On Thursday, my counterpart/boss? took me downtown and showed me around. I had met "Eric" Chen the day before briefly when Jason had me come back to campus to show me my teaching schedule. The power went out and he wasn't able to.
Mr. Chen is a small, skinny guy who looks kind of young, so I thought he was just my counterpart. But he told me he was in charge of the English department or something. I asked if he was my boss and he said "maybe." He was just appointed to this position a month ago.
He took me to the warf on the very tip of the peninsula where the two rivers meet. That was pretty cool. It would be a pretty sweet hang out spot. Then he took me to Jeifangbei, the heart of the city on the peninsula. Then to the Great Hall and the 3 Gorges Dam Museum.
He took me home and took a nap. Then he met me close to my host family's house to give me my class schedule and text books. I was very happy to receive those. I was starting to think that I wouldn't get them.
I'm teaching Oral English, Tourism English, and a class on American and British News Articles. To my dismay, most of my classes are Oral English that meet on the new campus, and on Thursdays I have to get to that campus at 8am. I asked Mr. Chen if he could change it so I wouldn't have to spend the night on the other campus. I also asked to remove the Articles class because there are 63 students in that class I feel like it might be a bit too much for me to handle in addition to teaching Oral and Tourism. He said he would try.
After looking more closely at the schedule, I found that I unfortunately have an 8am class on the new campus and then a 7pm class on the new campus with a 7 hour break in between. With nothing much to do on the new campus, I'm not sure what to do with myself except go back to main campus, then commute back at night, then once class is over, commute back to main campus... I may not get home until 10 or 11 at night.
That night, Mr. Mao wanted to have dinner with me and my host family at a very nice restaurant. It must have been expensive.
Jason informed me that my host family was going on vacation Friday and I wouldn't be able to stay with them Friday night, so he was going to let me into my apartment on campus and let me spend the night there.
I thought it was weird that my host family didn't tell me about leaving earlier for vacation, but i didn't mind because I'd get to see my apartment and have a night to myself finally.
Around 1pm on Friday I said goodbye to my host family. Foy wanted me to give her some of my photography so i left her a USB drive that I loaded up with my stuff. I gave her my email in case she ever needed help with English homework or whatever else.
Jason let me into my apartment and I was very happy with it. It hadn't been cleaned out, which was good and bad. I didn't mind much because it meant I could keep all of my predecessor's furniture and things. On the other hand, there was a lot of trash and cleaning to do. Jason tried to help me get online, but my macbook wouldn't connect. That concerned me, but I heard that lots of volunteers have had macs and had trouble connecting but were able to one way or another.
Jason left me and said he pick me up the next day to take me to the train station.
I immediately got to work cleaning and fixing. I went to the supermarket and bought 200 kuai worth of stuff. There was only one working lightbulb in each of the chandeliers in the living room and bedroom. I got the impression my predecessor was just too lazy to replace them as they went out. I bought 11 lightbulbs, a mop, a broom, clothes hangers, instant coffee, a cup, and some other thing.
I spent the rest of the day sweeping, mopping, replacing lights, wiping things down, throwing away junk.
He left me a lot of books that didn't didn't interest me, some music that was actually pretty good taste, a stack of papers, a lot of maps that were taped to the wall, a paper cup with filthy brown water where he put out his cigarettes, etc.
But the most interesting relic was a love letter written by another volunteer to him. This girl had left China before him and sent this letter to tell him how she had felt about him. Apparently he had been dating another girl and she was jealous.
I'm very pleased with my apartment. It has an airconditioned bedroom and living room, a small kitchen and bathroom with a western toilet (so crucial). My predecessor left me an HD TV (pretty sweet). I have a desk, fridge, couch, coffee table, dining table with chairs, bigger-than-twin size bed, microwave, stove device, a shower with very decent pressure. The living room is a little dark because there's only one window that looks into the kitchen, which has plenty of windows, but I'm not complaining.
I'm sure some other volunteers have nicer setups, but for Peace Corps standards, this is incredible.
I slept in my own bed. In the morning, I left my big suitcase, and Jason picked me up and took me to the train station.
