Walmart and First Day of Teaching

When we first found out that we were going to Changsha as family in 2013, we looked up several internet sites and videos to see what the shopping would be like and whether we could get some of the incidentals that we would probably need.  We were relieved to discover that Changsha did, in fact, have a Walmart.  Well, I finally had an opportunity to check the place out myself.  It is a short bus ride from campus and shouldn't be too inconvenient for us to get things there.  The other good news is they have many items that would be very recognizable to people in the U.S. (for example Oreos).  However, these are usually written in Chinese.  Thank goodness for the heavy advertising that happens in the U.S. so we can recognize products just by their design and colors without having to actually see the English printed on them.  They also have a great many strange items that I probably would never purchase.  One of the perceptions I had before I left was that I might be forced to eat some really weird stuff.  This is not how it is.  The strange food items are available if one is so inclined, but there are plenty of safe things.  You can go into a store and buy rotisserie chicken or steak.  You don't have to buy gutted eels and dried squid.  The pictures I've posted should give you an idea of what else you might find at the Chinese version of your local Walmart.

I also had the opportunity to teach my first class today.  I described in the last blog post what the setting looked like and how the technology was set up in the classroom.  Today was finally the day to meet the students.  One thing I was pleased with when I first arrived in the class was that it was just me and the students.  I had a little issue the other day with the dean of the Foreign Studies College indicating that she wanted to provide me with some curriculum to teach instead of my own.  I stood my ground (after all I didn't fly 7,000 miles to not do what I do) and so I thought maybe I would have a visitor there checking to see what I was teaching.  This didn't happen and I just went right into my planned material.  I started by introducing myself to the students by showing them photos of the place I grew up in California, my wife and children, Cedar City and SUU, and a few of my other interests (like Jackie Chan and Chow Yun Fat movies). Yes, I know that there are many good American movie stars, but a little shameless pandering never hurt anyone.  Despite what I thought they would be like, my students were super energetic, answered my questions, asked questions of their own, and laughed at all my jokes.  Trust me, I've gotten a lot of courtesy laughs in my career so I do know the difference.

Overall, the class was pretty long.  I'm only teaching once a week, but it's for almost 4 hours in a room with no air conditioning, so it can be a bit tough.  Otherwise, it was a completely delightful experience.  I know it's sad, but I already wish my students at SUU were more like the ones here.  It's too early to judge, but those fears of us getting passed by other countries (not that we haven't already)  seems very real to me now.  The students were in class at 6 a.m. and go until into the evening.  We definitely have some competition.  Oh yeah, I have to share my favorite comment from class today.  It was when I was introducing myself and I asked the students if any of them have ever traveled overseas.  Everyone shook their heads except for one girl who raised her hand.  I asked were where she had been and she said "Beijing."

As good as that experience was, it wasn't even the best part of my day.  Chance and Brenna tutor a group of 11 kids (ages 9-11) in a wealthy family's home and asked me if I would like to go and just introduce myself and interact with them a bit.  Well, I gladly went because I wanted the opportunity to visit with a different age group than the college kids.  When we got to the home where the tutoring session was held, I just fell in love with these adorable kids.  They were so sweet.  One of the activities that they did was to write to an American pen pal to practice their English.  Because of the age group of my three oldest (Annie, Nicol, and Ezra), they became pen pals for three of these kids.  They worked on their letters for about 45 minutes and I could tell they were putting a great deal of thought into them.  One kid wrote, "I'm a sunny boy," meaning he is very happy.  Another kid wrote, "I'm very fat, but I'm also very strong." After the letters were written, I showed the kids the same pictures I showed my college students earlier in the day.  They came right up to me and put their faces up to the computer (they had been sitting at a table about 5 feet away, but they wanted a closer look).  After I told them some things about our family, Chance quizzed them about some of the details and gave them SUU pencils and folders as prizes.  They were supposed to be for the college students, but I didn't have enough for all of them, so I decided to give them to these kids.  And boy was that a good decision.  They were so utterly thrilled to have them.  One girl looked at her SUU folder and said "what is this?"  She had no idea what you do with a folder. When I explained to her what it was for, she smiled and hugged her folder.  Chance also gave them American candies (Milky Way, Almond Joy, and M&Ms).  I saw one little girl take more than 20 minutes to savor her Milky Way bar.  At the very end, I asked the students and the parents that were there watching their kids to take a picture with me.  I've attached it below.  It was the kind of experience that made me so happy to be here.  I need more of these to balance out the giant spider incident!

