We are starting to get the hang over everything and our daily routine is becoming easy. Last night we fell asleep around 9:00 pm and I slept all the way until my alarm went off at 6:30 am. Finally…a full nights sleep no problem! Last night we were supposed to get everything ready for our classes today but that didn’t happen. So we tried to get ready early to get some stuff and that didn’t happen either. Instead, I was able to set FaceTime up on Art’s computer so he could finally talk to his wife. That was time better spent then preparing for class.
Our taxi experience was a little different this morning. There was a cab waiting right out of our hotel this morning so we were excited that we didn’t have to wave one down. We showed him the directions that the students had written out for us and he said IN ENGLISH “yeah I don’t know where that is”. He wouldn’t drive us! Let me remind you that our hotel is only about a 5-minute drive from the university. There is no way he didn’t know where it is…we have only been here for a few days and we even know where it is. He was just chilling in his cab, in the shade, and smoking a cigarette. He could have at least pretended to not speak any English; maybe we wouldn’t have thought he was lying to us.
We grabbed breakfast when we got to campus before heading to class. We had a Pepsi and a Chinese Pancake again. I think this will become our usual. The first class went really well this morning. Students are participating even more and asking questions. That is exciting to see. While Art was lecturing, Taylor and I were getting the work done that we were supposed to do the night before. I put together a study guide for the students because they have their first test tomorrow afternoon while Taylor created the PowerPoint for the afternoon lecture. Pretty successful morning for us and it flew by!
For lunch we all ended up getting almost the same thing. It was good but it was the first thing I have eaten that was way to spicy for me! I was warned that spice may be an issue here but I hadn’t run into until today. It was so delicious so I tried to keep eating but then I started to sweat so I had to stop. It didn’t help that it is really warm today. It is 30 degrees Celsius. It is also about 85% humidity so it makes it even hotter. Then the spicy food…I was on fire! After lunch we headed back to our office and spent about an hour there to hang out and cool off. Our AC in the office works so well!
So today during the second class, Taylor made me laugh so hard I couldn’t stop crying. Somehow ice keeps being brought in every class. Well, it came up again today and Taylor said really loud, “You like ass”. She totally meant to so “ICE”. Last night, we were explaining to the students the difference between “ice” and “ass”. With their accent they sound them same so we helped them distinguish between the two. I think that is how she came up with what she said but it was seriously the funniest thing ever. I’m laughing right now again while I write this.
After class got done, one of the teachers (Wendy) drove us back to our hotel. We only have reservations in our hotel until Friday so we needed someone to communicate with them to extend our stay. As she was talking to them, a guy at the front desk started to talk to Taylor and I. He told us that he is a senior at a university here and is majoring in English. He is currently studying for the GRE so he can go to New York for grad school. His English was really good so its nice to know that we have someone at the hotel to communicate with. He told us that he has seen us this past week and has wanted to say hi to us so we know there is something that speaks English there but it didn’t want to bother us. Taylor was pretty sure that he was trying to ask my out but we don’t really know what he was saying at times. Problem with our hotel is that they have a big conference there next week so they told us that the hotel is booked! Great…another issue. Well after going back and forth, the university talked to them and we should be fine to stay there the rest of our time here in China. Who knows though…maybe we will be homeless again sometime soon.
After we got the hotel figured out, Wendy took us down the street to get some dinner. It was an interesting area with a lot of cats and dogs roaming around. It’s hard to determine what sounds appetizing when you see stray animals wondering around in and out of the restraints. We finally just picked one. Good thing Wendy was with us, this restaurant didn’t have any pictures on the menu! She ordered us a beef and tomato dish, lotus root, and green peppers. I loved the tomatoes and the root and Taylor loved the green peppers. It was pretty good!
The wind started to pick up really strong on our walk back to the hotel. We all had our fist experience with dust and smog during the windstorm. It got pretty hard to breath and we all started coughing. Once we got back to the hotel, our lungs cleared up and we were fine. We spent a few ours getting an exam ready for tomorrows class and then headed to bed. We will see how the exam goes tomorrow for the students…I know they are really nervous. I’m sure they will do fine!
-Jami-
Jami and Taylor 