Trying to settle in

I'm finally moved into my apartment in Qufu and it still feels very odd being here. I thought there would be this smack in the face culture shock moment but it hasn't really hit yet. It feels more to be seeping in that I'm actually in China and will be living here for the year. So, to catch up, my flight was good and it was only 14 hours from D.C. The flight wasn't full so I got to stretch out in the emergency exit row which made it much more manageable. I flew with the other people from Skidmore who are in this program. There are 7 of us in Qufu and 5 of us live in the same building. The other two live on another campus of the university but are just a 10 minute ride away. Two of the Skidmore people in my building will be teaching at the high school that feeds into the university.

But let me go back to when we landed. We were met at the airport by Andy, a representative from the university. He took us to a hotel in Beijing where we stayed for 2 nights. We had dinner at the hotel that night and it was delicious. Really so far all of the food has been very good. Andy ordered all of the food for us and we ate family style off of a large lazy susan, which is evidently typical for large groups to do in China- we've since eaten every meal this way. At each meal we also have either jasmine or chamomile tea. The first night we tried to walk around the neighborhood that our hotel was in but we just walked a few blocks and then went back to go to sleep.

The next day we drove about an hour and a half to the Great Wall. Even seeing it and being there was not the smack in the face I thought I was waiting for. It is just like everyone says it is. It goes on forever into the distance, winding over the hills. The steps are uneven and very steep and there are patches where it isn't stairs but is still very steep. And in typical Chinese tradition when it's crowded there is no line and each person just pushes their own way through. I took a lot of pictures and also felt the need to buy a super touristy t-shirt that says "I Climbed the Great Wall" in Chinese and English.

That night we went out in Beijing on our own. One of the other teachers, Jess, is half Chinese and so has friends and family here and also speaks Chinese. It's been really helpful to be with her but also kind of takes away little bits of the fun of figuring out things on your own. But, that night we met up with her friend who lives in Beijing and walked around Wang Fu Jing, which is kind of like the 5th ave of Beijing. We walked through a really crowded open air market and got a little turned around but then made our way to Tienanmen Square. It was pretty much just like all of the pictures of it that you've seen before but it was much bigger than I thought it would be. Not like a square block but a huge expanse of pavement with traffic continuing through the road. Then we made our way back to find some dinner. Originally we wanted to find a good place for Peking duck because it is supposed to be the best in Beijing but everywhere we went was a bit too expensive so we just picked a restaurant. The food was really good and of course really cheap (in American dollars). After dinner we walked through a food market where they sold all sorts of animals and animal parts on skewers to eat. Three of the teachers got a skewer of scorpions to share but I decided not to partake. They said it just tasted like salt and grease so I still think that I'm all set.

Friday we got up early and drove in a bus 9 hours to our new homes in Qufu. Beijing is a massive city, so big that I didn't put in any effort to try and understand the layout of anything while I was there. But once we were out of the city it was all greenery...forever. I'm not sure why but I hadn't expected China to be so lush with everything. We passed the Yellow River and tons of crops but not too many people that I could see from the road. Everyone that we had talked to in Beijing seemed to want to warn us that Qufu was very small but when we got there the main road has 8 lanes of traffic! Still I could tell the difference from Beijing and that we were definitely in provincial China.

Once we got onto campus there weren't many cars but plenty of people walking around and people on bikes. My apartment is on the 3rd floor and I love it. I have a kitchen with a fridge and two gas burners, a living room with a leather couch and two lounging chairs, a tv, AC unit, and a little table with two stools, a closed in porch and, two bedrooms! I have bookshelves, wardrobes, end tables, a queen size bed, a twin bed, a dresser and a desk- it's awesome. I also have wireless internet! Skype is a bit patchy on it and will hopefully be better once I plug into a LAN line. It's a 12 hour time difference but let me know if you want to set up a time to try and Skype!

Starting from here

Ok, so I'm going to start with an introduction to what this is all about. As you should probably know by now, I am going to be teaching English in China. I'll be in a city called Qufu which is about 650,000 people. I'll be teaching at Qufu Teachers University and a lot of my students are in school to become English teachers themselves. I don't know what courses I'll be teaching yet but typically the classes are 30-50 students and I'll probably be teaching 4 courses per semester. I can also take courses at the University for free as long as they don't conflict with my teaching schedule. I also have my own apartment, which as many of you know, is something that I am extremely excited about. It's on campus and will be in a building with other internationals. I have heat and AC, hot water, bottled water delivered, and internet so I should be all set up once I get there.

I leave August 25th and fly to Beijing and from there will head south to Qufu. I then start teaching a few weeks after that. I have a long break for Chinese New Year in January and February where I plan to travel around China as much as possible. I'm starting to get more and more excited about going but also anxious to try to figure things out. As always, we'll see how that pans out. I'll post again once I'm there and have everything set up!