Real Chinese food is amazing. I had basically stopped eating the sad Canadian attempts at it and now will never go back. Definitely one of the highlights of what is now my fourth day in Jinshitan and settling in. I will try and focus on a few key aspects today that I think are fun and funny.
Chinese driving is hilariously insane and yet even after a few days the sense of it starts to appear. Having one hand on the horn is a priority at all times! Starting with the drive from the airport, if you do not hear a honk basically every few seconds something is wrong. Shockingly so few accident! Less than Canada I am told. I guess this relates to the highly offensive driving. Kill or be killed. As a pedestrian you have no rights. There are crosswalks, but no one will stop. You cross anywhere and always look both ways. Lane to lane is the way to go! This can also include being nearly run over in pedestrian walkways. Chinese people will also just park wherever they feel and we have seen several people just randomly pull over and get up to do whatever. Our Chinese driver on the way back from the airport pulled over on the highway and went into his bank. Love it.
What have I been doing! Well Friday we arrived and were greeted by Kelli! She is a super high energy teacher with Maple Leaf who has simply made the start so easy. It began by her showing each of us to our various apartments despite the Typhoon rain and wind Friday. My apartment is on the fourth floor and is a nice little one bedroom place. Shower is way too short! Tap water should not be drunken copiously or at all really. That being said rinsing, washing, etc. it is fine. Chinese people do not have stoves usually, which will be an adjustment. I have bought a full size toaster over I will put to use and we are equipped with a hotplate for our stove top cooking necessities. After introducing us to our apartment Kelli took us to watch she dubbed the “Maple Leaf Store.” This was basically a collection of stuff from departing teachers to help new teachers. This “shop” ended up saving me boatloads of time and money at Ikea. I found numerous basic household items and after Saturdays trip to Ikea and Metro my apartment is still Spartan, but all I need. We unpacked and settled in, very quickly, before walking in Jinshitan to our first Chinese dinner. The place is called something… no one really knows. Maple Leaf teachers call it donkey dumplings as that is the feature dish. It is a family run, hole in the wall style place. However, it was amazing and there is a reason it is frequented by staff. I hated eggplant in Canada. Three days in China and it may be my favourite vegetable. Also Chinese beer is only 2.5 percent. Anyone can be a heavy weight here! It should be noted that I will try the donkey dumplings eventually! The variety of meat is quite good. The problem with eating, for me, is it is all smorgasbord, which has resulted in three dinner of blissful stuffing of my stomach.
Saturday we did the local market in the morning and were toured around Jinshitan. No one speaks English, lots of people stare, and the Chinese people here are tall. I do not stand out any more than normal in terms of height. We then to the Ching way to Dalian. This is the slower version of trains in China. The high speed ones go over 300 km/h. Trying to get on this train is like being stuffed in a can. It is rather ridiculous, you basically should just sit back as people just ram onto the train before letting people off so they can maybe get the seats. Coming back was even more hilarious because it was the last train. The savagery getting on was comical! It was even better when we arrived in Jinshitan. It is the end of the line and the people waiting to get on were trying to get on the last train back to Dalian, We sat back and watched as people basically knocked over the people getting on the train. We still did not leave unscratched. One guy literally jumped over my bags to grab a vacated seat. This was the return trip from Ikea and Metro. I ended up buying most of my household needs for about 450 Yuan or 90 dollars. It was quite an impressive and cheap hall. My 1.50 pillow is a particular steal.
This is where we hit the first real hitch/irritation of my trip. Firstly, we probably should have just grabbed a taxi as the six of us were loaded with stuff and it would have cost 120 Yuan (30 bucks) split six ways for the 45 minute cab. Instead we went on the Ching way. This involved carrying all they bags onto the stuffed train. When we arrived in Jinshitan. We are about a 2 km walk from the station to home. This under normal circumstances is nothing. However, being weighed down it would be rather silly to walk. However, on principle our guide refused to accept a 10 Yuan (2 dollar) cab ride split 5 ways. I would of paid it myself. The only realy issue here was it was 9 pm and we had not eaten a meal since lunch. Hangry in full and awful affect. We did eventually have an amazing dinner at the street barbeques. Every night there are numerous street barbeques. They are delicious and we feasted yet again.
Sunday was a preparation day! I printed off my weekly materials and joined another teacher in creating copies for all the English 11 staff. We then had a staff meeting and prepped for the students. The first meeting with the students was hilarious. They introduced all the teachers and had us stand up and wave. I received a notable whoosh and squeal from the girls, which has led people to determine that I have a fan club. I will take every advantage I can get, but apparently Chinese girls are bold so I should watch my back. Today, I was only given a sucker by a random girl. Sunday finished with a feast at another random restaurant!
