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Published: February 10th 2011
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@ Wal-Mart
Yes, Wal-Mart! They have sloped escalators you can push your cart onto! Hi all!
I made it here safely. The flights weren't as bad as I thought. The longest of the four was 16 hours but with a combination of hours-long catnaps, word searches, light reading, and mealtimes, it was manageable (with special thanks to Koral's neck pillow!! Thank you :-D ).
I had a little bit of baggage drama once I landed in Zhengzhou. I was told in Tampa that my bags would be transferred all the way to my final destination. However, after landing in Shanghai for my final layover, I was informed that I was supposed to pick up my bags, take them through Customs, and check them back in before I took off for ZZ (Zhengzhou). I was told all of this about 45 minutes before departure (i.e. not enough time to do it and have it on the plane with me)!
So I arrived in ZZ without my luggage on the 5th and had to come back to the airport the following day to pick up my bags.
I have had an eventful past few days. After failing to remember that a converter AND a surge protector are necessary when plugging in objects, I blew up my
iHome (the device I brought so that I could share with my friend, Alicia, all the latest jams she's been missing out on). Don't worry, I found this mishap absolutely hysterical. Don't ask why, I just couldn't stop laughing. It's so typical of me to do that (and on my first day here)!
Let me back up...Alicia and I have been best friends since we were Freshmen in high school. She attends Webber International University in Florida which has an alliance with a university here in ZZ. She accepted a position to teach Conversational English for 1 year and has been here since October.
In the past two days, we have had two traditional Chinese meals with two different families. My summary of both are that the Chinese like to eat and they like to drink! I'll explain both. At both meals, all of the food was brought out dish by dish to the large table at which the whole party sat. Each person had his or her own small plate and pair of chopsticks and helped themselves to each dish. The small plate usually wasn't used for holding food; We would take a bite-full out of each
plate and eat it directly. Surprisingly, the issue of sharing germs with complete strangers never bothered me a bit. I guess it just seemed so acceptable that it wasn't threatening. After all, they do it everyday right?
Never turning down new gustatory experiences, I have tried some interesting foods so far. These include but are not limited to lotus root, pigeon, fried shrimp heads, and pork ear. They were all tasty and I especially liked the shrimp! The one that I found difficult to enjoy was the pork ear. Not because of what it is but because of the texture. It is almost 100% cartilage so it was an awkward crunch that I just couldn't get used to. Otherwise, all the food was delicious!
Now to the drinking. It is tradition for men of the hosting party to drink with any visitor. Their drink of choice is Baijiu (roughly translated as "white wine"). Don't let the name fool you, it's toxic-- 52% alcohol, toxic! I can only compare it to a slightly flavored vodka. It is good, but very strong. Tradition calls each man to toast the visitors with 3 shots then travels around the table and toasts
Dig in!
This is at the END of the meal. It shows how much food was left over. with all the other guests at the table (usually a sip of wine). It is a sign of respect and graciousness to participate in these shot "toasts" and actually considered rude if they are declined. Needless to say, I show my full respect but there were too many men giving us toasts. I eventually started sipping from the glass with juice in it! They didn't seem to mind.
It snowed today for the first time in ZZ all season. It was the first time this native Floridian as seen real snowfall (only light dusting once before) so, naturally, I was excited. Alicia and I decided to go for a walk so we could enjoy it and take some pictures and walked a few miles in total. The school is in a busy part of the town. There is always so much traffic (whether it be automobile, foot, bicycle, or moped). There are so many people everywhere! It's amazing how agile and calm they are when navigating the streets. Autos and buses get the main lanes, mopeds and bicycles occupy the farthest right lane and the pedestrians have the sidewalks. Mopeds and bicycles never seem to collide and even though
SNOW Day1
Waiting for the snowfall to pick up a bit. they are often cutting in the line of the auto or pedestrian traffic, they remain unscathed. Everyone seems to be so aware of their surroundings and actually practice that "defensive driving" thing they talked about in Driver's Ed. Horns are commonplace but seem to rarely be used in anger. Who would have guessed?
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Linda
non-member comment
WOW!
Ty - This is so exciting -- I can travel to China now vicariously through you! Thanks for sharing your experiences with us. Questions: What were your 4 stops enroute? Where are you staying? Where do you eat when not invited into homes? do you plan to travel around the country? Plz continue to share your photos and adventures!! and TAKE CARE!!! Luv, L.