Week 1, Survival

We have survived our first week in our apartment and first week of teaching. The students are attentive and seem bright. They have more problem with my New York accent than they do with Marsha’s mid-westernized accent. But since the Visa Consulate may have a different accent it is a good experience for the students.

In my class on verbal communications I need to encourage the students to participate. Volunteers are few. When called on, they all try. Too often the student who is called is asking the student next to them, what does he want? (in Chinese). They need encouragement to speak loud enough for the entire class to hear them. In my first class I gave them a basic demographic analysis of the United States. While I did not know (before I prepared the class) that Houston and Philadelphia are the 4th and 5th largest cities in the States, I was surprised that they did not know the 4th and 5th largest cities in China. BTW Guangzhou is third. In general, there basic geographical knowledge was no better than a NYC student (e.g. knowing there are NY, NJ, FL and CA).

Of interest is they have similar problems with illegal immigrants as we do. Their illegal immigrants are people from the rural areas. As in the States, employers like illegal immigrants. They work for less and do the jobs than legal citizens will not do. (Yeah, not at below market wages.) In China, they charge illegals more for K-12 education than they do citizens of the city. They also have issues on health care and pensions for illegals. Like in the States some of the illegals have been here for 20+ years, while others only stay for a year or two to get enough money for a better life in their villages.

Suburban spread is also occurring in Guangzhou. The city is extending the Metro into the outskirts (which they call downtown). Middle class families are moving out to larger homes and buying personal automobiles. They don’t know the trap they are falling into. This is a new phenomenon for China.

I will end with a couple of pictures.
The students:



The teachers who are taking our class.

The Basics of Life

Our first week in China has been devoted to figuring how to live in a foreign country where neither one of us speak the language. The accomplishments of the week are pretty impressive.
We have:
1. met our hosts
2. setup an apartment
3. opened a bank account
4. taught our first class (Mel: mine is really tomorrow)

Today's post will look at setting up the apartment.

Kitchen: The kitchen is very small by American standards. So small the refrigerator is in the living room and the washing machine is out on the patio. The sink only has cold water. But after you wash your dishes, you put them into an electric sanitizer, which gets them hot enough to kill any germs.

A two burner propane gas stove is our main cooking devise. We do have a microwave in the second bedroom. Since everything is cooked in the pot (wok), they don't see a need for more. We bought a sauce pan, as Marsha and I do not like the same cereal for breakfast, all other food from omelets to dinner are cooked in the pot. Rice is cooked separately in an electric ricer, the same type that is found in the States. When we are not using it, we store the ricer in the living room on top of the refrigerator. Our final cooking vessel is our tea kettle, which they call a steamer.

The last item in the kitchen is the water "cooler". All drinking and cooking water comes from the cooler.

You learn to keep things neat, as there would be no room to work if everything does not have its spot. The water is delivered to the ground floor. Each bottle weights 45 lbs. When we need more, we need to have Davy order it.

Laundry: We have a washing machine. But there is no dry or even wringer. The process is a little more difficult than in the States. After washing, Marsha does the first wringing, I do the second. After putting it on hangers, I put it on a long pole and hang it from a pole on the roof of the patio. Drying the clothing in a humid environment is a challenge. Marsha asked one of her students, Yu-Mi (pronouced you-me), how to get it dry. Her answer, hang it for two days, then put in in front of a fan. Our experience, she is correct.

Bathroom: A single sink, western toilet and the whole room is a shower. The hot water tank is at the top of the picture. I think it is electric.

Computers: They have set-up our Ethernet. Unfortunately they have had no experience with Vista operating system. On Marsha's XP computer things are working a bit better. We still are having problems with interactive programs, e.g. Skype. Sometimes we are surprised and it works. Also we lose Internet conductivity every once and a while. Today it is working better. Hopefully this is a new trend. Here is Marsha working in the den.

Living room: We have a wood couch and side chair left by a previous resident. Unfortunately only 1/3 of the couch has a cushion and none of the chair. The TV is a brand new flat screen with cable. We get two English language stations, the World from Hong Kong and English (that's its name) from Guangzhou. On other channels a movie might be in English with Chinese subtitles. The craziest one I saw was a Japanese movie dubbed in English with Chinese subtitles. The rest of the living room is different from the States, we have a kitchen table with fold up stools and a refrigerator.

