many friends in the last month. Since going away to Taiyuan, I think I'm actually going to miss Dalian when I leave in less than three months. The weather also jumped up about 20 degrees while I was gone, which makes me incredibly excited to see this city in bloom. I'm a Shanghai-er, that's for certain, but citites I never thought I'd be able to survive in, like Taiyuan and Dalian, have definitely managed to take a hold of me as well.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
Sleeper Buses and Illegal Fruit Transportation on the way to Taiyuan
My trip to Taiyuan was definitely an experience I won't forget, nor was it one I will ever repeat.
I arrived to the bus station a little after ten, knowing the bus left at noon. Suddenly I was surrounded by people all asking me where I was heading. I shrugged them off, saying, I just want to buy a ticket at the ticket booth. They all agreed- oh no, you can't do that, you have to buy it at the bus itself.
So I decide to follow one of these guys, who takes me to a bus that didn't look right, and after some confusion found out it was the bus to KAIyuan. I didn't even know there was such a place. Then after telling them Taiyuan, they kept giving me dirty looks and muttering something I'm sure was about tones.
So I buy the ticket- 350 yuan, or 50 USD- and they tell me I can't get on now, I have to wait until 11:30 to board the bus. So I eat some street vendor food and bananas and come 11:30, I try to board the bus and the driver and the bus hostess lady tell me they don't recognize me or my ticket, Who sold me my ticket? I pointed to one of the guys and they're like nope, not possible, don't recognize you, get off this bus. I was freaking out, I thought I'd just given 350 yuan to some random person, but then someone ran up and confirmed I had purchased the ticket.
The BHL didn't look terribly happy to let me on, especially since I didn't look terribly happy to have to take off my shoes to board the bus (because I am terribly OCD). So after I settle down in a bunk, she points to the one in the very back and tells me, you get this one. Whatever, fine, I move all my crap over, make peace with my surroundings (staring, stinky, mostly late twenties men and discarded mattresses) and we finally get going.
Pretty soon, we pull over and stop to load things onto the bus. Half an hour later, we pull over again. And again. Soon there's no room below the bus so they have to move everything on board; turns out they were boxes upon styrofoam boxes of FRUIT. Styrofoam makes a horrible noise when it's pushed against more styrofoam, by the way. The fruit was some cross between an apple and a peach, from what I could tell of the fruit they kept stealing out of the boxes to feed to everyone, and green leaves were dangling everywhere.
By the time we finally load all the damn fruit on board, it has taken up probably a good third of the back of the bus. Anywhere they had free space, they filled it with fruit. Now these buses are cramped to begin with- they are the same size as a coach bus, yet have three rows of beds with an upper bunk and lower bunk. I went from having little space to maneuver, to having absolutely NONE. They filled up the fruit from the back all the way up to where my bed ended, and also from the floor up to where my bed was. It felt very Cask of Amontillado-ish, for those who know Poe.
THEN they tell me, we don't have enough beds for the people coming at a different stop; we have to put this random mattress between you and the fruit. The mattress was wider than the space between the fruit and me, so it cut into my bed space (which was maybe half the size of a twin mattress). The girl who ended up getting on didn't feel comfortable sleeping with all this creaking fruit around her, ready to crush her at any second, so they placed another mattress on top of some more boxes in the other aisle, and she slept between two people.
I on the other hand was lucky enough to have the alternate driver nap right next to me. I was so uncomfortable with this situation I slept for a while sitting up, with my head rested in my hand and my elbow digging into my knee. But when this became too uncomfortable (because I woke up staring at the man's rear) I decided to risk lying down, my face about four inches from his. Of course, a few minutes later, I get completely elbowed in the side of the head when he decides he can toss and turn in this little bed space of his.
So I can't move my legs because there's no room, and this made my injured ankle very sore. I also had to go to the bathroom since about four, so I ended up holding it for the next 15 hours. Why 15 hours? Because besides the extra two hours spent loading FRUIT, at some checkpoint, the police decided to get on board for a standard check and ended up holding us there for another two hours. It led me to believe the fruit was all illegally being transported, since as soon as we found out we were stopping the guys raced to throw blankets on top of all the boxes of fruit. Because massive blankets covering up almost half the bus does not look sketchy in the least.
I couldn't fall asleep, obviously, and every time I did manage to doze off I would have some crazy dream (I have really fantastical dreams when I'm not sleeping well, and realistic ones when I'm sleeping peacefully) and wake up to find I only took like a two hour nap. Finally at 5:40 I woke up and thought, Well they said we'd arrive at 6, we should be close. We weren't. We ended up not even in Taiyuan until about nine, and then the bus driver took three wrong turns trying to find the bus station.
