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So Nicole and I have been in Jiujiang for a few days now (I'm writing this on Sunday, our fourth day) and we're beginning to settle in now. I'd like to say we're getting used to the heat, but I still can't leave the house without my fan. Our Chinese is still embarrassingly non-existent, especially compared to the near-perfect English of the people looking after us, but I think we are making progress!
Everyone here has been so kind to us - I honestly don't know how they could be nicer. Our first morning we were greeted by the Vice Principal, lots of teachers from our school and a colossal gift basket of fruit. They took us shopping, helped us buy everything we said we needed (phones, sim cards, cleaning supplies, food - we even found bread!) and took us for lunch. We've been given special cards so we can have our lunch in the school canteen, and the younger female teachers are taking it in turns to sleep in our spare bedroom until we settle in, to make sure we feel safe. I feel quite bad about this, because it's clearly a bit of a hassle for them and we'd be fine by ourselves, but we're not sure what the polite way to tell them they don't need to bother is.
On our second day we met Zoe, now one of our two adoptive Chinese mothers, who inspected our house and gave Winston a list of things he needs to get to make the house nicer. She wanted to get us internet, but Winston said no, PT had said we shouldn't have it. So close! We went to lunch with Zoe and Winston that day, where we met our second adoptive Chinese mother, Julie. That night, when Zoe and Julie took us for a walk around the lake next to our house, I mentioned that I hadn't spoken to my parents since I got to China, only emailed them. I didn't think anything of it, but when we finished the walk Zoe took us to her office so I could ring my parents. It was half 9, so obviously the whole thing was shut, but she talked the old lady who's in charge of locking up into letting us in, then helped me work out how to phone England because I had no idea. On our way out of the building I was feeling kind of bad about disturbing the old lady, because Zoe explained that she was on her way to bed when we turned up, but she came out to greet us again. She invited us into a back room to say hi to her husband, then to try the fresh peanuts they'd just prepared. When Zoe explained we had to go, they grabbed a plastic bag and tried to shovel all of the peanuts into it for us - Zoe literally had to pull it away from them to stop them giving us it all. Then they followed us to the door of the building, waving and smiling (and laughing when I tried to say goodbye in Chinese).
Since then, Zoe and Julie have taken us on a tour of Jiujiang's "scenic spots": parks, gardens, the Yangtze river, a local art gallery, lots of supermarkets... given us loads of food - including toblerone! - and brought their two children to come and talk to, us so we could get an idea of the English level in the age group we'll be teaching. That was a little bit awkward: Julie arranged for Nicole and I to sit and talk one-on-one with the children, whilst she insisted on waiting outside the front door so they wouldn't feel shy. Tina and Leo's (English names, obvs) English is, again, so good it's kind of embarrassing. They're both 13 (I think), about to go into the equivalent of year 9, and can hold a proper conversation in English, asking and answering questions. They might even be better at English than I am at French, which is a depressing thought.
On Saturday night, we were invited to a banquet held by the school. This coincided with the end of the school's military training, which seems to have been going on through the last few weeks of summer, so we shared the banquet with about fifty Chinese soldiers. The banquet was absolutely hilarious. I don't know how much you guys know about Chinese banquets, but basically a key feature is making toasts, which they do with either beer or rice wine. The rice wine is called baiju, tastes a bit like whisky, and can be anything from 40-60%. People make toasts to their whole table, to individuals at their table, to people at other tables... pretty much anyone really. The meal started at about 5.30 and most of the room was rowdy and red-faced by half 6. I think Nicole and I were on the sensible table, because we were only toasting with juice and Sprite. Boring, I know!
It was at the banquet that a group of teachers assigned us our new Chinese names. I am now called Hu Tong; Nicole is Li Wen. We're named after our school (Tongwen Middle School) and senior teachers at the school (Mr Hu is the headteacher, Madame Li is something else important). One guy in particular found this hilarious and insisted we go over to toast our new parents... who also found it hilarious. They both have daughters a little older than us, and Madame Li made quite a long speech about how she must ring her daughter to tell her she has a new sister. The same guy then insisted we toast 3 soldiers sitting on that table as well, which we did. Everyone found that hilarious too.
The toasts were coming thick and fast after that, and I ended up switching from Sprite to beer because Winston, our waiban, thought it would be funny. I've lost track of how many soldiers we had to toast, but several of them saluted us, some on behalf of the Chinese army. We had to down our drinks when we toasted with the soldiers, but it's fine because the glasses we drank from were tiny. You learn pretty quickly to guard your glass and only drink for toasts though, because if you leave it alone for even a second someone will top it up until it's nearly overflowing. A bit later, I agreed to try the baiju. Winston had to go get some from an army table because someone had swiped the bottle from our table, and when he got back they were all staring, watching me, obviously hoping I would take a sip and have a spaz attack. Which I didn't! But it does taste foul. The whole thing was over by 9, with me and Nicole in the very small minority of people who weren't completely trashed.
