Yesterday, my body decided to reject China. I was told that I couldn't eat in the morning for my health exam for my residency permit, so I drank some water (bottled of course). I felt nauseous all morning. The windows were down on the ride over to the place where I was getting my exam, and the smell of diesel and China in general just made feel worse. When Diana took me to the doctor's office, my body decided it didn't want the water anymore. I threw up in the bathroom there. I felt a little better. After that, they drew some blood. There were no rusty Chinese needles; everyone got a new one. We rode back to school with the windows rolled up, but the ride still made me nauseous. When I got back to my room, I went to sleep for about two hours.
When I woke up, I felt much better. Still felt a little weak, but I wasn't going to let that stop me from accomplishing my goals for the day of playing basketball and walking around the city. I went to go play basketball with the people outside my building. I tried to ask if I could join in in Chinese, but it didn't go too well. I tried again in English with greater success. It was a lot of fun playing. People started gathering around when they saw an American was playing. Everyone wanted to play me one-on-one. I was absolutely exhausted. They were extremely nice to me. Many of them spoke English, and I make them teach me some Chinese. Whenever I tried to say something in Chinese, everyone laughed. It was a good time, and I hope to do it again soon. I won't be able to go out and play in about a month, so I'm going to take advantage of the opportunity now.
After I got done playing, I took a shower and drank some water and ate a little piece of bread. Then, I went to my boss' office to ask some questions. He invited me to go drink a beer together, and I readily accepted the invitation. But once I got back to my room, I started feeling bad again. My body decided it didn't want that bread and water., and after I got rid of it, I went back to sleep. Mr. Lu came at about 6:00, and I was still sick. We agreed to postpone the beer, but he had me sign an updated contract. While I was signing, I had to go throw up again. After he left, I went back to bed.
I woke up this morning at about 3:00, and I haven't been able to go back to sleep. I accomplished quite a bit. You can now see some pictures if you click on the link to my picture site in the right toolbar. I feel much better right now. I think I'm going to take it easy today, so no basketball. I really want to take the bus to the river and take some pictures, so maybe tomorrow I can put some pictures up from the nice parts of town.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
First Impression
Today is the beginning of day three in Harbin. I've been up since 4:45 this morning. I didn't think I was jet lagged, but that is pretty strong evidence to the contrary. The trip over was not bad at all. There were no delays; I made all my flights, and I ended up with all my luggage. I watched RV on the flight to LA. It was a guilty pleasure. I passed out for most of the flight to Beijing. When I arrived in Harbin, one of the employees of the international office at my school, "Diana" Li (everyone chooses an English first name), had a sign with my name on it. The drive to the school from the airport took about an hour. Outside the city was beautiful; everything was flat and green with trees dotting the fields. I was incredibly excited.
Once we hit the city, I wasn't so excited anymore. We passed some buildings that looked like they were condos in a shoddy version of Gulf Shores. I thought, "We're on the outskirts of town; the rest of the city will look different." Nothing changed for the rest of the drive. The city is filled with 5 to 7 story pink or yellow apartment buildings that look like run-down beach condos. I still haven't found the beach.
When we arrived at my school, Heilongjiang Institute of Technology, I was as impressed with the school as I was unimpressed with the city. The buildings are modern and nice, and there is a lot of green area. One of the workers in the school that I had dinner with the first night said the school is about the equivalant of a community college. There are incredible amounts of people surveying at all times. My room is very nice; far nicer than I expected. Outside there are a ton of basketball courts. I can't wait to go out and play today.
After I got settled in, Diana took me to a store to buy some stuff. The store was called Carrefour. I remember seeing them in Spain. It was like a Super Wal-Mart. The walk there and the shopping experience was overwhelming. Everything is crazy. Its inevitable that I will be hit by something on the street. People walk out into the middle of traffic. Motorcycles drive into oncoming traffic. Cars cross intersections whenever they please. The store was a zoo too. I bought everything I needed for my room, some food, and some other random stuff for 220 yuan (about 27 dollars).
I got back to my room, and I was feeling pretty overwhelmed. I expected to be overwhelmed but I had no clue what that really felt like. It didn't feel very good. Then I met Chris. Chris is the only other Westerner working at my school. He made me feel a lot better because I could talk to him and because he has been here for 3 years, hasn't learned Chinese, and still loves it. He has been taking me around to the nice parts of the city. My first night he took me to the commercial districts. We walked around a shopping center that could have been Lenox. I saw my first Russian Orthodox church in the city. Last night, we went to the old Russian part of town. Except for all the Chinese characters, I could have been in Europe. We met a bunch of the other English teachers there. They seemed like a nice bunch. Chris said if I want to learn Chinese I need to say away from them. Learning Chinese is one of my goals for the trip, but its definately important for me to get to know people I can actually talk to. We'll see how it goes.
