Blogs from Dalian, Dongbei, China, Asia - page 16

Today was my first day finally ordering food at a restaurant all by myself. I said some things slightly off but they were close enough that the waitress could understand me and just repeated it to make sure. I got everything I wanted too: rice, a dish called "gong pao ji dier" (which is spicy pieces of chicken, pepper and nuts). I even managed to ask for a take-out box (da bao) which she politely packed for me. I was really happy. Most of the time when we go out the Chinese teachers order for us or Cat orders (her Chinese is a bit better than mine is) but this time it was just me and I got what I asked for! (I'm really happy about that.) Food around here is really cheap. If you go ... read more

I finally added my first picture to the website. I will hopefully be able to add more very shortly. I also rearranged my journal entries as they were out of order. Today I got most of my classes organized for this weekend so I won't have to do all of my lesson planning tomorrow. Also I met with Jason this afternoon. We went out to lunch and he taught me some Chinese cuss words (although he said not to tell anyone that he taught them to me). He also came over to my apartment and showed me how to use my washing machine (finally!). Turns out I can't fit the thing in my bathroom so I have to do it in my kitchen and since there's no drain in my kitchen I have to use my ... read more

There is only one country that I've ever really gotten homesickness in before now, Costa Rica. In Costa Rica I got homesick really badly. So much so that I lost my temper and insisted on being allowed to go home. But the reason was primarily due to my relationship with the family that I was staying with. I was staying in very bad conditions and the family was treating me like (what others later explained to me) a slave. Once the school where I was taking Spanish classes found this out they changed me to a different home with a wonderful woman who I will never forget and I had a great time. In the end it was extremely hard for me to leave Costa Rica. I've only been here in China for two weeks and ... read more

Today was my first day that I finally started to feel like I fit in. Jason (a Chinese man who works with the government for the school) took me to get my bus pass. So now I can get on the bus and look like a local (with the pass at least). Then he took me to get this really official looking Employment card (it looks like a red passport with English & Chinese on it) because I have my Z Visa (working visa). Apparently this card is half way to becoming a Chinese resident. (Wow!) I really enjoyed spending time with Jason and suggested that maybe we exchange Chinese for English classes. He was really energetic about doing this but I will see if it actually happens. I also learned that my Chinese classes will ... read more

Last night I went with Cindy (another Rockies Chinese teacher) to Wall-mart after class. I didn't buy anything, just walked around with her. She talked to me and told me the names of some things. Then she walked me over to this other extremely huge department store with a grocery store in the bottom. She had to leave but they had everything there. It was a little more expensive than Wal-mart (so I probably won't go there again) but I did get a few things - some rice, 1/2 gallon of real milk (western style), Rice Krispies (the cereal), peanut butter (Skippy), 1/2 gallon of green tea (this awesome brand that they have here) and some sugar. All for about 9 dollars. When I came back I fell apart a little bit for some reason. I ... read more