Living Quarters/ Other Foreign Teachers

I was picked up by Ferris at 12:40 am on Tuesday the 28th.

Ferris is the person who I was in contact with while I was in Florida. He works for the FOA (Foreign Affairs Office) and he took me through all the necessary paperwork.

His American name is Ferris. His Chinese name is (Lou Xiaohu). I don't know where he got his name but its not a pretty one. haha.

He is 5' 8" and slender (typical Chinese male). The first thing I noticed was that his written English is a lot better than his oral English.

This is the primary reason why China wants Americans to teach their youth. Chinese students start taking English classes since middle school or even earlier so by the time they get to college they can read and write English at a proficient level. However, they never really practiced English so this is their weak point.

After an hour ride to school from the airport we arrived at my living quarters at 2:30 AM.

I live on campus in the same buildings where the other foreign teachers live.

There are two American teachers from the Peace Corps who teach English and two Japanese teachers who teach Japanese.

I met the two American teachers, Casey and Caity, and the two Japanese teachers at a dinner Tuesday night.

It was a dinner held to celebrate the upcoming National Day Holiday, which is a holiday that lasts from the 1st-7th of Oct. Pretty sweet, right?

Just in time for a holiday. haha. I really don't know what I will do for those seven days. It's really hard to find plane, train or bus tickets anywhere because all of China travels during these holidays. I'll come up with something.

Casey is a 5 foot nothing girl from Hawaii with jet black hair who is always smiling. Caity is a more serious brunette who stands eye level with me. She went to Cal State Fullerton which was a college that I passed everyday on my way to work when I lived in California.

They seem like really nice girls. Haven't had a chance to talk to them much after dinner but I found out that the Peace Corps is similar to the military in the way they station you. Caity wanted to go to S. America to volunteer but they stationed her in China. I don't think she's too happy here but she seems to really enjoy teaching.

China was one of the top places where Casey wanted to volunteer and she resigned her contract for another year. Her Chinese is very good which got me very excited because after one year I can be at her level, maybe surpass it.

One of the two Japanese teachers is also here for his second year and I have a feeling that we will become very close friends. He is very real and lively.

On the taxi ride back to school I found out that Ferris is 24 and the two Japanese teachers are both 38. They thought I was very young.

They seemed to notice that I did not posses arian traits so they asked where my birthplace was. I told them my life story (Mexico, Venezuela, USA, China) and they loved it.

Dinner was traditional Sichuaneze (food in this part of China is calledSichuaneze) Ho Guo or hot pot. Dinner was served on a turn table and everyone had their own hot pot in front of them. As you can imagine, a hot pot is a pot that is boiling hot. Food is served raw on a turn table then dipped in the hot pot and after a couple of minutes the food is ready to eat. Some of the food served that night included, pig brain, sheep intestines, pig ear, etc. To be honest, I did not enjoy this hot pot as much as ones in shanghai. It was still good. As customary in any Chinese dinner, a lot of beer was consumed. Thank God baijiou (Chinese rice liquor) was not served. Think of it as Bacardi 151 mixed with battery acid. haha. That liquor is so strong but I'm sure I'll have to taste it again in another dinner. I'm mentally preparing for it right now. haha.