The Health Check

The first couple of days here were filled with orientation and getting settled. One thing that is required for all foreigners is proper residency papers. In order to get these you have to register at the local police station and have a health check.

Patrick and I went to get our health check one morning. This wasn't a good day for me. I was having some pains in my stomach and side. I knew it was just a problem with my gall bladder since I'd had these pains for a while every couple months. It wasn't very bad this day as I was able to stand and walk for the most part.

During the health check you have to have a chest X-ray, blood work, EKG, vision check, urine test, and an ultrasound. Well, during the ultrasound the lady looked at me with a worried look. She asked me if I spoke English then she proceeded to tell me that I had a gall stone. Great. Just super. I told her to wait a moment and brought my manager, Tommy, into the room. It was what she had told me, I had a rock in my gall bladder.

After a couple of days I got word that there was a problem with my test results. I just thought, "Great, I have AIDS or SARS or something horrible like that." It was said with such urgency and importance that I could swear they were going to tell me that I was dieing. Well, that was not the case. My white blood cell count was really high. Okay, okay, I have an infection. Let's just go the the hospital and I can get one of those truly amazing IV cocktails (those really do seem to work for everything). No, it can't be that easy. Michael, the school's owner, decided that he wanted to take me to his family doctor. Now, that is usually all well and good, but his family doctor practices traditional Chinese medicine.

A couple days later I was picked up by Michael and driven to the doctor. We walk into this large building selling herbs and natural pills. It looked more like a health food store than a doctors' office. We pay a couple RMB and go into a hallway where there are a bunch of old Chinese doctors sitting in cubicles. There weren't exam tables or curtains or doors or anything. Just doctors sitting at desks with a chair for the patient next to the desk. Micheal told the doctor what was wrong with me. The doctor checked my pulse on both of my wrists (as though it would be different or something) then felt my stomach. There was some discussion about me in Chinese and, as is the norm, a small crowd formed. (I get looks quite often but imagine being the only white person in a traditional Chinese doctor's office with no doors or curtains. Everyone wanted to know what was wrong with this strange pale person.) After a couple of minutes we thanked the doctor and went back into the medicine room. We got a bunch of boxes of meds and Michael explained to me how to take them. One was a bunch of little tiny balls that I had to take with hot water. The other was regular pills that I had to take 6 of 3 times a day.

I asked Tommy the next day what the doctor said was wrong with me (as Michael doesn't speak much English). Come to find out my lunar is too high. That's right. My solar is too low and is being thrown off by my high lunar. Because of this I am sick and must avoid cold foods such as bananas. Instead I should eat warm foods like lamb and apples. I still don't know what a warm food is and what a cold food is but I do know to stay away from bananas.

After all this I got my blood checked again and it was off again. So I am now on some Western medicine. We will see how this works and try the test again. And probably again and again.

Arrival in Dalian

We arrived in Dalian and were greeted at the airport by our manager and a Chinese teacher who had gorgeous flowers for me. We were taken to a great dinner and shown our apartment, which is magnificent.

Everything here is amazing. We get free lunch at school everyday whether we are working or not. I have a personal locking desk at the school. We are about one mile from the beach.

Our amazing apartment:

• hardwood floors
• mattresses that aren't just blocks of Styrofoam
• new bed sheets that are clean
• tons of closet space
• a dresser in my bedroom
• a vanity in my bedroom
• wireless Internet
• desktop computer
• a toaster
• a coffee maker
• coffee bean grinder
• tea kettle
• dishes
• eating utensils
• towels
• soap
• toothpaste
• some food for our apartment
• personal heaters for the winter
• extra comforters
• a bathtub! (very rare in China)
• a huge mirror in the living room
• large bedrooms
• a large television
• huge stereo with extra speakers
• satellite TV complete with HBO, BBC, CNN, Discovery, National Geographic, and more!