But I'm Finally here in Taiyuan! Sarah picked me up at the bus station and we went to McDonald's (or Macca's as I've become fond of calling it thanks to the Aussies) for breakfast. The rest of the day she's been introducing me to some of her coworkers, and we had lunch with two of her best students. She even organized a party tonight so I can meet everyone; it's a "classy" party so she let me borrow a dress and -she just told me she's putting on makeup as I write this haha- the guys are supposed to dress up and wear a tie and all. Basically, we're supposed to dress like adults and act like kids, and then we may head over to a club that has bouncing floors?
Tomorrow is also going to be very adventure filled- it would have been my grandmother's 88th birthday tomorrow so I am donating a little over eight inches of my hair. After the haircut then Sarah and I are getting pictures taken; because photography studios in China cost very little, are super fun, and turn out fantastic portraits. Then she's taking me to some Tea Cafe with supposedly yogurt with Real strawberries mixed in, and Brazilian BBQ for dinner. Sunday then I am visiting my grandmother's younger sister who happens to live here as well, and then Sunday night I head for home. But I don't want to think about that yet. I'm just super excited to be here, traveling on my own, crashing at my friend's place, exploring this new city and meeting more people.
I arrived to the bus station a little after ten, knowing the bus left at noon. Suddenly I was surrounded by people all asking me where I was heading. I shrugged them off, saying, I just want to buy a ticket at the ticket booth. They all agreed- oh no, you can't do that, you have to buy it at the bus itself.
So I decide to follow one of these guys, who takes me to a bus that didn't look right, and after some confusion found out it was the bus to KAIyuan. I didn't even know there was such a place. Then after telling them Taiyuan, they kept giving me dirty looks and muttering something I'm sure was about tones.
So I buy the ticket- 350 yuan, or 50 USD- and they tell me I can't get on now, I have to wait until 11:30 to board the bus. So I eat some street vendor food and bananas and come 11:30, I try to board the bus and the driver and the bus hostess lady tell me they don't recognize me or my ticket, Who sold me my ticket? I pointed to one of the guys and they're like nope, not possible, don't recognize you, get off this bus. I was freaking out, I thought I'd just given 350 yuan to some random person, but then someone ran up and confirmed I had purchased the ticket.
The BHL didn't look terribly happy to let me on, especially since I didn't look terribly happy to have to take off my shoes to board the bus (because I am terribly OCD). So after I settle down in a bunk, she points to the one in the very back and tells me, you get this one. Whatever, fine, I move all my crap over, make peace with my surroundings (staring, stinky, mostly late twenties men and discarded mattresses) and we finally get going.
Pretty soon, we pull over and stop to load things onto the bus. Half an hour later, we pull over again. And again. Soon there's no room below the bus so they have to move everything on board; turns out they were boxes upon styrofoam boxes of FRUIT. Styrofoam makes a horrible noise when it's pushed against more styrofoam, by the way. The fruit was some cross between an apple and a peach, from what I could tell of the fruit they kept stealing out of the boxes to feed to everyone, and green leaves were dangling everywhere.
By the time we finally load all the damn fruit on board, it has taken up probably a good third of the back of the bus. Anywhere they had free space, they filled it with fruit. Now these buses are cramped to begin with- they are the same size as a coach bus, yet have three rows of beds with an upper bunk and lower bunk. I went from having little space to maneuver, to having absolutely NONE. They filled up the fruit from the back all the way up to where my bed ended, and also from the floor up to where my bed was. It felt very Cask of Amontillado-ish, for those who know Poe.
THEN they tell me, we don't have enough beds for the people coming at a different stop; we have to put this random mattress between you and the fruit. The mattress was wider than the space between the fruit and me, so it cut into my bed space (which was maybe half the size of a twin mattress). The girl who ended up getting on didn't feel comfortable sleeping with all this creaking fruit around her, ready to crush her at any second, so they placed another mattress on top of some more boxes in the other aisle, and she slept between two people.
I on the other hand was lucky enough to have the alternate driver nap right next to me. I was so uncomfortable with this situation I slept for a while sitting up, with my head rested in my hand and my elbow digging into my knee. But when this became too uncomfortable (because I woke up staring at the man's rear) I decided to risk lying down, my face about four inches from his. Of course, a few minutes later, I get completely elbowed in the side of the head when he decides he can toss and turn in this little bed space of his.
So I can't move my legs because there's no room, and this made my injured ankle very sore. I also had to go to the bathroom since about four, so I ended up holding it for the next 15 hours. Why 15 hours? Because besides the extra two hours spent loading FRUIT, at some checkpoint, the police decided to get on board for a standard check and ended up holding us there for another two hours. It led me to believe the fruit was all illegally being transported, since as soon as we found out we were stopping the guys raced to throw blankets on top of all the boxes of fruit. Because massive blankets covering up almost half the bus does not look sketchy in the least.
