I woke up today at 4:30 am in China. Breakfast consisted of yellow bread, strawberry jam and an apple. I spent most of the morning unpacking and getting myself organized. I am meeting Sylvie and Bob at 10 a.m. (CST) I am looking forward to speaking with my wife and girls at 9 a.m. (CST)
My goal today is to buy a list of necessities and some food. Hopefully I will get my Internet up so that I will be able to e-mail and blog from my own apartment. I am looking forward to speaking to my family. I know that they are out shopping as I am blogging.
To get to the school I cross through beautiful park like settings. I pass sculptured bushes; I walk through a Greek style marble and stone structure. I go leave my gated community to the school’s gated community. There I make my way to Sylvie’s apartment where the Internet is available to me. I can’t wait until I get my own hook up. But this will do. I just spoke to my family. The pain is beginning to dissipate now that I have seen their smiling faces. The longing for home and desire to be with everyone is still strong however.
After the SKYPE call, I made my way to the school where I interviewed an EA. Then I spent the next two hours going over school administration “policies and procedures”. I am learning that the “policies and procedures” are similar but vastly different. I will blog what I mean about this at a later date on my educational blog quiet treasures.
It is 12 p.m. (CST) and I am to go to the bank with Bob, to exchange CDN money, get a phone and buy a few items. Before we go, I get a food card from the school canteen. I will be able to have hot lunches at the school. I walk into the canteen and it is huge. This place holds over two thousand people. I was told that there is assigned seating for the students. On the walls there are celebrations. To celebrate student achievement, the school will make posters with pictures of students who are successful (high marks or entrance to University generally define success). For lunch I had a tomato based chicken and noodle and egg drop soup. It was delicious. Interestingly, we ate on metal plates, with a metal bowl, with metal spoons and forks, unlike in North American school canteens where it is throw away and filling our landfills. I think China is onto something.
It is time to go to the bank and I have forgotten about the 2.5 hour lunch. So I answer a few e-mails and explore what kind of phone I intend to buy. To exchange money is quite simple with some nuances. I get to the bank and they would like me to fill out some forms before I exchange my money. I get to the window, give my passport, give my forms, and give my money. I wait for the clerk. Everything seems to be in order; however, one of my twenty dollar bills is slightly ripped. So the clerk returns my twenty and also returns my forms. My assistant Bob explains that I have to fill in the forms all over again and have my twenty repaired in Beijing before they will accept it. In Canada, the bank accepts most money, slightly ripped or not, and if there is a mistake or a change needs to be made on the form, we make the correction or change and initial. I think Canada is onto something. Finally, I get my money and we go to the cell phone store.
Buying a cell phone in Canada is fairly straight forward, minus having to choose the plans. I was looking for a deal, but electronics in China are similarly priced to those in Canada. So I am quickly sobered to the idea of buying an Iphone 4. I choose the phone, after an hour or so trying to understand the features. The choice of the phone number was extra and separate from the plan. Phone numbers range from 20 RMB to 380 RMB. I asked why the range? I still don’t understand. I just go with it. Imagine how difficult it is choosing a phone plan in Canada. In China there is no difference except I can’t read it and I depend on my assistant to translate and explain. Having done translation, one needs to be aware of translating and interpretation. I was getting what seemed to be interpretation. So I just went with the cheapest and will hope for the best. One item I can’t seem to change… all my apps are written in Mandarin. LOL
Then I went shopping for some items. I was able to find what it is I needed except for a toaster oven. I had great difficulty explaining to my assistant Bob what a toaster oven even was. So I am on the quest for a toaster oven.
I finally got back to my apartment at 17:00 (CST). Sylvie called me on my new phone. We have a dinner engagement at 18:00 (CST) with a new student’s family. We got to the restaurant for 6 RMB by Bong. We met the family Winston (the new student), LingLing (older sister) and the mother (whose name escapes me). We headed to the restaurant together. Once there we walked up four flights of stairs and were ushered into a private dining room. Our hosts ordered for us. I don’t know the name of all the food, but, I tried eel (pretty tasty), pork, chicken, broccoli, spicy greens, soup … tea and Chinese beer. Suffice it to say it was all delicious. One of the traditions I learned was that it is important to make a toast to or about the hosts of the dinner. Apparently there is a whole custom that surrounds this practice. I will have to learn more and let you know.
After dinner 21:30 (CST) we walked home and I crashed.
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