Greetings, dear readers!
My apologies for being so long in updating. Blame the access difficulties. The good news is that it keeps me from wasting so much time on Facebook.
So, I'm in China. I guess that means that I haven't updated in two months, so I'll try to go in order.
First, I went to Hangzhou to get checked out by my employment agency. They're sketchy and put me up in a pretty dingy apartment, but I only had to stay a single night. The next day, I moved into a dorm in Nanjing.
I've got a double room to myself, with two beds, two desks, and a full bathroom, complete with a Western toilet. The only appliances provided were a TV (currently unplugged) and an electric kettle (my best friend). With the kettle, I can make coffee without getting out of bed. The only thing more luxurious would be someone else making coffee for me.
I share a common room with 2 other American teachers. We have a couch and 2 chairs, which we rarely use. There is a small washing machine and a kitchen area with another kettle and a microwave. The dining hall is about a two minute walk, and there is a small supermarket and a fruit store there too. I try to eat lunch at the teacher's dining hall, which is lunch-line style. This means that I don't have to speak, I can just point to what I want. On the other hand, this means I don't always know what I'm getting until I taste it. On the plus side, there's free fruit.
I'm really enjoying the food. I'm decent with chopsticks now (I've had some practice). The locals love to see me using the chopsticks, and love that I like their cuisine. Between this peer pressure and the desire to try everything, I've sampled several interesting dishes. I'm told that ox tongue is tasty if better prepared, but I didn't enjoy it that much. I enjoyed eel both times. The first weekend I had duck blood soup, and figured out two days ago that the red tofu-looking part was the duck blood. They serve it in a curd, and it tastes kind of like a meaty tofu. Tortoise tastes like a fishy beef, and duck tongue tastes exactly like the dark meat from a turkey (and makes for great photos). And pig's lung tastes exactly like you'd expect. It's meaty at first, with a bitter and lung-ish aftertaste.
I'm teaching about 15 hours a week. Most of my students are female, but I do have an all-boy class. I like it if I have all boys or all girls, because the students are less shy. Even then, they do not like to speak because they're terrified to make a mistake. They're really nice kids though. They've helped me go shopping and taken me around the city. Unfortunately, they don't really understand adventure tourism. So when I tell them I'm an awesome kayaker, they don't really get it. This may be my biggest disappointment.
I've picked up a second job. It's about two weekends a month, six hours Saturday and six hours Sunday. I'm teaching adult beginners who are moving to Canada. They're great. They're motivated, far from shy, and wealthy enough to pay me more than I'm worth. I'm waiting for them to realize that I'm horribly under-qualified for the gig, but they haven't yet.
Nanjing isn't as bad as some places, but most of the locals are pretty surprised to see a white person. Even after two months, random people say “Hello” walking past me on campus. My favorite thing to do is ask them how they are. Some just giggle, and some turn around ten seconds later and yell, “Fine, thank you!” It's not as bad off campus, but I get stared at on the metro and whatnot. The beard also makes me stand out. The guys seem to love it, and the women hate it. That being said, it's too cold to shave. Seriously, it's winter. What did I do wrong? It snowed last night!
Aside from the winter thing, I like it here. I enjoy teaching, although it's strange to be a disciplinarian. I'm connecting with more English speakers outside the school, which is nice. For Christmas, I got to see Morgan and Greg in Qinhuangdao, which was the best thing ever. Greg made me chocolate chip cookies when I got there. They took me out dancing Christmas Eve, then had a party that ended in more dancing Christmas. We also had pancakes and biscuits with gravy (not at the same time). Also, Morgan and Greg are two of my favorite people in the world ever. That Sunday, Morgan took me to the start of the Great Wall. That's one wonder of the world down, six to go.
New Years Eve was less eventful, just barhopping here in Nanjing. The only problem is that the metro shuts down at 11, not to start again until 6 am. So going out for the night involves either a hotel or a late night. The good news is that you can get real coffee at the 24-hour McDonalds, and it's actually pretty good.
I should take a moment to talk about the language. It's impossible. The grammar is simple enough, but the pronunciation is evil. Pure evil. Just find any basic first Chinese lesson, and they'll tell you about the many meanings of “ma,” depending on the pitch you say it. Also, there's the whole lack of an alphabet thing. That doesn't help, as the characters have absolutely no bearing on the phonetics.
I hope everyone had the most wonderful holiday season ever. I know it was hard, getting by without me for the second year in a row. Maybe next year we can be together. Start saving your pennies, and I'll let you know where I'll be, and you can come visit. I can tell you now that it will be warm.