I couldn't fall asleep, obviously, and every time I did manage to doze off I would have some crazy dream (I have really fantastical dreams when I'm not sleeping well, and realistic ones when I'm sleeping peacefully) and wake up to find I only took like a two hour nap. Finally at 5:40 I woke up and thought, Well they said we'd arrive at 6, we should be close. We weren't. We ended up not even in Taiyuan until about nine, and then the bus driver took three wrong turns trying to find the bus station.
But I'm Finally here in Taiyuan! Sarah picked me up at the bus station and we went to McDonald's (or Macca's as I've become fond of calling it thanks to the Aussies) for breakfast. The rest of the day she's been introducing me to some of her coworkers, and we had lunch with two of her best students. She even organized a party tonight so I can meet everyone; it's a "classy" party so she let me borrow a dress and -she just told me she's putting on makeup as I write this haha- the guys are supposed to dress up and wear a tie and all. Basically, we're supposed to dress like adults and act like kids, and then we may head over to a club that has bouncing floors?
Tomorrow is also going to be very adventure filled- it would have been my grandmother's 88th birthday tomorrow so I am donating a little over eight inches of my hair. After the haircut then Sarah and I are getting pictures taken; because photography studios in China cost very little, are super fun, and turn out fantastic portraits. Then she's taking me to some Tea Cafe with supposedly yogurt with Real strawberries mixed in, and Brazilian BBQ for dinner. Sunday then I am visiting my grandmother's younger sister who happens to live here as well, and then Sunday night I head for home. But I don't want to think about that yet. I'm just super excited to be here, traveling on my own, crashing at my friend's place, exploring this new city and meeting more people.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
The First Month
I've become quite fond of life in Dalian.
My foot is healing slowly. I've been invited to the Beijing Games for gaelic football June 7th and 8th, which would be totally awesome but I have to first play the game and NOT take myself out. Is two months enough? Don't know.
I've been making progress on my Chinese; not as much as I'd like with vocabulary though. If I made a conscious effort to pick that up, then I'm sure I would, but I'm focusing mainly on recognizing characters so my spoken Chinese is still only conversational. And I refuse to pick up speaking errrrrr hua, pronouncing Ws like Vs, and actually saying the H in any word that starts with Sh or Zh. After 15 years in PA who thought I'd actually prefer being a "southerner"? haha.
I should probably hang out with more native Chinese speakers, but
1. there are none my age here since everyone here at Old Dawai is a Chinese language student and therefore...not Chinese
2. that basically means hanging out with Andrew and Caleb, since I think they know the most, but they're actually from Jersey and Baltimore haha
3. hanging with expats is terribly fun. There are few Americans here in Dalian; it's a lot of Europeans and Canadians, which I find incredibly interesting. Plus the expat community is pretty small so everyone knows each other; it's not like Shanghai where you can meet someone and never see them again (that's right, I actually listed a negative aspect about Shanghai haha). Most everyone I've met is around 23 or 24 and is here to teach English, while either learning Chinese or just trying to explore the country because they've just graduated.
I've also been teaching for the past month now at an elementary school every Tuesday and Thursday, on top of my tutoring job on Saturdays. I get only the minimum wage for English teachers here, 100 rmb/hour (14.28 USD) but it's nice to have a little extra spending cash. I was going to quit after my first couple days because it's a 40 minute commute one way, and I don't like children, but my five year olds really took to me and then I couldn't bring myself to quit. Even still some days I go thinking, I really hate this job, but when I arrive, they all start yelling to each other, "Ed-i-na's here!" and come hug me and I can't bring myself to leave.
It's been interesting though observing how the Chinese interact. The teachers can touch the children and it's not considered inappropriate- I can hug them, they give me kisses, we take pictures all the time before and after class. My Chinese counterpart Elva has smacked the kids a couple times when they're not paying attention, or being disruptive. At least once a week she will completely lose it and single out someone and give them a good berating in front of the whole class. Then she'll turn to me and say in a normal voice, "I'm sorry. Continue." And I just stand there like OH MAN and these five year olds are like, whatever. He had it coming.
Elva and I might go out to dinner one night though; I asked to exchange numbers tonight after class (which was me acting like a total buffoon trying to teach the kids the words "fly" "jump" "run" and "swim") and she gave me a hug she was so happy. She's 26 and I think she wants to improve her English, even though her English is decent already. Oh, random sidenote: Our principal studied in London, so when she speaks to me it's with a British accent. I love it!
So the weeks have just been flying by. I mostly stay around Dawai; the only time I go out is for a Carrefour run or when I go to work. The weekends usually involve going out Friday or Saturday, and then always Trivia Night on Sunday at Hopscotch. The nightlife isn't much, but now I think it's kind of cozy actually. Hopscotch is definitely my fave.
Thursday I'm finally going on a trip! Ever since last August, I haven't gone more than three weeks without traveling somewhere (last semester was chock-filled with traveling- I went to DC four times in one month), so being stationary for five weeks in one place has me aching to pack up and go...so I'm visiting Sarah-Laura out in Taiyuan. I've heard it's a horribly polluted city, but I'm excited nonetheless to take that 19-hour bus trip and spend the weekend with her. Plus my grandmother's little sister lives out there; I plan on visiting her as well since Saturday would have been my grandmother's 88th birthday. I'm also doing something else in memory of my grandmother but that's a surprise for now....