I worked on my Semester Plans for my Oral and Tourism English classes during the 2 hour train ride.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Site Visit - Wednesday
Today Jason took me to see the new campus. We picked up a girl who works for the school. I don't know who she was. Without any coffee, I was a limp noodle sloshing about in the car. I fell asleep and bobbled about like a buffoon. It took an hour to get there.
When we reached the campus, we drove through all this construction.
"All of this is the campus." The girl said. "In 22 days, this will all be complete and the students will start school."
I really couldn't believe that, honestly. The campus was huge and the construction on it was far from finished. Nothing looked closed to completion.
We went to look at a student dormitory and the girl talked to this lady there for a long time in Chinese, while i sat and did nothing. Finally, she said "So if you have class here in the morning, you are expected to stay here the night before because traffic may be bad in the morning and you won't get to class on time. The school provides a hotel for the teachers to stay in."
Then I started to get kind of angry. I've been super flexible about everything up to this point, but this just seemed ridiculous.
"This just seems really impractical. Is there any way for me to avoid that? If i have classes here 2-3 times a week, that means I have to spend 2-3 nights here? All of my stuff will be on the main campus. It will be difficult for me to do lesson plans. And I will have projects to do on the main campus that will be difficult for me to organize if I have to come over here every other night."
"This is only if you have class in the morning. We'll have to see your schedule." This frustrated me even more because I have been asking about this schedule for several days. It supposedly exists and is ready for me, but everyone keeps forgetting to show it to me.
"But still. The commute is long enough as it is. I really don't want to have to do this if I can avoid it. I really need to see that class schedule. When do classes start?"
"End of August. I think we also have some books for you."
"I don't get here until the first of September. I have to start immediately when I get here? I need to get those textbooks as soon as possible. I need to start preparing for these classes."
This is the first time I've gotten remotely upset or frustrated at anything since coming to China. From what I saw today, I felt like nothing was well organized or thought through concerning my position at this school on the part of the school. I feel like I was just haphazardly thrown into the class schedule and shifted around to wherever there was any space. In order to get what I need I'm going to have to push people to get it, which I'm well aware is not the cultural norm in China. I have avoided that kind of attitude because it's not well received here and doesn't leave a good impression on my colleagues. But I felt slightly taken advantage of. Those feelings grew when I finally did get to see my schedule and saw that most of my classes were on the new campus, an hour away, at very inconvenient times. I'll get into the schedule later.
Jason, that girl, and the driver took me home. I didn't have much to do, so I took a walk by myself. I went to the grocery store in front of the school and looked around to see what they have. I bought some instant coffee.
After dinner, my host parents invited me to san bu (take a walk) again. It was hot, so i wore shorts and a t-shirt. I had no idea we were going to meet up with the Executive Director of the new campus, Mr. Mao. I had briefly run into him earlier that day at the new campus, but only said hi. That evening we spent an hour walking through this community. His English is really good, and he constantly reminded me that we were going to be "close friends" over the next two years. He did all of the talking, so it wasn't that awkward. I felt underdressed though and I was soaked with sweat. But, like all Chinese men do here, he kept his shirt lifted up above his chest to keep his belly cool. It's kind of an awkward sight to most of us I think, but it's normal here and I'm getting used to it.
What was awkward though was how intimate he wanted to get with me right off the bat. He wanted to be best friends with me, talk to me every day so he could practice his English, invited me to come to his office anytime and expected me to drop in whenever I'm on the new campus. He loved the fact that I studied philosophy, and he wanted me to teach him about philosophy whenever I can. He said he would set me up with a Chinese girl. I said "whoa whoa, no. Don't do that." "I insist. We are close friends. It's what we do for each other. What kind of girl do you like? I will find one for you." He also asked questions about my religion, which caught me off guard. I told him I'm not religious and he seemed to like that answer. But I felt like I was in dangerous territory.
It's nice that I can consult Mr. Mao when I need help and the fact that someone with his influence in the school has taken a particular liking to me.
