Yancheng, China - First Impressions

Well, here I am in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, China.
The flight over was uneventful, except for the fact
that I probably would not recommend China East
airlines. Very ordinary aeroplane that made some very
scarey rattling noises at quite inappropriate times
during the journey. Food very ordinary. Movies - well,
what can I say. 4 movies - first one was a Hollywood
movie with Charlize Theron, but I had never heard of
it and think it must be an old one before she became
an A-List actor. Then a French movie, with Chinese
dubbing and very badly translated English sub-titles.
Then a German movie, also with chinese dubbing and
marginly better English subtitles and lastly, a
Chinese movie in Chinese with no subtitles -hmmmm.

Arrived in Shanghai on time and cleared immigration
and customs quickly. I was met at the airport by Mr Gu
(I think) who works for the Yancheng teachers college
(YTC). I think he might be a driver, but then again,
he could be the head of the English department for all
I know, not that he seemed to speak a word of English.
Also met by Ms Guan Yuan Yuan (Gwendoline is her
English name) who is a teacher at YTC. She studied at
YTC and has been a teacher here for 1 year, so she is
quite young. I would guess early 20's.
However, her English is very good.

As it was 9:00pm by this time, we drove about 45
minutes to the Shanghai teachers college where we
stayed the night. They have a hotel on campus which
was quite comfortable.

I met Mr Gu and Ms Guan the next morning for
breakfast, and the dining experience started.
Breakfast was a (sort of) Yum cha affair with pork
dumplings and some stuffed bun type things (similar to
bbq pork buns, but with rice and vegetables, I think).
Also some pickled unidentifiable vegetables, a bowl of
very bland and soggy rice porridge (which is rice in
water) and a glass of milk. Most of the food was quite
nice, but a very large and unusual breakfast.

We hit the road for Yancheng at about 8:30am. The
drive took about 5.5 hours with a stop for lunch along
the way at 12 noon (very early!). All eyes turned to
me when we walked into the restaurant. Mr Gu went into
the kitchen to choose the dishes for lunch. Gwendoline
told me what he had ordered, but I sort of wish she
hadn't as it did not sound very apertising. However,
most of it tasted very nice. There were 2 vegetable
dishes - bean sprouts and a green veg like pak choy. 2
meat dishes - small but whole river fish in some type
of rich black sauce and, wait for it, frogs! The frog
dish turned out to be just frogs legs, which I have
had before, and it still tastes like chicken. The fish
was very nice, although a bit disconcerting eating the
heads! There was also rice and a very watery egg soup.
The Chinese in this area eat the rice last, as a
filler, and the soup gets poured into the rice.
Personally, I would prefer my rice without soup. The
piece de resistance (don't know the French spelling)
was the house special which they brought out
especially for me. Boiled pig's trotters - I wish they
hadn't. However, to be polite, I had to eat a couple.
Very fatty and quite disgusting, although probably a
step up from chicken's feet which I have had before!

After lunch, back on the road to Yancheng. The drive
was very boring and not particularly scenic. It was
pouring with rain in Shanghai, but the rain stopped
after a few hours of driving.

The first hiccup was to find out that Yancheng is not
located where I thought it was. The agency had told me
it was 7km from Changzhou, in between shanghai and
Nanjing. No, its not. It is in the north of Jiangsu
province and appears to be quite isolated.

First impressions driving into the city is that it is
fairly ugly and ordinary. However, after a few days
here and doing a walk last night into the downtown
area, I have changed my opinion. Whilst not a
beautiful city, I think it has potential. The streets
are very wide and clean and it has quite a bustling
shopping district with lots of neon lights.

I was taken straight to my apartment which is on
campus. It is a 2bdm apartment, but the 2nd bedroom is
locked so I cannot use it. The apartment is quite big
and has been fitted out with most of the mod cons. It
has a small referigerator, microwave, 2 gas burners
(although no gas bottle at this stage) in the kitchen.
There is a western toilet and a separate shower. There
is a washing machine. There is a sitting room and
dining room with a table and chairs and a very hard &
uncomfortable lounge chair. The bedroom is quite big.
It has a very hard & uncomfortable double bed, a tv
(which currently is not connected to cable and
therefore has no reception) and a computer with access
to the YTC network for internet.

I must say that the apartment is much bigger than
expected and whilst quite cold & bland looking and not
at all cosy, it is a good start. With a few home
comforts and personal touches, it will do fine.

I was left alone for a couple of hours to unpack and
then Gwendoline came back at 6:00pm to take me to a
restaurant for dinner. This was Wed. We have now been
to that same restaurant for lunch and dinner on
Thursday and lunch and dinner today. I think we are
also going there for lunch and dinner tomorrow and
then I will be on my own. Hopefully, I will have gas
by then!

I won't bore you with all the details of each and
every dish we have had, suffice to say that there has
been alot of it, some of it quite strange looking, but
most of it very edible. The highlights are an
unidentifiable fish dish which looked more like big
long worms than fish, an egg soup with what I later
worked out must be snails, half a chicken with the
head on the plate (for presentation only - thank
god!). There were many other very normal dishes,
particularly lovely vegetable dishes. (Anthony, don't
let these stories deter you from visiting. I assure
you that whilst some of the dishes look disgusting,
apart from 1 or 2, they have all tasted good!)

Before I arrived in China, the agency told me that 3
other American teachers had been placed at this
school. I had been in email contact with an American
couple (retired business man from Miami and his wife)
by email and was looking forward to meeting them.
However, by the time I arrived, they had come and
gone. Hmmm.

I have met the other American teacher, who is my
neigbour. His name is Dr Washington Butler Jnr, a 71
year old African American, currently from Tenessee. He
is a vegetarian, tee-totaller and strict 7th day
adventist who strictly observes the sabbath from
sundown Friday to sundown Saturday and does not allow
visitors during that time, nor does he alight from his
apartment during that time. This could be interesting!

Apparently there is also a foreign teacher from Kenya
and one from the Phillipines but I have not met them
yet. There are some Korean teachers, but they are here
to teach Korean. There may be more... the school is
very vague on the details.

Gwendoline took "Butler" as she calls him, and I to
the fresh food market this morning. Quite an array of
sights, sounds and .... smells. It is going to be
interesting once I get the gas on and have to start
cooking for myself.

I have been on a couple of walks with Gwendoline,
mostly on the way to or from the restaurant for lunch
and dinner, but have not ventured out on my own yet.

I had a big dose of culture shock and home sickness
the first night, but am now feeling better and ready
for the challenge, almost. It has been quite boring in
my apartment, but things should improve once I start
teaching next week. I also need to learn the language
quickly, so I can get out and about on my own and be
able to communicate and meet people.

Well, this has turned into an epistle and will be
keeping many of you from work, so I should end it
here.