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.

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.

I think I almost had a nervous breakdown. Then I remembered the fruit seller I had seen when driving through the campus on my first day here, but that was small comfort as I didn't relish eating only bananas for the next 9 months.  It was still 4am and I didn't think the fruit seller would be open yet. I was dying of hunger and could barely function, so I ate a clean kleenex to keep my hunger at bay.

I came to check on my computer and the battery had finally drained sometime during the night. I plugged it in again and everything worked fine. I made a short blog post (which you all saw earlier) promising to post later, and then proceeded to complain to everyone on my list of messenger contacts about how tired, hungry, alone and scared I was feeling. At that time I felt like I couldn't survive in China and I wanted to go home really badly.

I'm so lucky to have wonderful friends... They really came through for me with lots of support in many different ways. I'd especially like to thank James for helping me come up with a to-do list, as I was too overwhelmed and disoriented to come up with one for myself.

At 6am, I went to the fruit seller and negotiated a price for bananas and a tiny loaf of bread. It cost me 10rmb, or about $1.50 Canadian, for 10 large bananas and the loaf. It was quiet in the early morning as I walked back to my apartment quickly. But when I say it was quiet, I mean people were not shouting in concert at the top of their lungs and there were fewer people than normal all around. On the jogging track in the middle of the campus though, there were maybe one hundred people jogging. The outdoor sports facilities at the school are really high quality and many hundreds of students can be seen enjoying them daily.

I got back to my apartment and wolfed down my new hoard hungrily. On James' advice, I boiled my bottled water, even though it was bottled and supposedly already clean, and then washed down my meal with hot water.

At that point, the rest of the day seemed rather daunting, as I still had many necessities I needed to pick up in order to feel comfortable living here. That's when another friend really came through for me.

His name is Yan Yi Shu. He attends a college of traditional Chinese medicine on the eastern edge of the city and I met him before coming to China through my language learning website, www.livemocha.com . I told him I was tired, hungry and afraid and really could use his help. He said he'd come over by 1pm to help me out with anything I needed in getting settled.

He arrived a little late, as he had to eat something after a particularly grueling workout, but we met downstairs and, as I described my plight to him, he started nodding his head in understanding. The first thing we did was set out in search of a restaurant. A small loaf of bread and a couple of bananas were really not going to help all that much after not having eaten in the previous 24 hours. 

We walked through the campus in search of food and that's when I learned something interesting. Apparently, in China, it is perfectly normal to go up to complete strangers and chat or ask for directions. It's really different from walking the streets of Montreal, where everyone avoids looking at one another and actually talking to strangers is quite rare.

Anyway, he found out where the campus restaurants and cafeteria were located, so we headed over and I had my first taste of authentic Chinese food in China. I had a huge bowl of 鸡蛋面条 (ji dan mian tiao; egg and noodles, served in a chicken broth). I had previously been starving, so I couldn't eat a lot, but even though the restaurant was dirty and sketchy, these noodles were the best thing I have ever tasted. I don't think I've ever been that glad and relieved to eat something. On top of that it was delicious and really cheap (only 2.5 rmb, which is like $0.40 Canadian).

After I had eaten my fill, I showed him the list of all the things I needed to buy that I had prepared partially with James' help. He said it was no problem and that I could count on him for help. We set off together for what Chinese people call a "supermarket" which is actually a gigantic, sprawling complex with multiple floors. It's more of a department store really. The grocery store section of this particular "supermarket" was located in the basement. The ground floor up through floor 12 were dedicated to various individual departments. I bought a rice cooker on the twelfth floor, then headed down to the basement for food and cheaper supplies. It's a little strange that the grocery store sells many of the same sorts of things as the department store section, but at much cheaper prices.

Anyway, I got a lot of food and many different necessary items like towels, shampoo, dishes and utensils, a bucket for my mop (previously I had been using my kitchen sink to dip my mop in soapy water and clean my whole house. This is pretty symbolic of how my whole life here is one gigantic improvisation), a paring knife, some hangers for my clothes and so on.

I had so much stuff that it proved rather impractical to carry. We debated waiting for a regular bus, but eventually decided to try a so-called "BRT" bus. I have no idea what that stands for, but it indicates a special bus route that only exists on certain main roads of the city. The BRT bus costs the same as a regular bus (1 rmb, or about $0.15, or 0.8rmb if you have a bus pass). The difference is that a BRT bus gets a dedicated, fenced-off bus lane. We got back to the school in no time, but still had to carry many heavy bags. We were both tired, so Yan Yi Shu asked for help from some students. We were rebuffed by a couple of guys, but some girls we met just afterward took our bags, put them on the backs of their bicycles and then wheeled my stuff for me across the entire campus. Their kindness was really exceptional!

Yan really helped me to feel a little bit better about my prospects in China and when he left I told him I would help him with an English composition of his.

When he left, I ate another banana and collapsed into bed. I would be teaching the next day and I was still exhausted and somewhat stressed. I knew I couldn't rely on Yan to take care of me every single day as he lives pretty far from me. I also hadn't yet prepared my lesson plan.

I tossed and turned and couldn't sleep. I ended up sleeping only 1 hour that night, but I'm really grateful to my mom for sending me an email that I read when I finally gave up on sleeping. She really encouraged me. I got down to writing my lesson plan at about 4am local time on November 1st and finished at about 7:30am. I took a shower, and after I got out, Vincent called me and told me he'd be coming by to escort me to my class.

A new day was about to begin. 

And, if you haven't already guessed, there's a lot more to come... I just don't have time to write it tonight. I have class early tomorrow and I am still not used to the sleeping schedule here.

In the pictures, you can see the view from my windows at my apartment. They aren't very inspiring views, but in one of them you can see a portion of the sports fields in the centre of the campus. In another one, you can see out the gates of the campus and in the distance is the market where I bought my mop and toilet paper (the market buildings have red roofs).