My contract says that I'll teach 14 hours a week; right now I have 7 hours. 4 of those hours don't start until after a break we have in October. So for the next month, pending some new classes, I'll have 3 hours of work a week. I'm going to have quite a bit of time on my hands. I would like to spend some time getting aquainted with Harbin, but it seems like it is a great opportunity to do some travelling. I don't know if I'll always have this sort of time on my hands. If I meet a travel buddy, I will most likely take the opportunity to see some of China.
Today, I finish getting my residency permit. The culmination is a medical exam that I'm getting this morning. I've been told that they're going to draw some blood; I'm fine with that except I'm in China and not the US. Also, they told me not to eat this morning, and I'm wondering what that's all about. After that, I'm going to play some basketball and walk around the city. Hopefully, I'll have quite a few pictures to put up tomorrow.
Once we hit the city, I wasn't so excited anymore. We passed some buildings that looked like they were condos in a shoddy version of Gulf Shores. I thought, "We're on the outskirts of town; the rest of the city will look different." Nothing changed for the rest of the drive. The city is filled with 5 to 7 story pink or yellow apartment buildings that look like run-down beach condos. I still haven't found the beach.
When we arrived at my school, Heilongjiang Institute of Technology, I was as impressed with the school as I was unimpressed with the city. The buildings are modern and nice, and there is a lot of green area. One of the workers in the school that I had dinner with the first night said the school is about the equivalant of a community college. There are incredible amounts of people surveying at all times. My room is very nice; far nicer than I expected. Outside there are a ton of basketball courts. I can't wait to go out and play today.
After I got settled in, Diana took me to a store to buy some stuff. The store was called Carrefour. I remember seeing them in Spain. It was like a Super Wal-Mart. The walk there and the shopping experience was overwhelming. Everything is crazy. Its inevitable that I will be hit by something on the street. People walk out into the middle of traffic. Motorcycles drive into oncoming traffic. Cars cross intersections whenever they please. The store was a zoo too. I bought everything I needed for my room, some food, and some other random stuff for 220 yuan (about 27 dollars).
I got back to my room, and I was feeling pretty overwhelmed. I expected to be overwhelmed but I had no clue what that really felt like. It didn't feel very good. Then I met Chris. Chris is the only other Westerner working at my school. He made me feel a lot better because I could talk to him and because he has been here for 3 years, hasn't learned Chinese, and still loves it. He has been taking me around to the nice parts of the city. My first night he took me to the commercial districts. We walked around a shopping center that could have been Lenox. I saw my first Russian Orthodox church in the city. Last night, we went to the old Russian part of town. Except for all the Chinese characters, I could have been in Europe. We met a bunch of the other English teachers there. They seemed like a nice bunch. Chris said if I want to learn Chinese I need to say away from them. Learning Chinese is one of my goals for the trip, but its definately important for me to get to know people I can actually talk to. We'll see how it goes.
My contract says that I'll teach 14 hours a week; right now I have 7 hours. 4 of those hours don't start until after a break we have in October. So for the next month, pending some new classes, I'll have 3 hours of work a week. I'm going to have quite a bit of time on my hands. I would like to spend some time getting aquainted with Harbin, but it seems like it is a great opportunity to do some travelling. I don't know if I'll always have this sort of time on my hands. If I meet a travel buddy, I will most likely take the opportunity to see some of China.
Today, I finish getting my residency permit. The culmination is a medical exam that I'm getting this morning. I've been told that they're going to draw some blood; I'm fine with that except I'm in China and not the US. Also, they told me not to eat this morning, and I'm wondering what that's all about. After that, I'm going to play some basketball and walk around the city. Hopefully, I'll have quite a few pictures to put up tomorrow.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Leaving
The time has finally come for me to leave for China. After several months of preparation, it didn't seem like I would ever get to go. I haven't been nervous as of yet, but today I'm feeling pretty anxious. I really think I'm going to start talking to people in Spanish because that's the language I've become accustomed to using when I can't speak to someone. That probably won't go over well. The picture posted is of most of the stuff I'm bringing with me. There are couple more books and a pair of snow boots that aren't pictured, but other than that, that's about everything. The biggest frustration thus far has been the situation with my laptop(s). I bought one new this summer, and I must have left it plugged into the wall during a thunder storm. The hard drive got fried, so it is off getting repaired. Still, I was fine because I could just take my mom's laptop, and she could have mine when it got back. It was a great plan until it became terminally ill last night, the day before departing. So resolving that is the central challenge of the day. Other than that, I just have to sit on a plane and in airports for at least 27 hours starting at about 5:00PM today. My flight is out at 8:30. All that said, I'm incredibly excited. I looked at the weather for when I arrive. The high will be 78 and the low 48. That's reason enough to be excited. I can't wait to walk around and be overwhelmed.
Monday, August 07, 2006
Getting started
I thought starting a blog would be a good way to keep as many people as are interested informed about what is going on while I'm in China. Also, I figure that it'll will save me time when e-mailing people; I won't have to give broad information about what is going on everytime I write someone an e-mail. I definitely would encourage anyone to e-mail me with questions and let me know what's going on at home. Hopefully, this blog will allow you guys to feel a little more connected with me and will help me feel more connected with you.
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