Stranger No More

Woke up this morning and went to get in the shower. While I waited for the water to warm I ’sharted’ just as the water came to a trickle then a halt. I told Jed that I had had enough and was moving and he came with me. We moved to a hotel right across the park from the Children’s Palace/Office. We are splitting the Y168 and are delighted to walk up 34 stairs instead of 80, to have carpeted floor, to be able to take warm showers consecutive to each other for consecutive days and beds made for sleeping on. Jed said it is as comfortable as he has been in China. Wow. Pretty telling.

Morale is improving.

This could be viewed in less than positive light by the school but we are so much more about our comfort and well being right now. It was apparent to us that they weren’t.

After dropping some clothes at a laundry and then coming here to let y’all know what is up we are going to see if the boss has returned as no one else is of any value to us. Boy, are we feeling empowered!

Went to the DVD store and for Y12 bought Spider-man 2 and Ronin. Watched about half of SM2 but decided to get out of the pad and see if Rian has returned yet. Of course not.

Looks like we’ll go play some street pool and then head back for the rest of the movie.

Thanks for all your encouragement!

Olen

I understand. I have written Rian an email about it just now. I am not sure how much that will help. I think you will begin teaching soon now that the holiday is over so maybe some things will change. Carlos can always offer advice as well. If nothing else works out and you like China, as I told you in Datong there are other jobs in China. I will help you as I can. China can be a very difficult place, but you still need to take care of yourself and there are certain things that should happen for you no matter what. I have been very fortunate in that not so much bad has happened to me in my working situation besides when I first got here, but I have seen some others not get all the treatment they deserve. I know Rian is Fuzhou now for business or at least he was. When he gets back have a meeting with him if things haven’t changed for the better. Be calm and cool but direct. Let him know clearly what you expect. Talking to Maggie or Anna is nearly useless so wait for him. If he wants to, he can change most of the things that you wrote me about. Keep in contact and let me know what happens. Also let me know when you are coming down and we can maybe get lunch or something.

>Kevin
—– Original Message —–
From: olen@drunkenass.com
Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2004 00:25:38 -0500
To: american_k@teacher.com
Subject: Please Assist

> Kevin -
>
>I need to hear that the current situation is not only temporary but will be resolved soon. I’m trying to
>roll with everything but find the living conditions more and more unsatisfactory.
>Specifically, the room sharing; Jed is sick and it is inevitable that I too likely will be. I believe
>we are on pace for a physical next week in Taiyuan and would much prefer to go in to it healthy. Further,
>and this is so much more personal but Dan is such a pessimist it really wears on morale. I won’t presume
>to speak for Jed but I find it exhausting. Recently at lunch with Maggie and Anna, Dan brought up Eric
>only to stop and say he would tell me more later. This is extremely inappropriate and I don’t wish to
>be drawn into situations like that. I’m not overly concerned with the horror stories of those that
>came before me.
>
> DLC is obviously a real company. I have met people that have been here for some time and it seems to
>me that those that make the best of it have the best attitude and as an extension the better
>experiences.
>
>I spoke to you briefly about how things weren’t as we had discussed. We have yet to see a morning meal
>and the meals we have gotten are made by Maggie at the apartment. We are in someone elses apartment
>with closets taped shut. It just feels like the least possible is being done to still be able to
>say the contract conditions are being met.
>
>Please understand that with all that said, (and some things I’ve left unsaid), I remain optimisstic.
>Every day the kids on the street or at the Children’s Palace are always so excited to see us. In fact,
>nearly everyone greets us with a smile. It really is nice and I look forward to moving past this with your
>help and support.
>
>Thanks for listening, Kevin and if you care to read any further adventures I am keeping a weblog at
>www.drunkenass.com/china
>
>Anything you can do to assist is greatly appreciated.
>
> Olen

Met the owner. His name is Hei Liang literally meaning Black Bright. Now we should have no problem remembering the name. He busted out a very nice camera and indicated that the photos on the walls are all his work. He is an amazing artist with his camera. He took some great staged photos of Jed and I that we hope to see down the road. Maybe we’ll make the walls. In fact it turns out we’ve met him several times. It is usually just Jed and I and the two bartenders and the owner and his wife. There is also this one gal we see there but it never seems to have any customers other than Jed and I.

