CD21: We Liked It So Much, We Went Back For Seconds

Last Thursday afternoon, around 2pm, we were notified, through the infamous "Chinese Grapevine" that we would be going back to Nanchang the following day. This came as a surprise as most of us had seen Bob on separate occasions that morning and nothing had been said to any of us. Then, someone's co-teacher told them and it worked its way down the line. We were not happy about being kept in the dark or for the short noticed, so we attempted to contact Bob directly. This did not work. I was then contacted by my co-teacher, who said she was told to get my passport from me. Should got really explain why and just said that Bob wanted it, so I said no. We told her, Olina, that we wanted to talk to Bob. She told us that he would be unavailable as he was taking a "rest". We then told her that we would not be handing over our passports to her and wanted to speak to Bob about it directly.

Some hours later, Bob arrived at my apartment and we had a small powwow. He told us that he had put in for us to get a van to go to Nanchang and he had only found out that morning that a van would be available so we would be leaving at 6am the next day. He seemed confused as to our questions as to why we were going – apparently we weren't supposed to be asking questions. Either that, or he didn't want to tell us the reason as he knew it would piss us all of. All 6 of us had to go to Nanchang to get our medical testing done so that we could get some little health clearance book that we have to carry with us when we travel.

This might not seem like a big deal to you, but considering the fact that most of us spent close to 300 USD getting all of our medical testing done in our home countries, per their requirement BEFORE we came, we were not pleased at having to repeat the process. Bob tried to console us with, "You will not have to pay". Super. The classes that we were supposed to teach on Friday needed to be rescheduled, and we could not eat after dinner because of whatever testing they would be doing on us the next day.

Sidebar: Our first Chinese lesson was Thursday night. Unlike last year, this year we do not get our own books to use and instead have library books. We also have a teacher who told us immediately that her first choice was to work for CCTV (the major TV network here) but her language test was only a 92% so she was left being a teacher. I feel really bad for her. The class went okay. Chinese people are amazed at the fact that Americans do not know the phonetic alphabet.  That is how they teach English here so everyone knows all 52 sounds. She was trying to teaching us Chinese phonetically which was slightly difficult as it felt like learning two things at one time. She briefly covered the 4 tonal sounds in the Chinese language, and something called finals (without really explaining what they were), then would say a sentence with some 2 letter word and ask us to figure out what she meant. It was pretty frustrating. As for the take away message, I am not sure how much being able to say "I love lotus root" is going to help me in my day to day needs while in China.

Back to my main story: the day from hell. Andreana and I ended up staying up way too late Thursday night drinking wine and doing voice overs for Chinese movies on TV. 6am came too soon, but we were all outside and ready when we needed to be. I called Bob at 6:15 and asked him where he was – he said he would be another 30 minutes. Note: it is totally typical here for time to pass differently than it does in other countries and if you are going to be late, it is not customary to tell anyone who might be waiting for you. Andreana and I went back to bed. We were on the road by 7am – all hungry, tried, and disgruntled in general at the whole situation.

Nanchang is approximately 3.5 hours away from Pingxiang and we were about 2 hours from Pingxiang when the van broke down. As per usual for me, I was totally passed out and woke up in a repair shop with men hammering away underneath the driver's seat to identify the problem. They told us they would not be able to fix the van quickly for some reason or another and we ended up waiting there for 2 hours for 2 cars from the college to drive out to meet us. (Please keep in mind, it is now about 11am and none of us have eaten for about 15 hours.) We take the cars into Nanchang and arrive at the medical place around 12:30.

I think the people at the medical place were waiting for us to get there. They rushed us through the whole thing, yelling instructions at us in Chinese, slapping devices onto us, yanking up our clothes, and shoving us about in general. The filled out the EXACT SAME forms we had all had our own doctors' fill out and did EVERY single test over. I did have the joy of the added internal organ sonogram…or at least I think that is what it was… Hopefully I have not contract syphilis or polio in the last month.

There was no question that we were going to Pizza Hut for lunch, and that is exactly what we did. By the time we got to the restaurant we were feeling sick, angry, and beyond hungry. We hadn't eaten for 18 hours and most of us had not slept much either. Bob tried his first piece of American pizza and hated it. Sadly, the Pizza Hut at 2pm was the highlight of the day and doesn't make up for what happens next.

Bob tells us that we have less than an hour to wait before the van is ready (they had gotten it to Nanchang) and then we would be headed back home. "Less than an hour" turned into 3 hours and it was 5:30 before we left the city. This time, we made it maybe an hour before the van broke down. Apparently the problem was overheating, and it had not been solved. Bob made us all pile out of the car and wait by the side of the road while it cooled down. The driver then poured some water into the radiator and we were good to go – for about another 30 minutes. We again had to get out of the van, the whole while it is making death throw noises, and walk along the dark highway about 10 minutes to a station area. There, Bob tries to make nice by saying we are stopping for dinner.

By that point, we don't really give a crap as we should have been home, not at some place 2 hours from home. We eat dinner and hear Bob say no one from the school can come to get us, that the van won't go and he isn't sure what to do. We hang out there for at least an hour and then the great decision is made to just go in the van and stop before it gets too hot and then let it cool down before going again. I think we made it 30 minutes before The Fates had a good joke with us and made the spare tire fall off the bottom of the van. Watching Bob and the driver run down the side of the highway in search for a tire and the metal bar that kept it on was worth it though.

After many stops, each requiring we get out of the van and wait by the side of the road to be "safe", we made it home at 1:30am – a mere 8 hours after we left Nanchang. I hope I never go back - at least not with Bob.

New pictures of this trip have been put up as well as more pictures added to the "September" album.

Sidebar #2: I got a computer! In typical local fashion, it has a Chinese operating system (no way to make the primary language English), no access to the Internet, and no cd drive! But it turns on, so that is an improvement. My refrigerator also stopped working (I lost a ton of food) and they took it in for repairs on Sunday. I have no idea when I will get it back.

Editorial comment: In my last blog, I said that my students had been studying English for 8 hours . What I meant to say what that they have been studying English for 8 years . Forgive this error! Probably made me seem like a real ass too! =)

China: Nanchang Round 2 Sept 07