The Visa Story

During our stay in Xuzhou we met some great people and some not so great as can be expected. One of the "not so great" people was our boss. This is a franchise school and the owner, You Kai, treats the school as a business and seems to forget that it is a school. Naturally, Aston is a business first and a school second. For You Kai, the school is a business first, second, third, forth, and so on. He regards the school as a school maybe twentieth (that's being generous). Patrick and I had been sucking up to him from day one. We knew that he was hard up for teachers and he would constantly tell us what great teachers we were. As is the custom in China when trying to impress someone during a meeting, You Kai practically shoved cigarettes down our throats one after the other. We never signed our contracts with him because we could be disciplined for breach of contract but because there wasn't a precedence You Kai could not be disciplined in any way for breach of contract. After numerous meetings with this man it became apparent that we were being blackmailed. During a private meeting with You Kai, Patrick and I made a supplemental contract that was signed by You Kai, Patrick, the interpreter, and myself. This contract stated that we would receive bonuses if we broke our future contract with our Dalian school and stayed at his school. We would also receive bonuses if we recommended our friends to work for Xuzhou Aston and they signed on. I can deal with bribery. It's not that bad, especially in this case. The main part of the contract was that he had to provide us with Z (work) visas before our contract ended on August 31. If proper visas and paperwork were not secured by this date, You Kai would pay any expenses related to getting a proper visa which included travel expenses to Hong Kong or Seoul, visa processing fees, and food and lodging while waiting for a visa among other things. We felt a bit relieved after having this contract written and signed. Although we were working illegally on a visa with a fast approaching expiration date, we would get a proper visa in some way. With that in mind we bought plane tickets to Dalian for September 3. The day after our contract expired we had another meeting with You Kai. We were hoping that it would be about our visas since we had not heard about the progress of our paperwork. You Kai suddenly decided to tell us that we had to sign a contract with him in order for the government to finish our visas. Here we were the day after the end of our contracts with no passports and no visas being blackmailed for our passports! We immediately got on the phone with corporate Aston in Dalian about this matter. We had been talking with numerous people in corporate about our visas and other problems with this school for quite a while. Corporate immediately began calling all their contacts, including the U.S. Embassy. We told You Kai that we would discuss the matter the next day after speaking to Dalian and giving them some time to work on the situation. At this point I was ready to head back to the States. If Dalian couldn't help us with this (because of the Olympics it is very difficult to get a tourist visa transferred to a work visa) I would rather go home than to work for a person like You Kai. No matter what he bribed me with to stay I would more than likely go home. Corporate Aston worked on getting us our visas until at least 11:00 pm when we got a call that we had a few options. We could sign a new contract in Xuzhou and stay there, we could go back to the States and either stay there or come back after securing a work visa, or we could enroll as students at one of the universities in Dalian and work with a student visa. We were instructed to go to our meeting with You Kai the next day and ask for our passports back and leave. When we got to the meeting on the 2nd You Kai said he didn't have our passports; they were at the visa office waiting for a contract with Xuzhou Aston before they could be stamped with the government seal. We told him that we needed our passports because we are leaving on the third for Dalian. We told him that Dalian had figured out a way to get us a visa and he literally laughed in our faces. After about an hour and many calls to Dalian from both Patrick and You Kai, You Kai walked back in the office and simply said, "Okay." He shook our hands, gave us our Foreign Expert Certificates, and invited us to dinner at "the best restaurant in Xuzhou." (I do have to admit it was an amazing dinner. If you can find "dragon fruit", splurge and get some, it's amazing.) The next day we had some bags mailed to Dalian and received our passports including our work visas! That evening we were driven to the airport (which is about an hour out of town) by You Kai's personal driver.

A few hours later we were in Dalian.

Han Dynasty Tombs

Xuzhou was the capital city during the Han Dynasty. Naturally there were terra-cotta warriors and a tomb that people could visit and spend money at. Since we didn't see the Ming Dynasty tombs while we were in Nanjing, Patrick and I decided to spend one of days off visiting these tombs.