Just an interesting old building I saw on the way to Walmart in downtown Changsha.  

Yep, they're everywhere.

They do have Sushi, but I'm a little worried about the one that has hot dogs in it.

Some kind of dried fish.

Those fish aren't dead.  They just wish they were.

Turtles for the soup. Only about $1.20

I heard that some toads are illegal to buy and eat in China, but these aren't those (unlucky for them).

Live eels.

Not live anymore eels.  I got in trouble for taking this picture.  I've got a streak going now of getting in trouble for taking pictures in foreign countries.

They have regular oreos, but they also have some interesting other flavors as well.

Cereal aisle.

Good view of the look and feel of the place generally.

Ah, the essentials.

The whole 9-11 year old English class being taught by Chance and Brenna.

Some of the mothers of the children in the English class.  They were super friendly to me.  Only the one second from the left spoke English, but the others were conversing with me too in VERY basic mandarin. See the one holding a cup.  It's boiled water.  They gave some to me too.  It's common in China to serve just boiled water.

I don't know why the Chinese always make the victory sign in every single picture.  They sure are cute, though.

The whole group.  The girl on my left was hugging my arm.  They are all just really friendly.

They are actually looking at the pictures of Stacie and the kids for the third time.  I couldn't believe how interested they were in us and how many questions they had.

Spiders...why did it have to be spiders!

Ok, I have to do a special blog post dedicated to the spider incident.  My floors are a slippery wood and I kicked one of my shoes accidentally and it went way under my bed.  When I pulled the bed out to look for it, a gigantic spider (I think it was a tarantula because it had fur on it) scurried up the wall.  It was a fast sucker too.  I screamed like a girl and called my new SUU friends upstairs to come down and take care of this problem for me.  I didn't want to smash it myself because I knew that there would be a ton of juice in this fat spider.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, but the spider is now dead and they are spraying my room with some kind of chemical tonight.  I hesitated to post this one because I just know that Stacie is not going to want to come now.  We showed the people at the front desk this spider and they too thought it was the biggest one they had seen.  Just my luck, huh?  I've been here four days and I get a spider in my room bigger than anything anyone has seen.  Yuck.  Enjoy the pictures and I dedicate this blog post to my son, Ezra, who would have had a jar ready to catch this thing if he were here with me.

First sighting.

Time for a closer look, but not too close.  So grateful for the lens that zooms in.

He got from the place in the last picture to this spot in 2 seconds.  I'm worried he's going to jump off
of that wall right at me.

So fast he scurried out of the frame.

Chance to the rescue with his badminton racquet and a shoe.

Yes, we got him.  What do I mean "we?"  I'm such a coward :)

He's about half the size now that all the juice squirted out of him!

University Museum and Checking out My Classroom

Every day gets easier and easier.  I still don't know what people are saying generally, but now I feel a little more confident in using the words I do know.  The International exchange office arranged a tour guide to take me to the Hunan Normal University on-campus museum and instructed the girl to show me the classroom I would be teaching in and to make sure my computer worked with their system.  However, the tour was scheduled for an hour and a half and we spent nearly an hour of that time in my classroom with another teacher from that college (Foreign Studies) helping me figure things out.  Still, I enjoyed the time looking in the classroom and seeing the museum.

Let me first be a little more specific about what I saw in the classroom.  My class is Foreign Studies Building 607.  I've attached some pictures of the view right outside my window, which is incredible.  So, green and beautiful.  The students each have a work station that has a computer screen and a headset with microphone.  The work stations are all numbered like F2, E2, etc.  At the front of the room is a command station or whatever you want to call it (master control, command central) and it's elevated a little on a mini-stage.  The foreign studies teacher showed me the key buttons I need because they are all in Chinese.  He instructed me to turn the system on, login as guest, turn on the console, and open my powerpoint.  He told me that every student and the teacher all wear a headset during the duration of the class.  The students don't view the powerpoint on the screen at the front, but rather on their individual computers.  When the teacher speaks into the microphone, they all hear the lecture through it.  When the teacher shows videos, they watch them on their screens.  If a student has a question, he or she raises a hand and then the teacher has to "unmute" their mic and let them ask it.  Kind of interesting.  I decided I have to do what works for me.  I don't see this system as a part of the culture that I really needed to embrace, but rather just make it work for my purposes.  Maybe some would disagree.  So, I decided to not use the microphone when I'm lecturing, asking questions, or taking questions.  My strategy was to simply show the powerpoint on their screens and then instruct them to put on their headsets whenever I show a video.  At the point that I'm writing this, I've already taught my first class, so I'll get to that in a second.

