Now, ladies and gentlemen, it is time for a frustration blog. Where to begin…

Monica and I are moving out of our current apartment. We have to because our contract is up the first of October. We want to because our commute is over an hour and a half. We think our list of requirements is reasonable: western toilet, kitchen with stove, 1 bedroom, newer, 4,000. We were told that it would be difficult to find this in the area we wanted, so we expanded. We saw 3 apartments in a place not on our list. Only one of them kinda passed out test.

Before we went out the second time we were warned that sometimes real-estate agents will tell the landlords to jack up the rental price so when then “negotiate it down” they will still be making more money. Armed with this new information, we took one of Monica’s friends (and co-worker) with us. We saw 2 apartments. The first one was quite large and had 2 bedrooms in the are we wanted, but the apartment needed a lot of work and was in a sketchier area. The second had 1 bedroom, was newer, was in a complex with many other foreigners, and still in the area we wanted. It was just farther away than we were hoping. Both apartments were 4,300. Later, after the three of us were done looking for the night Chris, Monica’s co-worker, called the agency that had the 1 bedroom listing. He asked how much this one bedroom was. 3,200!!!!! 1,100 less than what we had been told! They had raised the price when they told us how much it was. We were fuming. Trying to cheat us because they think we are rich and we won’t find out.

Then we were taken by another friend of ours – who is also Cantonese – to see 2 apartments in the area we wanted. Both of them were no goes. The first one was OLD. Chinese toilet, dingy, smelly, the outside walk is not lit, mildew all over the ground on the footpath, UNSANITARY kitchen, completely boxed in by other buildings. Very big NO. The second one was 4,500. It was definitely nicer. 8th floor, elevator, safer area, better view, very clean. As we were walking out of it, it turns out that the cost is actually 5,000! What?! 4,500 is negotiable, we can get it within our budget. 5,000 is way too high. Not Cool.

And that was only the apartments themselves, not all the frustrations that come with trying to get landlords to show their apartments. This one did not call back, this one can only do after 7:00, this one said they can’t come today (15min before we were scheduled to see it.) Craziness. We have seen 7 places and still don’t have one. The ones that seem perfect for us get snapped up before we even look at them. We may go back to the building with the one apartment we really like (where the agent or landlord tried to cheat us) with Monica’s Chinese friend. He should be able to get us the actual price of the unit. Prayers for wisdom and guidance are needed…and prayers for a perfect apartment to fall into our laps would be appreciated.

I think the crazy thing for me is how the real-estate market works here. Coming from a family of real-estate agents, I am use to the American process of buying, selling, and renting houses. Here, nothing is similar. Apartments are gone within 3 hours of being posted and basically if you don’t get it right now then you don’t get it. Plus, the landlords and agents sometime don’t work together so well ( not just our experience but others also) so appointments are actually “maybes”. And agents are not quite as trustworthy as my family. Basically, if you are a foreigner in China and you need anything, HAVE A CHINESE FRIEND! They know actual value and will be able to communicate for you. Even if a person speaks Chinese (Mandarin or Cantonese) they could still get ripped off. Careful awareness is key.

There is HOPE! Once we are settled into our new place, picture will follow, for now…this is it. 😛

