I have safely arrived in China and am excited to say I am
experiencing the honeymoon phase right now!
Although it’s cold, yesterday was -3C according to a sign I could
actually read, I love it. I lucked out a
bit and have been embraced by the foreign community here in TEDA and it’s
great. I lived in Columbus, Ga for 1.5
years and I found it difficult to meet people who shared the same interest as
me or didn’t have a family or didn’t make me feel super weird….
BUT, I have found my people here! Wanna know where very bright expats who get
excited over books that include the title Game
of Thrones and Philosophy, people who walk all over the city to find HDMI
cables so that they can watch internet tv and DVDS on their laptop, people who
were bored at home and decided to move to another country where they don’t know
anyone or speak the language, people who love to make tentative plans and
change them at the last minute, people like me….MI GENTE.
It’s nice to have guides that go to the supermarkets with
me…It’s slightly overwhelming not being able to read things and I’m trying to
avoid the soju incident of 2008….please ask if you don’t know what I am
referring to. Lol
So far I have found my brother from another mother comrade
we’ll call Mo-Mo from the UK and a ginger pal from BC we’ll call Special
K. I don’t usually take to people so
quickly, but these two are my lifelines.
WE get on well and have excellent conversations about nothing and everything
and they both have access to either a phone or the internet…so I need them,
lol. But definitely solid people.
Plans for the coming 2 months:
1.
I walk everywhere….or take taxis if I am just
knackered. Also, this school I work at
is huge campus with man buildings all spread out and no elevators (my office is
on the 4th floor, but it feels like the 10)!!!! This is a jolt to my system because in GA,
walking was not a logical form of transportation. I have to retrain my body to
walk EVERYWHERE again….so as not to look like a complete lazy ass, I am making
an effort to walk more and refrain from taking the taxis…although a trip
anywhere is like 9¥….I think that’s $2 American…I don’t have a phone or
internet in front of me to do conversions, so I am not sure. Lol
2.
In the same vein as the previous post: Commence Operation “Get Fine”. I want to be able to shop in the Chinese
shops and not be stared at from being black AND fat, so I am forcing Special K
to workout with me a few times a week.
I’m really motivated (or sickened) by people like Mo-Mo the resident
jujitsu master and “football” (soccer) aficionado. He spends an inordant amount
of time discussing both hobbies in glories detail and teaching strangers about
the art of “trianguling” someone…..yes, it’s as weird as it sounds, but I love
it!
3.
Spruce up the apartment. I plan to post a vlog about the place when I
get internet and what not, in the mean time imagine that it lacks many of the
things you lack when you move and bring things with you other than clothes.
4.
Learn Mandarin…which is really hard. I need to first get more Pinyan under my belt
because reading characters will take too much time out of my actual life…There
are 5 different tones in Mandarin and the same syllable with a different tone makes
a different word….just like Read and Read (red) but much more difficult because
the tones are typical sounds we don’t use in English….I’m probably calling
people “Penis Head” when I really want to say “Where is the bathroom”….the
struggle is real.
Anyway, that’s my life so far, not terribly exciting, but
I’m in freaking CHINA! I hope you
continue to read my adventures. :)
Xíe-xíe,
Ayeshah
No comments:
Post a Comment