Catching Up

(My own personal journal of sorts that I felt like posting up here)

May 27-29th Woke up at 5 AM this side of the hemisphere. I believe this was a combination of jet lag and an accidental 3 hr nap at 8. It was rather light outside for 5 AM. I was probably also massively uncomfortable from my sleeping arrangements on top of it.

The beds here may have been one of the first things I really noticed that was different from …. Well home. They are very hard and stiff here. I honestly believe I may have just been lying on plywood with a couple of sheets on it to protect from splinters. I ended up switching to the cot that was also in my room but any movement on there was incredibly loud thus waking myself up.  In this new apartment I am staying in until June 16^th (ish) I believe it is just the bottom part of the mattress set. More comfortable, at least sitting wise, but still pretty stiff. It’s interesting how much of a difference the soft/hardness of a bed is when sleeping. It’s not like I haven’t slept on floors before and no that isn’t a reference to a crazy night of partying. I’ve honestly slept on floors but usually it’s carpeted and there’s another inch or 2 of some form of padding be it a couple of thick blankets or a mattress pad.

I guess the people just like their bedding hard. Bed issues aside….

“First” day in Hangzhou was sort of spent just lounging around and getting rid of jet lag. We were expecting one more person for our June group to arrive the next day. (You may have noticed my lack of dates. This is because my sense of day and time is completely off). At this point it was Matt, Yasmina, Travis, and I. I believe I was the last one to arrive the 27^th. 

We had brunch at a touristy restaurant down the street from where we were staying. We sort of just timidly walked in thinking we could manage to get something. I think we assumed there might be some English or at least pictures of the food on the menus but we quickly learned that that was a very silly assumption. Even trying to get a table was a little difficult without making it seem like we were lost.

Luckily, a tour guide who just happened to be there and know English saved us. She got us a table pretty much right in front of the register area and then left for a little while. Travis had little conversational skills but he was able to figure out a couple of things on the menu. The tour guide lady managed to return to save our hungry stomachs again.

We ended up with some pork, chicken, potatoes (or maybe some other kind of vegetable), duck soup, tea, and of course some rice. The duck soup was really good to me at least and the pork and potatoes was another fave however there was a slight issue with any of the meaty meals we ordered. There was hardly any meat to speak of. It was either fat or bone. The duck soup luckily had the most meat and was like I said good. We also had Chinese broccoli but I think it may have been fried up cauliflower. I won’t ever know for sure though.

The restaurant we later realized was meant for tourists with wallets. We learned that what we had paid together could have gone a much longer way if we had just explored away from the touristy areas. Oh well at least the duck soup was good, though I think it may have been the most expensive thing we ordered.

Later on we learned that our final partner for June would be arriving a little later. Once he came to the apartment in Lingyin, (111 Tian Zhu road, Ling Yin, Hangzhou) we went on to have a late lunch at this place Annika referred to as the White House. So named for its appearance and well I’m not really sure what else I’m still in a daze regarding little things like that but it was a nice meal altogether. We had a large glass lazy suzy to spin the various dishes around to everyone. There was a bright yellow potato soup, a sort of spicy salad with large bits of tofu, some bits of meat – I believe pork and chicken-, Chinese broccoli – which is white but I’m not sure that it isn’t cauliflower- The meal was awesome and we learned a few more details as to what exactly we were doing in Hangzhou. Later on Drew and I would have a meeting with our employer.

To reach our meeting, we took our first bus ride. Riding the bus is rather difficult regardless of how much room you have while standing. Sitting is the only stable position on the bus. They also all seem to have TVs playing an assortment of stuff but it’s usually too loud to hear what is happening. Riding the bus is kind of like surfing. Really difficult and wavering.

Our meeting was with Jim at the Linkman Institute. He had just opened up the office so there was fresh paint and a general sense of new about the building. He seemed really excited to meet us and to get us started. On the way over Annika had warned us that we really need to be flexible as things can change rapidly and randomly. Jim also warned us of this and then proceeded to explain to us the general plans for June. We would be working for Jim over the entire summer and if we wanted some time off we would need to do so before Wednesday. I learned I would be teaching a fairly decent age range of people. From children to teens to adults. I think the difficulty I will have ranges with age, children will give me the most trying times while the adults will have a sort of review session with me and likely be the most excited to have me.

