It’s a mess! Seriously, I’m not sure I’m going to be able to work this out. The Chinese government has made it pretty much impossible for people to get new visas or even extend current ones without returning to their home countries. I’m still looking into it, but it’s really looking like I’m going to be kicked out of the country come August 1.
It’s really awesome! I’m having such a great time in Nanjing.
Every morning and afternoon we have field trips to different places, all of which have been really interesting. I think my favorite so far was the day before yesterday, when we went to this big park. So many trees! And grass! And other green living things that I’d almost forgotten! We got to ride on a boat and cross a creepy bridge.
What was the most fun? On the lake they had these big, clear, inflatable balls… and you could go in them! It was so fun! They deflated it partially so I could get in, then reinflated it. It was amazingly difficult to stand once it was on the water, and even harder to stay standing. I can only imagine how ridiculous I looked. Next time I have internet on my computer I’ll try to post at least a couple pictures from it so you can all see.
I’ve also eaten a lot of new meats the past couple days. I get they aren’t really that exotic, but they’re still new to me. At the park place I tried goose and rabbit, which were both pretty tasty. Just this afternoon I had little eels. Whole eels! Yep, that’s right, I ate the bones, head, and everything. And you know what? It was pretty good. Quite crunchy. Give ‘em a try if you ever have the opportunity.
I’m finally getting around to telling the story!
Wendy Kang, the awesome person who set this whole thing up for me, gave me directions on how to get to the school. There was an issue at the beginning with the bus I was supposed to take only having Hangkongtian east and west when I wanted north, but I called Wendy and she said I could just hop off at the west and go from there. So I get off at Hangkongtianxi and try to walk 50m north. The first bus stop I reached didn’t have my next bus, so I thought maybe I needed to walk further. This is where having no sense of distance becomes a problem. I spend the next half hour wandering around trying to find the 654. Guess what? Turns out I was misguided and should’ve walked south, not north. Alas.
This second bus takes me a little ways out from the center. It was still the city, but a much younger part. Very much under development. Seriously, the road only had 3 lanes! Unbelievable! After I get off I have the hardest part of my directions left: walk 100m straight, turn right, walk 100m, turn right. Man, did I ever mess that up. I walked waaay too far. When I realized I couldn’t possibly be in the right area, I called the school for directions. In retrospect it doesn’t seem all that unlikely, but at the time I was surprised that no one at the school spoke English. Unhappily surprised. I can generally hold my own in Chinese, but Chinese over the phone? Wow. After much awkwardness and confusion we agreed to meet up back at the bus stop.
Turns out I needed to walk through a little forest and then a neighborhood to get there. A little confusing, no? It’s a neat area, though. The neighborhood looks really old. All one-story buildings, people doing laundry by hand, washing dishes outside, dogs running in the street. Kind of cool.
As for the teaching itself: it’s awesome. I work with one of the English teachers there. The kids are so fun and energetic. They all think I’m pretty strange and foreign-looking. The first day one of them asked me why I was so tall. They’re also all really shy about speaking English in front of me. It’s cute.