This post is being made specifically for one trip. The trip lasted one night and one day, but I will never forget it. Our journey began at 6:30pm Monday June 9th. Monica met me at the Starbucks close to where I work, and we excitedly made our way to the subway. First stop, Guangzhou East Railway Station. Here, is where we had our first mild panic attack. Visa? Check. Overnight bag? Check. Money? Check. Train ticket? Check. Customs papers? Ummmm…. which ones?! Basically, we had to muddle around with body language for a few minutes to retrieve the proper paperwork, but we still got it! We saw our train sign move and we got up and followed the crowd, hoping we were going in the right direction. Praise the Lord, we ended up in the boarding waiting room. Once we were comfortable settled into our train seats we could relax and watch the scenery pass by for the next two hours. Then the real fun began. Bags in hand, we followed the mass of people up the stairs and to the customs area. The line was incredibly short and it was our turn to be checked nearly as soon as we stood in line. Monica first. No problems! Me next. The customs lady does NOT look like she enjoys her job, still I smile – I really don’t want to look negative. She takes my visa/passport, looks at the picture, looks at me, looks back at the picture. Now I’m a little nervous. “Smile” she says. So, I smile. She is still not satisfied with me. Apparently, she thinks I do not look like my passport photo because the next thing she asks is “Have you lost weight since this photo was take?” “Yyyeeesss.” She give me a brief stare down before loudly and angrily stamping my passport. “Have a nice day” I call out as I pass her desk into the glorious realms of… HONG KONG!
Monica and I have safely made it to Hong Kong. Our next order of business is to change money and somehow arrive at our hotel. Money exchange was easy and after a brief confusion of the exact location of our hotel – island or Kowloon- we were in a taxi. “Bright lights and the big city” Monica and I were pretty wrecked by this point and though we tried to take in the scenery, it didn’t really sink in. By the time we reached our hotel, both of us were falling asleep sitting up. We get out right at our hotel door and stumble through the door. Once we are at the check in desk we are promptly told that the room we had booked for the night was no longer available! (2nd minor panic attack) However! the desk clerk quickly informed us that our room had instead been upgraded to the executive room, free of charge! YAY! (I had been praying that God would do something to make this trip extra special. He said yes, and it was awesome!) During the process of getting to the hotel, I had developed a massive headache and immediately hit the sack, so I don’t really know much else of what happened until the next morning.
Well over a dozen floors above the ground, our view in the morning was spectacular! Sunlight glistened off the thousands of windows and the air was clear. We were just too excited to enjoy the view for very long. Downstairs we went! And bought… Disney Land tickets! Yep, Honk Kong Disney Land! We fumbled around trying to find the appropriate mode of transportation (bus and subway) but we made it there in under 2 hours. In fact, we were at Disney before it even opened. I have never seen the opening ceremony at Disney before. So cute, the funniest part was the warning we heard over the intercom. “For your safety, please walk to your first ride.” I guess some people are just way to excited. 😀
Monica and I still hadn’t eaten so our first order of business was breakfast. Belgian waffle shaped like Mickey Mouse anyone? Disney know how to do it right! Commence the ride ridding. lol As it turns out, the Chinese are not overly fond of roller coasters. They are more ‘go see the attractions’ people. Thus, we practically walked onto every ride. Let’s just say, Space Mountain is just as fun the third time in a day as the first. Now, as a Southern California girl, I grew up around Disney Land (though my family was more of a beach time family), I still kinda know what Disney Land looks like. Hong Kong Disney and Disney Land are like siblings – definitely related, yet vastly individual. In a size comparison, HK is smaller. It has different “lands” in comparison to the Cali Disney; for example: Toy Story Land. In Toy Story Land you can take a leisurely ride on Slinky, parachute down with the army men, and even ride with RC. HK’s Adventure Land is more like a trip to the Old West than anything, including a ride through a prospector’s gold mine. We spent hours there going on rides and eating unhealthy food.
As our conclusion for the day of Disney we made a pit stop in the gift shops. I must admit, I’ve never been enough of a Disney person to buy the absurdly priced merchandise crowding the shelves. This trip was a whole different story. Both Monica and I spent more on souvenirs during this trip than both of us combined have ever spent in an amusement park before. We bought bags, pillows, watches, pens, candy, the most adorable polka dot umbrellas (which I’ve already lost…) and so much more.
Now, with our backpacks and purchases in tow, we were ready to make the long march back home. Luckily, taxies wait at the gates of Disney Land and we were able to grab one of those to take us back to the train station. We had a minor panic attack at the station when we bought tickets for a train that left in 15 minutes. We may have sprinted a touch… We made it in plenty of time, settled into our chairs, and prepared for a nap. Around four and a half hours later, we finally were able to cart our wrecked bodies into bed. Who knew fun could be so exhausting? 😀
Our next trip to Hong Kong is coming up in just a couple days and I’ll do my best to get a post up every two weeks.

And so it goes…(did anyone else sing this to the tune of a Michael Buble’ song?)