The problem with this kind of relationship, which is common in Chinese culture, is the concept of guanxi. The more someone does for you, the more it's kind of expected that you reciprocate those favors, even though that expectation will never be expressed. This is why I've always been uncomfortable with people doing things for me. I don't know what or how much they expect me to reciprocate. (I feel as though I'm intimately and inherently familiar with this and other Chinese cultural norms, but I'm not entirely sure where I got them from... More on this later). You can make it work for you, but I'm not yet bold enough. The Chinese do expect you to exchange guanxi with them. When they do things for you, they expect you to do things for them and then feel comfortable asking for favors. But asking for favors has never come naturally to me.
When we reached the campus, we drove through all this construction.
"All of this is the campus." The girl said. "In 22 days, this will all be complete and the students will start school."
I really couldn't believe that, honestly. The campus was huge and the construction on it was far from finished. Nothing looked closed to completion.
We went to look at a student dormitory and the girl talked to this lady there for a long time in Chinese, while i sat and did nothing. Finally, she said "So if you have class here in the morning, you are expected to stay here the night before because traffic may be bad in the morning and you won't get to class on time. The school provides a hotel for the teachers to stay in."
Then I started to get kind of angry. I've been super flexible about everything up to this point, but this just seemed ridiculous.
"This just seems really impractical. Is there any way for me to avoid that? If i have classes here 2-3 times a week, that means I have to spend 2-3 nights here? All of my stuff will be on the main campus. It will be difficult for me to do lesson plans. And I will have projects to do on the main campus that will be difficult for me to organize if I have to come over here every other night."
"This is only if you have class in the morning. We'll have to see your schedule." This frustrated me even more because I have been asking about this schedule for several days. It supposedly exists and is ready for me, but everyone keeps forgetting to show it to me.
"But still. The commute is long enough as it is. I really don't want to have to do this if I can avoid it. I really need to see that class schedule. When do classes start?"
"End of August. I think we also have some books for you."
"I don't get here until the first of September. I have to start immediately when I get here? I need to get those textbooks as soon as possible. I need to start preparing for these classes."
This is the first time I've gotten remotely upset or frustrated at anything since coming to China. From what I saw today, I felt like nothing was well organized or thought through concerning my position at this school on the part of the school. I feel like I was just haphazardly thrown into the class schedule and shifted around to wherever there was any space. In order to get what I need I'm going to have to push people to get it, which I'm well aware is not the cultural norm in China. I have avoided that kind of attitude because it's not well received here and doesn't leave a good impression on my colleagues. But I felt slightly taken advantage of. Those feelings grew when I finally did get to see my schedule and saw that most of my classes were on the new campus, an hour away, at very inconvenient times. I'll get into the schedule later.
Jason, that girl, and the driver took me home. I didn't have much to do, so I took a walk by myself. I went to the grocery store in front of the school and looked around to see what they have. I bought some instant coffee.
After dinner, my host parents invited me to san bu (take a walk) again. It was hot, so i wore shorts and a t-shirt. I had no idea we were going to meet up with the Executive Director of the new campus, Mr. Mao. I had briefly run into him earlier that day at the new campus, but only said hi. That evening we spent an hour walking through this community. His English is really good, and he constantly reminded me that we were going to be "close friends" over the next two years. He did all of the talking, so it wasn't that awkward. I felt underdressed though and I was soaked with sweat. But, like all Chinese men do here, he kept his shirt lifted up above his chest to keep his belly cool. It's kind of an awkward sight to most of us I think, but it's normal here and I'm getting used to it.
What was awkward though was how intimate he wanted to get with me right off the bat. He wanted to be best friends with me, talk to me every day so he could practice his English, invited me to come to his office anytime and expected me to drop in whenever I'm on the new campus. He loved the fact that I studied philosophy, and he wanted me to teach him about philosophy whenever I can. He said he would set me up with a Chinese girl. I said "whoa whoa, no. Don't do that." "I insist. We are close friends. It's what we do for each other. What kind of girl do you like? I will find one for you." He also asked questions about my religion, which caught me off guard. I told him I'm not religious and he seemed to like that answer. But I felt like I was in dangerous territory.
It's nice that I can consult Mr. Mao when I need help and the fact that someone with his influence in the school has taken a particular liking to me.
