At My Site (2-25)

Friday morning I was picked up at the Chengdu hotel by Tao and Yang who work for the waiban, Foreign Affairs Office. It was great to finally meet someone from the school. It was also great to have them pick me up in a car and transport me and all my baggage directly to the school. Tao doesn’t speak much English; Yang is fluent. She studied in New Zealand for eight years, recently returning to China and starting at the university six months ago. She is 29 years old and is very enthusiastic about meeting and helping foreign teachers.

Wenjiang is about 50 minutes out of Chengdu. When we arrived,the first stop was lunch. This turned out to be a special welcome lunch with the director of the waiban—Foreign Affairs Office—and others who work for the office. There were ten of us at the table in a private room. We started with a toast to welcome me. The center of the round table was a large lazy Susan that eventually had fifteen dishes of food on it. It moved almost constantly as everyone took a bit from a dish, ate, and then took a bit from another dish. The dishes included chicken, fish, shrimp, and not-spicy foods for me as well as beef, pork and spicy dishes for the others. My favorite was hollowed out buns in which you put a stuffing that was a mixture of barley, mushroom, and a little corn. I also enjoyed the shrimp, soup, and a chicken and vegetable dish. 

The fish was cut and displayed like a fan, which I hadn’t seen before.

After lunch, I was brought to my apartment, which is in the teachers’ dormitory. It’s quite nice. They have combined two rooms into one for us. The apartment has a living room, bedroom, small kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room. 

The living room has a large TV with a DVD that I probably won’t use, a table, sofa, and end table. The small (even smaller than my Thai one) refrigerator and microwave are also in the living room. The kitchen has a hot plate for one pan and storage cabinets and a sink with hot water. There are a few dishes and pans. 

The bedroom has a bed, wardrobe, and vanity. The bathroom has a shower with hot water and a sit-on toilet. It also has an area with a sink (two faucets) and a rack for drying clothes. This goes in the bedroom when in use, as it’s warmer there. The laundry room has a washing machine—my first in five years!—that drains into the old squat toilet. The living room and bedroom have aircon, which includes both hot and cold air. (This is where I learned that the one in the hotel was probably like that, but I didn’t know that and had no idea how to make it work.) I was really happy to see the microwave. It’s a good place to live.

After dropping off my luggage, Yang took me to get a SIM card and a bank account. When choosing a phone number from the list, Yang encouraged me not to choose one that ends with 4, as that’s a bad luck number. Instead I should choose one that ends with 9, since that’s a good luck number. Opening the bank account took about an hour, which I’m told is normal for China. But I now have a working phone number and an ATM card along with an account into which Peace Corps can deposit my monthly living allowance. These are good things.

When we returned to the apartment, Katy, the other PC Volunteer at the university, had just returned, too. She is 29 and has been here for 1.5 years; so this is her last term as a volunteer. There was another volunteer here last year, but she finished; so Katy was the only foreign teacher here last term. She’s excited to have another volunteer to work with. I’m also excited to have someone to work with again, and I know we’ll work well together. We also learned that there are four other foreign teachers coming.

Saturday afternoon Katy took me to Carrefour, which is a French version of Super Walmart, to do some shopping. I purchased a bunch of items that were not in the apartment and some food. My favorite purchases are some really warm slippers and long, flannel pants for sleeping. We took buses to the store, and, since I purchased so much, I paid for a taxi back.

Sunday Katy took me to the local market to buy fruit and vegetables. Meat is also available, but neither of us buy that. She also gave me a brief tour of the campus, showing me where our classes are and the administration building. It’s been really helpful to have her to show me around.

Although the rooms have heaters, they are often cold. The heaters are two feet below the ceiling. When they run, the room is warm right in front of the heater. Although the temperature on the unit says 25, it’s about 16 most of the time. Fortunately, I have warm clothes, and a blanket to wrap up in when needed, and two extra warm duvets for the bed. I’m toasty all night.

Peace Corps gave us water distillers to turn the tap water into drinking water. When Yang saw that, she had the school send a large bottle for me. So I now have one of those upside down bottles on a stand with a tap.

The apartment has a land-line phone and Internet connection. These were not yet working when I arrived.

The university is quiet now because it’s the end of the New Year’s holiday. When the university is on break, everything here closes. Sunday the local stores and food shops were starting to open again.

Weather was cold—but not freezing—the first two days in Chengdu. Since then, it’s not been so cold. My new coat (light-weight, packable down that I love) is good. I haven’t needed to use the hood or gloves the last several days.