When we arrived at the tombs we got in for half price because we told them we were students and got a discount. The tombs are mostly a huge garden with multiple museums and buildings. After wandering around for a while we found a huge Buddhist temple with paintings of the family of the emperor of that time. We also found a museum with a bunch of rubbings in it. Apparently, the Han Dynasty is known for it's stone work which was then made into rubbings. The translations at this place weren't very clear so I am guessing when I say that. We eventually found some of the terra-cotta warriors. The place where they were found was underwater so the building housing these was half way underwater and halfway above water. The statues here were about 2 1/2 feet tall and were warriors on horses. After that we went to another building that had statues in it that were about a foot tall. Not very impressive but still cool to look at since they are thousands of years old. There were three displays in this building. One was just a glass case that had dirt in it that supposedly had warriors still buried there. The second had some of the dirt moved away and the third had completely unearthed warriors.

The coolest part of this place was the mausoleum of the king or emperor or whatever during that time. As with Egyptian kings, the Chinese would create a huge underground house for the deceased emperor filled with food and gold for the afterlife. The place was huge and dark and very wet. It was like being in a cave. The ceilings were quite low and the rooms where jewels and food were kept were small. At the end of a long hallway with rooms on each side was a replica of the coffin (the original is in a national museum). The coffin is the shape of a man made of jade and gold wire.

I have to admit that I expected a lot more from this place but it was still interesting to see none-the-less.

Pictures from the outing.

Nanjing

One day Patrick and I and our roommates decided to head to Nanjing for a quick trip. Patrick brought along Monica, a girl he was seeing and Elizabeth brought her boyfriend, Chad. Because the others worked until about 4 or so we got a bullet train to Nanjing that left in the early evening. We were going to stay at a hostel there that Elizabeth had stayed at before. When we arrived in Nanjing we were greeted by one of Elizabeth's foreign friends who walked us to the street the hostel was on. After making plans to meet back up with him later on after showers and whatnot we headed to the hostel.

When we arrived we learned that Patrick had not booked enough beds for all of us. There were six of us but there was only one or two beds that were booked. That wasn't even the biggest problem. Turns out that none of the boys had brought their passports or IDs with them. Patrick and Chad just hadn't thought of it and Dan's passport was at the visa office getting a new visa. Without ID you can't stay at a hostel or hotel. We considered what we could do. Monica ended up saving the day. Actually, not just the day but our entire trip. She used to frequent Nanjing and knew of a hotel that we could stay at and best of all she had a VIP card for it and saved us quite a bit of money. She got on her phones (she had two for some reason) and started calling around. All of the hotels she talked to said that all people staying there had to have a form of ID. We eventually got a room at a hotel on the other side of the city. Because the boys had all forgotten their IDs, we decided that the girls would ride in one cab to the hotel and the boys would follow. Before heading to the hotel we met Elizabeth's friends and had real burgers and milkshakes at a nearby burger joint run by and American. We then took separate cabs to the hotel. After we had gotten the room the boys could waltz in and pretend they were picking us up to go out. It worked out perfectly. There were 3 guys and 3 girls. There were already two couples so Dan and I got put together.

The way hotel rooms work here is that your key not only opens the door but also turns on the electricity in the room. There is a slot on the wall that you put your key in which engages the power. Because it was so hot in the room we cranked the air and left the key in the room. When we asked for another key we were told we couldn't have one but when we came back the security guard would let us in our room. We headed out to a bar called the Blue Marlin and had some cocktails (which was unheard of in Xuzhou).

After some time at the bar we decided to head back to the hotel. The only problem with the room was that there was a single bed and a double bed but there were six people. We ended up pushing the two beds together and five of us slept on the huge bed while Patrick slept in the window (it was a small ledge where maybe three people could sit comfortably but still too small for one person to sleep comfortably). I don't think any of us slept very well that night due to the lack of room in bed.