The problem with this kind of relationship, which is common in Chinese culture, is the concept of guanxi. The more someone does for you, the more it's kind of expected that you reciprocate those favors, even though that expectation will never be expressed. This is why I've always been uncomfortable with people doing things for me. I don't know what or how much they expect me to reciprocate. (I feel as though I'm intimately and inherently familiar with this and other Chinese cultural norms, but I'm not entirely sure where I got them from... More on this later). You can make it work for you, but I'm not yet bold enough. The Chinese do expect you to exchange guanxi with them. When they do things for you, they expect you to do things for them and then feel comfortable asking for favors. But asking for favors has never come naturally to me.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Site Visit - Tuesday
The next day I got up early and it hit me like a ton of bricks that I forgot about coffee. I should have bought some instant or something. I staggered around my host family's house looking for something caffeinated. I failed.
After breakfast, my host father drove me down hill to meet Jason. Jason showed me around campus, took me to open a bank account, bought a train ticket for Saturday to go back to Chengdu, registered me at the local police station, and showed me how to use the buses.
He showed me where my apartment is. It's right on campus. We couldn't go in because the guy who has the key is on vacation until Thursday. He showed me where the "shuttle" is to go the new campus where I will have some classes. I asked him where the damn campus is on a map and he laughed. It's been kind of frustrating that every time I ask anybody about how far away this new campus is and where it is, all I get is a laugh and no information. I bought a map of Chongqing and I asked him again "where is it?"
"it's on this side, but it's off the map." On the map, my campus is on the east side of the city, on the far right side of the map. What he pointed to was the far left side of the map.
"So, I have to commute across the entire city of Chongqing to get to work?"
"Yes. It will take an hour. Probably more because of traffic"
Great.
He walked me around to all these places and then back to my host family's house, which was pretty arduous. Chongqing is extremely hilly and walking around is not easy. I probably wouldn't have minded much if I was walking on my own, but following this guy around and not knowing where, how far, or how long we were walking was extremely tiring.
At home I sat and did nothing for several hours.
Then my host father knocked on the door and spoke in Chongqing dialect, gesturing that we were leaving now. "oh, okay."
We drove through the city, and I looked out the window the whole time saying "jesus… holy shit… god…" looking at all the buildings.
We met up with the rest of the family and ate hot pot… Then we went to see Harry Potter! In 3D IMAX!
The cost was 100 freaking kuai… which just seemed insanely expensive to me. In China especially, that's a LOT of money. My host father paid for it and I felt uncomfortable about it. But… IT WAS THE LAST HARRY FUCKIN POTTER IN 3D IMAX… So i wasn't complaining.
And it was awesome. Everything was just spectacular. Then at that moment when Harry and Voldemort were dueling at Hogwarts and Voldemort's Avada Kedavra just rebounded and was about to kill him… The screen went black and the lights came on like the movie was over. I was so angry. So so angry. Everybody was yelling and standing up and stomping about. Somebody came in and started saying something in Chinese. Finally, Foy translated for me and said the power just went out in this district.
After 10 or 15 minutes, the power came back on and the screen came on again. Then everyone shouted until they rewound to the part that was interrupted… Then Voldemort died… but the moment was lost. I will never regain that moment when I got to see the end of Voldemort for the first time on screen. I'll watch this movie again, but it won't be the same.
After the movie, my host father returned all our 3D glasses and he got a bunch of money back, so I'm assuming he got refunded for the tickets. I'm happy for that at least.
After breakfast, my host father drove me down hill to meet Jason. Jason showed me around campus, took me to open a bank account, bought a train ticket for Saturday to go back to Chengdu, registered me at the local police station, and showed me how to use the buses.
He showed me where my apartment is. It's right on campus. We couldn't go in because the guy who has the key is on vacation until Thursday. He showed me where the "shuttle" is to go the new campus where I will have some classes. I asked him where the damn campus is on a map and he laughed. It's been kind of frustrating that every time I ask anybody about how far away this new campus is and where it is, all I get is a laugh and no information. I bought a map of Chongqing and I asked him again "where is it?"
"it's on this side, but it's off the map." On the map, my campus is on the east side of the city, on the far right side of the map. What he pointed to was the far left side of the map.
"So, I have to commute across the entire city of Chongqing to get to work?"
"Yes. It will take an hour. Probably more because of traffic"
Great.
