By Kevin
As Wes and Ruth boarded our minibus back from Hua Shan to Weinan, I hurried over to a little store to buy us some water, figuring a shop in town would sell it for significantly less than the 5 RMB they charged on the mountain. 1.5 RMB bottles in hand, I hurried back to the bus, discovering that Wes had needed to use his “angry voice” to insist that the bus wait one minute for me to return before the driver left. That would have stunk, being left behind. I could have found my way back, but I was tired and it didn't sound very appealing.
We were surprised that the driver would want to leave with empty seats, since the bus only had seats for maybe 16. At 12 RMB apiece, the 10 passengers would only bring in 120 RMB (like $17). Surely they'd have a hard time breaking even on gas on the 2-hour drive.
Disappointingly, about 10 minutes down the road, in the next town, the driver pulled to the side of the road. At first, I thought he was picking up more passengers, but he wasn't. Instead he went into a store and sat down, poured some water and proceeded to spend the next 20 minutes eating a bowl of noodles while our stomachs growled, anticipating our first trip to Weinan's famed McDonald's (the only stand-alone McDonald's I've ever seen in China, let alone the only one with a drive-through). So this is why he was in a hurry to leave the bus stop...it was dinnertime.
I thought back to our journey to Hua Shan in the morning. Just before we got to the mountain, a policeman standing in the center of the road stopped our bus and made the driver pull to the side of the road. Angrily muttering something under his voice, he did.
The driver got out and hurried over to the police car parked at the side of the road and began bargaining with the police officer as the ticket-taker on the bus pulled a bag out of a locked compartment in front of us and brought it to him. She said something to the half-dozen passengers who had boarded mid-trip: the ones without seats, who were standing in the aisles. A few muttered things under their voices, but they exited the bus without a fuss. They knew the risk they were taking when they boarded the full bus: it's illegal for long-distance buses to fill the aisles with extra passengers. The trick is that 9 times out of 10, the law isn't enforced. The fines aren't stiff enough to stop the practice, so usually it is worthwhile for the driver to take on extra passengers. Clearly this sort of thing had happened before and the driver was prepared.
Wes overheard a passenger explaining to us what was happening.
“There were too many people on the bus,” he lamented, explaining that the driver was bribing the police officer with “several packages of cigarettes” so he wouldn't have to pay a fine.
“China isn't like America. In America you have laws, don't you?” the passenger said, going into a diatribe about the state of law and order in China.
He said he didn't mind buses taking on extra passengers. He was only frustrated that enforcement is inconsistent. Some officers enforce the prescribed fines, while others can be paid off with cigarettes.
By the time the evening driver returned to the bus and revved it up, we the sun had nearly set. We were ready to be back. Midway through the two-hour journey, the 18-year-old ticket-taker realized that Wes spoke Chinese. So she struck up a conversation with him.
In the middle, he asked us about what minimum wage is in America. Apparently, she was curious if most people in America worked on contracts or some other basis. He explained that he was excited to talk with her because usually blue collar workers in China don't speak very good Putonghua—standard Chinese--just the local dialect, so it's hard to talk with them.
He learned that the girl's family owned the bus, so she doesn't get paid at all, but her family earns anywhere from 4,000 RMB to 10,000 RMB per month in profit by operating it – a really good chunk of change for a family in small town China. He also discovered that the girl actually had a foreign teacher in high school. Apparently, there have been a handful of schools in the rural areas who employed foreign teachers.
When we got back, our legs ached. Even though we've made a point of using the stairs rather than the elevator most of the time to get to our third-floor apartment, our stiff legs told us we'd had enough exercise for the day. So we pushed the third floor button and staggered back to our apartment, exhausted. “I'm glad we went,” I told Wes. “At least I think I am.”
“Yeah, give me a couple days,” he admitted with a grimace, figuring that he'd appreciate our trip more after our legs healed a bit.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Steep mountain, sore calves (part I of our Hua Shan adventure)
By KevinWes, Ruth and I slowly made our way past the peddlers selling 1 yuan gloves and entered the oddly empty temple at the base of Hua Shan. We knew it wasn't supposed to be as crowded as usual because school was in session, but this was still a Saturday. Only when we made it to the top of the temple did we find out we'd entered the wrong gate, because we wanted to ride the cable car halfway up the mountain.
So we made our way back down the street. Peddlers, thinking we were fresh off an all-night hike offered us beds at their hotels and meals. We just shook our heads and plodded on, disappointed that we'd wasted several hundred steps of muscle power.