The next morning Elizabeth and Chad headed off by themselves and the rest of us went to the Nanjing Massacre Museum. During WWII the Japanese raped and murdered thousands of Chinese. I had only heard of this once before but never really learned about it. The museum was amazing. Everything was translated into Japanese and English. It was actual English too. I didn't see one word of Chinglish or Engrish. Some of the things that the Japanese did during this massacre were absolutely horrific. We weren't allowed to bring bags or cameras into the museum. There were numerous things on display but there are a few that stick out to me at the moment. One was a picture of dead bodies. These bodies weren't adults they were toddlers and infants. Another was a wire cylindrical cage that had nails pointing to the inside of the cage. A person was put in the cage then rolled down the hill all the time being stabbed by rusty nails with every rotation. There were a lot of Nazi symbols because Hitler helped the Chinese during this massacre (Hitler probably learned a lot of his torture techniques from the Japanese during this time). There were interviews by survivors and by some Japanese soldiers. Some of the soldiers were very apologetic about what they were ordered to do. Some smiled during their interviews and thought they had done a great job. Outside the museum there was a bronze pathway with footprints of survivors cast in it. There were mass graves that had been unearthed that you could go in and look at. The entire experience made me realize why so many Chinese truly hate the Japanese. There is also a documentary about the massacre called Nanking which is pretty good if anyone is interested.

After the museum we went to a shopping mall to get some Japanese food (quite suiting considering where we had just visited). At this time Elizabeth and Chad showed up and we all decided to go to the Ming Dynasty Tombs. We found the correct buses and headed that way. Once we got close, Elizabeth and Chad went off on their own again. We eventually found the tombs but they were really expensive. I wanted to see the tombs because I would probably never have the chance again but the rest of the group decided that it wasn't worth it and the tombs are pretty much the same as the ones in Xuzhou. After I heard that I wasn't so bummed about not seeing the ones in Nanjing. We got back into town after waiting forever for a bus and went to a large park near the train station. Because we had some time go kill we decided to rent a small boat and drive around on the lake. From the boat (which only went about 3 mph) we saw some great buildings and got really close to the old city wall. When it was about time for the train we got on the subway and met up with Elizabeth and Chad and had some dinner. When we arrived in Nanjing we tried to buy bullet train tickets back to Xuzhou but they were sold out. We did manage to get hard seat tickets on a regular train.

We got to the platform just in time for the doors to be opened and boarded the train. This train was severely over booked. When there are no more seats available on a train here they sell "standing tickets". Basically, if you can find a seat you can sit. If there are no seats available you stand or sit in the aisle or where ever you can. Luckily we had seats. After arguing with someone to get out of our seats we were on our way. I was constantly being bumped as I was in an aisle seat. I had a man stand next to me for at least half the train ride that was constantly shoving his crotch in my face or resting it on my shoulder. I tried to nicely push him off me since my glares were not working. Eventually I ended up elbowing him every time he came close to me. There was also a family that had standing tickets. The father had convinced some college kid to share his seat with him. His daughter and wife were stuck sitting on the floor in the aisle. The poor little girl was exhausted and fell asleep on the floor but had to be moved every once in a while as a snack cart was wheeled through. Eventually we got back to Xuzhou and went home.

It was a great trip and a nice change of scenery.

Some pictures of the trip.

And some more.

