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Published: August 12th 2008
I have arrived in Chongqing. I have no internet yet; hopefully I will get it set up tomorrow. I figured I would write my second blog on word and upload it later so I don’t forget my thoughts. I will hopefully also be uploading some photos for you to see the city.
So first off I am incredibly impressed by the city, the people and my apartment! The city is gorgeous. It is also unimaginably big. There are apartments and other buildings as far as the eye can see in all directions no matter where you drive. The areas around the buildings are beautifully landscaped with flowers, trees and walk paths. Everything is kept very clean and well maintained.
My apartment and many others have swimming pools, tennis/basketball courts and exercise equipment out front. In the mornings there are lots of people out exercising; health and fitness are priorities here. I am in the apartment building 2-2 on the fourteenth flour. There is a security gate to get access to all buildings starting with a 2. My apartment is beautiful and way bigger than I ever expected or needed. There are three bedrooms and two baths so I have
plenty of room for any of you planning a visit. I also have a living room with a modern furniture set, a TV, cable and DVD player (again not what I expected). My cable is currently not working so I am still not sure if I am able to get any English channels. However, there is a nearby movie store that rents English DVDs.
My kitchen is cute. I have a small refrigerator/freezer, a double sink, a stove top with two burners, a microwave and an oven. Roy, the director of the school, ordered industrial ovens for all of the teachers because China doesn’t have ovens. There is a door from my kitchen to a small patio where I have a tiny washer and two clothes lines to hang my clothes on to dry. They don’t have dryers here.
One unique thing about my apartment is that when you walk in the front door, you enter a covered patio, not the apartment. You then go through glass doors (which make up the entire wall) to enter the apartment. On my patio are a nice table and chairs and a bbq grill. Each room in the apartment has huge
windows to look out. I like opening them in the morning to let in all the sun light. The toilets all have two buttons; one is for a small flush and the other a large. Conservation is also prevalent in China. Out of the three rooms, two have queen beds and the third is my office.
Last night I got all of my bags unpacked. This morning I went with Roy to breakfast at a five star Holiday Inn. This is one of the only places you can find English speakers in the city. Roy is good friends with all of the staff there and it seems that our school has functions there occasionally. In addition, the teachers will go and teach the staff additional English on occasion. According to Roy it is more that we let them practice their English with us then teach them. There are so few foreigners here that although many Chinese learn English, they never get to use it. Everyone was very nice there. The other thing about eating out in China is that the staff is extremely hospitable and I would go so far to say they pamper you. As far as I
can tell you also do not tip the wait staff here.
After breakfast, we went to a shopping center with a couple of fancier restaurants, one European and the other Korean. They also had many expensive furniture shops. I love furniture from Singapore! After that we went to a grocery store. Grocery stores are very different here. They have all the meat out in the open and people just pick and choose. I saw one guy picking though raw meat with his hands like you would an apple. The meat selection was also bizarre. There were lots and lots of chicken feet, tons of fresh/live fish, live eel, pig feet, pig tail, whole rabbits skinned, duck, every imaginable interior of any animal. Eggs are put out like fruit and you just pick and chose a bag full. There are both chicken and duck eggs. There are literally like twenty kinds of rice in barrels that you measure out into bags. There are so many choices here! There are like forty choices for soy sauce, thirty types of oil. Nothing is easy to pick out.
After spending the morning with Roy, I met up with Kathy, a new teaching
assistant/PE teacher. She took me shopping for everything I needed. Before going shopping, I really did not think Chongqing was overly crowded. Arriving at the shopping center was like seeing the China we see on TV. There were people everywhere! The shops are all overly filled with salespersons eager to help you. Shopping takes much longer here.
We first went to get a cell phone for me. Supposedly I can call internationally on this, but so far I have not been able to get the call to connect. They have hundreds of cell phone choices. It was extremely difficult to find a simple phone that had the capabilities of international calling. I ended up finding one that was 399 RBM, which is about $64. This was simply a phone without any perks. Other more advanced phones cost 1000-6000 RBM or $160-960. Most were between 1000-3000 RBM. Honestly, the prices here are comparable to that of the US for most things. Perhaps cell phones are a little cheaper, but the US has so many rebates when you sign up for a service that it is hard to tell.
After picking out a cell phone, I had to get
a chip to put in the phone. You can buy any cell phone and then you select a company from which to purchase your chip. I went with the only company that allows international calling. Cell phone plans are much cheaper here. It costs 88 RMB or $14 for 400 minutes a month in Chongqing. International calls are more expensive; I pay 2 RMB or about 30 cents per minute. A text message is 1 RMB or 16 cents. With this plan I don’t have to pay to receive calls, only to make calls.
After the cell phone, we went shopping for a list I made of essential items. This took forever! You have to buy any non produce type products (lotion, shower gel, razors, etc) separate from your groceries. The lines are atrocious. I also became a little uncomfortable with the number of people everywhere. Everyone runs into everyone! I could hardly move without running into someone! Kathy said it was especially bad because it was the weekend. Note to self, no more weekend shopping!
Again prices shopping are comparable to the US, if not more expensive. They have the same name brand items as in the
states. I bought a Gillete razor and Nivea lotion. My razor was 70 RMB and the Nivea lotion was 25 RMB for a small bottle. You can multiply by .16 to convert to US dollars. Again the selection in stores here is far broader than in the states.
I was warned upon coming that I would be stared at because I am tall, blonde and obviously foreign. People do stare, but it is not uncomfortable and they normally look away if I catch them looking. Only one store clerk made me feel uncomfortable because she was literally looking me up and down for ten minutes while we were waiting for her co-worker to get a blow dryer I purchased from the stock room. Random people will often say hello to us in English on the street. Roy says many people are eager to practice their English and that’s why they’ll try to talk to you. I was a little concerned in Hong Kong because the people were not very friendly or helpful. The feel of Chongqing is very different and all of the people are warm and welcoming.
Driving here is atrocious. I have come close to death
on every taxi trip. Cars pull out in front of other cars and cut other cars off at fast speeds on crowded roads with a honk as a warning to watch out. There is a LOT of honking here. In addition, they stop last minute. I’m surprised the brakes on these taxis still work! Our driver Leo is also an insane driver…perhaps that is why we hired him!
Tomorrow is Monday. I will be getting picked up at 8am to go to the school. I believe Kathy and me are the only two teachers here this early because we are the only ones new this year. Franel, the other new teacher, is delayed because his Visa has not been processed yet. He will hopefully arrive by next weekend along with the Canadian teaching couple, Megan and Luke. So the next entry will be letting you know about the school!
One last funny story…at least I think it is funny. Things move so fast here. When I arrived in Chongqing, I had to go through customs. I was the only obvious foreigner on the plane, so I just followed everyone else through. When we had to show our passports,
a Chinese security guard came over to me. He couldn’t speak English so he motioned me over to a different desk where I had to fill out paperwork. I thought I was doing a fine job filling out the paperwork. I had to write down my name, reason for being in the country, passport number, visa number etc. Turns out I was not moving quick enough because the guard literally takes over. He grabbed my passport and started pointing out the numbers I needed to write down and then actually grabbed my pen and started filling out the form himself. I felt so rushed! After getting through the gates, I go to get my baggage and the carousel had already been turned off; the only bags left on it were mine and one other bag. This was a full flight! In the US, the bags would not have even been out yet!
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Wish you have a good time in Chongqing
Hi, i visited Chongqing last year and had a great time there. It's really a lovely city. Wish you have a good time in Chongqing.