We hopped in a 10 yuan taxi to cover the short distance to the other entrance to the National Park, where conveniently no local buses seemed to go. Then we plopped down 20 yuan for the absolutely essential 15-minute bus ride up to the cable car. Then another 100 yuan for an entrance ticket and another 110 yuan for the also absolutely essential cable car ride. Why they don't just combine these all into one 230 yuan ticket is beyond me. I didn't see a single person walking up the bus route to the cable car, though there were a few brave souls who opted directly for the stairs once we got there. So maybe just combine the entrance ticket with the bus ticket.
Anyway, as we waited in the 10 minute line for the cable car, we admired the 60 degree climb it took up the mountain, knocking perhaps 1,500 stair steps off of our journey. We marveled at the blue skies and wondered how many accidents the cable car had had, figuring they wouldn't want to risk paying the 50,000 RMB life insurance policy that came with the ticket should they lose one of us. As we sat down, we were grateful to see that the cable car had been in fact made by an Austrian company. We felt more secure.
After 5-10 minutes ascending the mountain in a cable car, we began our climb. We admired locks that had been attached to chain railings. Adoring couples supposedly buy a lock, shackle it to the chain and throw away the key, symbolically locking their love for eternity, or at least until the lock rusts off. And of course, there were numerous shopkeepers peddling locks, alongside various Hua Shan trinkets, including a special Hua Shan Olympic gold medal (they had silver and bronze as well, but I didn't see anyone buying those.
We trudged up stair after stair for a good half hour, including ascending the “Heavenly Ladder,” a stone ladder ascending a rock on an 80 degree vertical with only two-inch divots in the rocks and chains to help pull you up, before we got a good glimpse of it: “Black Dragon Ridge” (I think that was it's name, at least, though one sign changed the color, calling it “Blue Dragon Ridge.”) Anyone who wants to see the North, East or West peaks at Hua Shan has to ascend the perilous Black Dragon Ridge, which takes you up a perhaps 70 degree vertical climb for a few hundred stairs.
As we gazed at it from afar, we debated whether or not to attempt the ridge. We w
ere a bit out of shape after a year back in the states, so we were already huffing and puffing.“Are we going to regret climbing it or are we going to regret not climbing it?” Wes asked.
“Probably both.”
After worried looks, we began trudging up the steep staircase, bolstered on both sides by chain railing. By the time we reached a rest area overlooking the stairs from the top,we were exhausted. Our calves burned. Our lungs hurt. My Achilles ached. After a few minutes of regathering our breath in the thin mountain air, we continued up the slope into a series of switchbacks surrounded by trees. Little did we realize, we were only a little more than halfway up the peak and that we'd be hiking for a couple more hours before we reached the tip of the Western Peak, which we aimed for.
My legs began to shake with each step and I began to think about how we were going to have to go back down all these steep embankments to get back to the cable car.
I'd estimate that the climbing population was 99 percent Chinese. In our entire time on the mountain, we saw only a handful of foreigners. Probably less than 10. There were thousands of Chinese. Some smiled and shouted “ZhaiYou,” encouraging us up the mountain. “Only 10 more minutes to the top,” one said with a smile, seeing us resting our aching bodies at the side of the stairs. “You are very close.”
We reached the peak and soaked in the cold breeze, amazed at the beauty of the peaks, mostly below us now. Shocked that we could see the Yellow River in the distance through the haze.
But for every few encouraging comment we heard on the way up, Wes translated the snickers and probably unintentional jabs that stabbed our pride as we descended the mountain, with seemingly fresh-legged Chinese people racing ahead of us, taking the uneven steps lightly, seemingly unconcerned that heavy legs might betray them and send them hurling over the cliffs.
“If they can do it, I can do it,” a woman in her 60s said to her companion, nodding to Wes and I.
On the way down, we moved much more quickly. However, stabbing pain made my left knee throb every 15-minutes. As we rested for a moment, several groups flew down the steps beside us.
“Are you going up or down?” one girl asked.
“Down,” said Wes.
“Look, the fat foreigners made it,” she said to her companion, perhaps forgetting that Wes had just answered her question, demonstrating that he could understand Chinese.
“It can't be that hard if they can do it,” said another.
Inside I fumed, wanting to shout my amazement that someone with absolutely no muscle mass could accomplish the feat. Immediately, I was convicted about my pride and my need to (as Henri Nowen would put it in today's Wheaton reading) "shake off (my) compulsions and dwell in the gentle healing presence of the Lord," but instead I fumed. I dreamed of ways to lash out, to regain my self-respect. But inside, I heard Dad saying, "no, let this go. I'll fight for you. The next morning, the recorded message we listened to reminded me that pride is our enemy because it blares in our ear: "fight for your rights, fight for your self-respect," when in truth we need humility. Then again today, reading a passage in Henri Nowen's "The Way of the Heart," the topic returned in his discussion of our need for daily solitude to fight our compulsion toward anger and greed: "What else is anger than the ipulsive response to the experience of being deprived," he writes. "When my sense of self depends on what others say of me, anger is a quite natural reaction to a critical word."
