I have traveled more than ten thousand
miles, and my, have I learned a lot already! It was a long journey, but I
mostly slept and read a whole book (Divergent, by Veronica Roth if anyone is
interested) so it wasn’t so bad. As soon as I arrived here, Kimmie (my
representative at Worlda, the company I am working for) picked me up and we
took the bus into Guangzhou. It was about an hour long bus ride and only cost
18 RMB, which is about $2.88 Canadian. Alethea arrived before me so she was
already at the hotel and we were given some time to shower and get ready for
the day ahead. Holy cow, was it nice to have a hot shower after such a long trip!!
Alethea’s representative, Teresa, was with us as well and we all set out to get
some necessary things for while we are here. First, we got a SIM card and cell
phone. We went to a little stand down the street from our hotel that sells SIM
cards with China Mobile, which I’m told is the best company in China. We both
bought SIM cards here, but I didn’t like their selection of phones so we went
to a bigger store next. I picked out a phone and it actually came with a SIM
card too (but from China Unicom), so now I have 2 SIM cards in one phone and I
can choose what number I want to use. The China Unicom plan is free so I never
have to load money on it, but the China Mobile one is like a pay-as-you-go and
I can do that at any 7 Eleven. My phone is a touch screen android phone and it
talks to me in Chinese when I turn it on. Also, my ring tone is a Chinese song
and I have no idea what it is saying. I’m trying to set up Whatsapp to be able
to message internationally, but it may take a bit. We also set up bank
accounts, ate some lunch (rice, pumpkin, chicken, and duck from a place with
just a barbecue and some plastic tables and stools), got metro passes, and just
had the chance to ask questions and get more comfortable with the city. Then we
went to see the office and signed our contracts again and Alethea and I were on
our own to explore. It was about 6pm here at that time and we were so exhausted
from traveling and the time difference, but we ran into some other teachers we
had met at the office and they asked if we wanted to join them for dinner. We
thought they would take us to a restaurant that serves good Chinese food around
here, but they ended up taking us one that served all western food and had
hookahs so you could smoke shisha. We had pasta there and it tasted so amazing
(although we were so hungry we joked that they could have served us anything
and we would have liked it) and it was nice to make some friends. They told us
some things to watch out for, told us a little more about the city, but they
also told us more about teaching and what to expect in the classroom.
Honestly, it has been such a weird
experience so far though. At first, it was surreal thinking about just how far
away from home I am and how long it is going to be until I see more familiar
things, but the more time we have spent here, the more I have realized that it
really isn’t that different. The fashion is similar (kind of an Asian hipster
type thing going on), and even though there’s a language barrier, we can still
smile and say hello to each other. It has only been 2 days though so I’ll get a
chance to compare more and get used to everything. I have noticed that we stand
out a bit and people (especially kids) like to stare... today we went to the zoo
(cutest thing ever – we got to see pandas and white tigers and the cutest
monkeys and I pet a goat!), but people stared at us like we were part of the
zoo too. They wanted to say hello and point us out to their kids, and a few
teens took pictures with us. I will definitely have to put some pictures up
soon!
Our internet is pretty slow at the hotel.
We have an Ethernet cord to plug in and at first it didn’t recognize what it
was. I skyped my parents and it restarted my computer a couple times, but at
least we have something! I can’t wait until we get moved into our apartment and
we can get settled with our own internet and unpack our bags. I did such a
great job of packing, so I have a lot of things to organize! We had today off,
but we start training tomorrow and we have our medical tests on Tuesday and
hopefully we’ll get to move in Monday or Tuesday night. I wish I could explain
more about what it’s like, but I don’t think I have enough words right now to
truly give you a good picture. Honestly, just as the Chinese Proverb says, I
think traveling and experiencing things first-hand is one of the best things
someone can do for themselves (I may be a little biased haha and I am still a
big advocate for books). So many people told me about their experiences
throughout Asia, and I looked up a lot online before I came, but none of it
actually prepared me for what it is like here. It is strange and wonderful and
new and I love it here already. I am off to bed now though to prepare for my
first day of training tomorrow… sending my love to everyone at home and hope
you are all well :)
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