Shopping: We have reached the point were we can successfully shop on our own. It is bad enough shopping in a new supermarket in the States. Imagine shopping were you cannot read most of the labels. Surprisingly some have English on them. Yesterday we successfully purchased: eggs, milk, meat, BBQ, produce, tea cups, soup ladle and Lay's potato chips.

Marsha added: Some items were harder than others. We found an English label on wine vinegar but we wanted plain vinegar. Everything else around it was only in Chinese and double the price. So we looked on the translator for vinegar, found the Chinese characters and realized that the items next to it were vinegar, but we checked with a clerk who was nearby anyway. We pointed to the translator and then to the item. He indicated we were correct by giving us a thumbs up!

Too bad we had to carry it all to our fourth story walk up!

First day of class

I (Marsha) am teaching two classes, management and statistics. While I was told I would be teaching six days a week, it turns out that I am teaching 2 days a week, for three hours each class. We are living in Foreign Expert Building on the Dongfeng campus. But we are teaching on the Longdong campus. There are five campuses for this University.
The management class is on Tuesday night (6:15 – 8:50 pm) with a half hour ride by shuttle bus to home. Unfortunately, to arrive in time for class, I have to take the only bus that stops at 5 schools, thus taking a full hour. All other rides will be a half hour. The statistics class is during the afternoon from 2:15 – 5:00 pm. There are two scheduled breaks for about 5 minutes each. A bell rings to let you know when to take the break. This is quite different from GSU where I usually give 1 break of about 15 minutes when we finish a segment.
Yu-Mi, one of my students, came to the apartment to show me the way to school. She lives at the Longdong campus where I am teaching. We had an hour on the bus to talk. She pointed out several other universities along the route. Guangzhou is a very large city with many universities. She had many questions about Governors State University and Chicago.
There were 12 students in the class. There are supposed to be three additional students who are faculty but they had a meeting that evening, so they did not come. The students are very receptive. In fact one of the students asked me to give written assignments with presentations. He heard that it was customary at foreign schools to have assignments including reports and presentations. And he wants the experience. I don’t think the other students are quite as ambitious.
Previously I was told not to give homework because they are already taking a full schedule and not to give exams. However, Professor Yi who is in charge of the program wants me to give an exam so that they will experience an American style exam. Next week is their final exams, and then they will have more time. However, they still have to write the final thesis of their four year program so I don’t know how much work I should give them. This course is not for credit.
This first night, I told them a little of my background and then asked for theirs. About ¼ of them are majoring in International Trade and Economics. We have one English major in the class, one majoring in Chemical Engineering, several in Accounting and Finance. While I have been told that they are timid and would be hesitant about talking in class, they seemed to like the chance to participate. Many of them are soft spoken, but I think they just are not as comfortable speaking in English. Similar to my many classes through out the years, some students are more willing to participate then others. I don’t see a difference. I will try to encourage all to participate.
I took everyone’s picture with their name on the blackboard. Hopefully this will help me learn their names faster. I had those who did not already have English names choose them. I will ask them if it is OK to post their pictures on my album of China. If it is OK, then I will post them in a couple of days.
Tomorrow I teach Statistics. It will be the same students, but in the afternoon.

We are in the Apartment

This post was originally written on Sunday, we are finally able to get on-line on Monday. At the end of the post I will bring you up to date on the last two days.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

This posting will have to wait until we have an Ethernet account into the University system.

We moved into our apartment today and had our first experience shopping in a Chinese supermarket and department store. The supermarket is down Rhinoceros Lane, just a couple of blocks from our apartment. I think we can find our way their by ourselves. The supermarket is on two stories, quite modern with an escalator between floors.

The department store is in a mall a few blocks further away. Finding it on our own will be a little more challenging. The store we shopped in was again on two stories. We bought a shopping cart and a teakettle in the department store. Then we went to the supermarket and bought some other goods.

All the books warned us that China was a cash society, that we would need cash to shop everywhere but the biggest, most expensive stores. That might be true about credit cards, but is not true about debit cards. At both stores we were able to use our debit card for payment.

On Saturday we walked through a traditional market. Each store was a small mart on the street level. Most stores had a frontage of around 15 feet. The grocery was much larger and deeper. The front area has a large fruit stand, behind that is a fresh vegetable section, then some canned goods. Then came the fresh meat section. Some items are hanging on hooks, others are on tables. None are wrapped. Many of the items are parts of the animals we do not normally see in American meat markets. At the rear of the store is the live market. Here the floor is a bit slippery. They have live fish in shallow tanks. Choose the one you want and they cut it the way you want. Then came the live chickens. Pick your bird and it will be severed as you wish. They also had some pre-killed birds, I guess for those in a hurry. Finally, came the live turtles, each one around 6 inches long.