He walked me around to all these places and then back to my host family's house, which was pretty arduous. Chongqing is extremely hilly and walking around is not easy. I probably wouldn't have minded much if I was walking on my own, but following this guy around and not knowing where, how far, or how long we were walking was extremely tiring.
At home I sat and did nothing for several hours.
Then my host father knocked on the door and spoke in Chongqing dialect, gesturing that we were leaving now. "oh, okay."
We drove through the city, and I looked out the window the whole time saying "jesus… holy shit… god…" looking at all the buildings.
We met up with the rest of the family and ate hot pot… Then we went to see Harry Potter! In 3D IMAX!
The cost was 100 freaking kuai… which just seemed insanely expensive to me. In China especially, that's a LOT of money. My host father paid for it and I felt uncomfortable about it. But… IT WAS THE LAST HARRY FUCKIN POTTER IN 3D IMAX… So i wasn't complaining.
And it was awesome. Everything was just spectacular. Then at that moment when Harry and Voldemort were dueling at Hogwarts and Voldemort's Avada Kedavra just rebounded and was about to kill him… The screen went black and the lights came on like the movie was over. I was so angry. So so angry. Everybody was yelling and standing up and stomping about. Somebody came in and started saying something in Chinese. Finally, Foy translated for me and said the power just went out in this district.
After 10 or 15 minutes, the power came back on and the screen came on again. Then everyone shouted until they rewound to the part that was interrupted… Then Voldemort died… but the moment was lost. I will never regain that moment when I got to see the end of Voldemort for the first time on screen. I'll watch this movie again, but it won't be the same.
After the movie, my host father returned all our 3D glasses and he got a bunch of money back, so I'm assuming he got refunded for the tickets. I'm happy for that at least.
Site Visit - Monday
On Monday everyone going to Sichuan and Chongqing met at the East train station. It was only a two hour ride to Chongqing. I did my best to stay away from some people, but we were assigned to seats close to each other. Sure enough, there were confrontations.
When we entered Chongqing, I was immediately struck by the contrast in landscape. There were mountains and hills everywhere. After passing through some mountains, we emerged into Chongqing city. It was incredible. It's just hills, mountains, and rivers, all of which were completely populated with skyscrapers, houses, and bridges. What struck me the most was that the whole area is just filled with skyscrapers. All of them are apartments.
I found out that Chongqing city lies in a bowl surrounded by mountains. Two rivers cut through it and where they meet forms a mountain on a peninsula where the heart of the city is. It's one of the hottest cities in China because the air doesn't circulate well. The mountains prevent the hot air from escaping.
I met Jason, my Wai Ban liaison. He's 27 and dresses like I do. He's pretty cool. He took me out for lunch and then took me to my host family. Their daughter is 16 and speaks pretty good English. They showed me around the house, which is a pretty amazing house. Their community was built into the hillside that leads up to the mountains. From this house, you can look out and theoretically see the entire city… but it's never clear enough. The house has 4 stories, but it's a very thin house. At the top there is a small garden with fish and turtles. That was my favorite part. They use 3G internet instead of having a modem, which caused problems for me because their USB 3G receiver wouldn't work on my macbook. I couldn't figure out how to install it on my Parallels Windows XP because it's all in Chinese.
After they showed me around the house, I didn't have anything to do for the rest of the day. My host mom could tell I was bored, so she gave me her laptop to use to get on the internet and then gave me her Ipad to play games on… So Posh Corps.
During dinner, I told my host sister that I like photography. She said she did too and she wanted to see my photos. So we sat on the couch and I showed her my photos. She was enthralled by them. For each photo I showed she would gasp and go "OH WOOOOW" and grab the monitor to get a better look. She showed me her photography too, which was actually pretty good.
It made me think more and more about this photography club I'm thinking about organizing at the school for the kids. The area seems affluent enough that the kids would be able to afford cameras and would be interested.
Afterward, my host parents took me out for a walk. My Wai Ban lives right next door and they are friends. So that was convenient. The Wai Ban joined us and we walked down the enormous hill, through the community, and across the street to Jiaotong University.