Harsh, perhaps, but so true.
Aching, we approached the cable car, grateful that we'd have the opportunity to sit soon. I tried to lift the hearts of the people around us and stand in awe of the Maker of this beauty, but it was a struggle. Finally, during our half-hour wait to ride back to the base, my heart was calmed. I was grateful to be spared anymore climbing.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Xian Shopping Trip, AKA, how much Western food can you buy in China for $100?
By Ruth
Yesterday we took a team shopping trip to Xi'an, the big city about an hour west of here. The bus there only takes about an hour, but then it takes another hour to get across town because there is so much traffic. It was raining and cool, a perfect day for Starbucks. Fortunately, Xian has several. The main focus of our trip was a wonderful store called Metro. It is a wholesale store, kind of a mix between Costco and a supermarket. It has two long aisles of imported foods plus other surprising treasures.
My first hope was to find a crockpot, which I did. It is a beautiful crockpot at that, decorated with scenes of Chinese life. At least half of the things I know how to make are in a crockpot, so this will be quite helpful. We will also have mostly afternoon and evening classes, so it will be helpful to have something already made.
Metro has even more good foods than I expected. We found cereal (we got 4 boxes), hot chocolate, bacon, popcorn, frozen bagels, refried beans, and salsa. We also got a huge 12lb block of cheddar cheese to split amongst the team. We spent a lot of money. 
Probably as much money as I’ve ever spent at a supermarket in
Anyway, it was a wonderful store. I am glad to not live in Xian because it is so busy and crowded, but I am happy to live conveniently nearby.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Singing and Dancing
By Kevin
“Man, the ... party is fierce,” Wes said with a grin as we left the karaoke bar.
We rode home, astonished at what we just took part in.
“That was just bizarre,” he repeated, as we got out of the taxi returning home. “You had 40 and 50 year old professionals, most of whom are members of the party. That was somethin' else.”
"It was fun," Christina said. "Thanks for coming with me."
Just after noon, the foreign affairs official (FAO) told us that there would be a banquet tonight.
When we got there, the dean of the English department told us, in English, that the banquet was being held in honor of teacher's day and Mid-Autumn festival, which are both coming up in the next couple weeks.
We enjoyed an array of delicious dishes and met several teachers and deans in the department, most of whom seemed genuinely excited to meet us. We learned that the dean at one point in time spent a year in Florida as part of a teacher exchange. We also discovered that one of the teachers in the department is about to go to Cuba to learn Spanish. The school hopes to begin offering Spanish classes. “But that plan might be a bit ambitious,” she confided to us after saying that “Espanol” is the only Spanish word she knew. We tripled her vocabulary, adding “hola” and “adios.”
After the banquet, we were invited for "singing and dancing" at a nearby karaoke bar.
Initially, we turned down the offer because we wanted to go downtown for ice cream and to explore the square, which Christina said is fun at night. But Christina felt a tug on her heart. “Do you think we should go?” she asked. “They've never invited us to do anything like this before. Maybe we should go. Show our solidarity...We don't have to stay long.”
By the time we got halfway across the street, we were hedging on the ice cream. By the time we made it across the street, guilt had set in. So we turned back.
“We changed our minds,” we told a couple teachers.
When we entered, the other teachers greeted us warmly and hurriedly escorted us to a table. One teacher was already singing a famous Chinese pop song. When she sat down, Wes decided to dive in, to the delight of the 20 teachers and deans who came to the afterparty. Wes sang a popular Chinese song, and several teachers gleefully sang along with him. Later, the dean asked Christina to a slow dance in the middle of the dance floor, twirling her around a couple times before the song was over.
The FAO then brought a long list of karaoke songs for Ruth and I to sing. All the pages but one were in Chinese. But the one page of English songs wasn't much help. The best prospects for Ruth and I to sing in the list of 20-plus-year-old hits seemed to be “Yesterday Once More,” “I Just Called to Say I Love You.” Not exactly high on our list. They said we could chose something else if we wanted and they would search for it. We settled on the Titanic hit, “My Heart Will Go On,” figuring that our foreignness would outweigh my partial tonedeafness (I can hear the right notes, just can't always produce them well unless I'm singing in a group). Again, teachers sang with us and applauded loudly at the finish.
Since we'd done our duty, we made an exit plan: one or two more songs. But the dean of the department had other plans, pleading for us to stay for one more song.
As a dancing baby came onto the screen, he raised his arms to the roof to a driving dance beat and dragged us into the middle of the room. We found out why he didn't want us to leave just yet: this was a "singing AND dancing party."
