Keen Observations

When I told my Chinese friends I was coming to Linyi many asked "Lin - what?" Even to many native Chinese Linyi is a small, "insignificant" town. I was told that if I could survive Linyi then it would be a cinch for me to survive in any other city. I'm not so sure about that but I do know that life here wasn't extremely difficult. In fact during my first (nearly) two months in China, while living in Linyi, I've learned and experienced quite a few things.

• People in China aren't uniform and come in different sizes so clothes shopping here isn't impossible.
  
• I've been able to meet people that I hope I was able to help in some way. I might have even made friendships that could last forever.
  
• My oral Chinese hasn't improved tremendously but my reading and writing skills have taken off.
• It takes the isolation to reinforce how much you need your friends.
• Remember to laugh at yourself and your mistakes.
  
• Remember to be kind and open with the locals. When they stare smile and say "你好". A kind word goes a long way in breaking down barriers.
  
• Don't be quick to take offense. If you aren't careful you'll mistake curiosity for rudeness, shyness for coldness, and bad English for bias. :-)
  
• Good remedy for homesickness is to remember for whose sake you left your land, house, mother, father, brother, sisters (one who's pregnant), niece and nephews. It's hard to be gone but it's rewarding to be here.

And the final and perhaps keenest observation has been:

• Squat toilets aren't really that bad. In fact I have to ask, what's the big deal with Western toilets anyway!? The faster you learn that it's necessary to hold on to the little inside knob at the bottom of the stall door, the happier you'll be.

Transistions

In ten days I will be leaving Linyi. As a result I find myself making preparations to move once again. Because Linyi's airport is so small there are very few direct flights to major cities and absolutely none to any minor cities. This means I would have to purchase two full-price tickets to get to where I'm going. The total cost would be a little more than I can afford right now. Getting to my final destination will require me taking a 5 hour bus ride from Linyi into the city of Jinan. Sleeping overnight in the city and then flying out of the Jinan airport the next day.

Because this is a domestic flight within mainland China the luggage weight requirements are significantly less than they were for international flights. I spent $200 on over the limit fees coming into the country (I was weighed down by such things as a year's worth of hair products) and I would rather not waste money like that again. I've been trying desperately to use up much of my hair products, toiletries, etc. since I discovered that I could buy these things cheaply in China and wouldn't have to lug them around with me all over the mainland. Despite all my best efforts I will still have to use an on the ground courier service that will take 3 days to ship most of my luggage from Linyi at a total cost of 50 Yuan.

When I arrive at my new destination I am scheduled to begin taking day courses in the Chinese language at a major university. I'm also scheduled to begin working days at a high school. There's a bit of a scheduling conflict.

The university has a dorm room reserved. The high school provides housing for teachers. In addition, my friend and I are supposed to move into an off campus apartment together. There's a bit of a housing conflict.

If I go to school then I can't take the job and can't afford the apartment. If I take the job then I can't go to school. Besides, I wouldn't want to pay for an apartment when I have free housing.

Basically, I don't know what I'm doing.

Visitors

Earlier this week I was able to entertain out of town guests that came into town just to see me! Hee hee! I feel so special!

The visit began on Monday. After a class field trip to the supermarket where we taught them more useful words I went to McDonalds and met up with some girls that I had met previously on my Qingdao trip. The girls brought two more friends, a couple, and we all had a very good time getting to know one another. Their English was poor and my Chinese was tragic but our shared language was pure.

Note: That's not a picture of the girls but it's a picture of me - happy.

After the couple checked into their hotel we went to eat dinner at a swinging restaurant, that is their seats were actual swings. We shared a meal that consisted of four dishes, including Pizza, and cost a total of 75 Yuan (a little more than 10 dollars US).

The next morning we had a breakfast party that included simultaneous singing in English, Chinese and Japanese. Tres, tres cool. Then my guests were off. A short but very positive and satisfying trip. Again it was one of those times where I fought to hold back happy tears.

One other great thing about this trip was that I got more clarification, direction. Something I so badly needed and wish I had actually gotten sooner. No matter. If it's not me it's the stones right? Well, still, I wish it were me.