This neighborhood is really amazing. there are bridges where you wouldn't think bridges would go connecting hill to hill, serving as a walk way between rows of houses and apartments. The winding road allows cars to get to and from their houses. If you look out in any direction, you can't see the ground. Just tons of apartments.
We walked around the school. There's a big soccer field and a track around it. There are two swimming pools, basketball courts, and little shops. There are lots of trees everywhere. It's a nice campus, though undoubtedly a little old.
When we got home, I went to bed on a hard bamboo mat.
When we entered Chongqing, I was immediately struck by the contrast in landscape. There were mountains and hills everywhere. After passing through some mountains, we emerged into Chongqing city. It was incredible. It's just hills, mountains, and rivers, all of which were completely populated with skyscrapers, houses, and bridges. What struck me the most was that the whole area is just filled with skyscrapers. All of them are apartments.
I found out that Chongqing city lies in a bowl surrounded by mountains. Two rivers cut through it and where they meet forms a mountain on a peninsula where the heart of the city is. It's one of the hottest cities in China because the air doesn't circulate well. The mountains prevent the hot air from escaping.
I met Jason, my Wai Ban liaison. He's 27 and dresses like I do. He's pretty cool. He took me out for lunch and then took me to my host family. Their daughter is 16 and speaks pretty good English. They showed me around the house, which is a pretty amazing house. Their community was built into the hillside that leads up to the mountains. From this house, you can look out and theoretically see the entire city… but it's never clear enough. The house has 4 stories, but it's a very thin house. At the top there is a small garden with fish and turtles. That was my favorite part. They use 3G internet instead of having a modem, which caused problems for me because their USB 3G receiver wouldn't work on my macbook. I couldn't figure out how to install it on my Parallels Windows XP because it's all in Chinese.
After they showed me around the house, I didn't have anything to do for the rest of the day. My host mom could tell I was bored, so she gave me her laptop to use to get on the internet and then gave me her Ipad to play games on… So Posh Corps.
During dinner, I told my host sister that I like photography. She said she did too and she wanted to see my photos. So we sat on the couch and I showed her my photos. She was enthralled by them. For each photo I showed she would gasp and go "OH WOOOOW" and grab the monitor to get a better look. She showed me her photography too, which was actually pretty good.
It made me think more and more about this photography club I'm thinking about organizing at the school for the kids. The area seems affluent enough that the kids would be able to afford cameras and would be interested.
Afterward, my host parents took me out for a walk. My Wai Ban lives right next door and they are friends. So that was convenient. The Wai Ban joined us and we walked down the enormous hill, through the community, and across the street to Jiaotong University.
This neighborhood is really amazing. there are bridges where you wouldn't think bridges would go connecting hill to hill, serving as a walk way between rows of houses and apartments. The winding road allows cars to get to and from their houses. If you look out in any direction, you can't see the ground. Just tons of apartments.
We walked around the school. There's a big soccer field and a track around it. There are two swimming pools, basketball courts, and little shops. There are lots of trees everywhere. It's a nice campus, though undoubtedly a little old.
When we got home, I went to bed on a hard bamboo mat.
Weekend after Site Announcement
On Friday we had a somewhat frustrating language simulation. The Chinese teachers gave us situations and role played and we had to respond to them correctly to pass. These included being robbed with a knife, telling a taxi where to go, being approached on a train by a stranger who may have wanted to sleep with you and/or steal your train ticket.
On Saturday our Chinese teachers and Site Manager took us out to a banquet, which included a simulation where the teachers pretended they were our bosses and we had to act appropriately. Afterward, we found an automatic Mahjong table in the same room, much to my delight. When you turn it on, it mixes up the tiles inside where you can't see and organizes them into neat rows. then it raises them up to the playing table and you can start playing. In the middle are a pair of dice in a glass container. When you push a button, some air or something blows them around and they roll. When you're done, you push some buttons and the middle opens up. You push all the tiles in there and it falls inside where they get mixed up again… I really need one of these.
Later, some of us went downtown to the really affluent part of Chengdu where there are huge shopping malls with extremely expensive brand name stores. The clothes and stuff at these stores are way more expensive than in the US. We sat by the huge Mao statue in the center of Chengdu city. There's a museum of Technology and Science behind him. We walked around and it took forever to find something affordable to eat.
