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Well I get up on the first day of my visit to Zhang Nan's home and go outside to the bathroom. I do my usual morning routine except this time it is outside. Again this is going to take some getting used to but I can handle it. The air outside is so fresh very different compared to the polluted air of Handan. Unfortunately with all the coal and steel plants surrounding Handan the air is rather heavily polluted and it is not that pleasant to breath. So I enjoy breathing this air as much as possible. I go to breakfast and I get this massive bowl of porridge and some fried bread and everything is very delicious. The whole family shows up for breakfast this is all unusual to me. My family rarely ate breakfast together we just never had time for that really. Actually when I was growing up I never even remember any of my friends having breakfast with their families. We finish breakfast and I ask Zhang Nan is there any coffee around here? He looks at me and says I will we be right back. He suddenly dissappears and then he is back. When he comes back he has five packets of instant coffee with him. I am shocked I was really not expecting anything given our location. I do not imagine coffee is so popular in rural China. And the instant coffee is pretty good actually Nescafe, great I am now going to be able to have caffeine fix during my stay here. I am going to survive hahaha!! I ask Zhang Nan where did you get the coffee? He tells me the next door neighbor. Ah! very typical Chinese very friendly they don't even know me but they will give me five packets of coffee.
I enjoy a cup of coffee and Zhang Nan comes running up and says the neighbors want to meet you. It is the neighbors that gave me the coffee and they are very excited to meet to me. We exchange hellos and handshakes and they have mooncakes with them and they give me a mooncake. I had never scen a mooncake before and it looked so cool a REALLY big cookie with this Chinese stamp on it for decoration. ALERT Mooncake is the traditional Chinese food during Autumn Festival. And it is something you have to try. This was just the beginning of the parade of guests that day. It seems as though Zhang Nan's family had told half the village they had a foreigner visiting and he is an American! Let's just say the day was filled with hellos and handshakes and of course many smiles. At the end of the day someone says something about a wedding in a a couple of days. Actually the wedding is the next day and I am DEFINETLY invited. Here are some random pictures from some outdoor barbeque fun in Handan just hanging out with some friends.
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We finally catch a bus and somehow find a seat way in the back of the bus. This bus was AMAZINGLY filled with sooo many people. I always say nothing like travelling during the holidays. I cannot believe this many people travelling everywhere. The bus is extremely slow and I actually feel I could out run this bus if I wanted to. No wonder the bus fare was so inexpensive. I still have a two gallon jug of cooking oil on my lap and it was getting very uncomfortable. ALERT Again I do not recommend travelling like this as a foreigner spend about eight more dollars and get a luxury long distance bus. Zhang Nan is having a conversation with two Chinese girls and it seems like they have a slight problem. It appears as though they have gotten on the wrong bus. This is very unusual what to do? Zhang Nan tells me he will call his father and ask him if he will give them a ride to their destination. This to me is very interesting a real random act of kindness from my friend Zhang Nan. We had been on the bus a little over three hours and he calls his father he will pick us up when we arrive and he will take the two girls to their destination. WOW OKAY!! Things are getting more interesting.
Its about 30 minutes later and we arrive at our bus stop somewhere in the middle of nowhere in China. And sure enough the two girls hop off the bus with us. And Zhang Nan's father picks us up in a rather small car we all cram into the car. Now I really am not aware of where I am going here and I had no idea that my friend Zhang Nan's family lived in rural China. Let's just say I am a little concerned hahaha!! We keep driving down these dirt roads I guess I am in for a serious adventure this time. Hey why not it is what I am here for to truly experience China. Nothing fake and nothing touristy. We arrive at Zhang Nan's house at the end of this dirt road and we are greeted by his family. His father talks with this his mother a little bit and he drives off with the two girls. I found out later it wasn't so bad but still 15 miles away is 15 miles away. We are hurried off to eat dinner and of course the meal is very simple but delicious and again everyone is SO HAPPY! I look around and it is not that great here but these people are very happy with this kind of simplicity. Zhang Nan shows me around the house and the property and there is no indoor plumbing so the bathroom is outside. I will get more into that later this is going to be a very interesting three days. I think am ready for this adventure.
