Home

Saturday afternoon, I moved to what will be my home for the next 9.5 months.  It's in a district of Shenzhen called Nanshan, which means "South Mountain."  My neighborhood is called OCT-Overseas Chinese Town.  Let me backtrack and explain that Shenzhen is GIGANTIC!  It's made up of 6 districts that are all about the size of Philadelphia so imagine 6 Philadelphias packed together to make 1 mega-city.  It's difficult to wrap your head around.

Let's just say that my new apartment makes me miss my old one in Philly, however, it is apparently nice in Chinese standards.  On the plus side, I'm 5 minutes away from everything-my school, the metro, restaurants, etc.

I went to my new school, OCT Primary School, for a faculty meeting where the only word I understood was "Shelby" when the vice-principal introduced me.  I won't actually know my schedule or even what grades I'll be teaching until the first day of school on Thursday.  This is something called "Nowism" which is just how things go in China.  Another example of nowism is when I received a call from my Chinese contact teacher last night at 9pm telling me that I had to travel an hour to the Shenzhen police department to be interviewed the following day at 9am.  I will undoubtedly learn to be flexible and spontaneous during my time here.

OCT is beautiful compared to the smog-filled skies and deafening car horns of Beijing.  There's only 2 lanes for cars and bike lanes.  It's clean and green.  The landscaping is gorgeous and there's parks everywhere.  One of the parks has all of these giant installation art pieces throughout.

I am currently sitting in the Starbucks, a place I wouldn't step foot into in the States, but I almost kissed its floors today.  It's comforting to have something familiar from home.

Last night, some friends and I went to an ex-pat area for dinner.  We happened to befriend the owner of a bar who, after I mentioned that I'm a huge Steelers fan, promptly put on the game from last weekend on the TVs.  He said he has some TV package where he can access any of the games at any time.  I'm set!

Here's what's been goin on!

Last Tuesday we went to the Summer Palace in Beijing.  It's this elaborate, gorgeous place on a lake that was built by an empress in the late 1800s.  China gave her a ton of money to create a navy to protect China from England and France, but she used the cash to built the Summer Palace for herself.  

After the Summer Palace, I spent 24 hours on a sleeper train.  I anticipated it to be hell, but we managed to keep ourselves occupied with card games, impromptu karaoke, watching movies and sleeping.  

FINALLY arrived in Shenzhen Wednesday night.  I somehow ended up in a villa instead of a hotel room.  This is by far the most amazing room I've ever stayed in.  The bathroom alone is about half the size of my old apartment in Philly.

The past few days have been filled with wildly thorough medical exams, police interviews and meetings.  In between, we've managed to have good times by paddle boating and getting $5 facial/hairwash/massage/hairstyling.  

Today we have our contract signing ceremony and banquet with our headmaster.  Then, I'll be shipped off to my new home!  I'll be teaching primary students in a district in Shenzhen called Nanshan. 

Tryin to upload more photos, but the internet is wack.  I'll update later

Update complete

The Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China is something I never thought I'd see in my life, but today I walked up its steps and viewed China from its heights.  Pictures and words fail to express what it's like up there.

Perhaps almost as captivating as walking the Great Wall was getting down to the starting point by loge.  Only in China would you take an amusement ride as transportation from one of the most famous historic places on earth.  

Pictures of Asians Taking Pictures

I am going to start a "corner" in my blog that is dedicated to my pictures of Chinese taking pictures of me.  Sometimes I feel like a celebrity!  Sometimes I feel like it's feeding time at the zoo.  They also request to have their picture taken with me.  They are almost always appreciative for my time, but it can get annoying.  Like when I'm stuffing my face with noodles.  First photo below.  This was more like a photo flash mob.

Besides my one evening outing to the bar and club district, San Li Tun, last Saturday night, I haven't been out of a 3 block radius of Peking University.  In the US, "college towns" are generally cute, clean and brimming with happy co-eds.  Sometimes I have to remind myself, even when I'm on the Peking University campus, that I am in the most prestigious university in the Peoples' Republic of China.  