I think I've struck a balance between being comfortable, and still stepping out of my comfort zone here. I could manage to put myself out there a little more, but hey, baby steps. I'm having a blast and wouldn't change anything about my experience so far....now back to the mountain of homework I have to finish in order to enjoy this weekend.
My foot is healing slowly. I've been invited to the Beijing Games for gaelic football June 7th and 8th, which would be totally awesome but I have to first play the game and NOT take myself out. Is two months enough? Don't know.
I've been making progress on my Chinese; not as much as I'd like with vocabulary though. If I made a conscious effort to pick that up, then I'm sure I would, but I'm focusing mainly on recognizing characters so my spoken Chinese is still only conversational. And I refuse to pick up speaking errrrrr hua, pronouncing Ws like Vs, and actually saying the H in any word that starts with Sh or Zh. After 15 years in PA who thought I'd actually prefer being a "southerner"? haha.
I should probably hang out with more native Chinese speakers, but
1. there are none my age here since everyone here at Old Dawai is a Chinese language student and therefore...not Chinese
2. that basically means hanging out with Andrew and Caleb, since I think they know the most, but they're actually from Jersey and Baltimore haha
3. hanging with expats is terribly fun. There are few Americans here in Dalian; it's a lot of Europeans and Canadians, which I find incredibly interesting. Plus the expat community is pretty small so everyone knows each other; it's not like Shanghai where you can meet someone and never see them again (that's right, I actually listed a negative aspect about Shanghai haha). Most everyone I've met is around 23 or 24 and is here to teach English, while either learning Chinese or just trying to explore the country because they've just graduated.
I've also been teaching for the past month now at an elementary school every Tuesday and Thursday, on top of my tutoring job on Saturdays. I get only the minimum wage for English teachers here, 100 rmb/hour (14.28 USD) but it's nice to have a little extra spending cash. I was going to quit after my first couple days because it's a 40 minute commute one way, and I don't like children, but my five year olds really took to me and then I couldn't bring myself to quit. Even still some days I go thinking, I really hate this job, but when I arrive, they all start yelling to each other, "Ed-i-na's here!" and come hug me and I can't bring myself to leave.
It's been interesting though observing how the Chinese interact. The teachers can touch the children and it's not considered inappropriate- I can hug them, they give me kisses, we take pictures all the time before and after class. My Chinese counterpart Elva has smacked the kids a couple times when they're not paying attention, or being disruptive. At least once a week she will completely lose it and single out someone and give them a good berating in front of the whole class. Then she'll turn to me and say in a normal voice, "I'm sorry. Continue." And I just stand there like OH MAN and these five year olds are like, whatever. He had it coming.
Elva and I might go out to dinner one night though; I asked to exchange numbers tonight after class (which was me acting like a total buffoon trying to teach the kids the words "fly" "jump" "run" and "swim") and she gave me a hug she was so happy. She's 26 and I think she wants to improve her English, even though her English is decent already. Oh, random sidenote: Our principal studied in London, so when she speaks to me it's with a British accent. I love it!
So the weeks have just been flying by. I mostly stay around Dawai; the only time I go out is for a Carrefour run or when I go to work. The weekends usually involve going out Friday or Saturday, and then always Trivia Night on Sunday at Hopscotch. The nightlife isn't much, but now I think it's kind of cozy actually. Hopscotch is definitely my fave.
Thursday I'm finally going on a trip! Ever since last August, I haven't gone more than three weeks without traveling somewhere (last semester was chock-filled with traveling- I went to DC four times in one month), so being stationary for five weeks in one place has me aching to pack up and go...so I'm visiting Sarah-Laura out in Taiyuan. I've heard it's a horribly polluted city, but I'm excited nonetheless to take that 19-hour bus trip and spend the weekend with her. Plus my grandmother's little sister lives out there; I plan on visiting her as well since Saturday would have been my grandmother's 88th birthday. I'm also doing something else in memory of my grandmother but that's a surprise for now....
I think I've struck a balance between being comfortable, and still stepping out of my comfort zone here. I could manage to put myself out there a little more, but hey, baby steps. I'm having a blast and wouldn't change anything about my experience so far....now back to the mountain of homework I have to finish in order to enjoy this weekend.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
"It's only a flesh wound"
So I'm a relatively "safe" person; I've never broken any bones, had my first surgery when I was 17 and usually luck out in terms of being healthy. (Except for that one time I woke up at 3 in the morning with a huge purple swollen eye and had to go to the hospital to discover I'm allergic to soy.)
So wouldn't it figure that the one time I actually need to go to a hospital, I happen to be in China?
