China - Day 5

It’s definitely been an interesting first week here in GZ (Guangzhou). And busy! So very busy. I’m in bed every night before 10:00, sometimes even as early as 9:00 because I’m so tired from all the running around I’ve done all day. It doesn’t help that I can’t sleep in past 7:00 either as that’s when the huge construction site beside my hotel window comes to life with jackhammers, drills and power saws. There must be upwards of 500 people working there throughout the day, all day, and throughout most of the night. Usually I don’t notice the workers starting to peter out until around the time I head to bed. One night I forced myself to stay awake until 11:30 in an attempt to adjust to the time change and get back on a normal sleeping pattern (which didn’t work by the way), and there were still lights on at the construction site and a bunch of people still hard at work. Thankfully they were fairly quiet. When I was told that China was under construction I thought the person was exaggerating. They weren’t. China truly is under construction! The city is littered with cranes and assorted construction sites - in addition to the giant gaping hole by my hotel, across the street there’s a 33-story building nearing completion.

So what happened this week? Well on Wednesday me, Amy and Luke, another new teacher, had to go to the local hospital for our medical exam. That was definitely an experience! I’ve never seen such production line of people being shuffled around. It started with a consultation with a doctor to go over my forms to make sure I wasn’t lying when I marked off that I haven’t previously had any life-threatening illnesses. After he was satisfied, he informed me of the optional tests they could do for me if I was interested - Hepatitis A and C tests were recommended he said, and there was also the option of an endoscopy. I kindly declined and when back to my seat to wait for him to talk with the others. After that it was time for the urinalysis. We were instructed to leave our sample in the metal box in the washroom. Good system they have there - large open container in the middle of the room - no way anyone could tamper with anything there. Then we had to get our height and weight measured as well as our blood pressure checked in a room full of other people who could see all the results - nothing like a little privacy. Next we got blood samples taken, two full vials full. I asked Christine Li, the EF officer who came with us, if the needles they used were new - I read online that it’s important to ask this question. I’m not sure I’d have the option to refuse the test even if the syringes weren’t new however as my work visa relies on completing the exam… At any rate she assured me they were. The next stage in this whole ordeal was the internal exam. Not as scary as I was imagining in my mind - they just checked my kidneys, heart, and other organs (from the outside). Afterwards I headed over for a chest x-ray and then an ultrasound. Nearing the end of my lovely hospital visit I had an ear/nose/throat exam followed by an eye exam - always interesting trying to communicate what I’m seeing when I can’t speak the language. Luckily hand gestures seemed to do the trick. The last thing on the list for the day was an electro-cardiogram then we were on our way. The whole thing took about 2 ½ hours and 400 RMB (about $58.50 Canadian).

After the visit to the clinic we headed back over to the main branch of EF in the Tianhe district of the city. We were supposed to join day two of training boot camp, but seeing as how we’d missed to first day of it and half of the second, the guy running it told us we could join in if we wanted to or just do it next time it’s offered. Seemed like a good option to me! Luke stayed as he had actually attended the first session the day before but Amy and I were outta there!

We decided to go scout out our own branches of EF. Turns out I’m working in a ghetto. Well the area in front of the school doesn’t seem so bad but once you start walking in the neighborhood behind the school it’s a different story. Very small, crowded and dirty streets lined with tiny shops and restaurants. This is actually what I pictured China was like. There was however, a really nice temple at the end of the block. As we made our way towards the entrance we were approached by a monk who offered us a little gold pendant. After taking the offering we realized that he wanted a donation. By this time we had attracted some attention and a crowd started to form while an elderly woman yelled at us (or at the monk, I’m not sure) and was watching very closely at how much money we were taking out of our wallets. After that we practically ran to the entryway of the temple! At first I thought the other Chinese people were angry because they were against the monks for being associated with Tibet or something like that, but then I thought that maybe the monks were imposters. Turns out that was the case - I recently asked the Center Manager at my branch about them and she confirmed my suspicions - only the monks inside the temple are real - the ones outside who want money aren’t. I guess ‘live and learn’ is the moral of the story.

Thursday we went apartment hunting. After waiting three hours for our realtor and translator to arrive we finally went to walk around and view a few places. To make a long story short we finally found a suitable 2-bedroom apartment for 4500 RMB/month that’s close to the metro and downtown area. The complex our building is in also has a swimming pool (which won’t have water in it until the summer - who cares that it’s currently 39 degrees?), a tennis court, spa, gym, and a pretty nice courtyard. It’s also gated and you have to pass through a security checkpoint to get in. Today (Saturday) we’re going to go back to sign our lease and handover a huge pile of cash (they deal with cash here) - two months deposit, first month’s rent, plus 50% of a month’s rent for the real estate company. My bank account is going to be seriously depleted after today. We also have to go to Ikea (which is conveniently located down the block from our place) to get a new couch. The one that’s there now is pretty bad and the owner didn’t want to replace it himself so he knocked 2000 RMB off our first months rent so we could buy our own. Fair enough.

