So, I should just start calling myself The Boy who Lived. I arrived in China after a boooooring flight, no problems. even went through customs without a hiccup. didn't look twice at me. Nothing to declare lane for the win.
So, in no particular order, this is the scene:
The weather has been completely awful. It was raining like crazy when i arrived, and continued to do so until like an hour ago or something, i dunno, it stopped while i was napping. Really intense. Also, hot. Luckily i have an air conditioner. Now that its stopped raining, i'm just waiting for the clouds to burn off. It feels a little like being trapped in the setting of a sci fi novel, here.
I'm teaching oral english along with some cultural stuff about the major english speaking powers. There doesn't appear to be a lesson plan, and i'm really not sure if there are standards to which i am put, but, well, we shall see. I teach for 19 weeks, which is just under 5 months of actual work, despite the fact that i am supposed to be on a 10 month contract. What? I dunno. Also, i have to give 2 presentations to the whole school. The other guys i'm working with are working fewer weeks and thus have to give waaay more of these huge speeches. That's pretty much all i know about my job. 16 hours a week, 19 weeks.
I'm working with two other guys, Grant and Mike. Both have done this before, both have chinese girlfriends. I dunno really what to make of them, but they've been nothing but helpful at least. A lot of advice, which is good. Helped me find the restaurants, the shops, but it's clear they're kinda jaded and i'm kinda naive. That amounts to most of our differences of opinion. I met Mike's girl though, she was really helpful in getting an adapter for plugs.
The apartment is as they described it. I also have this kind of non-room with windows in it where I'm keeping my luggage. The bathroom is microscopic, and when i put my weight on the toilet seat it cracked in half. Not what i wanted when my body thought it was 5 am even though in Xi'an it was like 10 pm. This morning the shower put out nothing but scalding hot water (Which has since been fixed), so i just put that and some tap water into a bucket to make a nice piping hot mixture to dump on my head and soap up with. The living room is nice, though i'm having trouble getting all the TV stuff set up. still, i'll be too busy while i work on my classes to get that crap figured out. Still, comfy chairs, comfy couch, a refridgerator, nothing too exciting.
Literally 3 hours ago, the air conditioning in my bedroom was fixed. What a godsend. the bed mostly consists of a thin mattress and then like 5 comfortors stacked upon one another. It's really quite comfortable. The pillows are decent. My desk looks heinous, though. I guess i missed home, its a little comfort having crap all over my desk.
The kitchen is the most complicated thing in the entire world. Everything is in chinese, and anything involving plumbing here (my bathroom included) is this horrifying mess of pipes, like a bad steampunk comic book. I'm still trying to figure out out. But! the place came with a Wok! That was pretty cool. Also like a george foreman grill, and a rice cooker, and a big goddamn knife. I'm pretty damned pleased.
The only stuff i'm still waiting on is the water cooler, the telephone, and the internet. mostly the last one. I understand water is the seat of all life, but, i mean, come on. Internet. All the way.
Anyways, i'm jet lagged still, and i'm getting used to the food slowly. At about noon today i felt awful, and was starting to regret deciding to come here, but after a few hours sleep i feel MUCH better. Like night and day. I'm still getting my feet under me, but overall I'm doing alright for my first day. Right now i'm updating the ol' blog via email, so i don't even know if this'll work, but once i get internet in my room and figure out what i'm doing with my time, i'll be posting more details.
Keep it real, etc
Dan
No comments:
Post a Comment