I was playing gaelic football last night at Olympic Square; they meet once a week so I had been looking forward to it all day. We start warming up with the ball, and someone kicks it to my left. I chase after it, only the turf goes into a depression where the seats are at the edge of the field. I completely trip over that depression and hear a crack and had to grab a taxi home after being there all of like 15 minutes. (Not to mention paying a 10 kuai field fee.)
So when I woke up it wasn't any better so I called up my director, who took me to the Zhongshan Hospital of Dalian University. They have this really nice foreigner wing and examined me the minute I walked through the door, which is better than the US hospitals.
They took me to get an x-ray in this really outdated-looking room where the machine kept making a weird whirring noise and the positioning posters on the wall were black and white and looked like they were produced in the 80s.
So 20 minutes later the x-rays were developed and even though my ankle was ridiculously swollen, they said there was no break and just prescribed a boatload of drugs.
Overall, the bill came came to 6 yuan for the consultation -that's like 86 cents, kids-, 16 for the "western medicine" (ibuprofen that I already have a stockpile of in my room), 110 for the x-ray, 16 for them to put this black paste and gauze on my ankle, and....126 for "Chinese medicine."
Which turns out to be four boxes of this anti-inflammatory pill I'm supposed to take three times a day, three pills each time, and some weird gauzy things. 18 USD for that? Ridiculous. At least I have money; the Chinese hospital system is pay-as-you-go so if you don't have money, you're SOL. So much for communism.
Anyway, so now I'm on crutches... and I live on the fifth floor of my building, which is on a HILL, which has only squatting toilets, and has showers only in the basement.
But the weather's really getting nicer! :)
So wouldn't it figure that the one time I actually need to go to a hospital, I happen to be in China?
I was playing gaelic football last night at Olympic Square; they meet once a week so I had been looking forward to it all day. We start warming up with the ball, and someone kicks it to my left. I chase after it, only the turf goes into a depression where the seats are at the edge of the field. I completely trip over that depression and hear a crack and had to grab a taxi home after being there all of like 15 minutes. (Not to mention paying a 10 kuai field fee.)
So when I woke up it wasn't any better so I called up my director, who took me to the Zhongshan Hospital of Dalian University. They have this really nice foreigner wing and examined me the minute I walked through the door, which is better than the US hospitals.
They took me to get an x-ray in this really outdated-looking room where the machine kept making a weird whirring noise and the positioning posters on the wall were black and white and looked like they were produced in the 80s.
So 20 minutes later the x-rays were developed and even though my ankle was ridiculously swollen, they said there was no break and just prescribed a boatload of drugs.
Overall, the bill came came to 6 yuan for the consultation -that's like 86 cents, kids-, 16 for the "western medicine" (ibuprofen that I already have a stockpile of in my room), 110 for the x-ray, 16 for them to put this black paste and gauze on my ankle, and....126 for "Chinese medicine."
Which turns out to be four boxes of this anti-inflammatory pill I'm supposed to take three times a day, three pills each time, and some weird gauzy things. 18 USD for that? Ridiculous. At least I have money; the Chinese hospital system is pay-as-you-go so if you don't have money, you're SOL. So much for communism.
Anyway, so now I'm on crutches... and I live on the fifth floor of my building, which is on a HILL, which has only squatting toilets, and has showers only in the basement.
But the weather's really getting nicer! :)
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Life in Dalian
So after two weeks of classes, I should probably update. [I swear I meant to last week...but time just gets away from me somehow]
Overall I am happy here. I was a little sad at first because Dalian is nothing like Shanghai (everything closes at either dusk or 9!), but I have accepted that and am doing well.
Classes for most people are from 8:30-10 and 10:20-11:50. Tuesdays I only have one class at 10:20 so I can sleep in. Unless I want to shower of course, because the showers only run hot water from 6:30-8:30 in the morning. They are also in the basement, which means that I have to walk down five flights of stairs every morning I take a shower. I also take calligraphy and er hu electives in the afternoon, and a Modern China and a Chinese Foreign Policy class with my program director.
After classes everyone gathers outside the dorm for lunch; that combined with the set class schedule makes it very remniscent of high school. Dawai (that's its nickname) is located on a hill and so all the shops up and down the hill cater for the college students. Every day we can choose from Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Italian, street vendor barbecue, bubble tea, sweet rolls, etc.
The campus itself is the "old campus" since "new" Dawai is actually about a 45 minute bus ride away and is the one offering all the different classes and majors and where 90% of students are attending Dawai. Old Dawai is just one big building; most of it is dorm rooms and then at the other end of the building are the classrooms; there are five floors of them with about seven classrooms on each floor.