The next few days go by very fast since I am so busy day classes and night classes actually really no time for anything. My first Chinese friend Zhang Nan calls me and says hey let's go to lunch. I tell him I will meet him at the noodle shop across the street from where I live. We meet there and have a brilliant bowl of ramen and some great conversation. He asks me do you know Autumn Festival? I say no what about it? He tells me it is a very big festival in China and a major holiday. He asks me would you like to come to my family's house for the holiday? I tell him I certainly would love to do that. He says we will leave in a week. He really wasn't kidding about the Autumn Festival being a big holiday. I went the primary school the following day and I get a call from my boss. He says hey come by the office. I go to the office and he gives me a case of apples. He says for Autumn Festival. This is great I love apples. ALERT if you have a chance to go to China in the beginning of October do it Autumn Festival is a wonderful experience. It is also maybe the most perfect time of the year in China. I take the apples home and I really do not know what I am going to do with so many apples. I decide I will give many of them away to all my new friends.
I go to the training center that night and go to the office first to pick up stickers for the kids. I do that to help classroom participation and it really works. When I am at the office Jade the lead teacher tells me I have a ticket for you for one bottle of cooking oil and a 10 pound bag of rice. Damn! this Autumn Festival thing is so cool. Now I have a case of apples a large bottle of cooking oil and a big bag of rice. Man! that is a lot of stuff for some guy living on his own. So I have this ticket for cooking oil and rice but I do not know where the store is and how am I going to get there. I meet up with my friend Zhang Nan later that night and show him my ticket and he says I know where the store is. He then tells me I will get the cooking il and rice before I pick you up for our trip to my family's house. I tell him thank you so very much. This really is a big help because I had no time to pick this stuff up. Well the day is here and we are going to Zhang Nan's family's house and I am a little excited. Phone rings and it's Zhang Nan I am at your front gate HURRY! I run out to the front gate and there is Zhang Nan in a taxi with the rice and cooking oil in the back seat. Man! Zhang Nan is a very good friend he really does what he says he is going to do. We get to the downtown bus station and of course an adventure is right around the corner. We go to get tickets for the bus and the line is so long he says forget it let's catch a bus from the street. And I think to myself UH OH! this ought to be very interesting. Let me tell you it certainly was very interesting. All of a sudden Zhang Nan starts running he yells there's a bus going our direction. We start running down this very busy street while carrying our bags and a 10 lb bag of rice and two gallon jug of cooking oil. SERIOUSLY FUNNY and looking pretty manic.
The next week goes by very smoothly but a little hectic so many classes both day and night. My third week into teaching in Handan and I meet my Chinese teacher. Her name is Ms. Li and she will be teaching me Chinese. She is of course very friendly and kindly. She comes to my apartment with a friend and a bunch of cookies. I get a gift and a free Chinese lesson you have to love it! Her friend's name is CoCo and she is the younger sister of Tammy the assistant at the school. Which probably means she is a very hard worker. We enjoy the cookies and some instant coffee and I have a great Chinese lesson. The reason why CoCo is there is because she wants her English to be a little better. We talk about me going to her office on my days off to help her with her English. I said sign me up I will be there. We finish up the lesson and they go home and relax for a moment then the phone buzzes. What's this? I have a text message from the Chinese girls that I met at WalMart. I look at the message and of course it is a question. Since everyone is so curious about me. They ask what are you doing? I tell them I am doing nothing. Next question, can you meet us? I of course say yes when would like to meet?