I will update more about day one of teaching later!
Chinese driving is hilariously insane and yet even after a few days the sense of it starts to appear. Having one hand on the horn is a priority at all times! Starting with the drive from the airport, if you do not hear a honk basically every few seconds something is wrong. Shockingly so few accident! Less than Canada I am told. I guess this relates to the highly offensive driving. Kill or be killed. As a pedestrian you have no rights. There are crosswalks, but no one will stop. You cross anywhere and always look both ways. Lane to lane is the way to go! This can also include being nearly run over in pedestrian walkways. Chinese people will also just park wherever they feel and we have seen several people just randomly pull over and get up to do whatever. Our Chinese driver on the way back from the airport pulled over on the highway and went into his bank. Love it.
What have I been doing! Well Friday we arrived and were greeted by Kelli! She is a super high energy teacher with Maple Leaf who has simply made the start so easy. It began by her showing each of us to our various apartments despite the Typhoon rain and wind Friday. My apartment is on the fourth floor and is a nice little one bedroom place. Shower is way too short! Tap water should not be drunken copiously or at all really. That being said rinsing, washing, etc. it is fine. Chinese people do not have stoves usually, which will be an adjustment. I have bought a full size toaster over I will put to use and we are equipped with a hotplate for our stove top cooking necessities. After introducing us to our apartment Kelli took us to watch she dubbed the “Maple Leaf Store.” This was basically a collection of stuff from departing teachers to help new teachers. This “shop” ended up saving me boatloads of time and money at Ikea. I found numerous basic household items and after Saturdays trip to Ikea and Metro my apartment is still Spartan, but all I need. We unpacked and settled in, very quickly, before walking in Jinshitan to our first Chinese dinner. The place is called something… no one really knows. Maple Leaf teachers call it donkey dumplings as that is the feature dish. It is a family run, hole in the wall style place. However, it was amazing and there is a reason it is frequented by staff. I hated eggplant in Canada. Three days in China and it may be my favourite vegetable. Also Chinese beer is only 2.5 percent. Anyone can be a heavy weight here! It should be noted that I will try the donkey dumplings eventually! The variety of meat is quite good. The problem with eating, for me, is it is all smorgasbord, which has resulted in three dinner of blissful stuffing of my stomach.
Saturday we did the local market in the morning and were toured around Jinshitan. No one speaks English, lots of people stare, and the Chinese people here are tall. I do not stand out any more than normal in terms of height. We then to the Ching way to Dalian. This is the slower version of trains in China. The high speed ones go over 300 km/h. Trying to get on this train is like being stuffed in a can. It is rather ridiculous, you basically should just sit back as people just ram onto the train before letting people off so they can maybe get the seats. Coming back was even more hilarious because it was the last train. The savagery getting on was comical! It was even better when we arrived in Jinshitan. It is the end of the line and the people waiting to get on were trying to get on the last train back to Dalian, We sat back and watched as people basically knocked over the people getting on the train. We still did not leave unscratched. One guy literally jumped over my bags to grab a vacated seat. This was the return trip from Ikea and Metro. I ended up buying most of my household needs for about 450 Yuan or 90 dollars. It was quite an impressive and cheap hall. My 1.50 pillow is a particular steal.
This is where we hit the first real hitch/irritation of my trip. Firstly, we probably should have just grabbed a taxi as the six of us were loaded with stuff and it would have cost 120 Yuan (30 bucks) split six ways for the 45 minute cab. Instead we went on the Ching way. This involved carrying all they bags onto the stuffed train. When we arrived in Jinshitan. We are about a 2 km walk from the station to home. This under normal circumstances is nothing. However, being weighed down it would be rather silly to walk. However, on principle our guide refused to accept a 10 Yuan (2 dollar) cab ride split 5 ways. I would of paid it myself. The only realy issue here was it was 9 pm and we had not eaten a meal since lunch. Hangry in full and awful affect. We did eventually have an amazing dinner at the street barbeques. Every night there are numerous street barbeques. They are delicious and we feasted yet again.
Sunday was a preparation day! I printed off my weekly materials and joined another teacher in creating copies for all the English 11 staff. We then had a staff meeting and prepped for the students. The first meeting with the students was hilarious. They introduced all the teachers and had us stand up and wave. I received a notable whoosh and squeal from the girls, which has led people to determine that I have a fan club. I will take every advantage I can get, but apparently Chinese girls are bold so I should watch my back. Today, I was only given a sucker by a random girl. Sunday finished with a feast at another random restaurant!
I will update more about day one of teaching later!