Until last night. We had been there for about 3 drinks when a group of middle aged men came in. After a quick glance I turned to Jed and told him that two of them were trashed. They pushed a couple of tables together and busted out their own liquor and it wasn’t long before we had to join them. I resisted and hung at the bar for a while but Jed jumped right in. He was talking to one of the super trashed guys who was flying with the, “Fuck America”’s and “China! China!”’s. Jed was giving as good as he was getting but of course the guy didn’t really understand. Probably a good thing. I could only stay away so long and joined them in drinking some of the nasty hooch they had brought. Since I was right between Jed and our very Red drunken friend I soon was back at the bar. Pretty quickly a couple guys were there with me buying me a cigar. I’m really not into it but, you know, being amicably social sometimes requires adjustments. Plus at least you don’t inhale a cigar. After a few puffs on my stogie Hei’s wife comes up on me and says, “bye-bye”. It suddenly seemed a very good idea for us to leave. Promptly. I turned to grab Jed and we settled up and were out the door. She came out and said, “tomorrow-tomorrow” to encourage us to come back. We’re thinking a day off might not hurt.

We found a great noodle soup place right around the corner that we will be going back to and then went back to the apartment where Dan was waiting. I had left Cool Hand Luke out for him and a note that we’d be returning from a quick run to the internet cafe around 1800 or 1900. Turns out we got distracted and made it home closer to 2200.

On Dan. Dan is Eeyore. If you are reading this then you have some idea what I’ve been through so far and having an Eeyore roommate is pretty exhausting. I can’t really figure out why he is here what with all his constant bitching about, “communism, marxism and Chiang Hai-shek”. Yup, he doesn’t even get the name right. I know it is me nit-picking but he tries so hard to look and sound smart only to not. He is one of those tiring 24-going-on-14 that we’ve all known. Jed and I were shocked recently to return to the apartment to find that Dan was out and he had locked the door to his room. C’mon, man. He won’t eat from street vendors for fear of getting sick. Ok, maybe that isn’t too crazy but I came here to experience China. Alright, enough Dan. Despite him, I’m trying to make the most of this.

We may try to head to the Yungang Caves today to get some sightseeing in before the Holiday ends. May even take Dan.

- O

Thought I was going to have a pretty chill day yesterday despite waking up to no power for the second consecutive day. Bailed on the apartment, grabbed some street vendor breakfast and then hit the internet cafe to see the Monday Night Football score, (9am on Tuesday here). I picked 8/14 and am in a solid fifth place in my league. From China!

Got back to the apartment and just hung out and watched Dodgeball on my laptop which pretty much drained the battery. Seeing as we are near the school I decided to head down there and drop it off to charge. After Maggie and Anna came up to the apartment to cook us lunch, (I was the only one home), I had a shower since power had returned and went down to grab my laptop.

Here is where it gets interesting. Read the rest of this entry »

Crazy day yesterday. Kevin, my recruiter and contact got married yesterday. We were riding there with the two women that work in the school office, Maggie and Anna, and were late as they haggled down the price of the flowers they took. The reception was very nice and there was a serious amount of all kinds of food. I wouldn’t say I am the master of my chopsticks but I’m not starving. Now that I think about it it could be all the finger food I’m eating.

Teachers from all over came into town for the wedding so it was great to see and talk to so many that have already been doing it. Some have only been here weeks,
others over a year.

The day before we met up with a bunch of the teachers and hung out downtown. Downtown is a loose description as this is a rural provincal city of ~2.5 million. It is very urban. All the cities look like they’ve been bombed but the people are constantly sweeping.

We bought some pijiou(sp?), (beer), and were walking around town for a while. Mostly because we could. We stopped at the fountain in the middle of the city square and were taking a break when somehow an unopened pijiou burst. I set my beer down and was helping Dan clean up the green glass when I looked over to see my pijiou had been moved in on by an old man. I was okay with it and sat to have a picture with the guy but he took off.

Dan wanted to go to an internet cafe so we agreed on where and when to meet later. Jed and I along with Robert, a teacher from Taiyuan, roamed through the ghetto back alleys for miles. Got some great photos. We ended up with a small herd, (pod?, gaggle?), of children following us. The kids are always excited to see us and we are often met with, “Hello. How are you”. While waiting for some kebabs to cook up we taught a young boy how to play rock/paper/scissors. They are always delighted to have their pictures taken and I got a great shot of the otherwise camera shy Jed walking down an alley with about ten kids in tow. We finally ducked back in to the Black Bright, (I had the name wrong), that we serendipitiously came across. It was over an hour before the kids finally got bored enough to leave the front steps of the bar.

Of course when we got to the meeting place there was no Dan so we swung by Carlos’ apartment. No Dan. So we headed around the corner to the internet cafe where we had to calmly talk Dan into backing away from the keyboard. He had been playing a game for 4 plus hours. Crazy. All the way to China to lose yourself in a video game.

It is Tuesday morning here and I’m going to head back to the apartment and see if we have a plan. The plan today may be no plan. There are some great tourist attractions near that Jed and I really want to take in before we end up assigned to another city.

I don’t know if I can keep up this pace. Maybe, I’ll try to be a little less long winded. Tell me what you think.

Yours in Buddha!