Friday, August 5, 2011
Aaaaaahhh! I can’t believe that this day has finally arrived! My nerves are a mix of excitement and terror because I don’t know what to expect while I’m over there. I’ve packed and repacked my two suitcases so many times that I’ve lost count. We had to leave Enid really early this morning because I couldn’t check-in online with American since I’m flying internationally and switching airlines. Oh well, I almost expected that. When we arrived in Oklahoma City it was about 3:30 in the morning, so my parents and I stopped at Whataburger and had breakfast (my dad and I had biscuits and gravy while my mom had a cheeseburger). At 4:00 we arrived at the airport and checked me in at the concourse. Even my bags cooperated as they were both under 50 pounds. Hooray!! At 4:30, I kissed my parents goodbye and walked through security. I forgot that I had my belt on so the alarm went off when I walked through the metal detector. Oops! J After taking my belt off and sending it through the x-ray machine, I walked through the metal detector for a second time and emerged through security unscathed. I sat at my gate (Gate 4) for almost 45 minutes before we started boarding the plane and charged my phone (it was almost dead since I didn’t charge it the night before – the only downside to prepacking all of my electronics and their chargers.) At 5:30 the gate attendants announced that our flight would be boarding shortly. My luck I’m seated at the back of the plane, so I boarded with Group 4, which was the last group to get onto the plane. We departed OKC and had a 35-minute flight to Dallas-Fort Worth. Uneventful and the flight attendants didn’t even have time to complete the beverage service. There were several service members on my flight that were either being deployed or coming home, either way I hope that they stay safe. Upon arriving in DFW I had to walk from one end of the C terminal to the other to make my connecting flight – thank goodness that I decided to wear tennis shoes and pack my flip-flops in my backpack. Two-hour stopover passed uneventfully, although there was a young man seated to my left that was reading a Bible study book in Chinese while the older woman on my right was very loudly talking in Mandarin into her mobile phone. I haven’t even left the States yet and I’m being immersed in the culture. So excited!! Boarded the plane, found my seat, and quickly fell asleep! I guess waking up at 12:45 this morning really hit me, especially since I didn’t sleep well the night before. Next stop: Seattle!! Upon arriving in Seattle I had to take a train from my arriving terminal to my departing terminal – again I’m thankful for comfy shoes and what I call people-movers (escalators)! When I finally got to the South Terminal (where my flight was going to depart from) I noticed that there was a food court attached. Another 2-hour stopover and I’m starving (remember, I hadn’t had anything to eat since 3:30 this morning and it’s now 2 o’clock in the afternoon in Oklahoma), so I found a grille restaurant and ordered a cheeseburger, fries, and a Sprite. My last American meal!! When my order was ready, I went to my gate, ate, and relaxed. While I was seated at my gate, I met a fellow English First teacher, Miranda, who I will be living with while I’m in Beijing. She’s older than I am, but we have a lot in common and complement each other very well. She’s loud while I’m more introverted and mellow.
