Weeks One and Two

We finally rolled up to our hotel around 10 pm after a 12 hour flight to Beijing, a layover, then short two and a half hour jaunt to Chengdu. The airport in Beijing is spectacular. It dwarfs the massive Atlanta airport and has this really cool orange lattice-work ceiling. The staging staff warned us that officials would board the plane to check everyone’s temperature, and sure enough they did. They have stopped wearing the spacesuits-style haz mat gear they favored in the first stages of the outbreak and now settle for gloves and the plastic full face contagion screens. They also have the coolest thermometers ever. They look rather like bulky penlights and fit easily into a shirt pocket. To take a temperature, you just focus a beam of light on the person’s forehead, and it somehow reads the temperature. Nifty, huh?

No one had a fever, so we were allowed to disembark and begin to trek through the terminal. There was another “temperature gate” that uses infrared cameras to screen passerby. If you appear to be warmer than normal, they scoot you into a curtained area and slap a mask on you and take your temperature again. Several of our group, yours truly included, was afforded this extra hospitality, but we all came up clean. We even got to keep the masks as souvenirs!

The rest of the airport and flying was fairly uneventful, and we were all glad to get to our hotel. I pretty much crashed straight away. The next day, we began pre-service training (PST) in earnest. We would normally only stay in the hotel three days, but since we could be quarantined anytime in the next seven days, we will stay here a week. We don’t want to exposure our host families to contagion and possible quarantine. Also, our wonderful medical staff will be taking our temperature daily. They are going to know our foreheads SO well.

Training quickly settled into a routine. Multiple hours of Mandarin a day mixed in with TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) training and safety and health briefings. Most of the training is great, and I can tell that my Mandarin is improving rapidly. The people have been great to help us. In general, I think most of the merchants and vendors here are nicer to us than many Americans are to immigrants with flawed English. It’s been very pleasant.

Just down the street from our hotel, there is a TrustMart, the Chinese rebranding of Walmart (Walmart does actually own it.) It is surreal to go there because everything looks the same…but it isn’t. The store itself is much more compact and multi-level, but they sell everything! Notebooks, chopsticks, snacks, snake meat, you want it, they got it! The goods that look the same (paper, coffee, socks) are somehow just the tiniest bit different- enough to give you that Twilight Zone feeling. That being said, the store is fun and hectic and very useful.

We also got to make a trip to the American Consulate, something I’d never done before. They staff was welcoming and provided a surprisingly (and welcome) discussion of their perspective on expat life in China. They also invited us to speak at their English corner when we are around Chengdu. That could be fun.



Finally, I just need to say that our hotel is great. They seem a little baffled by the descent of 80 westerners with matching name tags, but they have been most accommodating and always answer our questions. The breakfast here is amazing and varied, including fried peanuts, potatoes, spinach with peppers, dried tofu and peanut scramble (very tasty!), and tomato and egg on a rotating basis. Everyday they have rice porridge, yogurt, steamed bread, tea, instant coffee, and milk. Not a bad way to start the morning! On Thursday we will move in with our host families. I’m not sure what the internet situation will be, so I will update when able.

From the air above Siberia...

Eight hours and 4150 miles into the flight, and Beijing is now within sight on our flight tracker. Hooray! I may regret saying this, but so far the twelve hour flight is much easier to handle than the five hour one. I think it's easier to sort of settle in for the long haul across the world and pace your energy, food, and activities than to sit tapping your foot and eating Biscoff as you go across the US.

I managed to sleep about four hours when we first got on the plane, so now I'm staying awake
until we reach our hotel in...ten hours. Not so bad. I have a half-baked notion that following China time on the plane will help with the jet lag. We shall see.

The PC folks in China ("post") are still concerned about H1N1--not that it is a threat to our health, but that some of us will be quarantined and miss the first week of training. We have no control over it, since even though none of us is sick, if we are within three rows on the plane of someone who is quarantined, we may be quarantined too. Fortunately, with their usual equanimity, post has a contigency plan. One of the staff will meet us in Beijing this year to help deal with any issues. They've also apparently prepared self-study packets for any unfortunate quarantinees (Is that a word?) to begin training on their own. Oh well. As they put it in our staging materials, it's just one week out of two years, and it would give us time to get over jet lag and get rested. Way to think positive!

Staging

Staging went wonderfully well. I was afraid that it would pass very slowly, but they did a good job of making the rather dull but necessary policies and procedures interesting through
interactive activities.


More interestingly, the people are fantastic. Everyone seems friendly and smart and personable without having to try too hard. Introductions were easy and not forced, and just about everyone has something inteesting to talk about.

We're staying in a Japanese themed hotel, so I'm going to go try the Japanese soaking tub in the bathroom. First, though, I need to rig some towels to cover the glass door. Don't need my roommate to walk by that :-)

The Journey Begins...

I'm off! We've been in the air about half an hour. My flight was delayed for thirty minutes because mechanics had to go aboard to reconnect the tubing to the oxygen tanks. I always find it particularly comforting when they have to perform unschedueld maintenance just before I board a plane. The good thing is they've sped up the plane so the flight time is 4.5 hours instead of 5 hours and change.

It's actually been a little bit of a disappointing experience, the first I've had with this airline. The in-flight entertainment system, including reading lights, flight attendant call buttons, tv screens, GoGo, and radio, are all broken. Also, the reading lights turn on and off randomly which wakes up the two year old in arms sitting next to me. She and her mom are nice, and the mom is smart--she gave the kid some travel medicine to make her sleep most of the way there!

We should be landing in about three and a half hours now, so I'll hopefully be off to the hotel and checked in with a tiny bit of time to do some sight seeing before registration.

Post-Commencement

Graduation (ahem, sorry, Commencement) was superb. They haven't changed much about it since the 1700's, so the meeting begins with all the ancient little shriveled alumni marching in and the county sheriff rides in on a horse and bangs his staff on the stage to call order. (Can you imagine being elected sheriff then finding out that part of your job?) It was lovely to have family there, and I was glad the ceremonies were solemn but positive and not sappily tear-jerking as many high school graduations are.

With all that successfully wrapped up (and friends still firmly connected via gchat), I'm back at my parents preparing to head to China. I've amassed most of the clothes I want to take but still need to get my pack, some khakis, a flashlight, etc. Lots of odds and ends to wrap up in the next couple weeks. Also, my grandpa might or might not be having surgery in another state, so that's added a level of intrigue to planning. Fortunately, it's not too serious, but it might be difficult to be away from home the last week I'm in the states.

I'm thoroughly enjoying following the China facebook group. Also fervently hoping we don't get quarantined like Mayor Nagin. I guess it wouldn't be too bad because the whole plane load of us would be together...?

Beginning?

According to the highly ritualized (and largely Latin) ceremony I will go through tomorrow, this is the beginning of my life--the commencement. But, I've done so much living already. It's interesting to think that of all that as...prologue.

Comrades!

Perhaps that is a poor title choice...Anyhow, I had a delightful brunch with two folks who will be in my Peace Corps group. We have very different backgrounds, but we also have a lot in common, and it made me feel much better when we were comfortable with each other quite quickly.

I did feel a little young and less experienced with living abroad. From the brunch (and from the Facebook group), I've noticed that most people have lived and taught abroad for at least a year. It will be interesting to see if my experience in teaching more academic English will even things out a bit.