Since I lost the 3 out of the 5 posts that I have already written, (I know right?! so annoying. How fan!!! -chinese) I am going to skip re-writing them and just focus on what happened after the last one I wrote. Yes, I am that lazy. So, where were we… Oh yes! right after the trip to the zoo. So the month of June was fairly easy. Nothing over the top extraordinary happened either good or bad. Then here came the BOOM! July was wrought with unpleasant and wonderful adventures! So, as the old saying goes, “I’ve got some good news and some bad news.” Let’s get the bad news out of the way.
The first two weeks of July both Monica and myself were sick. We both caught a very bad cold, and I had the added pleasure of catching the flu… more than once! Plus, this one was outstanding in my mind, I got one of the worst cases of food poisoning I’ve ever had. My boss came in with some dim sum (Chinese dumpling filled with different meats, veggies, or beans) to share. This one was made with egg and rice. My initial thought, “Ohgood! I won’t have to fake like eating meat.” When I raise the dumpling to my mouth, I noticed it was..slimy? Let’s just say it contained way more grease than I was expecting. I took one bite of this and immediately regretted my decision. My body basically reacted to this bite in my mouth with an all out war.
My body: “don’t do it! don’t swallow it!”
Me: “But I have to! I can’t seem rude to my boss”
My body: “you will regret this”
Me: *swallowing*
My body: “NNNNOOOOOO!!!!!”
I apparently made a face that displayed my inner warfare, because all of my co-workers enjoyed a good laugh at my expense. About 30 minutes later I did not feel so well. I guzzled some water hoping to stave of the stomach churning sensation, but to no avail. 30 minutes after that I leaned over to my TA Lena and told her I was unwell. I had to leave the office and sit by the window. No good. 30 minutes after that: sweaty, shaking, lightheaded, stomach violently churning, I arose from my seat by the window and shuffled to the office in search of medication. I must have look like death himself because Lena gasped in horror! She turned to Ray, the head teacher, and asked her if we had any stomach medicine. We didn’t. By now, both of my coworkers are showing signs of deep concern, and I even hear the word “hospital”. ENTER: My boss. “Oh! What is wrong?! You are sick?!” By this point I can’t walk straight, and my boss has to guid me to one of the couches. She lays me down on the couch and tells me not to move. The first thing I see when I am mummy like on the couch is Lena literally running out of the office. I am told she is going to the pharmacy to buy medication. Praise the Lord for Lena. Ray is now hovering over me, and my boss is in a mild state of panic. (she probably believes she has just poisoned her only foreign teacher. lol) Ray’s solution to my stomach mishap? Mentholatum. She grabs a jar, and she rubs this stuff on my exposed belly. Let me tell you, having a coworker rub your belly…is weird. Lena was finally back with the medicine and after taking 2 different kinds of medication, I was able to sit up. The effects of the dim sum did not wear off until the next morning. It was quite a day.

And this was only the first two weeks…

Right after the horrible sickness, the sales ladies at my office dropped a bomb on us teachers merely asking a question. “Are you prepared for summer camp?” The responding question on all of the teacher’s minds. “what summer camp” Now we all knew that some time this summer we were going to have an English summer camp, we just didn’t know when. Aparantly the sales ladies had scheduled the camp and then they forgot to tell the teachers about it…. Summer camp started 2 days from when we all found out about it. We had to create 3 classes a day for 5 days a week for 2 weeks for three 8year olds using materials meant for 4-6year olds. If we had adequate time, no problem, but with such short notice, creating games and lessons for those kids (without offending them by using material meant for younger kids) was quite a challenge. The kids ended up being great kids and we had a lot of fun, it was just a tough more stressful than it needed to be.

