Destination: Shantou, Guangdong Province, China

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For those of you that don’t know, I have just arrived in the Peoples Republic of China where I will be teaching English at Shantou University in Guangdong province. I’ll be here for at least a year.

The cross-country flight was a piece of cake but the Cathay Pacific flight from LA to Hong Kong was steerage. Do not fly unless you can upgrade or can drink heavily before boarding. I did the later and slept quite peacefully through most of the 14 hours and 45 minutes. The fellow sitting next to me was a substantial American guy who had to remain motionless in the confines of his seat area the entire time. Luckily, he was a champion sleeper. If I had been that physically constricted for that long, I'm afraid I would have gone berserk.

I caught up with three of my colleagues in the Hong Kong airport and weathered the three gate changes and two hour weather-related departure delay in good company. We were picked up at the Shantou airport by charming Mr. Xu and his two assistants, and whisked through the less than prosperous outskirts of the city. Many of the shops seemed to be moped/motorcycle stores and shops selling five gallon plastic buckets of unknown contents. Yes, there are a lot of bicycles, but I saw more mopeds and motorcycles on the roads. Shantou is somewhat famous for the number of motorcycles on the roads here, the fruits of a fairly long period of relative economic prosperity. The bicycles seem to have their own roads in some areas. As expected, the drivers are very creative and seem to have no fear of death. The motorcycle riders swarm like insects and have even less concern for life and limb.

The campus is hilly, wooded and lovely, quite large and well guarded. I have a pleasant, two-bedroom, Western-style apartment in a fairly new, six-story, 12-unit building. (I do love commas) The only thing that may be really difficult to adjust to is the beds. They seem to be made of highly compressed straw covered by a standard Western mattress cover. They’re hard as rocks. When you come to visit, bring some egg crate foam or something.

It's monsoon season and the weather is grey with either intermittent drizzle or torrential downpour. What I had assumed was thunder yesterday turned out to be explosions from the gravel mining site. The area right around the school is mountainous and quite picturesque.

There are some students on campus, even though there are no classes going on right now, and they are very friendly and helpful. It doesn’t seem to matter what their English proficiency levels are. They are very willing to try to converse with me. I went to dinner last night with the married couple from Illinois that I had met in the airport. They are both very tall and attract quite a bit of attention. An older fellow who worked at the cafeteria came by our table to look at them. He wasn’t rude; just curious and unsure how to make contact.

We’re off to Wal-Mart tomorrow to purchase various domestic provisions. Hmmmmmmmmmmm

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Photos

Off she goes
So much stuff hanging off me. Why do I always bring the kitchen sink.

Teacher apartments and laundry
We have washers in our apartments but no dryers. I wonder what we'll do in the winter.

Bedroom: left side
A substantial mattress pad from Wally World has made the bed a bit less brick-like. I am, however, going to have a chiropractor meet me at the gate when I get back to the States.

Bedroom: right side
The bedrooms are quite spacious so I don't feel like I'm working on my bed. Those of you that know me know that the desk will never look this tidy ever again.

Living room
The couch is more comfortable than it looks and they pay for a limited cable offering. I never realized how many B and C movies have been made by Hollywood. They have a vigorous life here on China HBO. Lorenzo Lamas?!? Give me a break!

Poked and prodded at the quarantine clinic
Not surprisingly, they were incredibly efficient. My blood pressure was taken by a machine like the ones in the drug stores in the U.S. The EKG tech was a very business-like young woman who gestured for me to pull my clothes out of the way so she could attach the electrodes and nearly had a heart attack when I went a little too far. Chinese women are not very well-endowed so I must have been quite an experience for her. Tee Hee

Death to Wal Mart
For our first venture off campus, the department took us to Wally World to buy domestic necessities. I didn't rant.......just scowled and muttered under my breath. The quality of goods here is completely different than in the U.S. If it's cheap and of poor quality, you can buy it at the Shantou Wal Mart. Apparently, domestic quality control is nothing like export quality control. So odd.