Same ole same ole this morning! We have gotten our routine down pretty well. I slept to my alarm again this morning so I’m thinking I have adjusted to the time change. So far the only struggle this morning is trying to print the exam for the afternoon class. The file we gave them from our Microsoft Word didn’t transfer into theirs. It turned into a really crazy and messy code. We tried doing a PDF file and that worked! While Art was lecturing, Taylor was working on the PowerPoints for the second class and I was getting the test ready for next week. It’s a little difficult teaching the same two classes for so long each day and every day. We don’t really get a break to plan for them so we are doing them as we go.
Taylor and I are trying to find a good place to shop to find traditional Chinese souvenirs. Some of the teachers today gave us this website and they said that would be the best way to get everything. Wuhan is a fairly new city so there isn’t a lot of tradition here to see or purchase. We will check it out tonight and see what its like! Apparently it’s similar to our version of Amazon. The Department Chair of Communication gave us a traditional silk fan today to take home. I feel bad taking it but they explained to us that if they want to give us something we should accept because that is how they show their appreciation for us. It was so sweet of her!
The test in the afternoon went pretty good I think. We haven’t graded them yet but the students said it was “ok”. So I hope that means good. After class, 2 of the students took us to buy train tickets for our trip to Xian this weekend. They also helped us book a hotel for when we get there. They are so helpful! Now fingers crossed we make it there ok. We have to take a taxi to the subway, take 2 different subways, then get off at the train station, take a train for 5 hours, then take a cab to the hotel. Just the 3 of us. Wish us luck!
Tonight some of the teachers took us out. The teacher who organized it all is the teacher for our afternoon class. They picked us up at the hotel and took us down towards the city center where the other campus of WPU is. From there, we walked to the metro and took the subway into the city. When we arrived we were just walking around looking for this new restaurant that they wanted to try. While going there was were walking by some street food vendors and everyone stopped. They tried explaining what the food was to us but we didn’t understand. They then took out there phones where they have the best translating app ever! All we have to do is talk into it and it will translate. They talk in Chinese and then the English words come up and visa versa. It makes things really handy. Well, the food they were trying to tell us about translated into “Stinky Tofu”. Ok, 1 I have never had tofu and 2 did I really want to try something that translated to stinky? Well I did…and it was pretty good! It was black on the outside and had some spices and a lot of cilantro covering it. I was pretty impressed.
We then walked a little further and we found the restaurant. They ordered us a bunch of food and we were able to try a lot. The best thing was the sweet and sour chicken…it tasted just like the kind you get back home! That was a breath of fresh air let me tell you. During dinner, another teach from the other campus walked in with bouquets of tulips for us! They were so beautiful…it was so sweet of him. Once we were finished eating we decided to walk down to the river.
I can’t remember what the river is called off the top of my head right now but it is the largest river in China apparently. It took us about an hour to walk there…even though they told us it would only be 5 minutes. We walked down a street that is kind of like Freemont Street. Lots of stores and no cars or bikes are allowed on this area. Once we got down to the river, it was beautiful! You could see the whole city skyline across the water. It was a great way to end the night.
Everyone is so friendly here and I have never felt more welcomed in a place. They enjoy taking us out and showing us their city. That awesome translator app allowed us to have full conversations with some people who barely speak any English. It was definitely one of my favorite nights since we have been here!
-Jami-
Jami and Taylor 