Adventures in China, one

Tuesday, December 6, 2011
9pm ish

It’s been less than 48 hours (I think) since I crawled out of bed at 5am to go to the airport, but much longer than that experientially. And so far, so good. All my problems have been bathroom-related, beginning with the lurching stomach I developed en route, which I categorized as a combination of end-of-term fatigue, jet lag, and excitement. Have been eating light meals and drinking lots of water. Also, I hate those squat-toilets. And I learned today that in China, even the familiar-looking thrones can’t have paper put in them.

The plumbers – who looked like plumbers all over the world and probably, though I didn’t see them from that angle, have The Crack – said that this problem started long before me, which made me feel a bit better. (Thank goodness I got suspicious early and went upstairs and asked my neighbor if I could use hers.) (Which was more complicated than you think, since she doesn’t speak any English and I don’t know the Chinese for “toilet” or “bathroom.” I do know “poop” but didn’t want to start saying that at our first meeting.) So as the plumbers left, I said “I didn’t know” and “Sorry!” in Chinese, two vastly useful phrases for any cultural travelers.

Also, the water guy brought me a big container of potable water today, one of those upside-down stand-around-the-water-cooler bottles, which is on a unit with a heater, since the Chinese like to drink hot water. (Students were between scandalized and amazed that I like to drink cold water : )

So now I am freshly pottied, showered and dried off, and I have a trash can, bath towel, and Kleenex from the underground “supermarket” a couple of blocks away.

None of these improvements – working toilet, drinking water, trashcan, second bath towel – would have been possible (well, at least not likely) without the help of four of my students. Two of them, Vivi and Carl, came over at 10 this morning to walk me around; they intended to take me to breakfast, but I didn’t want anything to eat, so we had a little tour and ended up at “our” building, where the department faculty gave me (bad) instant coffee, which I gratefully drank. I met for about 15 minutes with my whole class of 18 students, and we chatted. They were impressed that I know some Chinese and can write my Chinese name in characters, but what really blew them away was that I was writing with my left hand.

Carl and Vivi came back at about 4:30, I think, and made cell calls to get the water guy here (all in Chinese, none of which I understood except the word for “water”). They also waited with me for the plumbers and interpreted for them. (I had reported the plumbing problem earlier in the day to H. Xiao, the director of International Education.) Then they took me shopping and out to dinner and walked me back to my door. (I’m hoping that by the end of the week I can navigate solo from my apartment to the classroom, supermarket, and campus cafeteria.) (It’s not far, I’m just extremely braindead.)
While we waited for the water guy, we talked about Chinese characters; the students each wrote their names and told me what the Hanzi mean. Also we talked about different expressions: when someone doesn’t close a door behind him/herself, the Chinese say “Do you have a long tail?” rather than “Were you raised in a barn?” We talked about left-handedness; the Chinese think it’s a good thing, but it’s very rare. I told them about the European stigma against lefties (gauche, sinister, left-handed compliment).

Food: excellent and possibly way too spicy, both as advertised. Had “hot pot” for lunch, with mild, sweetish hot tea (“San Pow Cha”), while watching it snow outside, first snow of the season. Perfect. Dinner was a couldn’t-finish-it large plate of rice/veggies/mutton for about $1.15. Had bottled water, but before a student warned me about the cups of shui the server had brought, I had taken a sip. Stomach, beware.

Infrastructure: Apartment is spacious (2br plus a den, small kitchen, small bath, large central living area) but with cheap fittings, details. Can’t tell if the microwave works; I haven’t needed it, and the labels are all in – you guessed it. The tv doesn’t work, but I wouldn’t be able to understand it anyway, so mei wenti. All my appliances/electronics are working fine, and there is a possibility that I’ll have internet access at home by tomorrow. (Will definitely have it in the schoolroom.)

Roads are in good shape and relatively litter-free; they do drive on the right, and like ultra-friggin’ maniacs, worse than Boston or Atlanta. You have to be really careful not to be run over. What is this “yield” of which you speak?

An EPA badly needed; city air smells bad.

And so to bed – more soon. (Photo, the view out my kitchen window.)