First Day in China Part II

After class, all of us new teachers went to the cafeteria to eat. Boy, was that a new experience. Yes, the food was different, but that wasn’t the most interesting part…After taking only a few steps into the cafeteria, I looked around me and came up with a new equation in my head. Ready for it??

condensation + grease + shoes with no traction = the instant ability to moonwalk

or,

condensation + grease + shoes with no traction = the sudden urge to skate across the floor

Yes, the floor was nasty, and I had to be careful where I stepped. I'm afraid that one of these days I'm going to slip and end up covered in rice and spicy noodles. 

They gave us a massive amount of food. I couldn’t even eat half. I don’t think my brothers who can easily polish off an entire pan of brownies could have eaten all of the food I was given. Funny thing is, I was sitting across from a Chinese teacher who couldn’t have weighed more than 100 lbs, and she ate everything on her tray!!

Then, we got to go to the bank to set up our accounts. Thankfully, Mrs. Wong did everything for us, and all us teachers had to do was sign where she said to sign. While I was waiting, a man came up and started talking with me and another one of the teachers. He asked where I was from, where I work, and if I liked President George Bush. Once he asked me this third question, one of the other teachers (who happens to be fluent in Chinese) started talking to him. The man kept trying to talk to me again, but the other teacher started speaking to him in Chinese. After the man left, the other teacher said that the man was being a little flirty, because anytime they see a white female, all they see is “green card.”

We got our bank cards, and then went to register with the Police. I don’t really know what all of the stuff on the form was, as it was in Chinese, but the form that I signed was called an “Accommodation Registration Form for Aliens.” I think it was just to prove to the Chinese government that I had a place to live while I’m in China. While I was waiting for the policeman to finish up my paperwork, I glanced over at his computer and saw that he was watching an episode of “Sherlock.” Apparently BBC programs are popular all over the world.

Once we finished with the police, we went to dinner (We, meaning, Dr. and Mrs. Wong, Tristan and I). Mrs. Wong asked me if I would be okay with going to a very authentic place to eat. I said it was fine. We took a taxi to a decent looking restaurant, and then sat down at the table. Tristan and I let the Wongs do all of the ordering. While we were waiting for our food, we had a parade of people come into the restaurant to get a quick glance at us white people. All of the cooks came from the back to see us as well. It was quite funny.

We ended up ordering a bunch of different dishes. In the first photo, you can see the pork in soy sauce in front of Tristan’s plate, kung pao chicken between he and I, sweet and sour fish on my left, pork and rice cakes in the middle with the three spoons, spicy soup with tofu at the bottom of the photo, and some sort of green vegetable that I forgot the name of. Also, everyone here seems to love Pepsi, but I do not. So I am drinking water. From a water bottle. Because, again, drinking tap water is not a good idea.

 This is the sweet and sour fish. When I first saw it, I thought it looked disgusting, and figured it must taste the same way. However, I tried it anyways. It ended up being the most delicious thing on the table, and the most delicious thing I’ve eaten since I’ve gotten here.

To finish my day, I went back home, and tried to unpack and organize my stuff while watching Gilmore Girls, because that show always makes me happy. Hooray for Gilmore Girls!! Oh yeah, I also went to the market, but that’s a story for another day.