Through out our walks we saw many flower marts. Many of the flowers and arrangements are exquisite. In many cases, a purple mesh net surrounds the individual flowers. This adds a very nice contrast.

Also on Saturday we ate some traditional American found for breakfast and lunch. An Egg McMuffin meal cost 16 yuan ($2 USD). A margarita pizza for two cost 36 yuan ($4.50 USD).

Sunday and Monday
Sunday was moving day. We left the fabulous hotel for our apartment. With the help of two strong men we got all our stuff up to the forth floor. There is room for everything. But we brought some stuff we will never use, especially jackets and sweaters. The locals are still wearing coats in the morning, while we have the air conditioners all day. On Sunday and Monday we bought a lot of necessities. The interesting item is cell phones. U.S. phones do not work in China. The system here takes three steps. Buy the phone, buy the chip with the telephone number and buy minutes on a multitude of plans. Under no circumstances is the phone free. A basic Nokia phone cost $50 USD. The minute rate is relatively inexpensive and unlimited incoming calls cost 10 yuan (1.25) a month.

Sunday evening we had dinner, really a banquet, with the associate dean of the business school and the director of the foreign visitors. Nine different dishes were served, any three would have been enough for four people. By custom they attempt to get you to eat more and more. Fortunately we read in books on China, it is not an insult to say you are full.

Tomorrow we start teaching. Their schedule has Marsha teach for 6 hours a week on Tuesday and Thursday. I will teach for two hours on Friday. Hurrah, we have three days free each weekend.

We arrived

We arrived in Guangzhou at 11 PM last night, March 23. The 13 hour flight from Chicago to Tokyo is a bum buster. We watched four movies each and ate three meals. Then after a few hour layover, we flew 5 hours to Guangzhou. Fortunately the last flight was not completely booked. We go three seats each and had a a nice nap.
This morning we were met by a staff member of the Foreign Affairs Office of Guangzdong University of Technology. His name is David, he will be our main contact.
Our first stop was the Bank of China. After a thirty minute queue, it took us over an hour to setup two bank accounts. One for each of us, as they do not have joint accounts and there was no way to get two cash station cards for one account.
Next we got to see our apartment. It is on the fourth floor of a four story walk up building. The building is actually called the Foreign Expat Apartments. The apartment is quite large. Three bedrooms, one of which is setup as a den. It has a two burner stove, refrigerator-freezer, dish sanitizer, two room air conditions, washing machine, TV and a computer with Ethernet. We have a queen and full size bed, one small clothes closet and two balconies.
I was surprised to see that all windows and doors have metal bars.
David took us for lunch in a middle region Chinese restaurant. We had lotus soup, some duck dish for which he did not know the English name, a greens dish and a taro dish. All of it was good and our first leftovers are in our refrigerator.
Sunday we will move into the apartment and have dinner with the head of the Business School and the head of the Foreign Affairs Office. Then we will begin our work.
Right now we are in a deluxe hotel at the center of Guangzhou, the Garden Hotel. The hotel is very expensive by China standards but would cost at least twice as much in New York or Chicago. The lobby is exquisite with gigantic planters with birds of paradise plants and gold wall decorations which are three stories high. Outside our window are two waterfalls approximately 50 feet high. Across the street are many banks and restaurants. Beside the many local ones are McDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut and Starbucks.
So long for now.
P.S. Figuring out how to write a new entry was pretty tricky. The tabs are written in Chinese.

Two weeks before trip

I hope this has not been too boring. I'm sure it will get more exciting when we are in China. I'm happy to say our planning is going forward with only minor surprises. I guess our years of traveling are paying off.

Our visas have been approved. The last hurdle before the trip is complete.

This week has been devoted to getting things straightened out.
Arranging for mail forwarding. Letting the credit card companies know when we will be out of the US, so they do not refuse our charges. Cancelling the local newspaper. Buying medical evacuation insurance. Etc.

We have also arranged for shipping Marsha's textbooks and gifts to Guangzhou.

Before I write again we should have everything done except the physical packing.