Today I had my second glimpse of Beijing and it was stunning!  The rain yesterday that gave way to (the extremely rare) blue skies certainly helped.  My first stop was The Imperial Palace which was home to the Emperors of two dynasties between the 14th and 20th centuries.  It's also known as the Forbidden Palace because only the Emperor, his court, his concubines and guards were allowed on the gigantic premises.  The architecture, relics and general size of the space were outrageous.  I said to a friend that I would consider being a concubine if it meant I got to live there.  In recent times, the front of the Imperial Palace is where Chairman Mao declared the Peoples' Republic of China on October 1, 1949.  

Across the street from The Imperial Palace is Tian'anmen Square.  It's a huge, open square with large, impressive buildings on each side and well-manicured lawns lining the edges.  I sat down next to a lamp post and tried to imagine what it was like there in June 1989.  

A few of us walked west towards Beijing's business and shopping districts.  The sidewalks and lawns were spotless and there were underground walkways at every intersection so pedestrians wouldn't get annihilated by the aggressive Chinese drivers.  In the shopping district, there were outside escalators and giant LCD screens on buildings showing advertisements.  It looked like Back to the Future.  We went in one mall that reminded me of King of Prussia.  H&M, Sephora, Zara, Mac, Espirit, Calvin Klein, Apple, etc.

Perhaps the highlight of the day was when I had to go to the bathroom badly and was ready for any condition of squat toilet when I found a western toilet in one of the malls!  It's the little things in China that makes an American happy.

We took the subway back to the Peking University stop.  Oh, and one point to Beijing for having clean and clearly marked subways.  And now I'm back in the hotel, or what we call "home" now and I'm ready to crash.  

Squat, acrobats and watermelons

Greetings,

Today was not the best day as I experienced my first wrestle with sickness.  I'm not certain if it's from something I ate or dehydration, but it sucks.  As long as I'm within 10 feet of an unoccupied bathroom though, I'm OK.  Let's hope tomorrow is better.

Last night, our group went to see the Chinese Acrobats at a theater in the Olympic Village.  These people are amazing and made me feel like I should take Chinese yo-yo lessons.  I once watched a documentary on the training process of these acrobats and it's incredibly difficult.  Makes my little stomach bug look like nothin.

Afterwards, a few of us got in a cab and headed to the shopping and club district of Beijing.  Up until now, I was isolated within 3 blocks of our hotel and Peking University so it was nice to see some life in China.  The part of the city where I've been is definitely a bit old fashioned and not very attractive, but this area was swanky!  There were stores like Espirit, Nike, American Apparel, etc.  We went to a club "arena."  I'm not kidding.  It was the size of a sports arena with the club entrances all the way around.  We went to another section where the street was closed off and there were food and cigarette vendors lining up the sides of the street and people crowding the middle.  Bars were packed together and most of them were 2-5 floors of djs and live music.  Most of the people were expats or travelers.  My eyes must have been the size of silver dollars.

I had another milestone last week:  I had my first squat toilet experience.  Imagine a western toilet had fallen into the ground and all that was visable was the toilet seat.  I'm not quite certain which way I'm supposed to face when utilizing the sqaut, the door or the wall?  A few things I've learned:  BYO toilet paper, there's a pedal that you push that flushes the toilet and skirts are much easier for this act than pants.

Funny China moment:  a bunch of us were sitting on some steps on the Peking University campus.  A man riding a bicycle with a cart full of watermelons stopped infront of us and started unloading the watermelons.  Apparently, they were a gift.  We must've been a sight:  a bunch of Americans carrying around watermelons.

Time to study for a Chinese test tomorrow.  I'm learning how to write the characters.  They don't look like scribbles anymore!

Finally

I finally broke through the "Great Firewall of China!"  As I have discovered, this is a huge accomplishment and I am enormously thrilled about this.

Some brief comments on China:
1.  The epic humidity is murderous.
2.  They're not kidding around with the smog.
3.  The food is delicious and I am confused as to where American-Chinese food came from.  My favorite so far is this squash porridge that is dished into a cup and you drink it through a straw.

I've generally been busy taking Chinese classes, teaching a class of 11-13 year old Chinese children and preparing for Chinese class and teaching.  I've managed to continue my running regimen and have found a beautiful lake on the Peking University campus to run by.

Time to make flashcards!