Then we went to club called Jellyfish where the drinks were way too expensive. We bought baijiu and beer at a WoWo next door and drank before going in. I drank too much and danced… Later that night there was an awkward episode involving me hugging the western style toilet upstairs and my host family being worried about me.
Sunday my host mom/sister took me to Jinsha, which was really interesting. It's an archeological site where they found tons of artifacts from before the Shang Dynasty. We got an English tour guide to help me out. This was the first time since getting to China that I really learned something about Chinese history. I really need to do more research.
There was a strange "4D" movie in a little theater there. It was all computer animated and you had to wear 3D glasses. It was one of those theaters that blow air and water at you, shake you, and poke at you. It was all completely superfluous to the documentary, which was about the Shang Dynasty told in an epic story form. When someone shot somebody with an arrow, a peg in the chair would shoot into your back. For some reason they had to show snakes running around during a flood, and in the seat something moved across your butt. Then you were flying with a bird and air was blown at your face. When the emperor handed down his crown to his son, he ascended into the sky and turned into a bird, which flew around for a bit and pooped in your face for some reason. Water droplets fell from the ceiling simulating being pooped on.
I went home and packed for site visit.
On Saturday our Chinese teachers and Site Manager took us out to a banquet, which included a simulation where the teachers pretended they were our bosses and we had to act appropriately. Afterward, we found an automatic Mahjong table in the same room, much to my delight. When you turn it on, it mixes up the tiles inside where you can't see and organizes them into neat rows. then it raises them up to the playing table and you can start playing. In the middle are a pair of dice in a glass container. When you push a button, some air or something blows them around and they roll. When you're done, you push some buttons and the middle opens up. You push all the tiles in there and it falls inside where they get mixed up again… I really need one of these.
Later, some of us went downtown to the really affluent part of Chengdu where there are huge shopping malls with extremely expensive brand name stores. The clothes and stuff at these stores are way more expensive than in the US. We sat by the huge Mao statue in the center of Chengdu city. There's a museum of Technology and Science behind him. We walked around and it took forever to find something affordable to eat.
Then we went to club called Jellyfish where the drinks were way too expensive. We bought baijiu and beer at a WoWo next door and drank before going in. I drank too much and danced… Later that night there was an awkward episode involving me hugging the western style toilet upstairs and my host family being worried about me.
Sunday my host mom/sister took me to Jinsha, which was really interesting. It's an archeological site where they found tons of artifacts from before the Shang Dynasty. We got an English tour guide to help me out. This was the first time since getting to China that I really learned something about Chinese history. I really need to do more research.
There was a strange "4D" movie in a little theater there. It was all computer animated and you had to wear 3D glasses. It was one of those theaters that blow air and water at you, shake you, and poke at you. It was all completely superfluous to the documentary, which was about the Shang Dynasty told in an epic story form. When someone shot somebody with an arrow, a peg in the chair would shoot into your back. For some reason they had to show snakes running around during a flood, and in the seat something moved across your butt. Then you were flying with a bird and air was blown at your face. When the emperor handed down his crown to his son, he ascended into the sky and turned into a bird, which flew around for a bit and pooped in your face for some reason. Water droplets fell from the ceiling simulating being pooped on.
I went home and packed for site visit.
Site announcements
Been really busy since model school ended. I was finally able to catch up on updates while on site visit. I couldn't get good internet access at my Chongqing host family's house and there wasn't a whole lot to do, so I had some time to write. So here are a bunch of posts...
On wednesday (August 3rd, 2 weeks ago), I felt abnormally tired. My muscles hurt and I could barely walk or get up stairs. I skipped out on the ultimate frisbee and played a little ping pong. I went to bed really early and I was fine the next day.
I think I had been pushing myself too hard. We've been playing ping pong and ultimate frisbee every day during lunch and after school. It wouldn't normally be a big deal, but considering I've spent the last 2 years or so being pretty sedentary, i suppose it was kind of a shock to my body.