One of the most unexpected and the most disgusting item on this month’s list was.. the infestation! Reese was at the apartment to pick up some food he had left. He picked up a piece of paper we keep the wifi info on, and SLAMMED it into the wall.
Me: Sooo, what was that for?
Reese: Did you know that you have mites?
Me: NO!!!!!
Reese: In fact, now that I’m looking, there’s an infestation. They’re covering the walls.
I was immediately horrified. I didn’t even put on real shoes before I dragged him out of the apartment. Straight to the front desk we flew! I begged them for help. Please kill the bugs. Abut 30 min later, housekeeping showed up at the apartment with 2 cans of raid. Basically, spray away. Reese and I BOMBED the house. There was so much raid in the apartment that we had to leave it for several hours. My horror knew no bounds, and he had pity on me. We walked to the little mall across the street and bought a couple dvd’s and had dinner. By the time we were finished it was safe to re-enter. The apartment manager was kind enough to let us sleep in another apartment that nigh, and they even scheduled to have our apartment scoured for us. It turned into a 4 day affair of the hibijeebies. We still don’t know where the infernal terrors came from. We are all clean people and we live on the 27th floor! These things look like dust specks, which is why we missed it long enough for it to get that bad. PTL the apartment is now bug free!
The End.

On to better things!

Our wonderful housemates, Cassandra and Tianne, now have their own apartment! It is a beautiful loft with one of the best views money can buy. From the 22nd floor you can see Canton Tower, the Pearl River, and the IFC building. Spectacular! I can’t wait to bring food and a movie to go chill with them at their new place!

Monica and I had the privilege to meet up with a friend of our from the States. Let me tell you, there is nothing as comforting than talking to a person who knows exactly what you are saying. I am the only native English speaker at the training center. The head teacher speaks English, but there is a big difference. So, most days are completely silent with a few sprinklings of Chinese “English”. Not only does she understand my language, but she understands the same things and doesn’t understand the same things that we do! We were a bit homesick this month, and it was such a balm to our souls to see her. We started our excursion with a trip to a Chinese tea shop. We ate so much food, and I still don’t quite know what most of it consisted of. After tea we still wanted to chat, so we meandered over to a mall and sat for a couple more hours in a Starbucks. We had a few encounters that day with the locals, some of the hazards of being a foreigner, let alone a group of foreigners, in China is that you are watched. Constantly. Everywhere.

You all remember Reese? He is now one of our favorite people here. He comes over for dinner, takes us to foreign food shops, and we even had a movie night. In fact, Monica and I were out at a place called Shamien Island and we went to an elegant, peaceful Starbucks as a reward for a long tough week. All of a sudden Monica calls out “Reese!” Lo and behold, there he was, and he had a friend with him. What was intended to be a quick hour long rest turned into a three hour social event. Melanie, Reese’s friend, was bright and energetic and fun to talk to. The conversation flowed so naturally between the four of us I barely noticed that time had passed. All of us got along very well.
Remember our friend Robert? He hosted a party at another friend’s “small mansion”. 5 words: All you can eat bbq! Bobby, another friend of mine and the owner of the mansion, invited some of his fashion employees and other associates. It was a great mingling party. Everybody was so nice! We meet so many people from all over the world. South Korea, France, and Italy: to name a few. And, since several of the are fashion designers or buyers, I now have some way to buy pants and shorts that will fit me here. Good food, great conversation, new friends. Awesome night.

WE FOUND MEXICAN FOOD!!! Legit! It was a wonderful treasure. A bit on the expensive side, but worth every penny. The costumer service was terrible, but that is a general rule here, so no big deal.

Today, August 3rd, my boss went out of her way to be nice to us employees. She went and bought everybody Starbucks! She even asked me what drink I wanted instead of just grabbing me something! I can count on one hand how often that has happened in my life, but it remains to be one of the sweetest things someone could do for me. It truly made my day! 😀

