Five pairs of shoes

I got back from the gym on Wednesday to find five pairs of shoes outside my door. One pair was Chris's, but I didn't recognize the rest of them. I added my pair to the pile and opened the door slowly to reveal Chris, both of our landlords, an older lady wearing a red coat and a younger guy behind the TV.

After a round of "Ni hao, Nimen hao. [hello, hello]" I looked at Chris. He shrugged. I shrugged back.

Earlier in the week we had told our landlords we didn't understand how to work the DVD player and we thought it was broken. This was their solution. Chris had told me earlier while I was at the gym the landlords had appeared bringing their friend in the red coat. The three of them had brought a manual for the DVD player and were reading it, trying to get it to work. They had then disappeared, telling Chris that they would come back later. About ten minutes before I arrived home, they had come back with the younger man who was now behind the television trying to get the DVD player to work. As I was watching this spectacle, another person knocked on the door - another younger man who talked to man #1 behind the television. The two of them proceeded to starting switching the cables around for the next 15 minutes or so.

At this point, we had five Chinese people in our apartment and me and Chris - that's 7 pairs of shoes outside the door. The two younger man managed to get the sound to work, but still no picture. I was starting to get antsy because I needed to take a shower before I went to work and there was no way that was going to happen with so many people in the apartment. Eventually the picture popped in the screen, complete with Chinese subtitles. I have never been so happy to see "Family Guy" before. It was great.

Within five minutes of the DVD player working, all 5 of our visitors were gone. The two younger men disappeared very quickly, but I managed to convince our landlords and their friend in the red coat to pose for a picture with me before they left.






Q - What has been your greatest technological victory? A new cell phone? Wireless internet? An automatic garage door opener? How did you conquer it?

Thanks for all your comments and emails, I've been battling a cold the last week and hearing from friends and family makes all the difference. Cheers!

Getting settled

The last three days have been incredibly busy. It feels like I have been here for a very long time and it's really been only 96 hours since I landed. I'll try to hit the highlights thus far.

Friday - I took a walk in the morning away from the hotel and found the location of the school where I will be teaching at. It is in Pudong which is the new area of the city. Then, I went back to the hotel to wait to hear from Lilian who is in charge of new teachers. She called right around lunch time and then we went and looked at apartments for the rest of the day. The initial location we looked at was in Puxi, close to the school that Chris is going to be located at, but it was a little shady - the beds didn't have mattresses, the table was missing, the windows were dirty - not the first impression I was hoping for. The next five places were in the Pudong area, three or four metro stops away from where I will be. The apartments got progressively nicer, but it felt like living in the suburbs and I didn't think that was the vibe that I was looking for. We had gotten on the metro and bought our tickets to head home when the real estate agent got a call saying there was another 2 bedroom in Puxi to look at and asked if I wanted to go. At this point it was about 5pm and I almost turned him down because my jet lag was really kicking in, but I decided to give it a go. The last apartment was great. Good location, two bedrooms, there's a couch - mattresses on all beds, etc. I decided that it would be perfect. Location map is below.


Then the negotiations began. Since we're not staying a year, it required a lease with different terms. The price went up, the price went down. Then the agent's commission was discussed. My chinese is so minimal I had absolutely no idea what was going on. Negotiations, contracts, etc. lasted until 8:30. But, at the end of it, I had keys to the apartment, a promise that the hot water heater would be fixed and an appointment with my landlords on Sunday evening at 7pm to give them the remaining $47 that I owed them. It was quite a day.

Saturday was my first day of training. I had to be there at 10:30, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to move my stuff from the hotel because I had woken up at 4am (more jet lag). I ate breakfast at the hotel and they called me a cab. I had my address and the hotel communicated with the cab driver and I thought we were good. Wrong.

For some reason the cab driver thought I was going to the airport (probably because I had all my luggage with me). He kept saying "Airport, airport." When I realized it, I started saying "Puxi, Puxi" (the area where I'm living) but he kept driving the wrong direction. Eventually I said "Feng Yang Lu, Feng Yang Lu" ("Lu" is street - Feng Yang is the street where I live) and he finally turned around. With that adventure, I just made it to training on time.

Training was fine, Saturday is a very busy day at this location, but Erica (my teacher trainer) helped me purchase a cell phone at lunch. It is very tech savvy - a skinny little Nokia that probably could do everything. Unfortunately I haven't figured out the voicemail yet, but I can make and receive calls and text messages. I'm not sure that I can receive international calls though.

Saturday night I met Mike Chiang who's an ND grad and in charge of ND relations in Asia. He took me out for a great dinner and then I met his wife Lily and the two of them took me shopping so I could purchase a comforter, a pillow, some towel and a hair dryer. They were so welcoming and warm and have already come to my rescue again (more to come). I rode the subway home with my purchases and using an international phone card, was able to talk briefly with my folks before falling into bed.

Sunday - more training, this time at a different branch, People's Square. Yup - I got lost. Was almost late, again, but walked in the door right at 9:30. People's Square is the biggest branch that they have here and it is very nice and because it was Sunday, much calmer. Training lasted until 4:30, so it was a full day. Food here is so cheap - for lunch I had beef and peppers with rice and it was 10 RMB which is about $1.30. Tons of food and really good. When I got out of training I decided to walk down this food street close to the apartment. It was teeming with people, all kinds lined up snacking on different things. I chose one booth that was selling some type of (I thought) meat on a stick. I purchased one and took a bite. Not exactly my taste. I don't think it was meat, but if it was, it was certainly like nothing else I have tasted. Didn't finish it.

Then I met my landlords at 7, as we planned. Well, of course it couldn't be that simple - they came and I paid my remaining 500RMB (TV and the $47) and then they started pointing at the hot water heater. I had absolutely no idea what was going on. I could tell the hot water wasn't working, but I thought I had to turn something or press something differently. I finally, after almost 15 minutes called Mike and had him translate for me. The hot water heater is supposed to be fixed today (Monday) now, but he arranged for me to take a shower at my landlady's house. I got off the phone and they stood up and were like - let's go and I was kind of startled, but grabbed my towel and shampoo and followed them to their house, about 5 minutes away, across a freeway.

Today, Monday I had to register at the police station, pay the commission to the real estate agent, come back, get the internet set up and I had to go to the bank too. It was crazy and it's only 2 pm here. Tonight I'm going to observe another class at People's Square. Tomorrow is my demo teaching set up and then I'll find out my schedule going forward.

I don't have a question this time - but any comments you have on my crazy experience or examples of your own culture shock in another country would be much appreciated. Hope all is well.

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