December 25 - Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from China!

I have been extremely busy for the last little while with everyone seeming to want to celebrate with me. I've got a bunch of things I'm planning to share on here, but it may only be possible in a few days from now.

I'm celebrating today with some students who will come over to make me traditional Chinese food. Yesterday, I had lunch with the vice-president of the school, and was introduced to the three-glass toast. Three wishes for good luck - three glasses of wine in quick succession to go with them. Needless to say it was an interesting lunch. They even gave us a Christmas gift. I'm now the proud owner of a brand new paperweight. Not sure why they thought of giving us paperweights, but what can I say.

Hope you all have a happy holiday.

December 18 - Informal attendance at a formal gala

Last weekend, I was asked to be a judge for the finals of the College of Foreign Studies English debating competition. I told you about judging the semi-finals in a previous post. Irene (she refuses to tell me her Chinese name) took me to the previous competition, which was held in an office building's conference room with maybe thirty people in attendance. The setting was really intimate and quite relaxed. That was, at least, until the debating teams really started ripping into each other.

December 13 - Chinese Lessons

I've started taking Chinese lessons on Wednesdays and Thursdays. I only get 4 hours of instruction per week, but it's much better than nothing. Plus, it's all free! I couldn't ask for a better benefit of being a foreign teacher here. I have two different classes. One class is for grammar and reading, the other is for speaking. Each class is two hours long. My teachers are very nice young ladies who are fun to talk with. They're serious about teaching me and they prefer that I speak only in Chinese with them, but they also like to chat and experiment in Chinese conversations rather than just stick with the textbook all the time as I have seen some other Chinese teachers do.

December 9 - Singing Patriotic Songs and Busy Weekend (Warning: Epic Post)

I had planned for a relaxing weekend on the fourth and fifth after feeling sick on Thursday and Friday, but life had other plans for me. After class on Friday, I was invited by a young woman to go see her 功夫 (gong fu; kung fu) class on Saturday and then by Arthur to another impromptu basketball game (Arthur being the guy who first invited me to play basketball a little while ago). Even though I was feeling quite under the weather, I agreed to both. Arthur and I planned to meet at 3 o'clock, but we ended up missing each other in an unfortunate coincidence. I wasn't at the basketball courts when he arrived, so he set out to my apartment. I left my apartment and headed for the basketball court, arriving at 3:05, but we took different routes. As a result, he ended up waiting at my apartment for 10 minutes then heading back to the courts, while I waited for 20 minutes at the courts looking for signs of him. When he finally showed up, we even managed to miss each other briefly at the courts themselves, even though I was standing right in the entranceway. I was facing the wrong direction, since he took a route I wasn't expecting and he somehow missed the tall white guy standing right in front of the one and only (small) entrance to the basketball courts.

December 1 - Checking in

I've just learned that my last day of classes for the semester will be on December 24. My parents are considering coming to see me here during the Christmas break, so finishing on Christmas Eve will be perfect. I've still got to give my students a final exam though, which will take place in the following two weeks or so. Either way, after I finish marking exams, I'll be off until the end of February. In China, they don't do one long four month summer break like they do in Canada. Instead, they split the breaks into two month periods with one half in January and February and the other in August and September. I'm not sure how the students can handle the heat of June and July, but apparently they cope. Also, June and July is the rainy season in China, so I guess that helps too. It's not much fun to be on break if it's always raining.

November 24 - The Bad Road - before they made it worse

I keep forgetting to upload my pictures in the same post. My fault. I'll try to be better about that.

November 24 - The past two weeks (Part 3/3)

In my last post, I wrote December 10th. I meant November 10th. My mistake. I'd edit the post, but I cannot since the blog is blocked in China.

As I said earlier, it's a really good thing that I have a bike that is in fairly good working condition. A couple of days after my bike was repaired, I decided to bike to work. It's a good thing that I did because, overnight, the city had torn up a certain length of one of the two lanes of the street between me and my workplace. At the time, I was really amazed with the astonishing efficiency of Chinese workers. Unfortunately, this street happens to be an extremely busy stretch of road, particularly during morning rush hour. It also eliminated the option of taking the bus. 

