Welcome to China

Not really day 1 but day 1 on my own. Without my amazing cohort of incredible Fellows to give me advice and make me laugh. Without the comfort of being in the expat part of town. Without knowing the language.

 I was picked up by the wonderful Li Tao, an admin assistant in the office of International Cooperation and Exchange Programs. He is a super sweet young 20 something Chinese boy, eager to practice his Chinese and do anything for me! His favorite expression of the day was, ‘my pleasure.’ When I asked for him to help me buy sheets- my pleasure. When it turned out my American credit cards don’t work at the knock off Walmart and he had to pay for me- my pleasure. When we walked for miles in the humidity and heat to find the right bank/ATM/Mobile Phone center- my pleasure. What a great person to be my first point of contact! He’s the best.

After I had a tour of campus, which is a five minute walk from my apartment, I found out that I was invited to a lunch by the dean of my department and the deputy director (Li Tao’s boss). I was sweaty and in gym clothes but when you are invited, you go! It’s all about the guanxi (relationships) here in China. We had a private room at the restaurant on campus and there were so many dishes on the table when I arrived. I was placed in the middle of the table and they toasted me many times. I felt really special, although really smelly. They were so friendly and wanted to know so much about my teaching experiences. I likewise had so many questions about the university. At the lunch was an English language graduate student named Sunzheng and we hit it off- a new friend perhaps?

 The neighborhood I have been assigned to live in is the Fengtai district of Beijing (think: South West). It’s farrrrrrr from the ex pat action and far from the city center. I was super nervous for this, as all the research I had done about Beijing was centered on a more popular neighborhood. However, the apartment complex is beautiful. The apartment itself is gorgeous- super big and airy. Not what I was expecting. I’m very satisfied. 

All that is left is braving the giant supermarket for, well, everything; garbage cans, forks, towels, toilet paper, bowls, pots, pans, etc. But everything here is super cheap and I love wandering the aisles to find things like Mr. Muscle instead of Mr. Clean.

I am the only foreigner in the area but all I get are lots of looks- nothing too bad. And just think, this is the authentic China I came for, even the street to my apartment complex is completely authentic.Sunday morning I looked out my window and saw what I thought were people exercising around an abandoned parking lot of some sort. They were biking and running and I thought, when in Rome… so I laced up my sneakers determined to find this ‘track.’ On my way down the street, I passed some women out for their morning folk dance routines, some men doing what I think is Tai chi but with swords, and lots of people walking their dogs. I turned the corner and bumped into a street vendor selling something that looked like a fried breakfast pancake. It smelled amazing. But it was time to run. I finally found the abandoned parking lot and joined the crowds as we jogged around the circle. The entire loop was around 2 miles so, not too shabby for a new workout space. Later on... If I’m feeling really courageous, I will go to the extremely local market next to my apartment complex. That’s a big if…. We’ll see :-)

The street on the way to my apartment complex.