Thursday was site placement. We went to the hotel in Chengdu where we stayed when we first got to China. In the conference room, everybody sat with their training sites. Then the Site Managers handed out the envelopes. Pink for Chongqing, Yellow for Sichuan, Green for Gansu, Blue for Guizhou (i think. I might have gotten the green and blue mixed up).
i got a pink envelope. I'm going to Chongqing Jiaotong University. I got up and looked around for other Chongqing people. It's interesting to see who went where. Most of my friends and cool people are going to Sichuan. There are people in Chongqing I know I'm going to want to stay away from. But I have some good friends going there too at least.
Max and Antonia are at the same school in a more remote area of Sichuan. Both of them are good friends of mine. I plan to visit them when I can.
When i got my assignment, I really didn't know what to think. I had never been to Chongqing. All i knew about it was that it was a big city. I found my university on the map. It looked like it was out of the city.
In my site placement packet it said i was going to live on the main campus and commute to the new campus… an hour away. This is the only thing that really bugged me about my placement. Everything else sounded great. I get my own apartment with a bed, couch, air conditioning, kitchen, etc. My predecessor left me some helpful comments.
It also said I would be teaching Oral English and Tourism English… whatever that means.
We were given a to-do list for our site visit the next week, which included opening a bank account. We were given vitamins and calcium pills.
Peace Corps gives each volunteer a ton of stuff to take with them to site after swearing in, so most of us were anxious to find a way to avoid hauling ridiculous amounts of stuff to our site. We were told that we couldn't bring stuff to leave at our apartments when we visit our sites. But unofficially everyone said it probably wouldn't be a problem to ask your host family if you can leave it with them or even in your apartment. The problem is that sometimes the school will clean out the apartments and indiscriminately throw things out.
I called my Wai Ban who told me it wouldn't be a problem. They already cleaned out my apartment, so they won't do it again.
I overpacked my big suitcase full of stuff i knew I wouldn't need for the last 3 weeks of training.
On wednesday (August 3rd, 2 weeks ago), I felt abnormally tired. My muscles hurt and I could barely walk or get up stairs. I skipped out on the ultimate frisbee and played a little ping pong. I went to bed really early and I was fine the next day.
I think I had been pushing myself too hard. We've been playing ping pong and ultimate frisbee every day during lunch and after school. It wouldn't normally be a big deal, but considering I've spent the last 2 years or so being pretty sedentary, i suppose it was kind of a shock to my body.
Thursday was site placement. We went to the hotel in Chengdu where we stayed when we first got to China. In the conference room, everybody sat with their training sites. Then the Site Managers handed out the envelopes. Pink for Chongqing, Yellow for Sichuan, Green for Gansu, Blue for Guizhou (i think. I might have gotten the green and blue mixed up).
i got a pink envelope. I'm going to Chongqing Jiaotong University. I got up and looked around for other Chongqing people. It's interesting to see who went where. Most of my friends and cool people are going to Sichuan. There are people in Chongqing I know I'm going to want to stay away from. But I have some good friends going there too at least.
Max and Antonia are at the same school in a more remote area of Sichuan. Both of them are good friends of mine. I plan to visit them when I can.
When i got my assignment, I really didn't know what to think. I had never been to Chongqing. All i knew about it was that it was a big city. I found my university on the map. It looked like it was out of the city.
In my site placement packet it said i was going to live on the main campus and commute to the new campus… an hour away. This is the only thing that really bugged me about my placement. Everything else sounded great. I get my own apartment with a bed, couch, air conditioning, kitchen, etc. My predecessor left me some helpful comments.
It also said I would be teaching Oral English and Tourism English… whatever that means.
We were given a to-do list for our site visit the next week, which included opening a bank account. We were given vitamins and calcium pills.
Peace Corps gives each volunteer a ton of stuff to take with them to site after swearing in, so most of us were anxious to find a way to avoid hauling ridiculous amounts of stuff to our site. We were told that we couldn't bring stuff to leave at our apartments when we visit our sites. But unofficially everyone said it probably wouldn't be a problem to ask your host family if you can leave it with them or even in your apartment. The problem is that sometimes the school will clean out the apartments and indiscriminately throw things out.
I called my Wai Ban who told me it wouldn't be a problem. They already cleaned out my apartment, so they won't do it again.
I overpacked my big suitcase full of stuff i knew I wouldn't need for the last 3 weeks of training.
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