The Story So Far....

Hi Everyone,

Cynthia L. Tyrrell has foisted this blog upon me so it's my duty now to try and keep it updated.

Here goes... Settling In

After my very long flights (Sydney to Shanghai, Shanghai to Shenyang) I landed at Shenyang Airport. Jerry is there at the gate to meet me which is very nice. His English is very good so it's not as scary as it could have been.

We arrived in Tieling in the middle of the night after a very scary drive from Shenyang. Jerry is possibly China's worst driver which makes him the world's worst driver by default. The trip home consisted of Jerry driving in the middle of the road dodging over laden trucks at 1am on a rainy night. He never turned his lights off high-beam except to flash them at people unfortunate enough to be on the road at the same time as him. THEN he tells me he's very sleepy and he keeps nodding off. I suggested that we pull over so he can get some fresh air before continuing on.

When we got back to the place I was to call home for the next 12 months it was about 2am China time (4am Sydney time) and I was having trouble keeping my eyes open. All I wanted to do was to sink into a comfy bed and sleep for the next 10 to 12 hours. Unfortunately China had it's first surprise in store for me. The beds are hard as rocks! Bugger! ( I later found out that mine was the 'soft bed').

The next day I meet the other Teachers. It's good to finally meet Colette. I feel like I know her already after the last few months of emailing her silly questions (which she insisted weren't that silly...except for the one about wearing red). Luz is from the Philippines as was Era who I was replacing. I also met Jerry's wife Arly who is also from the Philippines.

I was in a daze most of the day - I guess a touch of jetlag and a bad headache. It was much hotter than expected and I wilt badly and had to take myself off for a nap on the block.

By my second day (Thursday) I find out that Era actually wants to leave on the weekend and she can only go if I agree to start 2 weeks early. What can I do but agree. So then I was off and sitting in on classes frantically trying to remember the names of 100+ small children.

I also find out that the water is periodically cut off for several hours and sometimes days. This is the first of a few omissions by Colette. It's become a running joke now. "Oh did I forget to mention that" Apparently the American lady who she replaced did a similar thing to her...so I suppose I must have to do it to my replacement or the next teacher who arrives. Nothing terribly bad so I don't care, it's all part of the adventure!

Colette walks most morning so I have been tagging along since about day 3 in Tieling. When Colette and I walk down the street people stop and stare at us. Some elbow their companions and others actually point. It's quite funny. I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually but at the moment it's bringing back all the memories of being a self-conscious teenager. At least I know that people actually are staring at me this time.

In my second week in China I started teaching. The kids all seem to like me or at least be fascinated by me. Most of them are very cute. There's the occasional little horror but I'm sure I can manage. I'll take some pictures of them and post them soon. The Chinese assistants are all very sweet and friendly. They are all terrified of Jerry and Arly as the slightest mistake or misunderstanding and they can be fined a significant portion of their salary. Not good. They are mostly nice to the foreign teachers as we are why the students come to the school.

Jerry took us all for a drive to Shenyang (again quite scary) . He had to get something fixed in his car and he left us all standing out the front of the Honda dealership for about 40 minutes so everyone could gawk at the foreigners. Shenyang is the 4th or 5th biggest city in China but there's still not that many foreigners in town. Especially not white ones!

While Jerry went off to take care of some business we all went shopping on Middle Street. Everything is very cheap. Clothes are all cute and VERY small. I might fit into an XL or XXL if I am lucky. How depressing! I found a cute singlet for 40 yuan ($6.70) which is expensive by local standards but I was so happy to find something that fit!

After shopping Jerry picked us up and took us to lunch. Colette and I decided that we would name the restaurant 'Bunnings' as it was situated in a huge shed-like structure which was like an inside garden. Jerry tried to get Colette and I to put some poor sea creatures to their deaths for our lunch but we chose to go the pre-killed variety. Lunch was delicious. All the food here has been good, so much for me hoping to come back super-model thin!

Colette, Luz and I catch the train to Shenyang a few days after the car trip. The train is an experience! The picture of me and my 'train boyfriend' just don't do the journey justice. We went to Beiling Park which is a Qing tomb surrounded by Gardens. It’s very picturesque and peaceful. We plan to go there in winter to see what it looks like covered in snow.

At the end of my first week of teaching Jerry announces that he's bought the building that the school/teachers residence is housed in. The next day building works started... AT 6.00AM! This is also the day after I discover that I'm getting a cold. Jerry tells me to rest up then proceeds to instruct his builders to keep working until about 2am. Crazy! The building works are still going today and generally start at 6.00 am and don't stop until 11.00pm. I think we are finally used to the noise and most of us manage to sleep through it. The whole place is filled with dust and I've never before wished for a vacuum cleaner...but now I am!

I guess this post is a bit all over the place. It should get better when I'm not trying to type in a month's worth of information in one hit.

Let me know if there's anything specific you want to know about!

Love
Cass