The dorms are not as bad as my first impression led me to believe. We have central heating (or had, I think it gets cut off today) and lockable closets for our valuables (apparently the ayis like to roam around people's room sometimes). I bought a new pillow, pillowcase, bedsheet, and comforter, so now that my OCD is put to rest, I sleep like a baby every night. My roommate is Korean; she speaks little Chinese or English but she is incredibly nice and polite. She also likes to blare gangsta rap from the States when she's not studying. When the warmer weather arrives any day now; I'm also going to stock up on Raid because I saw my first bug last night in the sink while I was brushing my teeth. I also have to pay for my internet- a 20 hour internet card costs 25 yuan (a little over 3.50 USD) and I'm already on my fourth one in less than two weeks.
From what I've been told some of the students that are here are only here because they can't get into college back home, so learning Chinese is their chance at having a marketable skill. Most of the Russians here are terribly stereotypical and makes me believe that about them. The biggest population here is Koreans since we are 200 km from the North Korean border; whereas in Shanghai all signs are in English or Chinese, in Dalian all signs are in Chinese and Korean, then Japanese, then English, and sometimes even Russian. It's a very international location. There's also a great number of Italians here, mostly from Venice. I don't know why.
So the culture shock I had really wasn't so much towards Chinese culture, but more internationalism in general. Sure, I had to get used to the northern China "rrrrrrrr" accent, and the way they say "v" instead of "w" (as in, do you go to Davai?), but I'd never really known any Koreans or Russians or Italians before I came here. Many people here know at least two or three languages; my friend's roommate is ethnically Korean but was born and raised in Russia and therefore knows Korean, Russian, Japanese, and English. Personally, I'm picking up bits of Korean and Italian; Beatrice down the hall is teaching me conversational Italian and I love it.
What does bother me about this city (again, besides the accent) is the blatant racism; my Caucasian friends have jobs paying 150 yuan/hour (over 20 USD) tutoring Korean kids, but their parents won't take me because I look asian. Almost every single person I encounter assumes (doesn't even ask, just assumes) I'm Korean, and then when I tell them I'm from China, they either refuse to believe me or ask why I look like them and yet am learning Chinese. I even had a Korean guy ask me what part of Southeast Asia I was from once.
I was once showing my friend how to work the laundry machine, and the cleaning lady in there told me my English was very good. I told her, "Well I am an American" and she does a double take and just stares and me and goes, "Really? But you don't like him!" and points to my friend and I go, "What, him? He's not even American. He's Australian."
I did manage to find a job though, teaching five year olds at an elementary school English. They are not terribly bright, have no attention span whatsoever, and I think they just repeat words but have no idea what they actually mean, but they are so darn cute I couldn't bring myself to quit. Which I was about to do on Thursday because it's a 45 minute commute one way, and the going pay rate from the Chinese is only 100 yuan/hour...but it's a job, and it's an experience (I mean, it's legit, so I can totally put it on a resume). I also may have a tutoring job as well...it's hard to find jobs because I always get, "Why do you look like us? Were you raised in the States? Do you go to school there?"
I had to put the character "Mei" (from "Mei Guo", which means America in Chinese) after my name on my business cards just so people know I'm an American.
I have made a great group of friends here though; three of them are from my study abroad program, two are from Juniata and the other girl of the group is from Winthrop, in South Carolina. I'm also friends with Italians and Australians and Koreans...though not so much the Koreans...yet. I have also really developed a fondness for Korean food, it's pretty fantastic (but not kimchee). Anyway I am in the middle of preparations for spending another semester here abroad because I really don't feel a semester is enough for me to grasp the language, plus I don't want to leave the internationalism of it all. Because Etown says I have to withdraw to do so though, I am actually researching schools back in Shanghai.... Either way, I probably won't be back to the States until the very end of this year.
Overall I am happy here. I was a little sad at first because Dalian is nothing like Shanghai (everything closes at either dusk or 9!), but I have accepted that and am doing well.
Classes for most people are from 8:30-10 and 10:20-11:50. Tuesdays I only have one class at 10:20 so I can sleep in. Unless I want to shower of course, because the showers only run hot water from 6:30-8:30 in the morning. They are also in the basement, which means that I have to walk down five flights of stairs every morning I take a shower. I also take calligraphy and er hu electives in the afternoon, and a Modern China and a Chinese Foreign Policy class with my program director.
After classes everyone gathers outside the dorm for lunch; that combined with the set class schedule makes it very remniscent of high school. Dawai (that's its nickname) is located on a hill and so all the shops up and down the hill cater for the college students. Every day we can choose from Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Italian, street vendor barbecue, bubble tea, sweet rolls, etc.
The campus itself is the "old campus" since "new" Dawai is actually about a 45 minute bus ride away and is the one offering all the different classes and majors and where 90% of students are attending Dawai. Old Dawai is just one big building; most of it is dorm rooms and then at the other end of the building are the classrooms; there are five floors of them with about seven classrooms on each floor.
