I made it!

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The last week has been a blur! I left JFK at 8am on Thursday, August 21, and arrived in San Francisco to discover that a typhoon (a TYPHOON!) had closed the Hong Kong airport. I magically found about 15 people from my program who were also stranded, and we got to know each other and adventured throughout the city for the night. Thanks to Harris, I was able to find all the tourist destinations we needed (including the In and Out Burger!) Everyone was really cool and we ended up having a blast despite the inconvenience/expense of the delay.

We left for Hong Kong on Friday at 9 am and arrived on Saturday, August 23, around 3 pm. Guangdong (and actually all of China, despite its size) is 12 hours ahead of the east coast, so any Skype/iChat dates will have to take that into account. After all kinds of last minute charges and terrible organization from the program, we made it to Zhuhai, a city on the south east coast of China about 3 hours from Hong Kong in time for a massive meal and some long overdue sleep. TEFL training and Chinese class started promptly the next day. My Chinese classes are really hard but my super adorable tiny Chinese teacher (I want to put her in my pocket and take her home) is ridiculously fun and helpful. No one speaks English, but there are enough people in the program that speak enough Chinese to get us around. I was actually able to call the front desk today and ask for hot water (ok it was Kiki, my roommate, but I helped her figure out what to say!) and I've mastered hello, water, thank you, and easy tiger already!

We've had two amazing nights out on the town so far. We walked about 5 miles the first night, mounting a mountain/war memorial to great views of the city, and finding the super market (where we bought red bean popsicles-- big mistake), Star Coffee Pizza, which has free wifi, and not one, but two McDo's. There's no doubt that I'll be able to get anything I'd need here in China, like Starbucks and Herbal Essences. Praise Jesus? The street stalls are my favorite place to get food so far, like corn on the cob, sweet potatoes, and naan-like bread filled with green onion and pork with hot sauce that makes your whole face hurt...Zhuhai is huge and has palm trees, the ocean, blinding neon and Times Square like screens EVERYWHERE, and 100 degree weather with 120% humidity! It makes Virginia seem comfortable! We're celebrities everywhere we go, especially when we travel in big groups. People stare and point, and at dinner the other night (when we were busy eating frog, tofu with beef, fried squid, bitter melon stew, and drinking 15 massive bottles of Chinese beer that cost about $1 each) the waitresses all asked if they could take peace sign pictures with us. It ended up being a near entire restaurant photo shoot. Wonder how quickly that'll get old....? I also had my first Bubble Tea, which is tea with tapioca balls at the bottom that you suck up with a straw. It was called "Big Ball Tea" on the menu, which I thought was particularly appropriate for me. We managed to get completely lost last night trying to find "Bar Street," and ended up in a sketchy part of town singing terrible Chinese karaoke with hilarious results. I'm a big fan of some of the friends I've made so far.

We have about a week left of training before we leave for Shenzhen and the rest of my new life starts. It's a lot bigger than Zhuhai (10 million people is the low estimate!) but isn't on the water. That means it'll be hotter and less touristy, with an greater number of people who have never seen a westerner. Can't wait to see what my school and apartment will be like! I'm definitely in my "honey-moon" phase-- I'm obsessed with everything China and everyone (nearly everyone) in my group. I'll put pictures from San Fran and Zhuhai up later, once I've moved into Shenzhen and I have more time. Talk to you all soon! XOXO

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Comments

[traveling]

Shenzhen
Shenzhen is actually one of the most westernized cities in China, after HK, BJ and SH. It also has a huge expat community there.