That was a very good question because I was extremely busy at the time and I really had no idea when I would be able to meet them. We finally decide we will meet in a few days on Monday afternoon. When we meet both girls ask me WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO? Of course an immediate question. I tell them let's go into WalMart and get something to eat. We go and find a fast food Chinese place and I have a bowl of ramen and they eat nothing. I am a little uncomfortable but they insist and I am okay. We are all sitting there when a man comes over and gives me a drink. I am thinking what's this? He says something in Chinese to the girls and they tell me he is a nice man and he wanted to give you the drink. Again another friendly and kindly person. I finish my bowl of delicious ramen and now what to do? So we decide to go get some coffee. ALERT coffee in some parts of China can be very expensive and Handan is one of those places. We take a bus to this place and it is very nice but not six dollars for a cup of coffee nice. I am not kidding six bucks!! We are going to leave and I ask about the bill but they tell me already done. They paid when I went to the bathroom. I offered to at least pay for mine and they refused. So we finally settled on me paying for their bus fares. Ha! I got them I paid for their 1 yuan bus fare!
I meet some of the teachers for the first through third grades and of course everyone is so nice. All of the classes that day were just wonderful. I taught five classes that day with an average of 50 students in each so I think I taught and met about 260 something new students. Everyone of them just so curious and friendly. They were funny though they just had to attack me whenever they could pulling, tugging, jumping on me that was their fun. Always asking me questions. What's your name? Where are you from? How old are you? God bless them with their curiousity and innocence. Well the first day of teaching primary school was complete and now it is time to go home rest for an hour and then it is time for night classes.
The evening classes are not so bad I just have three of them. I have an hour class and two 30 minute classes NOT SO BAD! I make it fine through the first 30 minute class I keep it easy and we play a game over the last 10 minutes. It is about the middle of the next 30 minute class that I start to lose my voice. You see I had not taught this many classes in a long long time and you use your voice so much when you are an oral English teacher this was bound to happen. I made it through that class but my voice was getting really bad. I get to my next class and it is an hour class and my voice is nearly gone I have to think of something. ALERT don't be worried if something like this happens to you in China as a teacher 9 times out 10 they are going to be understanding and work with you. I tell the Chinese teacher of my situation and she tells the class in Chinese of my problem. It was so amazing all of the students about 40 of them all got up real close. They paid such close attention and they were constantly getting me hot water for my throat. I thought to myself maybe I should do this more often. HAHA! No that is not a good idea. I managed to survive the long day of teaching and started home. On my way home I am walking by a hair salon and three people come two young ladies and a guy. They quickly say HELLO HELLO!! And then of course I say hello back. Then the questions come. Where are you from? What are you doing here? Do you live here? Ah! the friendly interrogation. I managed to escape but first I had to take a few pictures with them. hahaha!!
Now it is time to get home.
The next day I get an alarm clock and I also now have a phone so I am really starting to get myself together. I am only teaching at night now so I have some free time. After I go to my new friend Hasan's apartment to use the internet since I still do not have the internet. I head out to WalMart to explore a little. Before I enter WalMart I am https://twitter.com/alohabadgerapproached by three Chinese girls handing out flyers for something. They ask me if they can take a picture with me? I say of course. They speak a little English and they ask me do you have QQ number? I don't understand this QQ thing they are talking about so I give them my phone number. I tell them you can text me or call me whenever you feel like. I also tell them you are my new friends and they got very excited. I think to myself MAN! I love Chinese they are pretty fun and excitable people. I go into the store and maybe 2 minutes later I am met by another two girls. They ask me where am I from? I tell them America and they go crazy. Again this is great too much fun. They too ask me to take a photo with them. I oblige them and they also ask me do you have QQ and what is your QQ number? Again I just give them my phone number and say text me or call whenever.
Later on that evening I am teaching at the school and I ask Hasan what is QQ? He informs me it is a social network in China. I am definitely signing up that seems like it would a lot of fun. When I get home later that evening I sign up for QQ International and begin my fun journey on QQ. I see that on QQ International I can translate Chinese and a few other languages. This is going to be so excellent. I text the Chinese girls that I met earlier that day and told them my new QQ number and they quickly friended me. Ah! I was finally not going to be so bored. And yes this is my first night of even having the internet. A few days go by of same old stuff and then I get a call from my boss. He tells me we need to change your schedule we need you to start teaching at the primary school. He asks me which ages I prefer younger or older students. I tell him I prefer a younger student. He then tells me the school bus will pick me up tomorrow morning at 8:30 am. I think to myself a school bus OMG!! this is not going to be good.
