Arriving in Guangzhou and Settling into Zhuhai

August 25th, 11:45pm

Whew.

It is almost midnight on August 25th. I have just settled into my temporary residence. I don't know how temporary “temporary” is, but I would be very happy to stay here all year based on the layout and quality of the apartment. The student who met me at the airport and brought me here was wowed by the fact that I got a refrigerator, so maybe I should be even more thankful than I am.

I am on the fifth floor of an elevatorless building. After a long hot night traversing across town, I was ready to believe in a god who specialized in small miracles when I discovered that I had temperature controlled air-conditioning in my bedroom. My room is spacious, as is the living room, the bathroom, the kitchen, and the breakfast nook. My balcony – yes, I have my own balcony – is pretty big, too. It is, fortunately, one of two balconies. The other is a working balcony extending from the bathroom, and that one has a clothes washer and drying line across it. The view from my room is pleasant, but it is too dark to know what I am seeing tonight. I am soooooooo tired, though, that I would not be surprised if on every night hereafter I am able to describe in romantic detail how much I can see from my apartment’s vantage point.

I arrived in Guangzhou with no problems. It was strange that the plane I took from Seoul dropped off us passengers outdoors, from where we were bussed to the terminal. I got through customs without a hitch. I found my pick-up guy easily, too. He had a big “RACHEL ~ SUN YAT-SEN UNIVERSITY” poster board dangling over his 165cm frame (I did not estimate this height on my own; he reported it to me in his original description of himself via email before I left the States. I replied that I was 185cm and may be easier of the two of us to find.). Although Nate's fears of my not finding the exact short Asian man with glasses I was supposed to be looking for in a busy airport were well-founded, Nate & I did not think of the signage variable when we had the how-will-I-find-my-pick-up-guy conversation.

We ate at MacDonald's in the airport because Xiao-an (aka Ivan, aka pick-up guy) was starving. I stayed at our table to guard my bags while he ordered. I told him to surprise me. He got me a coffee with ice cream in it and two deep-fried chicken wings. Maybe I should have asked him to gurad the bags… I picked a reasonable amount of meat off the wings and played with the coffee to be polite, but I really just wanted to get to my new home, and I wanted to sleep without a half-assed caffeine high keeping me half-awake. He purchased bus tickets for us and a taxi after dinner (neither of which could I have done before giving up and sleeping on the airport floor), and took me to a grocery store to get whatever I needed. I decided that the most important items were: a power adapter for my computer, a pillow, shampoo, soap, and fruit. The soap, though necessary for other purposes, was mostly intended for fruit-washing. The sight of the fruit in the grocery store proved to me what I had already begun to guess: I will love it here. Plums are cheap, but they are still more expensive than persimmons, dragon fruit, and papaya. I don't think I brought a knife, so no papaya for me yet. Just grape tomatoes, pears, persimmons, and a giant white peach that Brandon would love (crIspy).

Soon after Ivan helped me carry my things up to my apartment and we discovered all its little features (TV, filtered water, refrigerator, air conditioning, washer...), he left, and I got to take a fabulous shower. Hot water was not necessary due to the heat and humidity of the night, but I tested it to make sure it was available. Yep! And the water pressure is great. Oh... best part: I have a Western-style toilet. That wasn't the best part of my shower. I would go so far as to say that it couldn't claim much of a part in my shower at all. But it was a welcome surprise as a bathroom feature, and one I had been told not to expect.

I am going in for a health exam in the afternoon tomorrow and need to get some sleep. I guess there is more to say, but maybe I'll have time and consciousness in the morning to write it. =)


August 26th, 6am

I have been up for two hours. The room got too cold last night for someone who didn't bring or buy anything more than a bedsheet, so I got up at 4am, ate a pear (Asian variety) and half an English muffin (packed for the flight and totally unnecessary due to the wonderful in-flight meals provided), then unpacked everything, reorganized it based on likelihood of immediate use, then either repacked it or put it into drawers. I found that I have three drawers in a pretty sturdy desk that I can lock with a key. Those will be at least one layer of protection for my valuables that I didn't expect.

During those two hours, I straightened my hair (which, due to that fabulous shower last night, was a messy pile of dried-while-I-slept bed head), and already it is fuzzing back up. Now I see the benefits of having my hair chemically straightened as Lei suggested. I'll consider that a note to self.

The good news: I feel just like I normally do when I go to bed at midnight and wake up at 4am. I am optimistically hoping that jet lag will not produce too potent or prolonged an effect on me. Even if it does, I can be thankful that I am not just here on a quick vacation that could easily be ruined (or at least set back) by my body trying to recover from jet lag the entire time.


August 26th, 8:15am

I feel refreshed. I am eating that softball-sized white peach that I purchased at the campus market. It is not very sweet, has very little peachy flavor, and smells like it has stepped beyond puberty into full-blown pregnancy. Yep ~ there it is. The pit is split, and the seed is sprouting. If I had a little plot of dirt here, I would test the color of my thumb.

