Arrival Handan, China

We arrived in Handan West Railway station around midnight and it was raining heavily SO PLEASANT! We are leaving and again we are met by a myriad of cabbies this time just regular cars. We approach our first cab and we get in and she starts talking to the cabbie and then she tells me no not this cab. I was thinking OKAY THIS IS STRANGE! ALERT in Handan when it starts getting late in the evening the taxi drivers start setting their own rates because there is no other form of public transportation available. We head to another taxi and again we don't get in by now I am completely exhausted. Finally we get a taxi that is offering a reasonable price to take us to my new apartment. We arrive at my new apartment at 1am and I am barely able to move. 

The school assistant shows me the apartment a little bit and she is gone. I look around some more then just pass out on my new bed. All of a sudden I just remembered I have NO alarm clock to wake me up in the morning OH WELL! So the next morning I wake up at whatever time. I take a walk around my new community and like what I see, a nice outdoor exercise gym and many other wonderful accessories. ALERT many communities in China have nice outdoor exercise gyms. I come back to my apartment and about 5 minutes later I get a knock at my door WHAT? it is already the afternoon. My assistant comes in and tells me I have about 15 minutes before I have to go and teach. I go to take a shower OH GREAT!! no water. My shower does not work and I have not taken a shower in about 2 days now. I am going to smell SO GOOD for these new students. No shower let's splash water on the face and go. Oh no! no water in the bathroom sink either! Okay I will just get some deodorant on and hope for the best. Search through my baggage for the several sticks of deodorant that I had packed and oh guess what NO DEODORANT! I had been robbed of all deodorant and shampoo. SHOOT!! I just thought to myself it is going to be a very long day.

We arrive at the school and I am quickly given a schedule of classes and taken to my first class. I again think to myself it is going to be a very long day. I briefly look at the schedule and see that it is five 30 minute classes OH THIS IS NOT GOOD! I am tired, hungry, thirsty and SMELLY!! Remember how I told you about my assistant and how she takes her job really seriously well she came to the rescue right after my first class. She brought me a huge bag of goodies to eat and two bottles of water. I was saved and at that point I thought she was an angel. I was able to handle the classes quite well and survived the day in one piece. I go outside and wait for my wonderful helper and that is when I meet my first friend. This young man just comes up to me and introduces himself and this is when it gets interesting.