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Published: August 31st 2009
Chiara
Eating yummy pumpkin bread thingy on a bridge at CuiHu Park.My language classes begin on September 1. Since the scholarship students were asked to arrive a week early, we have spent the this time in between running errands including registering for classes, getting our internet set up in our dorm room, shopping for items to make our room more livable, visiting the visa office and getting medical exams prepared for our residency permits. We also have been exploring the area around our campus, the city and discovering new places to feed ourselves.
The routine tasks that accompany starting at a new school are usually time-consuming and frustrating. Add the lack of effective communication, convoluted logic and plain misunderstanding into the equation and you have the life of a new student in China. Given all of these things, our first few days here have been fairly straightforward and un-daunting. I credit this to my previous life in China and having already been through these frustrations and having come to terms with the inevitable conclusion that there is nothing that can be done or suggested to make the process any smoother and less confusing. It helps to have my new friend and roommate, Chiara, to laugh with when things are absurd. (As
Heinekin, Schminekin....
Pabst Blue Ribbon!! Errr...is it? Who knew someone would want to copy PBR? I’m writing this, Chiara is standing in front of me struggling to fit a small duvet cover onto a comforter that is too big for the cover, as a random person in the hallway was making noises like they are sucking their brain into their throat to hawk a lugie….and I am having a crazy fit of the giggles. Okay. I got up to help with the comforter, but it felt good to laugh for a bit.)
So, a full two days here were spent walking between 4 different buildings spread all around campus, all having some tiny aspect of registering for classes, setting up a bank account for our scholarship money to be deposited and arranging our accommodations, but none being capable of handling more than a portion of the task. I always wonder why—if this happens every year and every year hundreds, nay thousands, of students need to go through this same process—there is no booklet of instructions or a small diagram showing the process or at minimum someone who can explain what to expect, rather than each and every student asking the same questions requiring the same answers over and over and over again to the
Point and hope
We pointed at an all Chinese character menu and ended up with...some decent food. same 6 staff members who are spread out in 4 different buildings? But, like I said earlier…nothing can be done. It is how it is. That is China. And after this whole process all I know is that classes start tomorrow. There is no calendar of exams or holidays and I don’t have any books. So this story is for another day.
After four days there was internet. Our dorm room is equipped with an Ethernet plug for the internet, but the problem is there is only one. So, we had to figure out how to get a splitter to accommodate two laptops. I brought a wireless router with me, because I had used it in Shanghai, but the problem is that I do not have a voltage converter box to plug the router in. Also, the internet is not free here (though it is very reasonably priced) and the instructions for setting up an account were entirely in Chinese, we had to employ the help of a nice young man from the international office named Liu Fei (but he prefers to be called Frank) to help us get set up. Frank found and bought the splitter for us
and we are finally online. In order to pay for the internet, first you go to a newspaper stand and buy a card worth 10 RMB. The service we have set up is 30 RMB for 80 hours per month. So you have to buy 3 cards for 10 RMB each and load them into your account to activate the 80 hours for the month. I’m waiting to see what happens when I run over my 80 hours, as I anticipate I’ll do this month. The next step up is 50 RMB for 180 hours and even though I won’t use all those hours, I think I’ll get it anyway, so I don’t have to worry about how much time I’m spending online.
The shopping has been quite easy in this town. There is a Wal-Mart and a Carrefour close by, which makes one stop shopping very convenient. The Wal-Mart looks nothing like what one looks like in the U.S, but they do sell Wal-Mart brand “GreatValu” products in addition to the standard stuff they sell here. Of course there are hundreds of small shops to sell you whatever you need as well, but those can be very exhausting
Red China goes Blue...Grass
These guys were entertaining the masses with some good 'ol bluegrass jamming on a pedestrian area of downtown. to use because you have to bargain for everything.