Anyway, we're having a lovely time and people are being very nice to us. Our new names have gone down very well so far - Julie and Zoe nearly died laughing at them - so I think they'll be a good ice-breaker when we meet new people. We're both looking forward to school starting, although apparently we have to make a speech in front of the whole school when this does happen. As in, the first thing that happens on the first day of school is Nicole and I stand in front of 4,500 students and who-knows-how-many teachers and introduce ourselves. This is clearly going to go really, really badly. It was meant to happen tomorrow morning, but we got a call at 8pm this evening saying school's cancelled tomorrow because the Education Bureau haven't finished the timetables yet (cough sounds like Ilkley Grammar cough). Another day before we humiliate ourselves in front of everyone we will ever know here, yesss!
Hu Tong xxx
- comments
Ann B Simpson It all sounds great fun and interesting. Have thought of you many times - it was good to hear you arrived safefly. Enjoyed your blog very much. Life goes on here as normal tho I feel mine is disintegrating a bit - you miles away in China, Meg in Durham, and now Matthew goes to Ireland after the weekend. Also I have come to the conclusion the time is right to sell the flat which will upset me a great deal but since we've only managed a total of 4 weeks there I feel tha's a bit costly. so if I do manage to sell it, I would try to rent a suitable flat for August. Well, time will tell. Everyone seems to be in good form tho your Dad has had Ali's cold and S. Clare is upset by M's departure. All I can do is hope and pray all goes well for you all. Am eating at 11 Lister Street on Sunday - looking forward to that. Well, my dear, don't want to bore your sox off!! Take good care of yourself. Much Love Granny Anny xxx.
Jo Ni hao, Hu Tong! Lovely to read about your first impressions and lively welcome to Jiujiang. Good luck with that first lesson. XXX from your real mother!
Jim Simpson I think I've heard more details of your idea of a night out from your blog than actually sharing a house with you. Glad to hear you share the family tradition of exploring other nations' cultures (cough, through an in-depth survey of their drinking dens, cough). Hope all goes well with your address to the Class of Thousands. Rubber gloves in your size in the post. Dad xxx
LAURA SMIT It sounds like you are having a great start to your adventure. The people sound lovely. If every night is like that one you are sure to have fun. I think it runs in the family to hate public speaking, but I am sure you will do a great job, either that or create an embarassing memory never to be forgotten! keep the blogs coming and have a fantastic time. Laura.xx
Ella It just makes visiting us a bit more exciting, Granny! Glad everyone's well, if you're having a roast on Sunday I'll be v jel - me and Nicole are both craving potatoes like mad! I'm already getting used to the public speaking, which is good, and we seem to get away with a lot just by being British and smiling a lot. Madre and padre, an email's (almost) on its way, hope you're excited haha xxx
Auntie Clare Very entertaining, keep 'em coming! Matthew off to Ireland Sunday, after we've driven him to Holyhead for the ferry (6 hours' drive)! And Ozzy will have to stay here with us until rabies jab gets to work, and his passport in order. Katie finally back from Ibiza - brought back more money than she took! Selling tickets and body-painting must be pretty lucrative! Hope your adventure continue in the same vein!?! Take care, love from your real aunt xx
Charlie Sounds a bundle of laughs. Have a lot of fun. I suspect you will be fluent in chinese toasts within a few weeks1 On the theme of beer, ou might be quite near (in Chinese terms) the town of Tsingtao, famous for its lager sold in chinese restaurants across the UK,
Pam Well hello hu tong wonderful name and perfect rationale for it ! Loving your blog ella keep It coming be very interested to hear how you days in school with pupils have gone. All well in the alley and brown household got my mum successfully installed in a flat in Ilkley which was an achievement !! Elizabeth v cheeky as ever Keep updating us love Pam xxx
Angie Hello from autumnal London Hu Tong, you sure know how to use the chop sticks as one can see in the pic :-). good to hear you enjoy the beginning of this exciting journey and am sure by now you have survived your introduction speech! Ben and I climbed the O2 yesterday evening to a wonderful sunset. It was really great fun. Today we visited your grandparents and showed them the pictures from the Olympics and Paralympics Ben had made, which they thoroughly enjoyed. Keep the comments up. Look forward to read more :-). Che Che. Angie + Ben