Around 2:30 we started boarding the plane (finally, I have an aisle seat and don’t have to worry about being cramped!!) It was when I boarded the plane and found my seat that another EF teacher, Charisma, and I met each other. She will be located in a different district than Miranda and I so we three can’t be roommates. Oh well! I tried to sleep several times on the plane, but I could never find a position that was comfortable enough and the little boy in front of me would rather play peek-a-boo with me instead of sitting in his seat. Oh well, he was adorable – except when he started crying because of the air pressure affecting his ears. Poor boy! Oh well, nothing eventful happened while I was on the plane other than when we were about to arrive at Beijing Capital Airport. The flight attendants came through the plane and sprayed a disinfectant in the aisles. It was just enough to knock me off of my feet. We arrived at Beijing on Saturday, August 6th, at 4:45 – 45 minutes later than when we were supposed to arrive.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
I’m finally in Beijing!! Laura, my Director of Studies (kinda like the superintendent/principal in an American school) picked Charisma, Miranda, and I up from the airport and drove us to the Beijing Courtel hotel. To say that the van ride was crazy is a vast understatement! The Chinese people have no idea of lanes, so when a person is driving, you hear a lot of horns honking at each other. Sometimes drivers use their blinkers but not all of the time. When we arrived at the hotel, we checked in and deposited our bags into our rooms. We each have 2 twin size beds in our rooms and a bathroom; however, the bathroom is more different than I have ever encountered before. The Chinese call the bathroom the “wet room” because there isn’t a separate area for one’s shower. The drain is in the middle of the bathroom floor, so when you take a shower everything in your bathroom gets wet! It took some getting used to, but I think I like the concept. The night was ours to wander around, so we found a grocery store and bought some items. It was great to see Oreos! Comfort food!! J
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Today Charisma, Miranda, and I took the opportunity to take in Tian’anmen Square! Oh my goodness! The experience was amazing, but because of the humidity I was sweaty and sticky by the end of it. When we entered the square, we saw this little room situated next to where we bought our tickets. Inside this room was artwork that had been painted by students at the university and they were selling it. We had our names printed on a piece of rice paper and while we waited for it to dry, we looked around the center and found some pieces that we just had to buy. I bought a silk-framed piece that had pink flowers on it – it’s absolutely beautiful! Walking everywhere will allow me to lose a lot of weight, so that’s one thing that I’m most looking forward to. For lunch, we stopped at a nice restaurant inside the square. We ordered sweet and sour pork, twice cooked pork with vegetables, and fried rice. I’m getting pretty good at using chopsticks! J Chinese food here isn’t as different as what we would see back home. It’s just as tasty!
The subway system here in Beijing is so easy to navigate, but people are pushy – bumping into each other without the common decency to say, “Excuse me.” When we got home, I had planned on taking just a 2-hour nap before going out for the evening and finding something to eat; however, the nap turned into an all-night affair! Yikes! J
Monday, August 8, 2011
My first official day as arrived! We took to the subway to Guomao because we had to be at the EF Regional Center (hereby noted as EFRC) by 10 am. We made it to the area with plenty of time, so we stopped at the Starbucks (yes, they are everywhere!!) before continuing on our way to the EFRC. Upon arriving at the EFRC we immediately went into training, signing contracts, and receiving our uniform shirts. We met with Lee, the production manager, after we signed our contracts and tried to set up our employment and payroll. Around 12:30 we met up with Stephanie (Charisma’s DOS) and Melissa (Miranda’s DOS) and went to lunch. The restaurant we ate at was wonderful. There was a quaint waterwheel outside with koi, and our room we ate in was on the second floor. Everyone ordered something and we shared plates that were situated on a rotating Lazy Susan. Charisma is vegetarian so she ordered 2 different dishes (lotus roots and eggplant). Both were absolutely delectable. After lunch, Miranda, Charisma, Emily (the visa officer), and I went to the bank and set up our ICBC accounts. Oh, so much fun. Afterwards, we went back to the EFRC and split up (each of us went to our centers!)
Laura picked me up from the EFRC and we took a taxi from the EFRC to my center; however, the experience was definitely a little bit more painful (it easily took longer than 20 minutes to catch a taxi!) My fears, however, were set aside when we got to my center and I met everyone! They are so much fun, quirky and loud but also very fun! The first thing Laura handed me was a scavenger hunt that I had 20 minutes to complete. Ray, my cultural mentor, and I sat down and we went over a lot of the questions. It will be quite entertaining to get to know her! After meeting everyone, finishing and going over the scavenger hunt, and going through a slide show presentation of the school and what will be expected of me, I felt a little overwhelmed – I know that the learning curve for me since I have no previous ESL experience will be pretty steep. When Laura let me go, I logged on to a computer and set up my work e-mail and tried to set up my employment and payroll system (so that I can get paid every month!) Apparently since the office in Shanghai is moving, the E&P system seldom works. Yikes! After fussing with that for a while and seeing some of the parents and students I will potentially be working with, I walked back to the subway station and came back to the hotel to wait for either Miranda or Charisma to arrive home. Miranda and I walked down the street and ate at a Japanese restaurant really close to our hotel. She ordered a sushi platter and I ordered some sautéed pepper chicken. I thought the chicken dish would be safe; however, it wasn’t shortly after that I felt sick to my stomach. Miranda and I both agreed that we probably wouldn’t eat there again. After dinner, we came back to the hotel and crashed. Jet lag has officially hit all of us!!