After seeing the classroom, I was taken to the museum which I thought was quite beautiful as well.  The layout of the museum was really artistic and the pictures of Hunan Normal University history were really intriguing.  When I saw a picture that I really wanted to know more about, I would ask.  However, I tried to be selective because it was probably annoying for them to have a Waiguoren (foreigner) pointing at every picture and asking what is it.  My favorite moment of the tour was when the curator of the museum (or whatever the equivalent is here) showed me some markings and said that this was the school song.  I asked her if she could sing it to me and she did.  Her voice was beautiful and it was a nice moment because she seemed really stern prior to that moment.  But, the music seemed break the ice a bit.

Once I left the museum, I said goodbye to my tour guide and Karen (my Mandarin teacher) showed me one of her favorite places to eat.  A couple of the dishes were not my favorite and they were much spicier than anything I've had so far.  I'll post a picture below, but the reddish looking one was some kind of pork dish that was very fatty and I'm not quite sure what part of the pig it was.  It did not taste bad, but I just didn't enjoy it that much.  There was a beef dish that was very good and I think most Westerners would have approved of that one.  The last dish was a small fish and the fish itself was very mild and delicious, but it had these really hot peppers on it and was difficult for me to eat.  Let's just say that the condition that people warned me about that might happen after eating spicy foreign food finally came about as a result of this dish.  I think I'll avoid it in the future.  The other problem at the restaurant was that they had these big plastic bottles of water to serve.  I've been told not to drink the local water, so I asked Karen where this water comes from.  She said they fill it up every day from wherever.  I told her I would rather have bottled water and so we bought some from a store across the street and went back to the restaurant.  She seemed a little puzzled that I didn't drink the water (maybe a little offended).  I tried to be as diplomatic as I could, but there really are worms in the water and I don't want to catch one.

After lunch, we walked toward the Bank of China, so I could exchange some American dollars.  It was quite a long process with me having to pull out my passport a few times and getting a lot of intense looks from my face to my passport and back to my face.  At first, I was a bit irked by it, but then I realized they think all white people look alike, so it probably took more time to verify that it was actually me.  On the way back from the bank, Karen taught me how to ask for hangers at the store before I went in and we rehearsed a little on the street.  It was quite hilarious to see the people do a double take when they would hear me say "I want hangers please" over and over again.  Later, we were practicing how to ask for these balls of dough with meat inside (called Bao Zi).  She wanted me to say yi ge bao zi (one dough ball), liang ge bao zi (two dough balls), etc.  I got a lot of stares from this as well.  The Chinese are not rude, they are just very very curious.  It also rained for the first time while I was out and about.  The rain was very similar to what my family saw in Missouri (maybe a tad steamier, though, it's hard to describe).  If you don't have an umbrella, you are drenched in two seconds.  Conveniently, their was a store with umbrellas nearby.  The owner was hilarious and kept trying to touch my head.  He said "army" a bunch of times so I think he thought I was military.  He also grabbed my bicep at one point and didn't say anything, but I could see the look of disappointment (no muscles there).  The highlight of my day in speaking Mandarin was when he pulled out a small umbrella that looked like a ladies umbrella and I said "Tai Xiao le" (It's too small).  Thanks to the Fluenz program, I was able to buy a bigger umbrella.  Hooray!

Ok, I need to go eat lunch now.  I'll be by myself this time, so I'm a bit nervous.  My next blog will be about Wal-Mart and the first day of class.

View from my classroom window toward Yuelu Mountain

Another view from the classroom.

Not the same class I teach in, but very similar.  Notice the cameras in the back!

Hunan Normal Museum

My tour guide

I thought these were the elevators, but they are just marble art work.

First part of museum.

Lunch.  Our dishes were a pork dish of some kind, chicken and beef with vegetables, and a very spicy freshwater fish. I also got to ask in chinese for the bill when we were done.  Baby steps! 

Another chinese temple.

Pay day! :)

Changsha Day 2

I must admit that Day 2 in Changsha was much smoother than Day 1. I got a good night sleep even though I did wake up at 5 a.m. (which is not typical of me at home).  I called Stacie and the kids on Skype and it was very hard to see my beautiful wife and children and not feel emotional and a bit lonely.  I mean, who wouldn't knowing that 6,998 miles separate us.  After the call, I spent several hours in my room studying Mandarin and trying to pump myself up with a little courage to practice speaking to people a bit more today.

