Highlights of our trip:
- finally learning to count to 10 in Chinese
- man in front of me on the plane spilling wine on my things
- eating some strange food in a restaurant outside the airport
- using my first "squatty potty"
- riding with three people, two backpacks, and a suitcase in the backseat of a car for four hours
I'm not sure we have ever been as relieved as we were coming into our apartment last night. It was clean and full of furniture for us to rest on. Our apartment is really quite large...probably bigger than our house was in America even. We have a living room with a TV and a nice leather couch and loveseat and chair. We have a kitchen table that is really nice and a kitchen complete with microwave, stove, toaster oven, and regular oven (!!!!), even if it is a bit odiferous. We have a nice hot shower and a washing machine, both of which we couldn't appreciate more. There are three bedrooms in our apartment, a big surprise to us, and plenty of places to put all of our clothes. And, our bedroom has a hardwood floor! There is an air conditioner in both the living room and our bedroom, which is great when we can figure out how to use them.
After a short look in our apartment, we all met for dinner at a restaurant nearby. The food was.....strange. Everything was very spicy, and to my chagrin, we learned that Yichang is famous for its spicy food. I'm preparing myself for a year of plain rice. Some things were even too weird for Zack...he tried some eel and I was shocked to find out he didn't like it. It probably didn't help that we had no more than 7 hours of sleep each in over 40 hours. To say that we were exhausted is an understatement...we were zombies.
Ten wonderful delightful hours of sleep later, we woke up to get ready for our day. Ravenous due to the strange foods the night before, I immediately broke into my oatmeal stash we brought from home. No food has ever tasted so good. Our first activity for the day was to meet Jian (our foreign affairs helper) in order to go to the hospital to have our physicals. We were expecting a physical like one you would get in the U.S....check your height, weight, blood pressure, heartbeat, etc. What we got was strange, awkward, terrifying, and for me, traumatic. The nurses gave us a paper with a list of the places we were to go inside the hospital and with our names on the back side. I glanced down at one side of the paper and everything was in Chinese leaving me totally clueless except for one single horrifying word in English: BLOOD. I held back the tears until it was actually my turn. As the nurse grabbed my hand through the small hole in the glass separating us, I lost it. I'm sure all the Chinese around me were in hysterics watching this foreigner bury her face in her husband's belly and sob all because of a small needle and an ounce of blood. After I recovered and the nurses stopped laughing, we embarked on our 2 hour journey to different rooms all around the hospital. We had what was similar to an American physical, an eye exam, chest X-rays, some sort of ultrasound thing, and something that we are still not sure about involving electric wires and suction cups.
Relieved to be done with the hospital, we went to one bank to exchange our money into Chinese yuan (6.8 yuan to the USD), and then to a different bank on campus to open bank accounts. When Zack and I asked Jian if we could get a joint account, he looked at us like we were nuts for wanting to combine our money, so we ended up with separate accounts. At about noon, we went to the grocery store to find umbrellas because it had been raining all day long. We bought a few things from the grocery store...bread, strawberry jam, bao ze (like a peruski), water, and "sesame jam." We asked for peanut butter and ended up with sesame jam...it looked and smelled similar to peanut butter...until we stirred it. Then it looked like glue and Zack said it tasted awful. I don't think I'll be trying that one; hopefully we will be able to find peanut butter at a different supermarket. After lunch, we had a rest (common in China) and then found out where some offices are on campus so that we will be able to find them when we need them. Then, Zack and I and Katie (another teacher who came with us from OC), went to find water. Everyone here has water coolers to get their water since we can't drink tap water. Jian didn't come with us this time, so we were on our own. When we got to the water store, Katie and I stood back in amazement as Zack managed to buy 10 gallons of water and convince them to deliver the water to our apartments two hours later. He insists his Chinese is terrible, but it was good enough to get us what we needed, so I am sold. All I knew how to say was "wo yao shui" (I want water).
Now, at long last, we are at our home to rest until tomorrow. Although we have only been here a day and a half, there are a few things we have noticed. One thing is the driving. Driving is scary in every foreign country, but here it isn't so much the speed as the lanes. In America, lanes are there to guide you and keep you where you need to be. In China, lanes are just vague suggestions. It really isn't important to follow the lines to mark the lanes; as long as you don't crash into anyone then you are good. Another thing we noticed was the tea in the restaurants. Both restaurants we went to we ordered water to drink. We didn't get it either time. When we ask for water, they refill our cup with hot tea. We asked Jian a second time for water, and he said "you have water" as he pointed to the teapot on the table. We said, "no, water." He replied, "you mean you want pure water?" "YES." Apparently some people have the idea that tea and water are the same thing.
Well, the sun just went down (at 7:30 pm) and the jet lag sure isn't helping me to think. Thanks for reading and for thinking of us...we'll try to post pictures soon of our apartment. Until then, zaijian.
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