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Emily met us this morning at the Xi’erqi station in far northwest Beijing so that we could get our medical checks completed. After greeting us, she quickly obtained a taxi for us to go to the hospital. She makes it look so much easier than Laura did yesterday. Upon arriving at the hospital, we checked in and at our leisure went to the ENT, EKG, phlebotomy, ultrasound, and x-ray rooms before Emily released us so that we could have the afternoon for ourselves. During my blood work, the phlebotomist had to draw my blood from my hand because the veins in my arms are too deep for them to draw from. Ugh! Miranda had seen a coffee shop (SPR Coffee) while we were walking around before meeting Emily, so we went there to have coffee. Miranda had a cappuccino; I had a fruit and ice cream concoction (one ice cream flavor was purple yam and I didn’t care much for it!) Charisma had a banana smoothie! I was able to use my Chinese a little when I ordered ice water. At 12:30, Charisma had an appointment with a realtor to look at some apartments, so we dropped her off at the Wudaokou station and Miranda and I went to the zoo!
I was getting a bit cranky because of the humidity and the amount of walking we had done so far, so when we couldn’t find the zoo, I lost it! We tried asking for directions, but no one could understand us! Finally after walking around for what seemed like forever and picking up a bottle of ice water J we found the zoo! We purchased our tickets for RMB 130 and started walking around – looking at llamas, tapirs, cassowaries, emus, lions, tigers, and other animals. Our main goal was to find the aquarium so that we could see the live fish and be indoors where it was air-conditioned. I have to say that it was the best aquarium I have ever been to! I will have to go again once it’s a little cooler now that I know where it is! J We finished the aquarium and on our way out we saw the elephants, giraffes, and some monkeys, but we never did find the pandas. Map signs at the zoo leave something to be desired because we couldn’t read them (not because they weren’t in English – because they were- but because the arrows pointed in directions that we couldn’t go!) Finally, around 4:00ish we walked back to the Beijing Zoo station and came home. I took a shower (the second one of the day!) and relaxed a little before Miranda came knocking on my door because it was raining outside. Usually it doesn’t rain in Beijing since we’re close to the desert, so we don’t know if this is actual rain or if it’s government-controlled rain (silver nitrate-produced rain)! Either way it’s a welcome sight because it cleanses the city.
For dinner we walked down the block and turned right (instead of the left that we take to get to the subway station) and found this quaint restaurant with red light globes hanging outside. We ordered fried rice with vegetables, a large bottle of Coke, and this wrap thing that had noodles(?- I’m guessing) inside. The rice was really good and really filling, so I only had one of the wraps. I didn’t like it so much, but at least I tried it. (I’m trying a lot of new things –eggplant, sushi, lotus roots, etc.) After dinner, Miranda and I stopped at this dessert shoppe and picked up dessert (2 cream puffs and a spiral cream-filled item) for RMB 1.30! We walked back to the hotel and sat on the corner in the gazebo while watching the rain and the cars go by! I’m still surprised that there aren’t more accidents between the buses, cars, motorcyclists, bicyclists, and pedestrians. Finally around 8:15-8:20, the rain started picking up again, so we came back to our hotel and relaxed. Tomorrow is a full day as we meet with our real estate agent and look for apartments, so I must say good night now!
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