The dorms are not as bad as my first impression led me to believe. We have central heating (or had, I think it gets cut off today) and lockable closets for our valuables (apparently the ayis like to roam around people's room sometimes). I bought a new pillow, pillowcase, bedsheet, and comforter, so now that my OCD is put to rest, I sleep like a baby every night. My roommate is Korean; she speaks little Chinese or English but she is incredibly nice and polite. She also likes to blare gangsta rap from the States when she's not studying. When the warmer weather arrives any day now; I'm also going to stock up on Raid because I saw my first bug last night in the sink while I was brushing my teeth. I also have to pay for my internet- a 20 hour internet card costs 25 yuan (a little over 3.50 USD) and I'm already on my fourth one in less than two weeks.
From what I've been told some of the students that are here are only here because they can't get into college back home, so learning Chinese is their chance at having a marketable skill. Most of the Russians here are terribly stereotypical and makes me believe that about them. The biggest population here is Koreans since we are 200 km from the North Korean border; whereas in Shanghai all signs are in English or Chinese, in Dalian all signs are in Chinese and Korean, then Japanese, then English, and sometimes even Russian. It's a very international location. There's also a great number of Italians here, mostly from Venice. I don't know why.
So the culture shock I had really wasn't so much towards Chinese culture, but more internationalism in general. Sure, I had to get used to the northern China "rrrrrrrr" accent, and the way they say "v" instead of "w" (as in, do you go to Davai?), but I'd never really known any Koreans or Russians or Italians before I came here. Many people here know at least two or three languages; my friend's roommate is ethnically Korean but was born and raised in Russia and therefore knows Korean, Russian, Japanese, and English. Personally, I'm picking up bits of Korean and Italian; Beatrice down the hall is teaching me conversational Italian and I love it.
What does bother me about this city (again, besides the accent) is the blatant racism; my Caucasian friends have jobs paying 150 yuan/hour (over 20 USD) tutoring Korean kids, but their parents won't take me because I look asian. Almost every single person I encounter assumes (doesn't even ask, just assumes) I'm Korean, and then when I tell them I'm from China, they either refuse to believe me or ask why I look like them and yet am learning Chinese. I even had a Korean guy ask me what part of Southeast Asia I was from once.
I was once showing my friend how to work the laundry machine, and the cleaning lady in there told me my English was very good. I told her, "Well I am an American" and she does a double take and just stares and me and goes, "Really? But you don't like him!" and points to my friend and I go, "What, him? He's not even American. He's Australian."
I did manage to find a job though, teaching five year olds at an elementary school English. They are not terribly bright, have no attention span whatsoever, and I think they just repeat words but have no idea what they actually mean, but they are so darn cute I couldn't bring myself to quit. Which I was about to do on Thursday because it's a 45 minute commute one way, and the going pay rate from the Chinese is only 100 yuan/hour...but it's a job, and it's an experience (I mean, it's legit, so I can totally put it on a resume). I also may have a tutoring job as well...it's hard to find jobs because I always get, "Why do you look like us? Were you raised in the States? Do you go to school there?"
I had to put the character "Mei" (from "Mei Guo", which means America in Chinese) after my name on my business cards just so people know I'm an American.
I have made a great group of friends here though; three of them are from my study abroad program, two are from Juniata and the other girl of the group is from Winthrop, in South Carolina. I'm also friends with Italians and Australians and Koreans...though not so much the Koreans...yet. I have also really developed a fondness for Korean food, it's pretty fantastic (but not kimchee). Anyway I am in the middle of preparations for spending another semester here abroad because I really don't feel a semester is enough for me to grasp the language, plus I don't want to leave the internationalism of it all. Because Etown says I have to withdraw to do so though, I am actually researching schools back in Shanghai.... Either way, I probably won't be back to the States until the very end of this year.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
First Impression of Dalian
So I just arrived in Dalian this afternoon, and I miss Shanghai already.
Besides the fact that I have friends and family, and it's uber metropolitan; Dalian pales in comparison. I feel like Shanghai is actually a country on its own, and Dalian is being in actual China. I'm guessing it's comparable to living in New York City and then suddenly moving to like Lancaster. Still a happening city, but nowhere near as fun or exciting. Maybe Dalian will prove me wrong though.
I mean, there's not even a subway. The main mode of transportation I was told is the Bus 23, which will take me pretty much almost everywhere I want to go around here. The weather's been nicer lately (today is quite warm for what I was expecting of a northern city) and the beach is maybe a half hour cab ride away. It's a growing city, and I have heard nothing but good things about Dalian, but the expat community is much smaller, though maybe that's a good thing for me.
I also feel like I came the wrong year; Danny the director told me that 90% of the students have been moved to the new campus, a 20 minute cab ride away, and that my school is mostly the international students and uh, not as smart students/night class students. So basically, like, the leftovers go here. Next academic year is when the schools will be switched apparently.
My dorm is very simple (read=crappy), but I love the fact that each floor has a "dorm ah-yi" or someone to take care of the floor. Like if your RA was a housekeeper. I'm guessing, of course, I just got here.
