My China adventure is off to a rocky start.
Due to flight delays, missed connections and general airline incompetence, I left New Jersey on Thursday morning and didn’t arrive in Zhengzhou until Saturday afternoon. Not that I’m counting, but that’s 51 hours, 30 minutes and 23 seconds.
Along the way, I missed two flights, wandered around Beijing airport for 10 hours, slept in a sweltering hotel room where the temperature was about 100 degrees, pushed four large suitcases in a tiny cart, attempted to communicate with Chinese speakers through charades, went 40 hours without eating anything but a cup of yogurt, and got a fantastic foot massage.
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While stranded in Beijing, I turned on the TV in my hotel room and quickly discovered that Chinese television is every bit as inane as ours. I saw a reality dance show where the host interviewed one of the contestants while he was doing a handstand. I watched an “American Idol” knockoff where the judges made crazy faces and bounced up and down in their seats. I viewed cheesy soap operas, bloody war movies, bizarre nature programs and a children’s show where the main character appeared to be a skunk. I also saw one English-language news program featuring a deadly serious anchor who read every story as if it were the Second Coming.
None of the hotel workers spoke English, but I met a multilingual Chinese teenager in the lobby who translated my ramblings to the desk clerk and offered to call Air China to rebook a flight for me. She had a fascinating background. She grew up near Shanghai, moved to Slovenia and was about to enter college in Vienna. She was fluent in four languages — Chinese, English, German and Slovenian — and spoke with almost no accent. She also was charming and beautiful. Quite a combination.
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I’m writing this from a hotel room in Zhengzhou. My apartment is still being renovated, so I’ll be living here for at least a week. It’s the strangest hotel I’ve ever seen — six separate buildings scattered over a couple of city blocks. It takes about 10 minutes just to walk to the lobby. There’s no Wi-Fi, but one of the technicians hooked me up with a primitive Internet connection that reminds me of the glacial dialup days. It takes forever to send one of these posts, so I’m not sure how many I’ll be doing until I move to my apartment. However, I did manage to video Skype with Pat last night. Seeing her walking around the house with our two golden retrievers while I sit in a hotel room 7,000 miles away was a surreal experience. It also was heartwarming. I’ve never been happier to see anyone in my life.
It’s early Sunday morning here, and I plan to spend the day checking out the neighborhood, which is crammed with scooters and fruit stands. I’m in an old area near downtown, about 40 minutes from the university where I’ll be working. But I’m told my apartment will be right next to the campus, so that will be very convenient. Still no word on exactly who or what I’ll be teaching, though that should change when orientation starts on Monday.
It’s been a wild ride so far, and I have no idea what’s coming next. Stay tuned.
Best foot massage ever got was in shanghai. At least they do something right.
Rick – The ghost of my Grandpa Puritz reminded me that he had to walk across China at age 16. So two days is an improvement. I do hope you’ll be able to blog even with your dial-up. Sometimes the very first impressions are important, and its important to capture them on the spot. I also like that this was a longer post. I was beginning to wonder if your editors 🙂 were insisting on short posts ala tv news.