Hello From Huhehaote!

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I’m writing you from Huhehaote in Inner Mongolia. Believe it or not but this town is more like a big city than I would have ever expected. I was thinking maybe this would be small, like Birmingham or Gaylord, but this is more like Detroit. It’s pretty cool, although if you think I drive like an asshole you should never come to China. Pedestrians and people on bicycles just jump in front of cars, and the cars don’t tap the breaks. Merging is a foreign concept, as the lines drawn on the road here in China are mere suggestions of where you are supposed to put your car when it is moving. The trick to crossing the street, according to Evan, is to wait for a big group of people, as drivers are less likely to hit twenty people. Not very comforting, I know.

Evan is leaving for Anhui on Saturday; he is going to have a blast in Wuhu. His parents are coming out in October to visit for a week or so. It’s the perfect time for visitors, since I’ll have a week off for the Chinese national holiday week. HINT! HINT! HINT!

The train ride here was long, and uncomfortable. When I go back to Beijing on the 8th of June, I’m going to get a bunk rather than a seat (it doesn’t cost much more). At least I will be able to sleep longer than 45 minutes at a time. It’s beautiful here though, the sun rose over the green hills and with the crescent moon and Venus in the rosy eastern sky, it was absolutely breath-taking. I’m hoping to actually get a picture while I’m here. And I promise to send it to you, although with the other sightseeing pictures I’ll be taking.

The girls who picked me up at the train station were nice. Duan Jin speaks English quite well, she is one of the English teachers at the school; the other two girls do not speak any at all. So I get to practice my Chinese!

Speaking of my Chinese, Evan and I went out to lunch yesterday and when we sat down we realized that the menu did not have pictures (many of them do actually have pictures). We played Russian roulette (picking random things on the menu) and had a very good lunch. It seems though, that we eat soup the wrong way, but neither of us could bring ourselves to put our mouths right over the lip of the bowl and slurp noodles. I was worried my mother would jump out from behind a pillar and smack me. But the beer is good, it can’t have very much alcohol though, I think it is just intended to fill you up - which makes sense, because the water here is NOT safe to drink.

The food here is FANTASTIC. Sophia and I had these steamed beef dumplings for breakfast the other day. They had some onion in them, and a little broth. I need to figure out how to make them so I can duplicate them at home. And apparently I like mutton, who knew? We had Hot Pot on Tuesday for dinner along with grilled mutton skewers that had a little red pepper on them. I ate mushrooms without complaining, and I enjoyed them. Weird, I know.

Damn, now I’m hungry. The apartment is nice and big, I have my own room. The girls are very helpful and are going to show me around later. They went out for a little while and told me to “rest” so I did some laundry in the sink (shh don’t tell) and am writing you. I don’t think there is internet in the apartment, although I was told that there was. If anything I can use the computer at school. I think I am teaching a kindergarten class, which should be fun. I think they are going to put me in “quarantine” for a few more days to make sure I don’t have swine flu.

Oh! So when I boarded the plane to come to China they took my temperature via IR sensor. They hadn’t told me so as I walked on the plane I just pass the stewardess without thinking. Suddenly this military guy wearing a mask and those goggles we wore in science class grabs me and starts yelling at me in Chinese. They take my temperature, and of course it was fine. Once we touched down the stewardess’ start taking temperatures and when the get to the guy next to me, they shove it in his face and he jumps a mile out of his skin. It’s good to know that I wasn’t the only one not paying attention. Finally the same army guys get on the plane to take temperatures…again… and they stop this woman and escort her and her child off the plane. It was really scary. The Chinese are not playing around with swine flu. Evan had been in “quarantine” since Saturday. They told him that he couldn’t go into the school building until today. And even then, some parents don’t want American teachers teaching their children.

But the school is nice, larger than I thought. I'm here at a good time. Classes are hearing up and I have the chance to warm up my teaching skills before going back to Beijing. I'm almost sad to have to go back so soon, but I love Beijing.

Hope things are well with you, have a slice of Primo's for me.

-Kaye

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Photos

Cross This
There is no experience quite like trying to cross the street in China.

Looking North
Looking North from the street. You can see the mountain in the background.