At noon, I was invited to lunch by Martin Tang, the Director of the International Office of Exchange and Cooperation.  He is the man that extended the invitation for me to come to Changsha and we have been exchanging e-mails since October. It was nice to finally meet him.  Also invited to the lunch was his assistant (Amy), another girl from their office who I can't remember her name (probably because she didn't choose an English name--how sad is that), Karen (my personal Mandarin tutor and tour guide), and a married couple from SUU on student exchange (Chance and Brenna Burrows).  You can see from the photos below that the lunch involved another community-style serving set up, which often utilizes a "lazy Susan" (I'm going to start calling it a "lazy Suishan" for fun), which allows people to grab what they want with the chopsticks.  Everyone has their own bowl and plate, but I didn't see people using the plates very often.  They just take their chopsticks, grab a bit of food, and put it in their mouth without using the plate at all.  Some people in the U.S. might argue that this isn't very sanitary, but it wasn't like you would think.  The Chinese are very precise with the chopsticks and seem to grab just the food they plan to eat without touching the rest.  It was kind of impressive actually.  The advantage of this type of set up is that it is very social and it allows the guests to talk with each other and about the food (which is always a fun topic for me).  It was kind of fun to be chatting away and to try to grab the food I wanted before someone would spin it away from me.

There were some tricky moments in terms of etiquette.  The server poured me some tea and Martin wanted to toast me (yes, me specifically).  So, he raised his glass and I picked up my juice.  He laughed and said "juice is fine" and we proceeded to tap glasses.  He also gave me a beautifully embroidered silk as a gift.  Thank goodness Sun Xun (Chinese faculty member in the SUU music department) gave me a tip to be ready at all times to spontaneously exchange gifts.  So, I was prepared with a wood business card holder that was engraved with the SUU seal.  I know that the Chinese are very much into the exchange of business cards, so I thought that would be appropriate.  As soon as I handed it to him, he immediately pulled out his business cards, put one in the holder and then gave me one of them.  I had also read that upon receiving a business card, Westerners should examine the contents of the business card carefully before putting it away.  I made sure I did this as well.  During the lunch, I also noticed some power (status) issues at play.  First, nobody would sit until I sat (guest of honor I guess).  Also, they had designated spots for Martin and I and it was clear that we were of higher status than the other guests.  Also, Martin and I generally carried most of the conversation and it wasn't out of rudeness.  The others simply did not say much (except for the SUU students a bit) because they were showing deference.  My observations about these status issues were confirmed to me when I asked Karen afterwards why everyone was so quiet.  She said that myself and Martin had great "authority" and were therefore allowed to talk more freely.  Pretty interesting stuff.  Oh and the food was good too.  Not quite as good as the first restaurant, but still delicious.

After lunch, Karen took me over to the China Mobile phone store where I bought a phone for 200 yuan ($30) and charged it with 150 yuan of pay as you go minutes and 150 text messages (for 5 yuan or $2.25).  I can only use it in China, but it will be handy while I'm here and I can also bring it back with me next year and use it again.  International calls are very expensive to make on these phones, but the local ones are only .12 yuan per call, so I can use it quite a bit for 150 yuan. After the phone store, we went to the supermarket, where the day before I had trouble buying fruit if you recall.  Karen explained to me that in order to buy anything that is loose in the bins (or on a weighted or measured system), you have to make sure it's in separate bags (which I did the first time--I'm not an idiot) and then take it to a "designated" weigher who will weigh it and slap a sticker on it to take to the checker.  It's not that much different from the deli at our grocery stores, but deceptive in that you're allowed to grab it yourself, but you still have to get it weighed.

