Yesterday was the first time I ventured off of the campus; it was interesting to say the least. Melanie and I (both newbies...good mix) went off to find a bank since we both needed cash. The problem with this is that our debit cards only work at certain banks. We tried the first bank and it would not take either of our cards. We know that the Bank of China works so we attempted to ask a Chinese woman who was near us where this was; we did so by pointing at the phrase in my Mandarin Dictionary, she understood what I meant and tried to help us but could not speak ANY English so it proved not to be helpful. We then ventured down street, on may I mention that fastest looking bikes in the WORLD. We found another bank and this one would even let us put our PIN numbers in. In this particular bank however we found TWO people who spoke some English and helped us find the ATM and one who told us the Bank of China was too far away to bike to.
I found that every time one of the people trying to help us kept talking and I couldn't understand them I would just burst out laughing. We were both trying SO hard and nothing was coming from it; but we all KEPT trying, it was kind of funny. But I felt bad for laughing since they probably thought I was laughing at them and not the situation; however plenty of people yesterday laughed at us when we pulled out our dictionaries. So we went back toward campus. We stopped at a store and I bought a kettle and some gloves and cloths for cleaning my apartment and then we stopped at "Grandmas Snacks" to get dumplings; they were DELICIOUS. We shared an order of them and it cost us 6 RMB; yes that is one dollar!
Did I mention that the night before (aka my first night here other than the night I got here) all of the other teachers were going to this "western bar" called the Red Cactus that is owned by a Canadian guy? I tagged along hoping that if I stayed up late then I would FINALLY get some sleep! So my first night in China I was drinking a beer and eating spring rolls at a bar owned by a Canadian guy; talk about the Chinese experience! My theory that I would fall asleep that night KIND OF worked, but I still woke up really early yesterday morning.
Anyways, after we ate the dumplings yesterday we went back and dropped off the stuff we actually managed to acquire on our trip; then we took the bus into town with one of the other teachers from our school. We finally found a Bank of China and we walked around the city for a bit and stopped at "AMY'S COFFEE" so that Melanie could get a coffee; their logo had clearly been made to copy that of Starbucks; they love to copy things here! Then we stopped in to see the KFC here; yes they LOVE KFC here; apparently there are several in this city. Then we went to Centrymart, a Chinese department store. I bought some food, some more cleaning stuff and things I need for my apartment; things still on my list are a bath mat and bedding (man how I want my own bedding, sleeping on top of the comforter they gave me has not been fun!). Trying to find things at the store proved to be challenging since most things only have Chinese writing on them or have extremely useless things written on them; some things however get right to the point, like the "BALL HAIR TRIMMER" we found!
It took us forever to find a cab once we got all of our stuff. While waiting for a cab a bunch of men who drive bicycle taxis KEPT talking to us but none of them could speak English; eventually we just moved further down the street to catch our cab. We again dropped out stuff off and Melanie and I were off again, this time to the market. At the market I bought a bunch of veggies and some bananas and some what I am told are oranges but are green and are meant to be eaten green...so we'll see how that goes. After this trip I was EXHAUSTED!
I went home and started cleaning up a storm, my apartment is finally PRETTY clean; I wouldn't say its as clean as it can get, but I was tired! It took me forever to get the smell of raid out of my apartment yesterday; but after several candles being burned and the windows being open, I think its gone; or I may just be used to it now. After cleaning my apartment I again went to bed on top of all of the covers; cannot wait to get bedding (tomorrow hopefully at Walmart, yes WALMART)! This morning I finally unpacked my clothes and put them all away; I brought an impressive amount of clothes with me! If I don't put them all to use then I think I will send some home when my visitors come (my parents and my older sister Loretta are planning on coming to visit me while I'm here). After I unpacked I talked to my mom and Loretta and then I came to the office to finally get down to some lesson planning. I know what you're thinking; if I was planning on lesson planning then why the heck am I on my blog? Well its a very simple answer, I tried to photocopy something and of course the photocopier is in Chinese and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to use it; so naturally this was an excuse for a break. Not that I needed a break since once I got to the office I also talked to my dad for a half hour. I will go back soon and try to figure out the photocopier situation...maybe it will decide to work. I ate some of the veggies I bought from the market with a chili sauce I bought at centrymart for lunch today and it tasted pretty good! I have also had a couple of the bananas that I got at the market; yum! I think I am going to have to go back again tomorrow!
It was one of the other teachers Birthdays this past week so she wants to celebrate by going to KTv tonight. What is KTv you ask? Karaoke...obvs! So I think we are planning on going out for dinner together and everyone going to do karaoke; I am not sure I am ready to make a fool of myself in front of these people yet; they have only just met me! And if they hear me sing; I may have no friends for the duration of my time here...we don't want that!
Okay, now I am off to battle the photocopier...again; I have a feeling it is going to win...again!
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