Thankfully, we weren't the only ones. A dozen teachers, most in their 30s, 40s and 50s, grabbed hands and made a throbbing circle, swinging arms back and forth stepping forward and back with the beat. Before long they pulled Wes into the center, prompting him to strut his stuff, to the delight of everyone. Within the next several sweaty minutes, each of us had been pulled into the middle to spin around and shake our hips like crazy people. They did the same with the Chinese teachers. It was odd, but kinda fun.
Like Christina said, it was a good chance to bond a little both as a team and with the other teachers at the school. Maybe this will be an opening to get to know them a bit better.
“Man, the ... party is fierce,” Wes said with a grin as we left the karaoke bar.
We rode home, astonished at what we just took part in.
“That was just bizarre,” he repeated, as we got out of the taxi returning home. “You had 40 and 50 year old professionals, most of whom are members of the party. That was somethin' else.”
"It was fun," Christina said. "Thanks for coming with me."
Just after noon, the foreign affairs official (FAO) told us that there would be a banquet tonight.When we got there, the dean of the English department told us, in English, that the banquet was being held in honor of teacher's day and Mid-Autumn festival, which are both coming up in the next couple weeks.
We enjoyed an array of delicious dishes and met several teachers and deans in the department, most of whom seemed genuinely excited to meet us. We learned that the dean at one point in time spent a year in Florida as part of a teacher exchange. We also discovered that one of the teachers in the department is about to go to Cuba to learn Spanish. The school hopes to begin offering Spanish classes. “But that plan might be a bit ambitious,” she confided to us after saying that “Espanol” is the only Spanish word she knew. We tripled her vocabulary, adding “hola” and “adios.”
After the banquet, we were invited for "singing and dancing" at a nearby karaoke bar.
Initially, we turned down the offer because we wanted to go downtown for ice cream and to explore the square, which Christina said is fun at night. But Christina felt a tug on her heart. “Do you think we should go?” she asked. “They've never invited us to do anything like this before. Maybe we should go. Show our solidarity...We don't have to stay long.”
By the time we got halfway across the street, we were hedging on the ice cream. By the time we made it across the street, guilt had set in. So we turned back.
“We changed our minds,” we told a couple teachers.
When we entered, the other teachers greeted us warmly and hurriedly escorted us to a table. One teacher was already singing a famous Chinese pop song. When she sat down, Wes decided to dive in, to the delight of the 20 teachers and deans who came to the afterparty. Wes sang a popular Chinese song, and several teachers gleefully sang along with him. Later, the dean asked Christina to a slow dance in the middle of the dance floor, twirling her around a couple times before the song was over.
The FAO then brought a long list of karaoke songs for Ruth and I to sing. All the pages but one were in Chinese. But the one page of English songs wasn't much help. The best prospects for Ruth and I to sing in the list of 20-plus-year-old hits seemed to be “Yesterday Once More,” “I Just Called to Say I Love You.” Not exactly high on our list. They said we could chose something else if we wanted and they would search for it. We settled on the Titanic hit, “My Heart Will Go On,” figuring that our foreignness would outweigh my partial tonedeafness (I can hear the right notes, just can't always produce them well unless I'm singing in a group). Again, teachers sang with us and applauded loudly at the finish.
Since we'd done our duty, we made an exit plan: one or two more songs. But the dean of the department had other plans, pleading for us to stay for one more song.
As a dancing baby came onto the screen, he raised his arms to the roof to a driving dance beat and dragged us into the middle of the room. We found out why he didn't want us to leave just yet: this was a "singing AND dancing party."
Thankfully, we weren't the only ones. A dozen teachers, most in their 30s, 40s and 50s, grabbed hands and made a throbbing circle, swinging arms back and forth stepping forward and back with the beat. Before long they pulled Wes into the center, prompting him to strut his stuff, to the delight of everyone. Within the next several sweaty minutes, each of us had been pulled into the middle to spin around and shake our hips like crazy people. They did the same with the Chinese teachers. It was odd, but kinda fun.
Like Christina said, it was a good chance to bond a little both as a team and with the other teachers at the school. Maybe this will be an opening to get to know them a bit better.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Video apartment tour
We thought that some of you might enjoy a video walk-through of our apartment...
Here it is...
Here it is...
Week 1 in Weinan
by Ruth
I'm not really "feeling" the writing, but I did promise we will update more, so I will give it a go. You already saw Kevin's story about our interesting travel adventure, but in the end everything worked out okay. We arrived at our apartments not long before 2am, brushed the top layer of dust off the bed before falling asleep, and then woke up at 6am (jetlag). We hired some cleaning ladies to come and clean our apartment, which was totally worth it. They worked for about five hours and cleaned pretty thoroughly while we worked at unpacking.
