Crazy start to life in Guangzhou

---

Woweee what a crazy couple of weeks. So much has been going on since I moved from Hangzhou to Guangzhou.

My flight down was fairly smooth. I had to pay some money towards excess baggage having already sent 4 large postal bags worth of stuff down ahead of me. I’ve only been here 6 months and arrived with just 2 suitcases and my laptop and left with so much more. I hate to think what the situation will be like when I eventually leave China, I’ve picked up so much stuff. I’ve found a DVD shop near my work place and have already amassed a collection of TV series, the ladies are lovely and get me what I ask for if they haven’t got it by the next day.

So I’d best fill you in from the start.

I landed in Guangzhou early morning and was met at the airport by my new SFT Amy. She is another Hangzhovian but from the Wulin centre. My hotel was absolutely amazing, so super posh. The shower had a rain head and was a pleasure to use. The hotel goodies were awesome too, and best of all free. So of course I stocked up on those. So I arrived on a Tuesday and it had been arranged that I meet everyone from the centre for dinner after they finished work. Plans kept changing so I ended up getting the metro and my new metro card and finding my way to the centre. They said it would be tricky to find but actually its probably one of the easiest that I’ve found. Its about 20 steps to the Starbucks (Gold membership here I come) and theres a McDonalds, KFC and Carrefour (the Carrefour here has a great import section) next to it also, which is great for when I finish work late and need to pop in for supplies.

The meet and greet dinner was at a cool BBQ street where there were a dozen or so food stalls with different food products. I tried some squid and some other weird dishes which was cool.

I had Wednesday and Thursday off which was great to get some exploring in. On the Wednesday I had previously arranged to go view some apartments with an agent. Having gotten some times and locations from her she only actually had 2 places for me to see. I’d already decided that I didn’t want to be staying in the hotel for that long because of the stuff that was packed up etc, but also because when Disney pay for the hotel the housing allowance is prorated, having just paid 9000rmb to get out of my apartment contract and not sure when I’d be refunded I wanted to make sure I got as much money as possible in my May pay check so it was these or nothing. The first apartment was 3000rmb and right next to work, it was a studio in a block with a swimming pool. I found out that if the place is on a floor with a 4 in it or the apartment is numbered with a 4 in it the rent is much lower as four in Chinese sounds similar to their word for death. So the apartment was 104 on floor 14. I have to say I was well and truly spoilt with the apartment in Hangzhou, yes it was more than my housing allowance but it was comfy and homely. Seeing the first apartment kind of shocked me. It was a studio and the landlords friend was currently living in there, it needed a lot of work to make it homely. My centre is in the oldest part of Guangzhou in Yuexie district and you could really tell. But it was cheap and close to work which was the plus side. The second apartment I saw later in the evening so had arranged to meet someone I’d been speaking to online from Guangzhou who was a keen player of board games, as I knew I’d miss that from Hangzhou as it was nice to socialise with people from outside of work every now and then. But they never showed up which was no skin off my back as I got to explore a lovely park in the mean time.

Now I have to say having only been in the city for 24hrs the heat was defiantly hitting me. I couldn’t believe the difference. Since my arrival its averaged 28-35 degrees C every day. With the daily rain burst (Typhoon style) which just makes the humidity slightly more bearable. I’m having nearly 3 showers a day and picking clothes that don’t show my sweat because I’ve been sweating off pounds like theres no tomorrow.

Back to the apartment search. So I meant the agent at the metro of the second location later in the evening as the landlord was working before. Firstly she forgot how to get there and the guy ended up meeting us downstairs. The landlord Jimmy speaks good English as he went to university at Oxford for 3 years to study engineering or something. The apartment is within a serviced apartment block owned by the Grand Continental hotel. It was very similar to the apartment i saw earlier in the day but better put together. So yeah basically I took that apartment J. It’s 3500rmb a month for a studio apartment. Its location on Beijing Lu (road) which is a pedestrian walking shopping street. The metro (line 6) is right outside my door and only a few stops plus a line change to work or if i’m feeling energetic the Line 1 metro which is just 2 stops to my centre is about a 10min walk away. The kitchen comprises of basically the sink a few cupboards and enough room for a plug in electric hob but I do now have a small ‘toaster’ oven although i’m not sure what i’ll cook with it as its been so long. The apartment is next door to the 4 seasons hotel restaurant and the offer a 35rmb (£5) buffet breakfast which is very reasonable. The room is basically a square and I’ve taken some time to rearrange the placing of items repeatedly. I’ve just recently purchased a sofa bed from Ikea and I think I’m set for now. Jimmy the landlord has been great so far, offering me lots of help and been very understanding when I had some issues with work and payments which I will soon go into.



So back to the work situation. The centre is tiny. The clubhouse, well you might be able to fit in a land rover in it maybe. KangWang is basically big boss Gary’s little pet project, he designed it and we now start the ball rolling on new things to try out such as no carpets, no stages and best of all the front classroom with a window at the front that parents can watch through.

So I was at the centre on the Friday and got a warm welcome and sang my little introduction song. Here’s where I start whinging in rant form so apologies. There are no lockers for FT’s just local staff and I didn’t even have a classroom to work from. I was given a draw in another FTs classroom to place my stuff in. The treehouse (staffroom) is the tiniest place I’ve ever seen and the staff toilet is inside that room too. It’s a squeeze for sure. On the Saturday I was asked to cover at a different centre not far from the hotel. There was confusion on the Sunday about who was covering where and I was at the other centre on the Monday too. When I got back to KangWang on the Tuesday no one was really there so kind of felt outta place and lost. Everything was back to normal on the Friday but as I was summer camp trainer there wasn’t a lot for me to do. The centre had also recently gotten 3 new FT’s so they all had classes or events and demos do to. During the weekends I had to take my laptop in to get any work done and was practically homeless in the corridor at some times. Cut forward a few weeks, some cool bbq street food, moving into my apartment and well an FT quit and I found myself with 7 classes weeks away from assessment time and End of Term presentations. So yeah that was a crazy couple of weeks and now I have 9 classes and finally those 2 new ones are mine all mine so I can start from scratch with them which is ace. But I’ve made a good impression apparently because my renewal percentage is high, and i’ve had nothing but good feedback from everyone. So yeah everyday I’m becoming more and more awesome. There are some frustrations at work, as there is with every place but with my great group of friends we get through most of the challenges.



Will update again a lot sooner. But for some reason the South of China has super slow and sporadic internet. So for all my friends and family here is another polite reminder to add me either to wechat or whatsapp or email me for a catch up.

---

Photos

Team Starwars
Yoshie and I on a normal night out

Taiwanese pudding
Dinner date with my LP

Comments

[Rebecca]

HOLLLLLYYYYY!!!!
I'm so glad to hear that you've adjusted well to life in GZ!!! It sounds like you have some great people down there with you and having lots of fun! Also, you're apartment looks great! Continuing having a blast!!!!