Xuzhou... Finally!

Our train to Xuzhou arrived at about noon. It was now July 10 I believe. I have no idea how long we were actually traveling but it was well over 36 hours. We got out of the station and found a phone. We were to contact the training manager, Scott. I called the two numbers that were were given by Scott. Both times some stupid girls answered and told me that Scott was not there and we should call back in 30 minutes. So we waited 30 minutes in the horrible heat with hundreds of people blatantly staring at us. (Come to find out that there are only about 30 or 40 ex-pats in this town and it's rare for them to use the train.)

After the 30 minutes I called the school again. A guy answered this time who spoke very good English. I told him who I was and that I was at the train station and we needed to be picked up. He was astonished that we were in town and no one was there for us. He asked me if I could see KFC. I said no. He asked if I could see McDonalds. I said yes. He said to go to McDonalds and he would be there in 15 minutes. I said okay. I went to tell Patrick what was said. Right after I told him some girl walks up and asks if she can help us with anything. This was probably the 20th person during our trip that had asked us so we said "no, we have a friend coming to get us". She insisted on helping us do something so she pulls out her phone and calls the school. She talks to the same guy that I did. She was yelling at him! She gets off the phone and in broken English says to stay where we are and that someone will be there in 10 minutes. She walks away after we thank her and Pat gives her a hug. I think she was meeting her boyfriend at the station because a boy showed up and she points at us with a huge grin on her face. She must have been very pleased that she helped foreigners find their way.

A few minutes later Leon, the guy who had answered the phone, shows up and helps us carry our bags 2 blocks away because the taxis at the train station are too expensive. We get two cabs. One for us and one for our luggage. We get to the apartment and are greeted by Dave, our roommate. We drag the luggage up a flight of stairs to our apartment and walk in. It is a sty! I didn't expect much since it's China but this place was disgusting! It is a nice apartment but it looks like it has never been cleaned. The kitchen smells like moldy poo and rotting who-knows-what and the bathroom makes you not want to shower because you would just be dirtier afterwards.

We went to the school and met Scott and figured out when we should meet him to go through training. Later that night we went to hotpot with Dave and some of the Chinese teachers. This is where I got really sick. I wasn't really sure where I was or what I was doing at moments. I was drenched in sweat again and felt like I was going to pass out or throw up at any moment.

Hot pot is this meal that you have a stove in front of you with this huge pot of broth. You order a bunch of random stuff to put in the broth like noodles, meats, veggies, and cicadas (those are really popular right now). Oh and cow testicles. As soon as the food started coming out I just got more and more sick just looking at the raw meat. I decided I had to leave. That is a very very rude thing to do here even if you aren't feeling well. I waited as long as I could but had to give up.

I got back to the apartment and passed out on the couch. Leon had to put a curtain in my bedroom (since there is a window from my room into the living room) and give me a fan since I didn't have AC. I didn't even hear him pounding on the door I was so sleepy. He woke me up by yelling through the kitchen window. I heard him, got up, for some reason started walking towards Pat's room. He must have seen me do that so he yelled again and I sort of woke up a bit more and let him in the door. I slept while he was pounding nails into the wall to put up a sheet over the window. He woke me up to tell me that he was leaving. I slept more until Pat and Dave came back. Everything was still a blur.

The first day or so in Xuzhou.