On Friday the visa office at the school told us that we have to have our entire medical exams taken again at the International Travel Hospital in order to apply for our residency permits. Even though we could have waited to go with a group from the school, Chiara and I decided to go on our own and do it today. We arrived at the hospital, a dirty looking building which is set back within a gate off of a dust filled road near the airport (a place I was not eager to return to after my arrival fiasco). We walked in to find a gaggle of students already in line and no clear direction as to what to do next. Eventually we guessed at what to do and made our way to a window where they gave us a paper that listed all the required tests and sent us to the next window to pay. The suite of tests cost us 326 RMB (~48US). Then we took our paper to each of 7 different rooms for the different tests. Each room had a hospital worker plus anywhere from 4
No Shitting
If ever I'm having a "China Day", which isn't a good thing, all I need to do is look at this photo to remind me how hilarious life here can be. I can't not laugh looking at it now, imagine trying to squat and pee with this in your face... to 10 other people jockeying to get their test done and have their paper checked off. There is not even a hint of the concept of privacy and I only found one of the workers at this International Hospital who spoke any English. The different rooms included:
• E.E.N.T: (Eyes, Ear, Nose and Throat?) where all they did was have you look at a colorblind book to identify an animal hidden in the dots, sniff a jar of alcohol to correctly identify it and look at symbols on an eye chart to say which direction they were facing
• Surgical: They took your height, weight and blood pressure
• Urine Sample: We walked up to a little window to get a cup, then they send you to the bathroom and you have to walk back out in the hallway and set your sample down amid everyone else (none of this was separated by sex either…we were all in it together)
• Taking of the Blood: In a room with the doors and windows wide open and tons of people crowded around, they stuck two people at a time and sucked about 6 canisters of blood, handed you a cotton swab
to soak up any extra blood (in lieu of a band aid and cotton ball)
• Ultrasound: Though there were signs posted every two feet saying “Tell us if you are pregnant!!” They said it is not to check for pregnancy, so I asked the technician (the one that new a little English) what this test was for. She said to check for 5 organs: spleen, pancreas, liver, kidneys and…I forget the last one. Heart?
• EKG: Just an EKG. Topless, laid out on a stretcher with electrodes and clamps fastened all over and 5 or so girls clumped in the corner waiting their turn.
• Radiology, X-Ray: This one was my favorite. We walked into the room and handed our paper to a man chain smoking cigarettes as he examined our lungs via the x-ray machine for diseases and TB. No irony there, eh? Plus, the last shot of the x-ray was captured for a minute until the next person’s turn. On mine, it appeared that hanging in the middle of my hallow chest was a little trumpet…which was the charm on my necklace. I guess I really do have music in my heart.
Other than these “fun”
Fried Tofu
It was actually pretty bland, despite looking cool. experiences related to getting set up for school, we have had a lot of success figuring out our way around the city and our neighborhood. We've already mastered a couple of the bus lines and intend to add more to our repertoire soon. There are two major universities right next to each other in this part of town, which is also a large tourist area, so there is no lack of restaurants and shops to amuse ourselves, though I have not come across many bars yet. (I’ve only had two beers since my arrival in Kunming! Can you believe it!? I think I’ve been too tired to drink, plus the beer selection has been found wanting, to say the least) Nearby is Ciuhu park (Green Lake Park) where, on the weekend, there were tons of people, mostly older people, sitting around listening to other older people play traditional Chinese music or dancing to more modern music blared from speakers. There was an area where people were gathered around many tables playing cards. And numerous couples in wedding attire posing for photos. In this park, we were followed by a guy, who looked to be in his early 20s. When we
The Noodle Men
A year in Shanghai and I never got a photo of them making noodles. You can kind of see him doing it here...those are the noodles we were about to eat. stopped, he stopped. When we walked, he walked. And he never stopped looking at us. Very close to us too. It was odd. In the past I would get annoyed, but this time, I just laughed and stared back at him. I suppose, at least, his curiosity seemed to be genuine and he wasn’t trying to get anything from us.
The food here is pretty good too. There is a lot of variety and it is not as oily as Shanghai food. There are many street carts and it has been fairly easy for us to order food from everywhere we have tried. I’ve included some of our meals in my photos. We’ve also been taking advantage of the campus canteen, which serves basic Chinese food at breakfast, lunch and dinner for around 5 RMB or less, depending on how much you get. All we have to do is point at what we want and they scoop it onto a bed of rice. This will be a good option to keep our costs down while studying, though I imagine the lack of wide variety will get to us after awhile.
Well, it is our last night before classes
Pasta? Is that you?
Nu rou chou mien la da (Spicy Fried noodles with beef) begin. Tomorrow should be interesting as we meet our classmates and teachers, test our Chinese skills and get some homework assignments to keep us busy. For now…I think I’ll go look for a place to enjoy my third beer.
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RXW
non-member comment
No Shitting
That photo is an amazing capture, Gesus Murphy! I have also seen same kind of warning messages in Chinese version. In English version, it's the frist time, however It delivers totally different message... As a Chinese, I would suggest to translate: "Pee Pee Room only" or "no big deal, please !" Any comment ?? RXW