The previous teachers left a boxes and boxes of stuff for us, lots of useful things like linens, kitchen supplies, and a printer, plus some top rate food. Most of the basics, a whole box of spices, bags of chocolate chips, cake mixes, pudding...and 25 boxes of jello. Picture it. That's a lot of jello.
After about a week here, we have gotten most of our things organized and the apartment has acquired a new layer of dust. And it even rained this week. The weather has been "very changeable" (Chinese students' catch-phrase). The first few days were pretty hot and overcast/smoggy. After the rain and wind, the sky cleared up a lot and the air got cooler. Kevin and I walked to the hills behind campus. The campus is on the edge of the city, so we followed some railroad tracks to some small paths to some smaller paths and after about 20 minutes found ourselves in the middle of corn fields and fruit trees. We climbed high enough to look down over the city, and the air was clear enough that we could see the whole thing, plus some surrounding trees and hills.
Even though classes started last week, Kevin and I will not start teaching for two and a half weeks! We are both going to be teaching freshmen classes, and the freshmen start later than the other students. They will come to campus this weekend and then have two weeks of military training before beginning classes. So we have plenty of time to settle in, explore the area, plan lessons, and hopefully visit Yangzhou. We are going to be teaching Oral English, which we've taught lots of in the past, and Phonetics, which we don't know much about. The good thing is, we actually have textbooks, which appear to be decent. The bad thing is, when I look through the textbook I see words like "fricatives" and "approximants" and "dipthongs," and I have no idea what those mean. They sound like quasi-swear words. "Oh fricatives!" or "Those dipthongs!" I guess I will be learning some phonetics as I go.
We have started our office hours. About a dozen students piled into the office to talk and ask questions. They were very interested in us, of course, since we are the new teachers. It was pretty tiring (especially the first night when we were there until 9:30pm, which was really past our jetlagged bedtime), but we've had some interesting conversations. Yesterday they were telling me about all the ways they were naughty as children. It was pretty fun. The students are all very friendly.
We have been out and about a little bit. We have been to two different supermarkets. The other day, two little girls followed Christina and I around the entire supermarket just smiling and watching us. We have been to several restaurants. We have found some good food (Kevin was especially excited about the DongBei Restaurant (Northeast style food). Since we aren't familiar with the restaurants yet, we have had a bit of difficulty. We keep ending up in these specialty places and not knowing what we just ordered. Nothing has been bad so far, but it has definitely been confusing and a little frustrating. A lot of the food is spicy, which makes sense due to the proximity to Sichuan. There are a lot of Muslim restaurants around. There is a larger Muslim population in the area and even a mosque in town.
So, that's about all I can think of. We have pretty much gotten over jetlag but are still tired. I'm still ready to go to bed at 9pm. :) I guess all the confusion and wandering around and figuring things out takes energy. But it has been much, much easier than the first time. When we arrived back in China, it felt like we hadn't really been gone that long. It will be nice to get started with classes and into the routine of things, but for now, it's good to have time to settle in.
Check out new photos at www.flickr.com/photos/ruthiemarie. Apartment video walk-through also coming soon!
I'm not really "feeling" the writing, but I did promise we will update more, so I will give it a go. You already saw Kevin's story about our interesting travel adventure, but in the end everything worked out okay. We arrived at our apartments not long before 2am, brushed the top layer of dust off the bed before falling asleep, and then woke up at 6am (jetlag). We hired some cleaning ladies to come and clean our apartment, which was totally worth it. They worked for about five hours and cleaned pretty thoroughly while we worked at unpacking.
The previous teachers left a boxes and boxes of stuff for us, lots of useful things like linens, kitchen supplies, and a printer, plus some top rate food. Most of the basics, a whole box of spices, bags of chocolate chips, cake mixes, pudding...and 25 boxes of jello. Picture it. That's a lot of jello.
After about a week here, we have gotten most of our things organized and the apartment has acquired a new layer of dust. And it even rained this week. The weather has been "very changeable" (Chinese students' catch-phrase). The first few days were pretty hot and overcast/smoggy. After the rain and wind, the sky cleared up a lot and the air got cooler. Kevin and I walked to the hills behind campus. The campus is on the edge of the city, so we followed some railroad tracks to some small paths to some smaller paths and after about 20 minutes found ourselves in the middle of corn fields and fruit trees. We climbed high enough to look down over the city, and the air was clear enough that we could see the whole thing, plus some surrounding trees and hills.