Hello there loves,
So, It’s been quite some time! I apologize on 2 fronts. #1 what a horrible way to start a blog. #2 I haven’t even been busy, I just forgot! Oops…
Well, we have officially passed the 100 days mark! i can’t believe it’s been over 3 months already. Some of the days fly by, some drag on…but looking back, time has truly gone by quickly. We are down to 8 full months left here in China! When we look behind us, the time has flown; when we look ahead, it seems as if we will never reach the destination. I know that once this years is up, I will comment on how time sped past me as I stood still, dumbfounded. Now, though, these 104 days have set us into some sort of a routine. Things that use to amaze are average now. What a testament to the adaptivity of humans. Of course, all this was probably made easier with the help of wonderful housemates. Tianne and Cassandra are very young, bright, energetic young ladies; so full of life and fun. They both take their jobs seriously and know when enough is enough. It is impressive that 4 women have lived together and not has a serious fight even once! God has truly blessed us here (and always.)
You never know what you don’t know until you meet people who know. lol what am I talking about? Well, just yesterday I learned all kinds of new things about the community we live in. For example: the management office has to give us free trash bags, if I buy more than 200 yuewon worth of stuff from the supermarket we get free delivery to the apartment, and the some butchers will inject the meat with water so it weighs more so they can charge more. Who knew?! The only reason I learned all of this and more is I met a delightful couple who have lived there for years. We met on the bus a couple months ago, and a several days ago they treated me to a traditional Chinese brunch, dim sum and tea. The couple, Katherine and Tom, are a Chinese American couple who lived in Irvine and San Diego for 20 years. At dim sum, they ordered all kinds of things I have never eaten before and for the most part it was a delicious meal. One item, however, stands out in my mind as the white, mushy gag inducer… It’s some type of gelled white, spicy carrot. It is nearly edible when hot; when it is cold…let’s just say I had to cover my face and fake smile. “It’s so good!” …. -_-‘…. The tea was traditional Chinese green tea and was outstanding. Each new dish was an adventure and I thoroughly enjoyed the meal, despite the mild gag reflex moment. Katherine and Tom then invited me back to their apartment for freshly cut watermelon, and proceeded to give me half their house as a gift! They are about 55-60 years old, if i were to guess, and they seemed to be treating me like a granddaughter or a niece. What started out as a brunch around 10, ended up taking util 4:15 in the afternoon. After they invited me in, they took me to the market. They introduced me to some of the people who work at the market, to make sure that they ladies knew me and would give me a fair price on my food! Good food, great company, great tips: all in all, it was a wonderful day.
*side note*
props to my awesome boyfriend! Because it took so much longer with Katherine and Tom than I expected, I had to miss our date (a date I have complained about getting just the night before.) and instead of getting angry at me; he completely understood. What a sweetheart.
*side note over*
About a week ago, all 4 of us girls got to go to the zoo with Monica’s co-workers. It’s not quite a zoo actually. It’s a safari park. All of the animals were up close and personal experiences. Monica even got to feed and pet a giraffe! She was smiling ear to ear and laughing while mildly scared. It was an epic moment. All of Monica’s co workers were very chill people. They had no problem with the 3 of us girls tagging along with them to the zoo, they included us in conversations, and were generally very pleasant. We saw monkeys, tigers, pandas, koalas, and so many other animals! Monica and Tianne even got to feed a giraffe! Whoever thinks that God does not have a sense of humor has not looked at His creation in a while. Have you ever taken a good, long look at an ostrich? or a baboon? These creatures are truly hilarious to watch. We had an awesome time!
After a long day at the zoo we went to a sub shop called…wait for it….Mr. Sub. lol It’s owned by a friend of mine and he invited us all to stop over after the zoo. let’s just say…oh.. my. word. that’s good food… Robert is a middle aged Canadian gentleman who is very kind. He’s great at conversation and his food is so good, that many, many people stop by to eat. Thus, it is an awesome way to get to know some awesome people! lol For example: Reese Shellman. An ex-journalist from Savannah, Georgia. He’s very open minded, a wonderful conversationalist, a gentleman, and an stupendous cook. We’ve been so privileged here to make such wonderful friends. 🙂

Well, it’s nearly been two weeks here in China. Monica and i are settling into our new lives moderately well I believe. Our first day here was crazy. lol After a 15 hour flight we were traipsed across the entire province by numerous modes of transportation. The unfortunate admin who had to pick us up at the airport helped us with our baggage. I was carrying/pulling over 100lbs. for about 3 hours. It was a killer day! Finally, after our three hour adventure, we were safely in our new apartment. We live in the Panyu District of Guangzhou China. Our complex, Clifford Estates, is just over two years old and has very little in the way of transportation to the outside world. There is basically one initial option when it comes to getting out, the Clifford Group bus. It is a fairly inexpensive way to travel, though, which is quite nice. It is also a comfy coach bus, yet another pleasant touch for our morning/evening commute.