November 21 - The past two weeks (Part 2/3)

One of the things that had been bothering me a lot is self-sufficiency. I can cook for myself well enough, but ordering food was a problem. Since my first day here when I felt like I was all alone and might starve, food has become a more important topic for me. In some ways, I always took for granted that food would always be available. Now I find myself planning my entire day around how next to secure a meal. For much of the first week, this wasn't a problem. My students took me out and paid for every meal except breakfast, and I was eating bananas for breakfast every morning.

November 20 - The past two weeks (Part 1/3)

So I've been here for three weeks now, and while my first week here was pretty tumultuous, the subsequent two weeks have certainly not been lacking in excitement either. Here are some of the highlights, lowlights and just plain weird things that have happened to me:

November 18 Pictures of the People's park entrance

These are the only pictures I have of the park. I'll try to get more in future.

November 18 Downtown

I realize I haven't been able to keep up with this blog as regularly as I would like. So many interesting things happen to me here that I don't have time to write them all down. I'll try to get the highlights in once in a while. Though, for the sake of completeness, this will be my last ultra-detailed post about a single day for the next little while. Maybe there will be more in future, but I'm pretty busy here, so we'll see.

On Saturday the 6th, I went downtown for the first time with a large group of students and Yan Yi Shu. We went together to see the memorial pagoda in Er Qi square (二七) which commemorates the first workers uprising against the 国民党 (guo min dang, or Kuomintang as it is known in the West). The pagoda looks magnificent, but it appears lost and a little bit lonely in the vast square surrounded by huge skyscrapers.

November 15 - Medical Check

On the 5th, I was told to meet Vincent at the East Gate of the university to head over to the southeast corner of the city for my provincially mandated health examination. When I arrived there, I was told we were waiting for someone else to come along with us for his health check. I was pretty excited to meet my first fellow 老外 (lao wai; foreign friend).

Vincent and I waited around for him for over half an hour, with Vincent finally going to check a different gate of the university in case they got mixed up. He finally did show up and turned out to be a pretty hefty looking guy from Ghana.

November 10 - An evening with some students

On Thursday the 4th, after class, I was asked by two girls in my class if I wanted to be a fashion model! They wanted to set me up for a photo shoot that was to take place today (Sunday). Even if I don't get paid for it, I don't care. I'm not really looking to be a model and I'll have free professional photos taken!

After that, I was invited by some students to go out to Henan Provincial Museum, which is really close to my school and is supposedly the 7th most important museum in China (although I have no idea how that ranking was worked out). They took me out for lunch first at the same place my students took me on my first day of class. It seems that restaurant is pretty popular among the students. It's called "A-liren" and it's a chain, as I saw another one downtown yesterday. Anyway, this time I made a slightly better go of things and didn't splatter everything everywhere, though I still got tomato soup all over my face.

November 7 - Zijingshan with Yan Yi Shu

On November 3, after class I met with my friend Yan Yi Shu for the afternoon. We went by bus to Zijingshan, which is a traffic circle at the geographical centre of the city. Zijingshan is the name of a small park at this intersection of 4 different streets. As the geographical centre of the city, Zijingshan also serves as the sort of Grand Central Bus Station for the city. Most of the city's buses pass through Zijingshan at some point or other.

Yan wanted to take me here because he knew of a particularly good restaurant in the area that had fairly good sanitation and excellent food. I have no idea what the name of the place he took me is called, but it certainly deserved his praise. The food there was wonderful. A particular highlight was a dessert pastry shaped kind of like a small egg roll, but with tastier pastry and filled with a sweet tarot cream. I'm really tempted to go all the way back there (even though it's pretty far) just to eat those again.

November 7 - Transportation

I woke up at the crack of dawn on Tuesday morning. This has become a habit. I, the consummate night owl, have been going to bed before 9pm and waking up before 6am. For some strange reason, even though I am sleeping well, I feel a lot more tired than usual. My mom suggested it might be because I am still getting used to having a consistent work schedule.

I had to get up early so I could be ready for my first class at 8am. My students had shown me which bus I needed to take on Monday, so I walked over to the bus stop. My bus arrived really quickly. Bus service in Zhengzhou is exceptionally frequent compared with Montreal. Zhengzhou doesn't have a subway/metro yet, but it's currently under construction with 5 routes planned in all. The central east-west line is expected to be completed in 2013 and the central north-south line will be completed in 2015. Until then, buses are a really great way to get around the city. At rush hour, certain buses are really crowded, but in general it's not too bad. It costs 1 yuan ($0.15) to ride the bus, or 0.8 yuan if you have a bus card.