Even though classes started last week, Kevin and I will not start teaching for two and a half weeks! We are both going to be teaching freshmen classes, and the freshmen start later than the other students. They will come to campus this weekend and then have two weeks of military training before beginning classes. So we have plenty of time to settle in, explore the area, plan lessons, and hopefully visit Yangzhou. We are going to be teaching Oral English, which we've taught lots of in the past, and Phonetics, which we don't know much about. The good thing is, we actually have textbooks, which appear to be decent. The bad thing is, when I look through the textbook I see words like "fricatives" and "approximants" and "dipthongs," and I have no idea what those mean. They sound like quasi-swear words. "Oh fricatives!" or "Those dipthongs!" I guess I will be learning some phonetics as I go.
We have started our office hours. About a dozen students piled into the office to talk and ask questions. They were very interested in us, of course, since we are the new teachers. It was pretty tiring (especially the first night when we were there until 9:30pm, which was really past our jetlagged bedtime), but we've had some interesting conversations. Yesterday they were telling me about all the ways they were naughty as children. It was pretty fun. The students are all very friendly.
We have been out and about a little bit. We have been to two different supermarkets. The other day, two little girls followed Christina and I around the entire supermarket just smiling and watching us. We have been to several restaurants. We have found some good food (Kevin was especially excited about the DongBei Restaurant (Northeast style food). Since we aren't familiar with the restaurants yet, we have had a bit of difficulty. We keep ending up in these specialty places and not knowing what we just ordered. Nothing has been bad so far, but it has definitely been confusing and a little frustrating. A lot of the food is spicy, which makes sense due to the proximity to Sichuan. There are a lot of Muslim restaurants around. There is a larger Muslim population in the area and even a mosque in town.
So, that's about all I can think of. We have pretty much gotten over jetlag but are still tired. I'm still ready to go to bed at 9pm. :) I guess all the confusion and wandering around and figuring things out takes energy. But it has been much, much easier than the first time. When we arrived back in China, it felt like we hadn't really been gone that long. It will be nice to get started with classes and into the routine of things, but for now, it's good to have time to settle in.
Check out new photos at www.flickr.com/photos/ruthiemarie. Apartment video walk-through also coming soon!
Monday, September 1, 2008
When a paper ticket isn't a paper ticket
Aug. 26, 2008, posted on Sept. 1
(this post is a little delayed because we just finally got set up with Internet on one of our computers – the other one may take a bit longer, judging by the numerous times the computer tech guy muttered a string of curse words after the word “Vista.” However, I thought it might be best to blog at least somewhat chronologically).
By Kevin
“Do you have your ticket?” she asked, looking skeptically at our boarding passes.
We continued to wait. Curious, we glanced on the computer screen. Our names were at the top, easy to recognize because they were two of the only names in English on the list. Each time a passenger's boarding pass was scanned, their name disappeared from the list and a recored voice chimed, “Xie xie.” “Thank you.”
As the line disappeared, no less than three people frantically went to work trying to figure out what to do with us and our United-issued, all-in-English boarding pass for seats 30 B and C. Should they let us onto the plane?
“Clearly we're in the computer,” we mentioned to one another at least three or four times. Once we even pointed it out on the screen to one of the workers, but that's not the information they needed. We began to wonder if they would let us on at all. About this time, we convinced Christina to go ahead and board the plane. “I'm sure they will let us on,” we assured her, but our confidence was waning a bit.
With about five minutes before takeoff, I had a thought: “What about our baggage tags, maybe they can tell we're properly checked in if they see that our baggage tags are scheduled to go all the way to Xi'an.”
Ruth dug them out of her purse, but the airline worker smiled and said that's not what they needed.
Much later than I should have, I admit, I began to ask Dad for help, I asked that he would resolve the situation and get us to Xi'an, tonight if at all possible.
At 8:30, the time the plane was scheduled to take-off, there were still six or seven names left on the computer screen, a man began walking toward us. Apparently someone with authority, because the workers excitedly began explaining the situation to him. Perhaps he was one of the people they had called. He asked for our boarding passes. After glancing at them for a moment, he tore them and they let us board the plane.
We crawled to our seats all the way in the back of the plane and scrunched into the tiny seats and waited, longing for the emergency exit row seats we'd been given on the trans-pacific flight hours before. After about 15 minutes of waiting, the pilot made an announcement in Chinese. The Europeans seated across the aisle from us asked a flight attendant what the delay was. “We are waiting for clearance,” she said, pointing out the window at the heavy rain that was falling.
They began serving drinks. We continued to wait. After a good 45 minutes of waiting, another announcement came. The flight attendants rushed to their seats and we darted into the air. Finally, we were off to Xi'an. Only one leg of the trip to go.
