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Published: March 18th 2009
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Puke, it's high grade
I would have loved to open this to see what it was, but it was 'non complimentary' and I couldn't find it on the price list. Over the past 7 days I have
Stayed at 1 hotel
Moved into 1 flat
Had the lock break on one flat
Taught for 18.5 hours
Eaten more food than I care to admit to
I have also discovered that
all bed linen here is too ugly for words
toiletries are expensive
taxies are cheap
I can't have wireless
They have live frogs and snakes at the supermarket
I arrived last wednesday after an 11 hr flight. As luck would have it there were bugger all people travelling to Pu Dong on that particular flight so I had two seats to myself. Despite this luxuary, only having two and a half hours sleep the night before, and cosuming three GnT's and four glasses of wine I slept for a grand total of one hour and forty five minutes. I did discover, however, that Madagascar 2 is a really funny film, though that may have been the booze laughing!
0735 touch down. I got throgh passport control with no problems, despite only managing to give 'Shanghai' as my proposed address, then lugged my 26kg bag off the carousel and went through the nothing to declare gate hoping
to hell that there would be someone to meet me on the other side.
Scanning the signs held by those waiting to meet people from the flight I couldn't spot mine, 'oh crap' I thought, 'it's early in the morning, my body thinks it's the middle of the night, I've had no bloody sleep for about a thousand days, there's no one here to meet me and I'm fucking hungry'. I peered back into the sea of all of ten people, and suddenly there it was, my name, just held upsidedown, phew!
The drive into Nanqiao was fairly uneventful and the scenery none too exciting as was the hotel I was checked into.
The hotel called the Greentree, provided condoms, a mini vibrator, seniour mens pants (?), and something which was translated as high grade puke. It also provided, due to the paper thin walls, next doors night time antics in what felt like stereo sound. What it didn't provide was any food. So my first meal in China, was the equivalent of a pot noodle and a can of diet coke.
Fortuantely from there the quality of eating went up considerably and there have been
Provided as standard
I think next door had put their's to use lots of tasty meals. I have particularly enjoyed; some deepfried sweetcorn thing with mayo on, minced pork and snails stuffed back into the snail shell, dumplings, sticky rice in banana leaves, warm cakes from street vendours, squid, octopus, spicy beef, LOTS of rice and pineapple on sticks.
When I wasn't eating I was overcoming jet lag, observing the lessons I would be teaching and trying no to get lost.
As Thursday the school is closed I forced myself to observe one of Emily's, the girl I would be replacing, lessons on the Wednesday I arrived this plus 3 others lesson observations was about as much prep I got before my grand debut teaching on the Saturday.
And so on the Friday night, with a belly full of noodles, and the over enthusiastic moaning of the people next door I went to sleep trying not to think too much about the day ahead.
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Manne
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Puke. It's high grade.
I have a new favourite saying. You have to bring some high grade puke back for analysis! // Manne