November 4 - Meeting some of my students on Nov. 1st

About an hour before Vincent came to pick me up, I went to take my first shower in Zhengzhou. I couldn't take a shower previously, because I had no hot water. It was finally turned on again (it had been off while the apartment was vacant) and I could wash away the grime and become a new man. When I took off my shirt, I immediately discovered that I was indeed a new man, in a very bad way.

November 3 - Night and Day (The First Two Days) Day 2 (October 31)

I woke up at between three and four in the morning, still exhausted, but also starving and panicked about looking for food in a country where I don't speak the language nearly well enough to get around. I lay there in bed, my heart pounding. My thoughts whirled. I was tired, lonely, hungry and afraid. My contact had abandoned me, I hadn't slept well and I had not eaten in 24 hours. My stomach was gnawing at me in pure torture and I had to go to the bathroom repeatedly as something I ate on the Korean Air trip to Zhengzhou did not agree with me. Finally, Vincent hadn't even told me at which building I'd be teaching. Furthermore, according to my schedule, I was supposed to be teaching 4 different subjects. This wasn't what I had signed up for and I didn't even have textbooks for half the subjects.

November 3 - Night and Day (The First Two Days) - Day 1 (Oct. 30)

So I finally have some time to write a nice, extremely long blog post for you all. As the title says, life here is pretty crazy.

October 31 - Arrival in Zhengzhou

I'm here. I'm safe. I'm overwhelmed and exhausted by all the things I have to deal with immediately. I don't have the energy to post more at the moment, as I am going out in search of food. I haven't eaten in 24 hours and was reduced to eating a clean kleenex just to keep the hunger at bay. This place is insane. I hope I am up to the challenges I am facing. I'll post more about my first couple of days here at a later time, once I settle slightly (hopefully).

October 30 - In Seoul

I'm currently at the Incheon airport. This is my first time ever being outside north America. It's 3 in the morning and I have the whole place to myself.

October 28 - In transit

I'm currently sitting in Pearson Airport in Toronto. I'll be here for the next 2 hours then I'll be on a flight to Seoul.

I'm using free wifi in the airport, which begs the important question: why is wifi free in Toronto and Vancouver airports, but $10 in Montreal, especially given that the company "Boingo" (what a weird name haha) runs the wifi service in both Montreal and Toronto?

Anyway, I'm the only white guy on the flight apparently. Most people might be weirded out by that feeling of being such a tiny minority, but for some reason I find it interesting. Maybe unconsciously I'm an exhibitionist and like being the only unique person around (in some way).

My flight to Seoul will be a long one, so I hope to sleep and wake up in Korea! My first time in a country outside Canada or the USA.

So far I've had no problems. I'll try to make another short post once I make it to Korea, but if not, I'll get something out from my new place in Zhengzhou. In the meantime, by special request, I'd like to give a little shoutout to my brother, who gave me the best hug before I left!

October 26 - This is starting to feel real

On Sunday night, my father surprised me late at night by coming in and dumping a bunch of things on my bed. There were bandages, there were band-aids, a first-aid kit, water purification tablets, and a water bottle with a purification cartridge inside it that is good for purifying 100 litres of water, among other things. It made me feel like I was going to the wilderness instead of a city in China. Not that his fears are unfounded - it was recommended to me that I boil any water for 20 minutes before drinking it or cooking with it - but I found it really funny that he just came to me as if to say: "Here. Don't die." My mom, on the other hand, contributed nail scissors and clippers. Very practical.

October 22 - Flight Plan

I've just received the flight itinerary from my employer. I'm now confirmed to be leaving on the 28th. Hopefully there are no more problems with my documents and visa acquisition before then.

I'll be flying from Montreal to Toronto, from there to Seoul, Korea by Korean Airlines and then from Seoul to Zhengzhou. If we don't count my waiting times between flights, the total flight time is: 17 hours and 25 minutes.

I'll also be waiting in Toronto for 3 hours and in the Incheon airport for another 4 hours.

Total time in transit: 24 hours and 25 minutes

I guess I can technically say I will have been to Korea too!

