No, I was not abducted
After take-offs, good-byes, hellos, problems, changes, and a lot of excitement I have now found my new "home": Huai Hua. It doesn't quite feel like a home yet but I'm trying to get used to the thought.
My last day in Kunming (Monday, August 26th) was very nice. We went to the city center to get some necessities done to prepare for our life in China: I needed to get some Chinese yuan and Anninka bought a SIM-card for her phone. After that Anninka and I went to a small market where we found all kinds of interesting things: animals of all kinds, food and accommodation for the animals, food and drinks for humans as well, musical instruments, clothes, decoration, etc... We got some snacks and went to a close-by park, which looked very Chinese. There we spent the rest of the afternoon, enjoying our last day together. On our way back we stopped at Anninka's former language school, where she had learned the helpful bits of Chinese, that have been very useful to us. Then we took a bus to Sunny's house to spend my last night in Kunming.
The next day (Tuesday, August 27th) I had to get up early (early, if you consider that the past couple of days we had slept until noon or even later) to take my flight to Changsha at 12.40 at the Kunming airport. Nothing very special happened, everything went well and I was a little sad to look down on Kunming between the clouds for the last time in a while...
At the airport in Changsha I was hit by an incredible heat. Soon I felt as it I had lost more sweat than I had liquid in my body, with the heavy backpack on my back.
I was picked up by Michelle, who works for "Dragonsharm", the organization that employs foreign teachers who teach English at different schools, kindergartens or in families. That is what I was going to do for the next half year. Michelle told me that I was probably going to work at a kindergarten in Changsha and live with a British foreign teacher but once we got to the office, they told me that my plans had changed: I was going to a SMALLER city, I had never heard of before (like the majority of the Chinese people as well): Huai Hua!
I was going to spend one night and the next day in Changsha and then the next night we would take an overnight train to Huai Hua. I had a nice time at the office with the Dragoncharm-people in Changsha. Michelle and the others were all very nice and I enjoyed talking to them. My first night in Huai Hua I went out to eat with the boss (Fey) and a couple of her friends. We went to a very authentic Chinese restaurant, where we sat in a small room around a plastic table but the food was very very good!
The next day (Wednesday, August 28th) I spent the day at the office with the Dragoncharm-people. We visited a kindergarten in Changsha, I had my photo taken with every staff member and we had lunch together, which was a lot of fun and I was given a Chinese name: Cho Cho! ( which by the way has become my most used name here!) At night Michelle invited me to her home and she cooked for me (which she was very good at!!). I really liked Michelle, I had a lot of fun with her but unfortunately she had to go back to Changsha. At 10 pm we took our train to Huai Hua. I went with Michelle and Jason ( Michelle's colleague, who is very nice as well but more quiet). The beds were pretty comfy, I had never spent the night in a train except in a hostel in Bonn, but there the train wasn't moving.
At 6 am we got to Huai Hua, at first I thought it wasn't as hot as Changsha but as the day went on, I realized it got REALLY hot and only in the morning it had been a little cooler. We went straight to the kindergarten, which is a huge building with three floors and a park. I hadn't slept well and was a little tired. We brushed our teeth and changed our clothes and then we were shown around. I got a bedroom for myself on the third floor, which is way too big for me and doesn't look very comfortable, because it is also very empty. Then, at 7.30 the kids started arriving and I had to sit downstairs to say "hellooooo" to them and their parents. Once all the kids were inside, we went out to get a bank account and a SIM-card for me and to buy some basic things I would need to live here (detergent, toilet paper, clothes hangers, etc...)
The rest of the day Michelle and I spent asleep on my bed, until she and Jason had to leave at about 5 pm to go back to Changsha. That's when my problems started. Michelle's English was very good and she had translated for me all day, but now she wasn't there and I was alone with all the kindergarten staff with none to very limited knowledge of English.
So here I am now, still struggling to communicate, with no clue of Chinese and no idea of how to organize myself Chinese classes, and a bad internet connection, which I can only use when I'm outside. Until Saturday I didn't have any access to internet at all and I'm still waiting for a connection in my room which they promised me.