A Day in the Square

My apartment is about ten to fifteen minutes walking distance from the school where I've been teaching. The school and my apartment are in what are considered prime locations in Linyi because of their close proximity to The People's Square (人民广场 ).

The People's Square is a gathering point for many individuals. At nights there are individuals doing Latin and ballroom dancing in the Square. On Saturday and Sunday mornings there are groups of older women and men engaged in some sort of synchronized exercise that involves waving around swords and scarves. I think it's Tai Chi but I never care enough to stop anyone and ask. Usually I'm running late for something so I just pray nothing they're swinging hits me and I keep on footing it. The point is the 人民广场 is an importang gathering point for many of Linyi's citizens.

Because it's a holiday season in China and public school's are not in session there are even more people gathering in 人民广场 than normal. Many parents bring their children to 人民广场 for cheap amusement. The school's managers decided capitalize on the increased activity in 人民广场.

One manager told me that we were going to go 人民广场 to drum up some interest in the company. "What exactly are we going to do?" I asked. She told me that I should stand in the Square and allow people to stare at me then I should begin playing with some little kid. Eventually people would get interested and start to gather. Okay, I said. Sounds easy enough.

I went to the Square, saw a kid and started to throw a ball around with her. Soon, just as my manager predicted there were more curious kids coming over to play with their parents following close behind. Eventually a crowd of perhaps 40-50 curious onlookers gathered. The crowd was a mix of children, parents, college students, etc. who watched while my fellow teachers and I played Red Light, Green Light; Simon Says; Monkey See, Monkey Do; etc.

It was actually quite fun.

Yesterday, my manager had another bright idea. The younger students would take a trip to the supermarket and assist the foreign teachers with their shopping.










We introduced the children to such useful English words as:
1. gourd
2. men's thermal underwear
3. grater
4. ladle

You get my point.

Part of the appeal of this field trip was to drum up more interest in the company. The campaign was successful to some extent as we started with 13 students and ended with 17 kids that just decided to leave their parents and join the English lessons.

Interesting stuff.

I Love My Peeps

I know, I know, I'm blogging a lot but if I don't post this now then I'll lose that special feeling and you'll never understand.

In China (and Jamaica too) 关系(guanxi) is very important. It's not always what you know but who you know that counts. I've been here less than a month and dude I got so much 关系 it ain't even funny.

I just want to say that I love my peeps - the millions and millions of them. There's always someone who knows someone who knows someone and they don't know you but they know what you're about so they love you and you love them. You feel me? No? Well that's okay. You'll feel me soon.

Wish you all were here and I mean it.

As an aside: I missed the Andrew Bird concert. Wanted to know why everyone in Georgia was so impressed with the dude. Guess what though? NPR has a copy of the concert - FREE. It's as if I was there without having to pay the tens of dollars that you all paid.

Foreigners (外国人)

I saw foreigners yesterday. The exchange was very funny because it shows just how much I've adjusted to this new country. I've become Chinese in my reactions.

My co-workers and I went down the street to get lunch. It is important that I go with them for many reasons:

1. I don't know yet how to determine what to buy that won't make me sick; and
   
2. If you are a foreigner your price for EVERYTHING starts at about 3 times the going rate so if I want to buy anything for the real price and not the foreigner price then I need to have a Chinese person go with me. (For example: on the way back from the bus station I tried to take a taxi home. The initial quoted price was 31 Yuan. That was a little expensive considering the ride from my home to the bus station only cost me 13 Yuan two days earlier. The driver wouldn't even budge on the price until I got one of my co-workers on the phone to talk to them and she managed to bring it down to 20 Yuan.)

My Chinese co-workers help keep my stomach and my wallet happy.

Back to the story: I was with my co-workers waiting on the street vendor who was preparing our pancake lunches when I looked up and I noticed that there was something here not like the others. I couldn't believe my eyes. There were two foreigners walking casually down the street in my direction. It's not as if I haven't seen foreigners before in the city -my English manager is Irish and I met that South African girl the first night here but these were different foreigners and I didn't expect to see them. Not here. Not now. I looked, no check that, I ogled them much the same way I suppose the entire city of Linyi ogles me and then I opened my mouth and screamed "HELLO!" Then I chuckled to myself.