I am about to go explore campus a bit. I want to take as little as possible with me... but I will take a camera. I don't want to forget to take pictures, and maybe if I take enough pictures, then when I get lost I can just work my way backwards toward my apartment. =)


11am
I went to the market again, and I didn’t take a single picture. I didn’t rebel against the idea, nor was I forbidden to take pictures. I just forgot while I was experiencing the beauty of the place that I may want to share that beauty sooner rather than later.

So, a little about my trip to the on-campus market this morning...
I walked the 1/100th of a mile to the market (okay, maybe it's not quite that close, but it is pretty darn close), motivated by a not yet urgent need for toilet paper. I knew where the market was because Xiao-an and I walked rather than drove from the market to my apartment last night. While driving is a fun way to see lots of things here, it is not the best mode of transport when I am trying to memorize where things are with respect to one another. Anywho… Today, I bought more tomatoes (these produce the least waste of all the available fruits and, therefore, less trash to worry about), some corn porridge (I wish I had gotten oat porridge, but I figured that I should at least pretend to be adventurous by trying something “new”, and oatmeal is not new to me even when it is labeled in Chinese), toilet paper, a bowl that will also serve as a cup[1], wooden chopsticks, and a stainless steel spoon.

The market was full of students returning to campus, many shopping with their parents. My favorite surprise therein: beer. It is not that I like beer or want beer, but it was a novelty that I did not think to expect to find in a campus market!

I now feel the fact that I sat so much on the plane for a day and then carried two rather heavy bags on my shoulders in between flights -- my body aches! All I could think at times was “Why am I the only person in this airport without wheels on my carry-on bag?” And then I remembered why: Because I stubbornly use anything that can still be used rather than purchase something that would be nice to use. At times I am proud of this habit, and, at other times (such as in every airport on my way to China), I become intensely creative in developing new curses for it.

I am starting to see how people can feel very isolated in places where they do not speak the primary local language. I feel more alone now than I have in a long time, but I am also so tired that I would probably be quite unsocial at home. Maybe when I have more energy, I will be more adventurous and feel less alone[2].

Soon, Ivan will come pick me up so I can get a physical exam to receive my health certificate. I hope they do not draw blood. I should have asked Mom to get me syringes so that I could provide my own. At least I have alcohol wipes. I do not mean to be judgmental of a medical system I have not yet experienced, but Craig conveyed a story to me about one of his friends (yes, a friend of a friend said...) that sent me rummaging through our medicine cabinet hoarding everything I could imagine I would need to self-medicate illnesses and treat wounds. The story: His friend, Lisa, watched as the doctor she went to see walked around the waiting room she was in and gave every unexamined patient an injection of the same medication from the same syringe. If that is something that can be done in front of people, what must be allowable behind closed doors (or drawn curtains, if you will)?!


6:46pm
I am in the office that I will be working in this year. The people are wonderfully friendly and speak excellent English. For right now, this proves helpful as I get myself established. Later, I will have to insist that Chinese be used more often with me.

They have asked me if I want to teach a math class in addition to English classes. Ummm, yeah! But I want to see my schedule first to know when I will have free time and such. I do not want to spend my entire time in China speaking English slowly and clearly. That just wouldn’t be right. I need free time to explore and talk to people who cannot help me by resorting to English. For now, there is so much to accomplish that I can forgive the lack of such experiences. But soon…

I just went to the market area of the city today. It was like Chinatown in the sense that one store after another was a copy of some original that is long lost. I bought a knife, some produce, oatmeal, and mugs to serve tea and water in.

I should give this computer back to its owner. More about the market and the crazy things therein later.


August 27th, 4:35pm

It is currently “later”, and I am back on the computer, and am ready to start publishing some of this in a blog. When I have regular office hours, I will be able to start publishing on a regular schedule, and when I have internet in my apartment, it will be even easier.

The market was… wow. People everywhere, busses and cars and pedestrians and bicyclists sharing the road closely yet passively. Honking horns were not accompanied with shaking fists and impatient yells; rather, the honks were actually used as safety devices, indicating presence and movement for the benefit of all on the road. Children were sleeping in their parents’ shops, dogs with large bodies and stumpy legs roamed the streets happily (or, maybe they were just hot – but I like to interpret their open-mouthed pants as “I am a happy puppy being cutely mischevious” not “I am freaking hot and would eat you if you didn’t move around so much”). A fruit market was hedged on two sides by fish and poultry. Living fish and poultry. Stinky fish and pooping poultry. I realize that this market practice insures freshness, but… umm… POOPING POULTRY NEXT TO MY FRUIT?!?! Needless to say, I no longer wash my fruit in soap and water alone. I rinse in water, scrub with soap, rinse in more water, and then send my fruit diving through a bowl of rubbing alcohol. Yummmmmmm. I guess I can see why all of the major epidemics, like SARS, start in Guangdong.