October 20 - Insurance

First, I'd like to say that today I was supposed to be in China. To any of my friends who have been expecting me to have left already, you'll just have to be stuck with me for a while longer. On the other hand, if you haven't had a chance to see me before I leave, now is the time!

So, my latest adventure has to do with the acquisition of expat medical insurance (yes, "expat" is apparently a technical insurance term). I knew I had to get insurance, but it was written on the website of the recruiting company I was hired by (Footprints Recruiting) that my employer would be purchasing expat medical insurance for me, so I didn't worry about it very much.

That was a mistake.

October 19 - Flight Delays

Yesterday, more friends took me out to lunch to see me before I leave, so naturally the discussion turned to how I could possibly get my visa in time to get to China for the 20th if it takes a day to get a visa and I had not yet received my letter of invitation. Well, after finishing our smoked meat sandwiches, the answer still wasn't readily apparent, but today I got a definitive answer.

I received a courier today saying that I, Mr. Yu Hong Chen, was to be congratulated on my acceptance to the pre-MBA program of my Canada-based employer (I'm being paid by a school in Canada which is running a program at the university in China). If my TOEFLs are good enough I can even be admitted, following the pre-MBA, to a full-fledged Canadian university's MBA program!

Since I received the wrong documents, I immediately sent an email to my employer. They replied that they knew about the mistake and that the correct documents will be arriving tomorrow. Furthermore, they have booked a flight for me!

I will be leaving for China on Sunday, October 24.

Now I just need to get the visa and do my last minute preparations and packing. So excited!

EDIT: So, apparently my documents may not be arriving tomorrow. My employer accidentally sent them to Hong Kong instead of my house. They've put my flight on hold until the documents can be sent to me and I can obtain my visa.

October 17 - Luggage Adventures

Yesterday, I had a fairly productive day. After roughly three hours sleep following my last blog post, I got up in the morning in a bleary-eyed stumble-fest trying to figure out what I could buy last-minute before lunch time, when I was scheduled to meet some friends at Le Petit Coin du Mexique, near Iberville metro.

Skipping breakfast and not sleeping left my mind spinning furiously on all cylinders but with very little productivity. Finally, my mom said: "Go get your hair cut and buy the razors you'll need for shaving. And stop stressing out so much," at which point I realized I was doing this nervous tic I have of thumping my foot on the floor faster than a bunny in danger or a heavy metal drummer on speed. I stopped thumping my foot and obediently went out the door.

October 15 - Visa News

I've just received word that my letter of invitation is in the mail, which means that sometime early next week I will be making a trip to the Chinese embassy in Ottawa, Ontario. It's about a two-hour drive from here, so not too bad. I have to be there at 9am (preferably earlier, as I hear there is a huge lineup) to apply for same-day service.

This all means one thing: it's time to go shopping and then pack. Does anyone have a preferred type of baggage they bring on all trips? If so, please let me know!

October 15 - About my Trip

I'll be spending the next nine months working at a university in Zhengzhou and exploring the city and most likely other parts of China as well. I've already got several ideas of places I'd like to visit while I am there. I'll talk about these places more in detail when I actually get to see them, so I can share my impressions of them with you.

This preposterous plan to go to China was conceived, rather casually, about 6 months ago when I was feeling discouraged with my job search in North America. You see, I graduated right around the time everything collapsed in 2008-2009. Not only that, but my previous experience in the working world left me with a strong determination to find work that would be both stimulating and interesting.

With this strong, but still vague determination in my head, I found myself going through my Chinese lessons when it hit me: learning Chinese + need job = go to China!

October 14 - Before Leaving

It's currently 5:19am as I write this. I point out the time because I've been practicing staying up all night right up until noon in order to get used to the twelve hour time difference between here and Zhengzhou. An entire month of sleeping completely crazy hours just so I can avoid jet lag. Yep.


Of course, this might be more impressive if I actually slept at normal hours on a regular basis. But I don't. I'm a night owl, sadly, and, with my twisted sense of logic, staying up all night until noon is actually an attempt to fix my poor sleeping habits. I'm a lost cause.


Tonight though, I'm having problems staying awake. For some reason I was having a lot of trouble keeping my eyes open, so I decided to write this here blog post as a way to stave off lapsing into unconsciousness. So far it's working.