Xinyang

Xinyang

Sculpture on campus

Zeneta got off the train well before me because I was wrestling with the baggage. Mr. Lu, who also addressed her as Mrs. Robert, met her as she got onto the platform. We then grabbed our luggage (I almost wrote packs, with the amount that we were packing this stuff, packs may have made some sense) and off we went, up and down several flights of stairs. On the way we happened to run into a chemistry professor. He also helped us with the bags.

We got into a couple of taxis that headed toward the hotel that the college was putting us in for our first night in Xinyang. There were two reasons for putting us in the hotel. The first was that there was work being done on the water at the university, and there was no question that the first thing that we wanted was a shower. The other reason, I believe, in putting us in the hotel was that it was late and to have taken us directly to our apartment would have involved far too much explanation in how to use the devices in the room.

We were also suffering from a lack of water for several days. The plan of taking peoples drinking water needs to be thoroughly reexamined. I suspect that part of the problem is that the people who make these decisions only fly first class and do not realize that other passengers are becoming ill from the effects of there being no water. I can not help but wonder if the, several days long, severe headache that I am suffering as I write this is, in some part, due to my having been thirsty for so long. That was part of the reason that I did not talk much to the people on the train, even after I discovered that they did speak English. The, much appreciated, 600ml bottle of water that I was given by Victor did not replenish the loss of several days.

One of the first things that I asked about was drinking water. I was shown an interesting kettle that is used to boil the water. We were shown how to use it and were given an admonishment that we were not to handle it with damp hands. This was to avoid any contamination of the water in the kettle.

We both took our, much needed, showers and, after drinking as much of the warm water as we could, went to bed. Even with the boiling, it is clear that the water is treated. There is a strong chlorine taste. Even the bottled waters have an odd taste, when compared to the bottled water that we are used to. Of things that we could have done better, we could have made sure that our checked baggage was closer to the permitted limit, with some water packed in it. As it was, it was pure luck that we came in at the allowable weight.

The next morning we ran into a bit of difficulty. We discovered that our room key would not allow us back in our room. This made it impossible for us to go and get breakfast. I went to the front desk in order to try to get the room key issue resolved, it was one of those electronic card lock things and they assumed that I was asking for breakfast to be brought to our room.

They did bring a plate of cookies and breads along with some milk (the milk was warm, that seems to be the normal way to serve beverages here). This addressed the breakfast issue. However it did not address the key issue. I was able to show the problem to the bellhop and we got it resolved. [I took some midrin about an hour ago and the headache is much better now. I am now functional. We were not able to find aspirin or Tylenol in the chemists and are still unable to find throat lozenges]

Zeneta at the Hotel (sorry about the lack of flash)

I went out to the Lobby in order to write some and to wait for Mr. Lu. He arrived and we went for another suicide taxi ride. This time the ride was to the college. We went up to our rooms and were introduced to the other English teachers. The greeting we received was, "welcome to Little Australia," from a pretty young woman with an Australian accent.

The cab ride.

A number of other teachers had already arrived. There is an older couple from Australia, Collin and Bronny. Bronny is originally from New Zealand, she is also teaching. However, it is Collin that has the general experience in teaching. There is a a teacher from South Africa. Finally, there is Michelle from Australia, the person who greeted us. Michelle is also the closest to our age and is next door to us in the apartment complex.

Shortly after we got into the apartment we were called upon to attend a welcome luncheon. It was very good with a large selection of different types of food (all of it Chinese, no big surprise there). This is, of course, one of the first times that I was called upon to master the art of eating with chopsticks. The good news on that regard is that, while taking classes, in Davis, CA I regularly ate at a place that served the food with chopsticks. The only, truly, strange food was the fish head. As the guest of honor, I was expected to eat the first if it. It was surprisingly good. After the dinner we returned to our room and fell asleep. Both the time change and the rigors of travel (most of the teachers were amazed that we had chosen to cross China by train) had left both of us, pretty much exhausted.

The next day we got up and Michelle offered to walk us to the market. It was a rather long walk and I noticed that all along the streets are small shops and vendor stands. The market was not that large. However, when combined with the goods available from the street vendors, there is quite a bit available. I did note to Zeneta, after walking with Michelle for a while, that we were going to have to learn both Chinese and Australian. In truth, there is not a big difference between American and Australian. The difference lies in little things, like the thermos being called a kettle.

That afternoon, Collin and Bronny wanted to go look for bicycles. They also needed to book a flight to Hong Kong in order to get their Z visas. This is where we met two more people that were essential to our living here, Susanne and Kennie; this was a different person with the same name than the man from South Africa. Both Susanne and Kennie are young women who speak some English and have served as invaluable resources to the English teachers in the past. I know Susanne works for the college; she works in the same building as I have been assigned to, and I think that Kennie also works for the college.

They took us into town by hailing the cabs and providing directions to the drivers. They then they traveled with us, by splitting up and traveling with one of them in each cab. We then spent the day getting air tickets for Collin and Bronny, trying to get some cash out of the bank for Michelle, converting our cash from USD to Yuan and then going to look at bicycles with Collin and Bronny. They purchased bicycles that day. However, I decided to discuss it with Zeneta and then return the next day if I wanted to get one. [I am glad I finally did, it made going to the market this morning enough easier to actually call it pleasant]

We then went to a large market. This was a busy and loud place that seemed to have a bit of most things. The only trouble was the risk of becoming separated. This would be a bad place to get lost. I worked on that the next day when I was with Susanne, the, "what to do if I get separated," plan. We then took a bus back to the college. This was another suicide driver. As I commented to Zeneta, they can get away with this level of disorganized driving because of the relative lack of vehicles on the road. While there are clearly more than I expected, it is not so many that rigid traffic control is essential. I will discuss vehicles more in a detailed section on vehicles.

The bus put us at one of the back gates to the campus, this allowed me to walk past the building that I will be teaching at and get an idea as to how far it is from where I am living. This pretty much cinched the need for a bicycle.

Michelle then showed me where the office that I am to report to was at and I managed to get a water dispenser. It turned out that several of us showed up at that time, all with questions about the classes that we would be teaching. We were told to come back on Friday and that we would get answers then. This caused a lot of concern. It is tough to know that classes start on Monday and that we had no idea of what we were to be teaching. With little else to do that day, we all wandered off into our separate directions.