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Q: How was your first week in China?
Well, I've been in China a little over a week now and I wanted to give you all an update. I arrived here the day before Chinese New Year. These have been my observations:
-Chinese love fireworks..and will set them off 24/7
-Driving on the road...anything goes
-I am a celebrity, even if I don't want to be, and I have to get use to it..even if that means biting my tongue and not saying anything to the group of people following me around the supermarket, not saying a word, hoping to somehow absorb my English language by osmosis.
-I'm not white, and I'm not Chinese, so I apparently have to be from Africa (feizhou lin). I don't think I have ever experience such moments of pride flashing my American (Meiguo lin) passport before.
-Real Chinese food is NOTHING like American Chinese food...Darn You PANDA EXPRESS!!!!
-Chinese beer is very weak, but I like it
-Chinese wine = DEATH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-The majority of Chinese people are very friendly. The ones who turn up their noses at me thinking they are better than me fore whatever reason, I smile and imagine myself flashing them my American passport, pointing, and laughing
-Chinese soap operas are amazing, I don't even need to understand Chinese!
-Learning Chinese is going to be so difficult!!!!!! Darn you ROSETTA STONE!!!
-KFC..is NOT KFC!
-I spent the first couple of nights with some of my students and their families. After having that experience and talking to some of them, my heart broke open, and I truly understood how important my role as a teacher really is and how seriously I will take it.
-I doubt I will be one of those lucky one's who will lose weight their first couple of months here..all I do is EAT!
-Speak of, I didn't get hit with the "going to the bathroom madness", in fact, my digestion has NEVER been better! I have no idea why, but I am not complaining at all.
-Chinese bathrooms are stupid..yes, I said it..stupid! I want my shower back!!!!!!!!
-I actually love my Chinese bed...I thought I would hate it, but I guess my body prefers the hardness.
-China has its flaws, but It's still pretty awesome!
-I LOVE CHINA!!!
How was your first week?
Oh, I also LOVE my city...I know some people had their reservations about Zibo, but I am so so happy with it.
<picture of a thumb pointing upwards>
So far so good. Keep the positive spirit, even when you are stuck in a frozen smelly public toilet without toilet paper.
WanderingTeacher:
LMFAO...I was leaving my apartment yesterday to go get my physical examination I had to use the bathroom but I was in a hurry so I thought, "No, I'm sure they will have one at the doctor's office, so I'll just wait." I got half way down the stairs when your comment popped into my head and I immediately turned around and started climbing the stairs two at a time back into my safety of my own bathroom!
When I got to the doctor's office, I happened to be standing next to the bathroom while waiting for my XRay and I saw my worst fears come to reality. I sighed relief that I would not have to experience that kind of torture and said out loud, "Thank you Scandi!"
Scandinavian:
"No, I'm sure they will have one at the doctor's office, so I'll just wait." possibly the best proof that assumptions are the mother of all f¤%# ups
-I spent the first couple of nights with some of my students and their families. After having that experience and talking to some of them, my heart broke open, and I truly understood how important my role as a teacher really is and how seriously I will take it.
please keep that sentence and let me see your opinion in some weeks.
their are only very few teaching jobs were you arent just a dancing monkey 
WanderingTeacher:
Lol, I think/hope mine will be different. My school is very small..It's only me and my employer on Staff and then we have about 30 students. We've talked about lesson plans, hopes for the schools, business ideas, etc. and both of our focus is truly on teaching and improving the student's English, while also getting more enrollments as well of course. We shall see :)
dom87:
yeah i hope the best for you.
but one thing i had to learn the hard way:
don't trust any chinese boss, they always talk nice but its 99,9% bullshit and they will just cheat you.
once they get greedy they shit on you
my first week i arrived from cold wet weather to hot and sunny.
i was told there was to be someone to meet me at the airport - there wasn't.
Severely jet-lagged, i arrived at my school was told all about my timetable, was introduced to my superiors and told where my accommodation was.
Accommodation: shower broken, no hot water for first week, dead cockroaches
only managed to find my classrooms when i met another new teacher and we went looking together.
I was put in a apartment some distance from all the other foreign teachers - they were alll guys and you can't have male and female foreign teachers all living together 
An interesting introduction to the country
WanderingTeacher:
Wow...That sounds horrible. Your resilence is quite strong, I would've called it quits at the cockroaches. The worst part of my first week was my DIRTY apartment. I know for a FACT the African woman who lived here before me, had not cleaned the apartment for ATLEAST a year. I couldn't understand why my employer did not have the place cleaned before I arrived, and I could've requested that he have someone clean it, but after seeing the extent of it's dirtiness..I would not have trusted anyone else to clean it but me...literally every time I touched something I would immediately wash my hands right after..It was THAT disgusting. No cockroaches though, thank god! I would've turned around immediately lol.
ScotsAlan:
Your definition of clean will possibly change. Your apartment was probably scrubbed from top to bottom for your arrival.
WanderingTeacher:
Lol, it's not possible I tell you. I have before and after pictures..literally my floors and window sills changed colors after I wiped/mopped them down. The woman who lived here before me could not have possibly ever cleaned this place. It was the most filithiest place I had ever seen. At first I thought maybe the Chinese had a different definition of "clean", but after going to several student's houses and see how immaculate they were..I realized it was in fact the African woman who had a different definition of clean and sanitary.
Bad luck Sorrel.
My first week was a beauty.....spent 75% of it walking around exploring and, as a consequence, pissed.
My first week was spent mostly sweating and, on occasion, hungover.
My first week was a delight. Crazy but fun. Glad you are having such a good time.
My first week in Zhuhai was like being transported into the movie Blade Runner, except no flying cars.
philbravery:
try the foot path you will see the cars grab air as they land in front of you
For any newcomers who might read this, I wanted to add my experience with the food. I made a general rule before I came, to never ask people what was in their dishes, and to just experience it for what it was...food. I found this rule to work very well for me, as I ended up liking every dish I tried from several different families...until last night.
Last night I was at another student's house and the mother jumped the gun and cheerfully began telling me everything that was in all of her dishes including one that had Sheep in it. Now I have never eaten sheep before and had no desire to start now, so I tried to forget that she said it was sheep, but alas..it was absolutely disgusting. In fact, EVERY dish she served me did not taste good. I don't know if it was because she told me what everything was beforehand that made me reflexively adverse to it, or if it all really did taste awful, but I find the coincidence quite hard to ignore.
So again, my advice when it comes to eating other people's food: Don't Ask, Don't Tell.
After the jetlag which followed me the first 3 days, everything was way far of that what I thought. People getting crazy on the roads; facing awkward situations when people took photos with me on my way to work; getting used to fireworks at 4am and drinking hot water even if temperature was 35C; first hangover due to several bottles of tsingtao I can say my first week was just perfect, as all days after those, lol.
-I'm not white, and I'm not Chinese, so I apparently have to be from Africa (feizhou lin). I don't think I have ever experience such moments of pride flashing my American (Meiguo lin) passport before.
You may even plaster your American passport on your forehead, but many first impressions will always be that you are African. Get used to it!