The FAO at the school was tired, so she sent her husband, a student and a driver to meet us at the airport at 12:30. We piled into a hot van and sauntered off to Weinan, trying not to choke on the thick air. By the time we were home, it was 2 a.m. Exhausted isn't a strong enough word, seeing as how I think I'd dozed off for a total of 15 minutes in the past day and a half...
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Hi Friends,
Wanted to let you know we made it to Weinan okay! We are glad to be done traveling. Right now we are working on getting moved in and cleaned up. The apartments are very nice, also very dusty. So we're trying to get settled a little. Apparently classes have already started...hmm. We will probably start next week though. After we find out what we will teach. We will soon get internet hooked up in our apartment and then we can give some more updates. Thank you for your thoughts!
Wanted to let you know we made it to Weinan okay! We are glad to be done traveling. Right now we are working on getting moved in and cleaned up. The apartments are very nice, also very dusty. So we're trying to get settled a little. Apparently classes have already started...hmm. We will probably start next week though. After we find out what we will teach. We will soon get internet hooked up in our apartment and then we can give some more updates. Thank you for your thoughts!
Sunday, August 24, 2008
T-Minus 10 hours
By Kevin
We're there. Well, not THERE, but our bags are all packed. We're under the required weight limits, and ready to go drive to the airport bright and early at 6:30 Monday morning, then take three flights (Atlanta-Chicago-Beijing-Xi'an), watching the extravaganza known as the Olympic Closing Ceremonies, oohing and aahhing at the spectacle of a countdown in fireworks, bicycle helmet clad drummers, one-wheeled glowy bikes, vertical runners, foating red banners and statuesque white-painted mimes. The London part isn't quite as impressive so far....I mean, transforming double-decker busses are nice and all, but psychadellic umbrellas, lipsynching pop stars in ginormous dresses and a really old Jimmy Page kinda pales in comparison to the spectacle the Chinese created. Almost seems like the Chinese worked on their part for four years and England worked on theirs for a month....
China definitelyy raised the bar for the Olympics.
Anyway, I thought this might be a good chance to share the comments former students shared about the Olympics in recent days:
"We are very, very excited," wrote a former student. "A lot of people do their best to make efforts,we hope this Olympics can give a very good memory to all the people, we hope people can see a new and developing China, during Olympics, we see a lot of stories, some of them happen during the players, some happen during Chinese and some foreigners,they are very excellent."
"I am very glad that you enjoy the Olympic games in China," wrote another. "It's really wonderful. But I think it is a pity that you haven't in china during the OLYMPICS. Beijing is more beautiful during that time. I have tried to be a volunteer for the game, but unfortunately I failed. Now I have been watching it everyday."
A third wrote, "Of course we all saw the Beijing Olympic, especially the Opening Ceremony. It's very successful, and that brings great pressure to London Olympic. All the athletes performed well in this Olympic games."
Anyway, all that to say, while the prospect of 30-some hours of travel (door-to-door) isn't particulary appealing, we are excited to head back to China and glad to have you along for the journey.
We're there. Well, not THERE, but our bags are all packed. We're under the required weight limits, and ready to go drive to the airport bright and early at 6:30 Monday morning, then take three flights (Atlanta-Chicago-Beijing-Xi'an), watching the extravaganza known as the Olympic Closing Ceremonies, oohing and aahhing at the spectacle of a countdown in fireworks, bicycle helmet clad drummers, one-wheeled glowy bikes, vertical runners, foating red banners and statuesque white-painted mimes. The London part isn't quite as impressive so far....I mean, transforming double-decker busses are nice and all, but psychadellic umbrellas, lipsynching pop stars in ginormous dresses and a really old Jimmy Page kinda pales in comparison to the spectacle the Chinese created. Almost seems like the Chinese worked on their part for four years and England worked on theirs for a month....
China definitelyy raised the bar for the Olympics.
Anyway, I thought this might be a good chance to share the comments former students shared about the Olympics in recent days:
"We are very, very excited," wrote a former student. "A lot of people do their best to make efforts,we hope this Olympics can give a very good memory to all the people, we hope people can see a new and developing China, during Olympics, we see a lot of stories, some of them happen during the players, some happen during Chinese and some foreigners,they are very excellent."
"I am very glad that you enjoy the Olympic games in China," wrote another. "It's really wonderful. But I think it is a pity that you haven't in china during the OLYMPICS. Beijing is more beautiful during that time. I have tried to be a volunteer for the game, but unfortunately I failed. Now I have been watching it everyday."
A third wrote, "Of course we all saw the Beijing Olympic, especially the Opening Ceremony. It's very successful, and that brings great pressure to London Olympic. All the athletes performed well in this Olympic games."