Well the next morning came and the school bus turns out to be a minivan. Some school bus we pick up Hasan and we head to the school. Ah! arrival at the school after running the gauntlet to get to the school it is a serious relief. Talk about some traffic the street in front of my community Zheng Tong is quite the scene at 8:30am. Anyway we get out of the minivan aka the school bus and we are met by a very large group of little people haha! I mean children. WOW!! talk about overwhelming but these children are amazing how excited they are about seeing a foreign teacher. The usual banter starts in HELLO!! HELLO!! HELLO!! HOW ARE YOU? and WHAT'S YOUR NAME? Such great innocent questions. While the questioning is going on I am being jumped on pulled on and an assortment of other things. ALERT when teaching in China this is very normal for the children you just have to understand that are incredibly excited to see you. They want to know you. They want to be your friend. While having my shirt pulled on by two seven year old boys I manage to get to the teachers office for the first grade. Now it's time to get ready for the first day of teaching.
I arrive back at my new apartment and basically go to sleep since I have nothing else to do. No internet yet no phone no NOTHING. I go to bed and wake the next morning I don't know what time. I splash water on my face put some deodorant on and try to get myself together without coffee or a shower. GREAT!! Then there is a knock at the door it's Tammy and she says we have to get going because I need to register as a foreigner and I need to get a phone. I get everything together and we are off. We hop in a taxi and pickup another foreign teacher Hasan whom I had never met before. We get to the registration office and it is this very small office with a bunk bed in it. I think to myself this guy sleeps in here this place is so small. ALERT in China as a foreigner if you are going to be staying in China for a long time you have to register with the local police station. I don't know the reason but this is something that has to be done or you could face some serious fines. We finish this task and go to the store to pickup a couple of phones one for myself and one for Hasan. Me and Hasan talk along the way about how boring things are now with no internet and with no friends yet.
We arrive at the telephone and electronics store and we search for phone bargain. We find a couple of bargain phones and Hasan starts talking to the salesman in Chinese. And winds up knocking about 50 RMB off my phone so it only cost me 150 RMB which is only $24. That is an outstanding price for a phone. When we are heading back to our apartments me Hasan decide to take a bus instead to see more local people and get to know the neighborhood. We get on the bus and the fare is only 1 RMB WOW!!! that is very very cheap. Let's say that is about 16 cents to ride the bus. I know now the bus is very user friendly. I get back to my apartment relax for a little bit and there is another knock at my door. It is Tammy again and she says there is a party tonight and we are meeting the boss. She tells me I have about an hour before I have to be there. She gives me a piece of paper with an address on it written in Chinese. I am very happy about this because I really did not know what I was going to do about dinner. I was going to go to WalMart but I have such a hard time finding things there and I can't ask anyone how to find anything.
Get a cab and when we get to the restaurant the fare is all of 8 RMB OMG!! that is only $1.32 for a cab ride. ALERT cab fares are usually fairly cheap in China accept the major cities. You will find big cab fares in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and a few others. I get to the private dining room that we have reserved and I am amazed at the amount of food and how delicious it is. There are many people there and I make many new friends. We are drinking beer and my boss introduces me to a white liquor called baijou. I smelled and it smelled like paint thinner. I said Oh My God! I cannot drink that sorry. He understood and said it is an acquired taste. I looked at the bottle and read that it was 57 by volume damn that is some wicked stuff! We continued eating and drinking for a very long time and it was a great evening of meeting new people and enjoying a new cuisine. Well it is time to catch a cab get back home and go to bed and get up some time tomorrow morning REMEMBER I still do not have an alarm clock.