Also, Dalian is on the seacoast really really close to North Korea, so like Shanghai has many signs in Chinese and English, Dalian has lots of signs in Chinese and Korean. Japanese is also somewhat prevalent. My roommate, I'm told, is Korean. I have yet to meet her though. Danny told me the Koreans have now switched their top investing country from the US to China [that sentence is really awkward but I don't know a good way to write it]. Maybe I'll get really hooked on Korean dramas while I'm here. That seems like a popular thing among the Chinese anyway.
So later in the semester we're taking a trip to Beijing, and then there's a toss-up between the Three Gorges and a trip to Xi'an and ...Pinyao? I forget the name. But I think I could actually convince them to take a trip to Shanghai; I pitched the idea to Danny and he said to bring it up to the other 5 people (Yes, that's right, there are only 6 of us here in the BCA program) so I could possibly be headed back to Shanghai earlier than I expected :)
So the next few days are Orientation, getting my visa switched, a health exam, whatever and then classes start on Monday. While I definitely miss Shanghai, I'm totally open to spending the next four months exploring the 'truer' side of China, I guess. Plus I want to make a trip out to the North Korean border (200 km away!), maybe Taiyuan to visit Sigma, and Beijing on my own maybe when Dr. K comes with the Etown crowd (roomie reunion!).
For sure when my 19th (or by Chinese standards, 20th) birthday rolls around, I'm heading out somewhere awesome and celebrating -maybe even take the time to go back down to Shanghai and get an awesome ridiculously decorated cake and celebrate with some relatives...I don't recall the last time I did that, if ever. I feel just like I did when I left for Shanghai - excited, but nervous thinking about how much time I'm going to be spending away from 'Home' -but this past month seems to have just flown by, and I'm sure the next four will as well.
(and yes, I will write all about Shanghai later.)
Besides the fact that I have friends and family, and it's uber metropolitan; Dalian pales in comparison. I feel like Shanghai is actually a country on its own, and Dalian is being in actual China. I'm guessing it's comparable to living in New York City and then suddenly moving to like Lancaster. Still a happening city, but nowhere near as fun or exciting. Maybe Dalian will prove me wrong though.
I mean, there's not even a subway. The main mode of transportation I was told is the Bus 23, which will take me pretty much almost everywhere I want to go around here. The weather's been nicer lately (today is quite warm for what I was expecting of a northern city) and the beach is maybe a half hour cab ride away. It's a growing city, and I have heard nothing but good things about Dalian, but the expat community is much smaller, though maybe that's a good thing for me.
I also feel like I came the wrong year; Danny the director told me that 90% of the students have been moved to the new campus, a 20 minute cab ride away, and that my school is mostly the international students and uh, not as smart students/night class students. So basically, like, the leftovers go here. Next academic year is when the schools will be switched apparently.
My dorm is very simple (read=crappy), but I love the fact that each floor has a "dorm ah-yi" or someone to take care of the floor. Like if your RA was a housekeeper. I'm guessing, of course, I just got here.
Also, Dalian is on the seacoast really really close to North Korea, so like Shanghai has many signs in Chinese and English, Dalian has lots of signs in Chinese and Korean. Japanese is also somewhat prevalent. My roommate, I'm told, is Korean. I have yet to meet her though. Danny told me the Koreans have now switched their top investing country from the US to China [that sentence is really awkward but I don't know a good way to write it]. Maybe I'll get really hooked on Korean dramas while I'm here. That seems like a popular thing among the Chinese anyway.
So later in the semester we're taking a trip to Beijing, and then there's a toss-up between the Three Gorges and a trip to Xi'an and ...Pinyao? I forget the name. But I think I could actually convince them to take a trip to Shanghai; I pitched the idea to Danny and he said to bring it up to the other 5 people (Yes, that's right, there are only 6 of us here in the BCA program) so I could possibly be headed back to Shanghai earlier than I expected :)
So the next few days are Orientation, getting my visa switched, a health exam, whatever and then classes start on Monday. While I definitely miss Shanghai, I'm totally open to spending the next four months exploring the 'truer' side of China, I guess. Plus I want to make a trip out to the North Korean border (200 km away!), maybe Taiyuan to visit Sigma, and Beijing on my own maybe when Dr. K comes with the Etown crowd (roomie reunion!).
For sure when my 19th (or by Chinese standards, 20th) birthday rolls around, I'm heading out somewhere awesome and celebrating -maybe even take the time to go back down to Shanghai and get an awesome ridiculously decorated cake and celebrate with some relatives...I don't recall the last time I did that, if ever. I feel just like I did when I left for Shanghai - excited, but nervous thinking about how much time I'm going to be spending away from 'Home' -but this past month seems to have just flown by, and I'm sure the next four will as well.
(and yes, I will write all about Shanghai later.)
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