Anyway, all that to say, while the prospect of 30-some hours of travel (door-to-door) isn't particulary appealing, we are excited to head back to China and glad to have you along for the journey.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Repacking Again
by Ruth
Three days left before we head out, and we've been working on packing again. I must say, we're getting to be quite experienced at this whole process. I packed my bags up yesterday and was delighted to them find several pounds under limit (even after buying a brownie mix, two boxes of mac and cheese, and a bag of chocolate chips). I have decided to add a box of Multi-bran Chex. I was pleased that the new black shoes I bought to replace my old black shoes are not only more comfortable, they also weigh a lot less. Yet another reason to avoid heels. Who needs that extra weight?
Kevin's had a bit harder time packing because for a while he didn't have any suitcases. His bags, which have lasted through several years of international rough handling, got all bashed up on the way to back to Georgia. One was torn and the other had a bent frame. Thanks Delta. After a good 40 minutes of arguing whether they were damaged enough to qualify for a "damaged luggage claim," the airlines said they would fix the bags and send them back. Kevin got a call about a week later to say they were so badly damaged they couldn't repair them; instead they would send new bags of the same kind. Good deal! Thanks Delta. Unfortunately, they also said that the bags may or may not arrive before we left for China. Slight problem. We were quite relieved when the new suitcases did come with days to spare, and Kevin was able to commence with repacking. He bought several bags of tortillas and a couple of baseballs to bring along. So far he seems to be okay on weight too.
We on the other hand, have put on a few pounds as we try to eat everything we might possibly crave in the next year: pulled-pork bbq, pizza, Chick-fil-a, burritos, Rice-Krispie treats, biscuits, donuts, fried okra, bagels, milk... It's hard to fit it all in. Hopefully once we get to China we can establish a more reasonable eating routine, at least until we go to Thailand and the food craze starts all over again.
I am also trying to scarf down as many books as possible. I sat in front of my bookshelf last night and was very sad. I have so many good books. I want to sit down re-read about half of them right now. Instead I have to settle with lovingly browsing the shelves and book hopping. I am currently reading three books, and I just finished a fourth. It's hard to settled on just one when I know I won't see them again for a long time. Once I leave them behind, I think I will re-read Till We Have Faces for the sixth or seventh time, since I haven't re-read it yet this year. I am looking forward to what it will be like this time. It's always nice to have a familiar book in an unfamiliar place.
Except I just remembered that the book is inconveniently packed at the bottom of my suitcase. Oh well, I'm sure I'll have to repack again anyway.
Three days left before we head out, and we've been working on packing again. I must say, we're getting to be quite experienced at this whole process. I packed my bags up yesterday and was delighted to them find several pounds under limit (even after buying a brownie mix, two boxes of mac and cheese, and a bag of chocolate chips). I have decided to add a box of Multi-bran Chex. I was pleased that the new black shoes I bought to replace my old black shoes are not only more comfortable, they also weigh a lot less. Yet another reason to avoid heels. Who needs that extra weight?
Kevin's had a bit harder time packing because for a while he didn't have any suitcases. His bags, which have lasted through several years of international rough handling, got all bashed up on the way to back to Georgia. One was torn and the other had a bent frame. Thanks Delta. After a good 40 minutes of arguing whether they were damaged enough to qualify for a "damaged luggage claim," the airlines said they would fix the bags and send them back. Kevin got a call about a week later to say they were so badly damaged they couldn't repair them; instead they would send new bags of the same kind. Good deal! Thanks Delta. Unfortunately, they also said that the bags may or may not arrive before we left for China. Slight problem. We were quite relieved when the new suitcases did come with days to spare, and Kevin was able to commence with repacking. He bought several bags of tortillas and a couple of baseballs to bring along. So far he seems to be okay on weight too.
We on the other hand, have put on a few pounds as we try to eat everything we might possibly crave in the next year: pulled-pork bbq, pizza, Chick-fil-a, burritos, Rice-Krispie treats, biscuits, donuts, fried okra, bagels, milk... It's hard to fit it all in. Hopefully once we get to China we can establish a more reasonable eating routine, at least until we go to Thailand and the food craze starts all over again.
I am also trying to scarf down as many books as possible. I sat in front of my bookshelf last night and was very sad. I have so many good books. I want to sit down re-read about half of them right now. Instead I have to settle with lovingly browsing the shelves and book hopping. I am currently reading three books, and I just finished a fourth. It's hard to settled on just one when I know I won't see them again for a long time. Once I leave them behind, I think I will re-read Till We Have Faces for the sixth or seventh time, since I haven't re-read it yet this year. I am looking forward to what it will be like this time. It's always nice to have a familiar book in an unfamiliar place.
Except I just remembered that the book is inconveniently packed at the bottom of my suitcase. Oh well, I'm sure I'll have to repack again anyway.
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