Why did I laugh? You see every single time I walk down the street someone yells "Hello!" and if I stop and ask them "Do you speak English?" their reply is often "No, I only know how to say 'Hello'". Yelling "Hello" is just the standard greeting for foreigners. Whether or not the foreigner speaks English is a trivial matter. So for me to yell "Hello" was a bit... hmmm what word can I use for that? ironic, maybe? Yes, me yelling "Hello" was a bit ironic.

I know now to never complain about the reaction I get from Chinese who are unaccustomed to seeing a foreigner walking down their street. It's just natural. After all, I did it.

Life is Beautiful

My trip lasted exactly 48 hours - I arrived in Qingdao on Wednesday at 2 P.M. and took the 2 P.M. bus back to Linyi on Friday.

I'll try to condense 48 hours into just a few short paragraphs. I hope that in these few words my boundless joy can be conveyed to those of you who have taken the time to read them. Here goes:

Day 1 -

I left my apartment at 9 a.m. and headed to the bus station. I directed the taxi driver, bought my bus ticket and got on the correct bus all speaking in Chinese and without the aid of another human. My first victory. :-)

It's winter. I'm in North China. It follows that everything would be either dead or a depressing shade of brown so there was nothing to look at on the bus ride except for the Chinese movies that were playing.

I arrived at the Qingdao bus terminal at 2 p.m. and there to meet me was Kitty who was to be my guide for the next 48 hours. I had never met Kitty but she was a childhood friend of my friend Karaku so that automatically made her my friend too. I didn't describe myself to Kitty and she didn't describe herself to me but her smile made her stand out and everything about me made me stand out so we easily found each other.

Kitty brought me from the bus station to Karaku's childhood home and there waiting were five more new friends including Karaku's parents and some Japanese buddies. Karaku's parents fed us and fed us and fed us. In fact, once, after asking what my favourite Chinese meal was (Ji Dan Bing) she came back to the table with some piping hot from the kitchen. Now that's hospitality.

After the meal with Karaku's parents we were off for a little site-seeing. I saw my first Wal-Mart in China located in Qingdao's old downtown. That was it for site-seeing. We were off again for some more people-meeting.

We arrived at the home of my hostesses for the first night. Two more friends of friends of friends that had moved over from Japan. These friends had invited more friends and there were quite a few people that were over for snacks and conversation. There was so much joy in that little room where I sat. Oftentimes I would be close to breaking down into tears because I was so happy to be there. I had never before met any of the aforementioned people but each and everyone of them were like family to me and to be with them felt like coming home.

Day 2 -

The next morning after a very European breakfast of French toast with a light apple dressing my hostesses and I parted ways. They had work to do and I had more site-seeing and people meeting to do with Kitty. Kitty and I linked up and headed to see many sites eventually working our way towards the site of the 2008 Olympics boating events, the beach, and the new downtown shopping sites. Kitty and I also met up with some more of her friends, there were two beautiful and lovely girls from France with whom we ate lunch. After lunch we linked up with two more girls from Japan with whom we had dessert. There were more smile and laughter and more stories to swap. After dessert we headed to meet some more friends for Badminton. After a few swings we headed to the home of our host and hostess for the night - a couple from Japan. We ate and drank, danced and played the guitar. Told stories and struggled through translating.

Day 3 -

I and my host and hostess went out to do some work together. It was really their work but they let me tag along. That was a lot of fun and I was able to meet some more lovely people. After work we had lunch and then they dropped me off at the bus station. They waited with me until it was time for the bus to depart. At 1:54 (6 minutes before the bus was to leave) Kitty came running up to the terminal. She had come to see me off! We all exchanged good-byes and promised to see each other again. And off I was again. Back to Linyi. Back to my work and back to what at times feels like isolation.

I can't really describe how happy I am though. How very excited I am and how much I needed this trip.

There is an expression we often read "scrolls could not contain". I think that my feelings are to that extent. I couldn't ever write down how I feel for you to understand. Just suffice it to say that I'm very happy. Very very very very happy.