The Elevator Story

The new apartment that we lived in was on the 20th floor. One day I got home from school and got on the elevator to go to the apartment. This elevator does not service the 2nd-7th floors of the building, only 1 and 8-25. There were 7 people and a bike in the elevator, including me. I think the capacity is 13. We are going up just fine until on the 6th floor the elevator starts falling! Luckily it corrected itself and just dropped to the 5th floor. All the buttons stopped working and the door opened. The door opened to a floor that is not serviced by this elevator... Luckily people had cell phones and started calling the service numbers. And all though the elevator doesn't go to the 5th floor there was a door there. After about 15 minutes of pounding on this door that was nailed shut, calling service numbers, holding the elevator door open (so it wouldn't close and potentially fall the rest of the way down), and pushing the call button someone pries the nailed door open and we exit into some sort of storage room. The elevator on the other side of the building was packed and I assumed it only went to floor 8. So I found a flight of stairs and went down them to the first floor (this flight was not a flight that would go to my hallway). I end up in some sort of wierd parking garage. There were cars on lifts over cars on lifts over parked cars. It was just strange. Anyway, I walk around the building to get to where my stairs are and walk up 20 freaking flights of stairs! I was almost to the point of trembling when I got up to the 20th floor. About 2 minutes after I got home my roommate, Elizabeth, walks in cool as could be. I asked if the elevator was still broken. She said yes but she used the one on the other side of the building. Apparently the other elevator goes to the 20th floor. I never thought it did since in our hallway there is only one elevator. Apparently you can walk down half a flight of stairs through a breeze way then up another half flight of stairs to get to the other elevator. I had McDonalds to make up for all the calories I burned by walking up and down so many flights of stairs...



After the elevator was eventually fixed, it was a good 2 inch gap between the floor and the elevator. Here is a picture I took from the 20th floor between the floor and elevator looking down.

Daily occurances in Xuzhou

Day to day life in Xuzhou was pretty normal. I would typically get up at about 6 am and head to the shower. I would dawdle around for a bit and leave for work after grabbing a bottle of frozen water from the freezer. Depending on how much I dawdled I would either walk the mile and a half or take a taxi to work. On the way I would stop and get one of the amazing "Egg McMuffins" (if I was running late this was pushed back an hour during my break). I started work at 8 am with a C2 class. C2 is an hour long and filled with 6-7 year olds. I then had an hour break where I would typically prepare for my next class which was C5 (10-13 year olds). I then had C5 at 10:15 for two hours. After that came lunch. Depending on if other foreigners were working that day or not determined what I ate for lunch. If there were foreigners working we would all go to lunch at a nearby restaurant. If I was the only one there I would wander around, find some food, and go back to school to eat. At 2:00 it was time for class again. I had a C1 class filled with 5 year olds. This lasted for an hour. Those children were adorable but they went crazy during break when I had to leave. They would grab onto my shirt, pants, and backpack and try to pull me back in the classroom. Originally, I would leave the classroom, go to the teachers' lounge, then leave the school. Eventually though I ended up fighting 10-15 5 year olds to get to the teachers' lounge then I would hang out there for about 10 minutes until the kids were back in class so I could successfully leave the school. After the C1 class I had about an hour to get across town to Aston 2 for a C3 class. I took the bus and usually got there about 20 minutes later. C3 started at 4:15 but I usually had about 30 minutes before that class. On nice days Patrick (who exclusively worked at Aston 2) and I would sit out on the front steps and talk and smoke. After a few weeks of this some of my C3s started arriving at school early so they could sit on the front steps with us and talk to us. C3 lasted an hour. Patrick's 3:15 class lasted 2 hours so I would usually hang out and wait for him so we could share a taxi or ride the bus together (depending on the weather). When we got home we would usually order up from a restaurant near our building that would deliver to your apartment. The evenings were either spent lesson planning or talking to the roommates or spending time on the Internet.

I always had Wednesday and Thursday off. Because I was working the summer intensive program I was typically exhausted and took full advantage of these days off by sleeping and lazing around the apartment. Occasionally I would go to the store or just wander around town for a while.

Daily life in Xuzhou was pretty hum-drum and uneventful.

Pictures of my kids and the schools.

One night the foreigners decided to have an international potluck. The Australians made Bangers and Mash. The rest of us were Americans so we made the following: Dan-Nachos, Elizabeth-Mac and Cheese, Me and Pat-Spaghetti and Garlic Bread. We invited some of our Chinese friends. One was Elizabeth's boyfriend, one was a girl that Patrick was kind of seeing, and the other was our friend Bob's boyfriend (Bob had recently returned to the States).

If we weren't too exhausted we would spend evenings at Shao Kao (BBQ), KTV, or the club.

Random pictures of Xuzhou.