I would like to see someone go through the whole process of selecting, purchasing, murdering, and preparing one of the chickens or ducks. The fish would be cool, too. They are sold alive from plastic shopping bags full of water. They are delivered to the customer in smaller such bags than the displays are in. I see children carrying these fish home for dinner. How cool.

We went to a chainstore supermarket where I bought the goodies I listed last night. At each store, a worker is stationed at each produce section to weigh and label whatever you pick out. They often stand at attention, making me think that this is just their part-time job to supplement their military pay.

I was first impressed by the carrots I found. Imagine the kind of carrot you would need if you built a snowman tall enough to peek into second-floor windows (i.e., a really creepy snowman). These are the kind of carrots you will find in China. I had to buy one. I hugged the Chosen One to my chest until I realized that I am already a strange person in Xiao-an’s estimation; I shouldn’t do more to exacerbate the effect. I carefully laid my carrot to rest in my basket, and tried not to think of how exciting it would be to eat it at home. Have I mentioned that I really love carrots? Big, crunchy carrots? Well, I do, and that carrot was amAzing. Sweet, crunchy, and never-ending. (Ok, not quite never-ending. It is long gone. But it gave the impression.)
I wanted to buy a rice cooker and other goods, too, but I would have to carry everything a long way back, so I practiced some patience and self denial by waiting. For right now, it is probably a good idea if I eat out more to experience what China has to offer.

Speaking of eating out, Xiao-an and I were starving by the time I was done shopping, so we went out to eat. I was too hungry to wait until we got home, where I was expecting to try the chicken bouillon and canned tofu I had purchased along with my carrot, so we stopped at a restaurant serving food from Northwestern China. I kept asking Xiao-an what was on the menu (Zhe shi shenme? What is this?), but didn’t want to ask too much, so when Xiao-an said “Tomatoes and beef” I thought that sounded wonderfully acceptable. But he did not say “tomatoes and beef.” He said, “Potatoes and beef.” I ordered white rice with fried white potatoes and greasy beef with not-actually-hot hot peppers. Anyone who has eaten out with me knows that this is not something I would intentionally order. However, I happily enjoyed the meal and suffered only the smallest of setbacks from it (shaky hands when I was typing last night, and a sugar-high crash later on. The crash fortunately came at a wonderful time – right before bed. I had no trouble falling to sleep, but I woke up feeling a bit weak in the morning.)

Today, Xiao-an took me to the canteen (cafeteria) for the first time. At each of several stations, I would order and pay for each serving of food, starting, of course, with rice. I got stir-fried baby bok choy, which I recognized, and a meat that I thought was chicken. It happened to be pig skin, aka, pig fat and a little hair. Yummm. (Please re-read the preceding “Yummm” with a strong dose of sarcasm if you read it any other way the first time around.) Actually, the pig skin tasted quite good, but, for the sake of representing Western ideals of good nutrition, I did not finish my plate. Next time, I will at least clarify which animal my food is coming from, and maybe I will start to learn parts as well.

I am in the office right now. I came in to talk about teaching an additional class. In the spirit of Chinese openness on the topic of salary, I will note that they have offered to pay me an additional 800RMB a month to teach math once a week. I am thrilled by the idea of teaching English through math, so I could hardly care less what they would pay me, but 800RMB will get me far considering that most of my major expenses have already been covered in these past few days. A bike will be about 200RMB, and a cell phone will be more, but I don’t know how much. Lei has advised me that salary is always negotiable, but I am just not in the mood to demand more money when what they offer is plenty for me. When I get a long-term job where such negotiations will add up to bigger and more necessary sums, I will be more inclined to demand that my skills be generously compensated. But, for now, I am just thankful for this experience and the kindness I have been shown. If I were here for the money, then I wouldn’t actually be here at all.

I am about to head to dinner at the canteen – yay! Maybe this time I will do a better job selecting dishes…

One more happy note before I sign off: everyone here compliments my accent and writing! They say that I sound very dignified because it sounds as though I learned my Chinese in Beijing. One girl was kind enough to say that she thinks I cannot have come across my accent without studying previously in China. Of course, she had only heard me say phrases I know well (What time? Where? Really?), and she is married to an American from Minnesota who brought his Minnesotan accent to Chinese and has yet to rid himself of it after 8 years. Several of the Americans here speak no Chinese at all. I am afraid it is due to such factors that I come across compliments so easily, but I enjoy them all the same!

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[1] It is not necessary to use my bowl as a cup since, when I was thirsty last night, a streak of innovation led me to dumping out all of the gum in a 60-piece plastic container of Orbit gum and using the container as my 4oz drinking glass. At first, my water was disgustingly Winter Breeze-ish in flavor. If any flavor is left, I don't notice it. I just hope all my gum does not go bad in its new plastic baggy home.
[2] Just so I do not paint a misleading picture of me interacting in China, I should note that despite my complaints of being tired, everyone here has expressed that I come across as having quite a lot of energy and being very friendly. When I am around people, no matter how unsocial I feel up until then, I am energized by their presence and conversation – and the effect is most potent when I am meeting new people.