Yasmina took Drew and I to a noodle place for breakfast/brunch. It was really good and we had freshly picked tea. The particular area we stayed in was known for its tea so it was a real treat. After our noodles; which were about 20 Yuan…RMB/CNY, which translates to about 3.50 in USD, we went into the outskirts of the downtown area to find a Construction Bank for Yasmina. We ended up exploring side road merchant tents, a bakery, and a food market.

The fresh market place had a large variety of items. Cooked birds with their heads still attached, fresh fish/seafood including frogs and turtles, a large variety of fruits like mangosteen and dragonfruit, and lost of veggies. The fish and meats were the most interesting for us. Seeing the eels squirm around was a bit much for me though.

After the market we accidentally strolled upon a botanical garden. It was really beautiful and apparently had a random tomb in it. Actually it was the bits of a memorial tomb. It had been destroyed at one point but they had salvaged bits of the general’s tomb. After finding the tomb we wandered a little farther into the gardens and found what was once an abandoned home which used to house a man and his family in the 1920s. It looked pretty inhabited but we still creeped around and took a few pictures. We left the gardens and hit the bathrooms finding our first squat toilets. One thing to remember when visiting asian countries. BYOTP. Toilet paper is completely optional and more than likely not provided unless at a nice (ish) probably Western hotel or restaurants. Other than that bring it yourself.

We returned to our building complexes and decided with the bit of time I had left, to go explore the area some more. We walked over to the nunnery and were stopped multiple times by people trying to sell us stuff. Past the nunnery and the residences in general we found a clearing of sorts that had ponds of fish and turtles and little pagoda like buildings and a restaurant. Near the restaurant there was a pathway to either climb the mountain or to see the legend of the Three Life Stones. Considering our clothing choices for the day we decided we were not up for that hike and instead hiked down a canal…. Drainage thing… I’m still not sure what it was exactly, but I know it was kind of gross.  

Once we got back from our adventure we checked out the exercise machines that we had found earlier and just spent time messing around and chatting. I had to leave for my dinner with Jim as well as a new apartment. Getting a taxi however proved to be very trying as all of the cab drivers seemed to refuse my money. ><’ I’m not sure what the issue was and it reminded me that I’m a foreigner in a country that isn’t hostile to foreigners but can be unforgiving in terms of communication. I really need to find a mini handbook of sayings…

Once I made it to my meeting I met the woman I would be sharing an apartment with until the actual apartment opened up. I’m to call her A Yi, which means Aunt in Mandarin. It’s kind of like how we call our elders Emo in Korean. I met a pregnant woman named Jackie and a “very handsome” boy whose name I can’t quite recall but apparently he knows absolutely no English. The car ride was as dangerous and thrilling as the bus ride. At least I had a chair but I was in the middle of everyone and only my boss Jim spoke English. After we dropped off Jackie, we went to the apartment to drop off my stuff. The apartment is right across from a kindergarten? I believe. So waking up to screaming children will be pleasant.

After learning how things are to work around the apartment, Jim took me to a  “fast food” place called Reboo --. We had dark meat chicken, eggplant, eggs and tomatoes, pea pods?, soda and rice. Jim and I talked about a number of things from a few things political like North Korea, to food, and then discussion of my identity and culture as a mixed kid and an American. It was really nice.

After returning to the apartment Jim and A Yi talked for a bit while I sent a few emails on their desktop. Apparently to use the internet I will have to use their desktop while I’m at this building. I think when I move out to the other apartment I will be able to use my VPN and actually utilize the fun parts of the internet that China has cut off. Jim told me I would need to be ready to go by 8:15 am because A Yi would be taking me to the bus stop and then a colleague of Jim’s would take me from there. I’m going to need to pay a lot of attention to the number of stops or else getting to my job will be really difficult.

I’m still not really sure of what is expected of me here.