The Journey So Far

The flight went well. I managed to get through customs with three of my big bags on a cart and one being dragged behind me. I was immediately thrown on a bus to Wuxi. The bus driver did not like that I had three large bags. I met the physics teacher from my school on the bus. We talked along the way. We made a stop at the Shanghai railway. Me and him almost got off there. However we saw people getting back on the bus so we followed suit. Thankfully we made it to Wuxi. One assistant was sent in a taxi with three of my bags. The other taxi took my bag as well as the two the physics teacher brought. We also fit me, the other teacher, and the assistant. We got all of my bags into my hotel room. I pretty much fell asleep once I got there. However I noticed that my hotel door didn't close all the way. At the time I didn't care. Then I slept some before I called someone about the door. They couldn't fix it so I had to move rooms. I moved my bags down a few rooms. I lazed around the hotel on Sunday and tried to get on the internet, but I couldn't figure it out. Then come Monday the 22nd I moved into my apartment. Yet again I had to take two taxis to get there because I had so many bags. It was two bedroom and it is pretty decent size. It is definitively the right size for one person. It is in a brand new building right across the street from my school. Then I spent Monday running around buying things for my apartment and then set up my bank account at the bank of China. I also set it up so my gas and utilities bills would be withdrawn from my bank account. Then I got a Chinese cell phone. The next thing I knew I was out for dinner with the rest of the teaching staff. It was great to finally meet everyone. The whole crew got along great and I look forward to working with them. As I explored what is around me and walked to the Emart to get more things for the apartment I noticed that everyone stared at me. I didn't notice the looks when I came to China before, but then again I stayed in the tourist areas of China. Now I am walking around a Chinese apartment complex and store. Sometimes they will just say hello so they can practice English. I have gotten good at catching a taxi and pointing at a piece of paper that has the address on it. Oh man speaking of taxi's. The traffic here is crazy. No one stays in there lanes and pedestrians don't have right of way. You just go and expect people to move around you. As a pedestrian you have to watch for cars turning right because they expect you to let the car go first. I am still not used to the crazy traffic. I have gotten better about crossing the street to go to school though. Although it is still weird just crossing and then waiting in the middle of the street waiting to finish crossing the street, but that is the Chinese way. 

The food has been great. I had some great soup dumplings that are very well known her in Wuxi. I also here there is a mango restaurant downtown that I look forward to trying. Those of you that know me know I love mangoes. I have tried lots of stuff. I have been very adventurous with the food. I love the Chinese food here. 

The conference for all the teachers were great met everyone in the company and learned a lot. I will talk more about that in my teaching blog and illustrate the differences in education. 

The only other minor disaster that makes for a funny story now is that I returned from hanging out with my fellow teachers really late and the doors to my apartment building were closed

I suggest that you don't bring travelers checks. I had to argue with the bank about ONE of my letters not matching. I guess they were so worried that they couldn't exchange it because of a minor difference. I couldn't even see the difference. I doubt in America that they will be looking that closely at the signature. I have been able to access my money with my American debit card. Bank of America has an agreement with the Construction bank of China not to charge fees. So I have been going that bank which is near the local grocery store. I have not had a problem accessing the money. 

So far I have had access to gmail, but nothing of my google docs. I have been able to access delicious which I am happy about because it had useful sites that I wanted to use in my teaching. So far so good. We will have to see if this e-mail gets through to my blog. I will add some pictures of the apartment and eventually the school. However the school is so much prettier in the spring with all the flowers.