I finally arrived in China after a few quick (looooong) stops in South Korea and LA. HOLY HUMIDITY. It’s so weird, but I just feel like I am in California, except everything is in Chinese, no one speaks English, and I am a minority. It hasn't hit me yet I wont be seeing my family again for a couple months or that I cant just go home when I am feeling homesick. But I miss them more than anything.
It took me about 33 hours to get to Ningbo from Vegas and man oh man did all those hours catch up to me. I didn't sleep at all while traveling here and I felt like my eyeballs were going to explode and I am surprised I didn't have a breakdown because I was so exhausted. I didn't sleep on my 14 hour flight from LA to Korea, it was too uncomfortable and an Asian man fell asleep on my shoulder so I couldn't really move. Korea was awesome, they had cool toilets. The airport was actually on an island (the airport was basically the island) so we couldn't leave to explore Korea in the couple hours we had to spare. But they did have a Hello Kitty Cafe and the cool toilets to keep us entertained.
China smells weird. The people have b/o, the air is so muggy from the pollution and humidity, and there is trash and waste every where. My environmental “save the earth” heart hurts so much every time I leave my apartment. Our leftovers from dinner (there’s always a lot of leftovers because us American girls aren't quite accustomed to chicken feet yet) are combined with the trash, like plastic cups and forks and all that. Then if you look out my bathroom window you can see where all the waste is dumped. It’s really gross and sad at the same time. We were walking into town today and there were just piles of rotten food and plastic bottles all over. I need to start an environmental movement here or something!
Our apartment is rather large. We have the entire third floor of the building. 10 of us live here and we still have empty rooms and closets. It makes me kind of sad we have all this empty space when we pass people living in shacks and such. I am sharing a room with the head teacher who is in charge of all of us. She is super cool and we share deodorant because both of her bags were lost at the airport so we've become good friends really fast.
We have one bathroom, it’s literally a bathroom. It’s a room of 8 showers made of completely clear glass. We haven't quite overcome the “you're naked and I don't even know you” stage yet so it’s been kind of awkward trying to stare at the ceiling and not touch butts at the same time. We have two other bathrooms that have one toilet and three “squatters.” The squatters are just holes in the ground and I haven't quite mustered up enough courage to use them yet. Except the toilet seat is cut in half and will slice your butt in half as well if you sit on it, so we really have three squatters plus a raised squatter.
We have a teeny tiny washer and no dryer so we have to hang dry everything, except its so humid so nothing ever really dries. We sort of have air conditioning but I would really call it that. Each room has a tiny swamp cooler except two rooms already went out and I feel really bad for those girls. Mine leaks EVERYWHERE. We had to put bowls and towels down to catch the water. I am really grateful for what little a/c we do have though because the heat is seriously killer outside.
We went into town today to get money from the bank and go to the market to get things we needed. We are already celebrities around here. People are not even discrete about taking pictures of us. It makes me feel bad for reading celebrity magazines back home because now I know how they feel always having people take pictures of them haha
The market was so overwhelming because everything is in Chinese and you have to divide all the prices by 6 to figure how much you are really spending. Then after like 30 minutes it turned into “do I really want to spend 81 cents on 20 hangers or can I find something cheaper?” I didn't dare venture into the food section of the market. I smelt that section from across the store and you all know how easily I gag.
I start teaching on Wednesday and am nervous about it, but I am excited to meet my kids. Im hoping I will get the youngest age group so I can give them their American names. I want to name one Leonardo for Breanna.
Im excited to experience the culture and help teach the kids english. I miss my family and pb and j sandwiches, but the mango ice drinks here are to die for.