We had one day to adjust; the day we landed. 😛 The very next day we started our training. We were in training for a little over 5 hours. Let me take a moment here to describe the hiring process. Our company finds schools that need English teachers and places its teachers in these schools. A group of 4-5 teachers come all at once so the schools can still choose which teacher they want. The group of teachers has to go to each school on the list and give a “demo,” – teach a 10-15 minute sample lesson in front of the principal. It’s a tad stressful…

Monica and I were told that we may have a demo on Monday (our 3rd day in the country), and if we did it would be in the afternoon; most likely, we wouldn’t have one until Tuesday. Around 9:00pm on Sunday we were informed that we would have a demo the next morning and be ready and in the lobby at 9:00am. We were freaking out! That was not what we were expecting!! Luckily, God gave us wonderful housemates. One of them took 2 hours to help us with our lesson and give us games and general tips! I stole all of the ideas i was given. lol We were a hardly conscious, bundle of nerves the next morning. Our jet lag was severe and we had stayed up later than originally intended to get our lessons done, and had arisen earlier than expected to be ready for the demo. Praise the Lord! We both did rather well and within 3 days of demos we both had jobs at pre-schools!

The school I work at is newer and very small. At the start, I will only be teaching about 6-7 classes a week. After my boss feels I have a firm grip on my English classes, I will begin teaching art, reading, and music – learning each one as they come. This is a very think-on-your-feet kind of job. The age range that I work with is 0yrs – 6yrs. So, I will have infants in the music class and 2-6 yrs in my other classes and the music class. I had the privilege to sit in on another English class here. I saw the words of my house mate played out live “you just have to think that they are a bunch of monkeys and that you are the king monkey.” It is an unbelievably accurate representation of what it seems will be my every day life. 😛 The small children, however, are adorable, which may act as a buffer for me. lol The only vice of working here is the vice of where I live. My commute every day is about and hour and a half one way. I leave the apartment at 7:50am and get to work just after 9:20. Including travel time, I have a 12 hour day… it’s a bit rough, especially on the “i want to eat” front, but, it will all be figured out in time!

My co-workers seem kind so far. We are an office full of women. I have yet to meet everybody, though, I am sure the others will be just as sweet. The only downside to the people I work with is, I seem to be the only fluent English speaker here… Thus my days, so far, pass by in relative quiet due to lack of ability to communicate. It would seem that I need to learn Mandarin as quickly as possible! My boss would also like me to have a basic understanding of Cantonese and Japanese, so this year will definitely be a year of growth!

Lucky for me… there is food a plenty around where I work including: subway, burger king, and a hagen dazs cream store! Also, right across the street from my bus stop home, there is a cafe called Cafe Bene that I went to often while in Korea and also a Starbucks! Coffee…my addiction. 🙂 Speaking of food… Our apartment complex is basically a self contained city. There are about 110,000 residents, a school, 2 hospitals, and a large market area. Think mini-store strip mall. It has everything there: cloths, shoes, bakeries, cafe’s, restaurants, foreign grocery stores, a mini walmart-ish store, and a farmers market style in-door market area. We buy our fruits and veggies at the farmers market and we go to the grocery store for things like soda or something sweet. 😀 With our working schedules it’s going to be harder to cook for ourselves every day, so we’ll be eating out much more often than we originally thought. It’s not as bad as you would think, though. I went to subway today and got a 6in. sandwich by itself for 15 yuwon (about $2.30). We’ve both already noticed a huge shift in our normal eating habits. Not necessarily bad, just sudden. 🙂

If anyone is looking for picture, you’ll have to look to Monica for that. I fear I have been lax about picture taking so far. I will try to remedy this in the future, for the moment, however, Monica is your girl! Anyway… that’s all I have for now. I’m sorry this post is so long everybody! Today was the first day I have had enough time and wherewithal to sit down and type this out. The jet lag still hasn’t quite worn off… So, in the future, I hope the posts will be shorter; for this one you all can deal with it! 😀

Lots of love from the traveling teachers!

– Britt