I've Arrived!

Well I have been in China over a week now. The trip here was crazy. My flight leaving from Greenville was held because of fog in Atlanta. When we landed in Atlanta my flight to Shanghai had already left. I was rebooked onto a flight that left Atlanta five hours later and I had to go through Tokyo then to Shanghai. The flight was fine, I watched some movies and slept. There wasn’t anyone next to me so that was nice. The Tokyo airport was awesome, their toilets are great. I didn’t use any of the extras, but I saw they had heated seats, air freshener, sound effects, and a wash. That’s my kind of toilet! I checked my email and the executive assistant,Dawei, had booked me a hotel in Shanghai(there were no more flights out of Shanghai to Dalian that night) and rebooked me for a flight to Dalian in the morning. It was a long trip, but I finally arrived on Wednesday around noon.

Kurt, the head of the school, met me with one of the drivers. They took all my bags and we were off to DDA (Dalian Development Area). Dalian is a huge city, it was fun to look out the window and see it. We passed through KaiFaChu which has a ton of shopping. We got to the school and Campus Village (where my apartment is). It is so gorgeous here. We are in the foothills of the mountains, but a walk away from the beach. I couldn’t ask for more. My apartment is so nice (pics below). Kurt then took me on a tour of the school, apartment building, and to lunch. He then suggested I go lay down before a dinner they were having for us, since I had been traveling so long. I laid down thinking I wouldn’t sleep and was woken up by a knocking on my door. Kurt was there asking if I was coming to dinner! I had overslept because partially because I didn’t have an alarm clock, but mostly because I was jetlagged. I quickly through on some clothes and went down to the café and met everyone. I’m sure I made a great first impression with sleep in my eyes.


Bedroom


Living Room


View from one of my windows


My school

The next morning (Thursday I think) a group of us had to go get physicals. Apparently in China if they find out you have cancer or some other diseases they deport you. There were about 10 of us that had to get a physical. It was like the Amazing Race. We just went around with our paperwork to the open door. We were put through the ringers; we got blood work, Xrays, ultrasounds, sight tests, and EKGs. I would be remiss to not mention the great urine test. Before I do, you need to know that China’s toilets in public fail considerably to Tokyo’s. Let’s just say it is a toilet sunk into the ground (and I am being nice). You have to squat to pee, no joke. So imagine trying to squat and pee into a little cup, then we had to pour our pee from the cup into a little plastic beaker. Put you can’t pull up your pants because there is no where to put the cup. It was a feat to do balance, pour, and not spill. I walk out of the stall very proud and go to hand the lady my business. She looked at me and pointed for me to put it with the other 30 samples in a little stand. What!? I don’t think that is sanitary, but oh well. Needless to say it was a great bonding experience with my new colleagues.

We finished the day by shopping in KaiFaChu. After pictures being taken of me and trying to tell the store clerks what I wanted I was done for the day. I thought I deserved a Blizzard from Dairy Queen so I was happy with that. The next morning we were going to conquer getting our cell phones…you can imagine how that went. Dawei is awesome so she translated for us. I ended up getting one that works on all the continents, it was so cheap. Shopping here is an art, you are allowed to bargain so I am getting used to that. I have learned most of my numbers, but more importantly I have learned how to do hand gestures. They have different gestures for the money (quay or RMB) so it is really complicated. I just put my hand out with the money and have them take what I owe them. The Chinese are so honest, they would never rip you off. They go out of their way to help you.

So far I am loving it. I miss all of you back home like crazy! This has already been an amazing experience and I am only a week into it. I have way more appreciation for people in the States that don't speak English, it is so frustrating when you are trying to buy something or ask something and NO ONE understands you. It is an eye opener as to how others feel. Anyways that is it for now. I still have lots to share, but I will update it later.

xoxo