Yesterday was the most interesting day by far! In the morning I went back to the Tianhe branch for an orientation to EF along with Luke and Eric (yet another new teacher) and then on to my own branch to meet “my new family” as my Director of Studies put it. The other teachers and staff were really warm and friendly and definitely seemed more inviting than the first impressions that I got when I went to work for Nova in Oita. Rachael Zhang, the Center Manager, took us all out for lunch on the company’s dime (I could get used to this). There I got to meet a few of the teachers (who didn’t have class) a little more and enjoy my first experience with Cantonese cuisine. The food they ordered was pretty tame and I tried *almost* everything - I left the duck feet and cow tendon alone, but I tried another beef dish, and pork dish, and a spring roll type of vegetarian dish. Those three were all pretty good. After lunch we went back to the school and had a meeting with Rachael and Andre (the Director of Studies). It was just another introduction to EF but focused on the break down of the departments. At 2:30 I had to leave to go and meet Amy and Phoenix for a walking tour of the city.

Now “tame” is NOT a word I’d use to describe our Welcome Dinner. Last night Susan and Phoenix from EF took me, Amy, Luke and Eric out for dinner. I’m pretty sure I will be haunted by that meal for the rest of my time here (and honestly they didn’t even order the weirdest things on the menu). It all started with pigeon. I was wondering why I hadn’t seen any around the city LOL. They came out fried and crispy, head included - although nobody ate that part so maybe it’s just for decoration. The next course was soup; this is the one I had the most trouble with. It was a simple enough pork broth, but in addition to the pork, there were mushrooms, a chicken foot, and fish bowel. Yeah that’s right - bowel. (Pictures to be posted shortly). Being brave I tried the broth, but I didn’t touch the “meat”. Then the waitress brought out sandworms. Yes the kind from the movie “Tremors.” Okay so maybe they weren’t that big, but they were indeed worms. They were served in a liquid/broth mixture with radish and peppers. You’d be amazed to know that I ate one. So did Amy. But one was enough. The boys seemed to really enjoy them though as they pretty much finished the bowl. The table didn’t seem big enough for all the food that kept coming out for the rest of the night - bok choy in coconut juice, fried noodles, sweet and sour chicken (these last two items were the only ones I’d ever eat again as they were actually pretty good), and then dessert which was an “egg tart - Portuguese style. Apparently it’s a Macau dish - it was alright as well, it tasted a little bit like crème brulee in a tart crust. All in all I’d say that meal was a life experience. Not so sure it’s one I want to repeat although I’m sure I will probably many times while I’m here.

So that was my week. I’m sure I’ve forgotten about some things but this post has already gotten really long!

China - Day 1

What a long and exhausting journey! But after a 21 hour flight (13 to Tokyo then another 5 to Guangzhou after a 3 hour layover), I've finally arrived in China in one piece. For the most part. I guess aside from the joint stiffness from sitting for so long and the pain in my arms and shoulders from lugging around all my baggage I'm in fairly decent shape.

After we landed at the Guangzhou airport and made our way through customs, Amy and I were greeted by Phoenix Liu, an intern for our school. He was waiting patiently holding a nice bright blue EF English First sign. Definitely caught our attention. After dragging our luggage across what seemed to be the *entire* length of the airport, we made it to the exit where a van was waiting to take us to our hotel. It's lucky that Amy and I were the only ones being picked up that day, I'm not sure that anyone else's bags would've fit into the back. Seems like we've over-packed. Again.

In the 40 minutes it took to get to the hotel from the airport I'm pretty sure I saw my life flash before my eyes more than once. Apparently the rules of the road in China are that there are no rules. People merging lanes without signaling... People merging lanes without bothering to even check to see if there's already a car in the lane... Definitely not a place I'll be renting a car to do any driving myself!

The hotel EF has put us in is actually really nice! Much better than I was expecting. We've each got our own room with a queen size bed and a big flat-panel wall-mounted TV. The best part is that there's a western-style toilet. I don't think I'd be able to handle the Chinese squatting ones just yet... It's too bad this place is only temporary. If I could find an apartment that was similar to this I'd be perfectly satisfied. Amy and I are going on Thursday to find an apartment with a real estate agent/translator that EF set us up with. Hopefully we find something quickly - it'll be nice not having to live out of a suitcase for too long!

They don't give you much time to get over jet lag here - today we were met by Susan Woo, she's kind of like a coordinator of sorts. She took us to open a bank account and to the main EF branch to do a little orientation and contract signing. Tomorrow we have to be up and ready by 8:00 to go and get a medical check - definitely not looking forward to that. But in order to get a visa (a more permanent one than the one I have now) we have to be checked from head to toe. After that we have to do "boot camp" which is kind of like a concentrated teaching seminar. Seems kind of pointless though considering we've already missed the first day of it.

After we finished up with Susan at EF we were left to find our own way back to the hotel. Turns out it was easy enough on the subway - it was only two stops away LOL. We spent the rest of the day walking around Grandview Mall in search of Jusco to get a few groceries - turns out Jusco was in a different mall down the street. Fun times.

My first impressions of China are actually really positive. Guangzhou is a lot cleaner than I was anticipating and the people haven't been angrily staring at me like I thought they would. That's not to say that there isn't garbage or that people aren't staring at all though. Also, there's actually a lot more "Western/American" things available here than I would have imagined - more variety than in Japan which is really surprising! Store-wise so far I've seen a number of brand name shops like Tommy Hilfiger, Rolex, and Levi’s... Food-wise there are McDonald's, KFC, Subway and Pizza Hut (which were all available in Japan as well). But there's also Haagen-Dazs, Dairy Queen, and Papa John's Pizza. Tonight we ate at Pizza Hut and ordered the "American Special". A.K.A. pepperoni pizza.

Alright well it's time for me to go to bed - I'm having an early night. I haven't gotten used to the time change yet and I'm exhausted.