I will soon tell you more about my life here in Huai Hua!
Your Cho Cho
My last day in Kunming (Monday, August 26th) was very nice. We went to the city center to get some necessities done to prepare for our life in China: I needed to get some Chinese yuan and Anninka bought a SIM-card for her phone. After that Anninka and I went to a small market where we found all kinds of interesting things: animals of all kinds, food and accommodation for the animals, food and drinks for humans as well, musical instruments, clothes, decoration, etc... We got some snacks and went to a close-by park, which looked very Chinese. There we spent the rest of the afternoon, enjoying our last day together. On our way back we stopped at Anninka's former language school, where she had learned the helpful bits of Chinese, that have been very useful to us. Then we took a bus to Sunny's house to spend my last night in Kunming.
The next day (Tuesday, August 27th) I had to get up early (early, if you consider that the past couple of days we had slept until noon or even later) to take my flight to Changsha at 12.40 at the Kunming airport. Nothing very special happened, everything went well and I was a little sad to look down on Kunming between the clouds for the last time in a while...
At the airport in Changsha I was hit by an incredible heat. Soon I felt as it I had lost more sweat than I had liquid in my body, with the heavy backpack on my back.
I was picked up by Michelle, who works for "Dragonsharm", the organization that employs foreign teachers who teach English at different schools, kindergartens or in families. That is what I was going to do for the next half year. Michelle told me that I was probably going to work at a kindergarten in Changsha and live with a British foreign teacher but once we got to the office, they told me that my plans had changed: I was going to a SMALLER city, I had never heard of before (like the majority of the Chinese people as well): Huai Hua!
I was going to spend one night and the next day in Changsha and then the next night we would take an overnight train to Huai Hua. I had a nice time at the office with the Dragoncharm-people in Changsha. Michelle and the others were all very nice and I enjoyed talking to them. My first night in Huai Hua I went out to eat with the boss (Fey) and a couple of her friends. We went to a very authentic Chinese restaurant, where we sat in a small room around a plastic table but the food was very very good!
The next day (Wednesday, August 28th) I spent the day at the office with the Dragoncharm-people. We visited a kindergarten in Changsha, I had my photo taken with every staff member and we had lunch together, which was a lot of fun and I was given a Chinese name: Cho Cho! ( which by the way has become my most used name here!) At night Michelle invited me to her home and she cooked for me (which she was very good at!!). I really liked Michelle, I had a lot of fun with her but unfortunately she had to go back to Changsha. At 10 pm we took our train to Huai Hua. I went with Michelle and Jason ( Michelle's colleague, who is very nice as well but more quiet). The beds were pretty comfy, I had never spent the night in a train except in a hostel in Bonn, but there the train wasn't moving.
At 6 am we got to Huai Hua, at first I thought it wasn't as hot as Changsha but as the day went on, I realized it got REALLY hot and only in the morning it had been a little cooler. We went straight to the kindergarten, which is a huge building with three floors and a park. I hadn't slept well and was a little tired. We brushed our teeth and changed our clothes and then we were shown around. I got a bedroom for myself on the third floor, which is way too big for me and doesn't look very comfortable, because it is also very empty. Then, at 7.30 the kids started arriving and I had to sit downstairs to say "hellooooo" to them and their parents. Once all the kids were inside, we went out to get a bank account and a SIM-card for me and to buy some basic things I would need to live here (detergent, toilet paper, clothes hangers, etc...)
The rest of the day Michelle and I spent asleep on my bed, until she and Jason had to leave at about 5 pm to go back to Changsha. That's when my problems started. Michelle's English was very good and she had translated for me all day, but now she wasn't there and I was alone with all the kindergarten staff with none to very limited knowledge of English.
So here I am now, still struggling to communicate, with no clue of Chinese and no idea of how to organize myself Chinese classes, and a bad internet connection, which I can only use when I'm outside. Until Saturday I didn't have any access to internet at all and I'm still waiting for a connection in my room which they promised me.
I will soon tell you more about my life here in Huai Hua!
Your Cho Cho
panigel - September 3, 18:43