After this venture, I went shopping some more with Chance and Brenna (SUU exchange students).  They showed me what places they are comfortable with since they speak just a little bit of Chinese.  It was really helpful to have them show me where I could get good food at a decent price. They took me to one of their favorite restaurants, which they claimed to eat at once per day for the last four months. It was down this really narrow looking alley, but apparently all the good places are off in some corner that you wouldn't expect.  The owner seemed very warm to them and they ordered three dishes and rice for the three of us to share (again community-style).  They paid for dinner, which they say is a custom once you make a new friend.  I asked them if I could unfriend them (Facebook style) and become friends again tomorrow just before dinner. I hope they knew I was kidding.  After dinner, we took a bus (1 yuan or about 15 cents) to the downtown area where it was very lively and there was lots of activity in terms of the crowds (which are everywhere in China).  We purchased tickets to the Avengers at the Changsha IMAX theater by buying an "admit one" ticket from someone on the street and then taking that ticket into the concession booth to exchange it for a regular ticket.  I asked Chance why he did this and he said that his local friends told him this trick.  Apparently, if you just go into the theater and buy your ticket, it costs 70 yuan ($10.50), but if you buy it from the guy outside, it's only 35 yuan ($5.25).  That's a really good deal!  Once we were inside, the sound and digital picture were terrific!  However, the the Chinese folks who were in the theater were constantly talking and actually using their phones during the movie to make calls.  I'm used to noisy environments, though, so it didn't bother me too much.  Chance was upset when theater workers threw us out for trying to watch the special post-credits clips.  Eventually, they just shut off the movie and we didn't get to see it.  They probably couldn't figure out why we wouldn't leave.  My favorite part of the movie experience, though, was during a scene in which the Hulk grabs Loki (the bad guy) and starts slamming in on the floor over and over again.  The Chinese people thought this was hilarious and it was fun to see them be so spirited toward an American film.

In terms of the teaching, I feel ready to rock and roll.  They adjusted my teaching schedule a bit so that I'm starting this Wednesday (May 9th) instead of on the 16th. This means that I will be done earlier than I originally thought with classes.  One of the more frustrating aspects of my visit so far has been that they seemed to organize my teaching schedule AFTER I had already arrived even though they have been aware of my visit since October.  When I asked Amy about the adjustment, she simply said that she never heard exactly which days I was coming and did the best she could (I did send my flight itinerary early in the process).  When I was anticipating some of the cultural differences that would arise, I naturally thought about things like language and food.  I wasn't really expecting to have to adapt my very organized personality to a more flexible and spontaneous way of doing things.  I suppose it's just part of the process.  I'm still grateful to be here and am looking forward to meeting my students this week.  Good thing I'm not waiting for anyone to tell me what my course content is going to be.

Bad news of the week for my poor wife: They have NO dryers in Changsha.  Everyone hangs their clothes out the window, which looks really interesting in those high rise buildings where you see all these shirts hanging off the 30th floor.

From left to right: Martin Tang, Brenna Burrows, Chance Burrows, Amy, can't remember her name, Karen.

Martin and the Burrows.

Amy is on the left.  She is Martin's main assistant and she made all the...um...arrangements for my visit.

I'm not gonna lie.  I felt really...what's the word...heavyset next to Martin.

At the restaurant where the Burrows took me.

The alley leading to the restaurant.

This market is right across the street from the International Building where I am staying.  Looks pretty good doesn't it?  Fresh fruit is one of the perks here.

My dad's always teasing me for my poor photography skills. This blurry one is taken out the window of a bus as we cross the Xiangjiang River. Take that, dad :)

A downtown street as we walk to the movie theater from the bus stop. 

That ticket scalper didn't want me to take her picture for some crazy reason. I'm sending this to the Central Chinese government right away.

I was mad when I first walked in thinking this was the movie screen, but I realized this is just a hangout for people waiting for their movies to start.  It shows movie trailers apparently.  Also, my mom would be upset that they do NOT have regular movie popcorn.  It's all candy and caramel popcorn.

Now you see why I have trouble getting something to eat.

First Day in Changsha

It has been a long couple of days of traveling, but after a short layover in Seoul (about 4 hours), I finally arrived in Changsha (in the Hunan Province).  It was a much shorter duration of flying than I originally thought as it only totaled 17 1/2 hours of flying time (insert slight sarcasm here).  The people on the airline were phenomenal and the Incheon airport in Seoul is the best I have ever seen.  I will definitely be flying Korean air the next time I bring the whole family to Changsha in the fall of 2013.  As I was sitting in my seat, I kept thinking about how my small children would handle the long flight.  However, I think with all the in-flight entertainment in the form of movies, games, music, storybooks, and live camera feeds from in front and below the aircraft, they should have more than enough entertainment.

When I arrived in Changsha on Sunday morning at 11:30, I was greeted by the sweetest student named Li Li Jun (See pictures below).  Keep in mind that the surname is last (in this case Li) and her given name is Li Jun (pronounced close to Lee Jween).  Apparently, her major here is Chinese and she wants to teach Chinese to American students in the U.S. at some point.  So, it was a good opportunity for her to practice her English on me since I wasn't doing much practicing of the Mandarin on her.  Well...I practiced a little, but got frustrated when I used the word for water (shui) and she had no idea what I was talking about.  Dang you Fluenz program!  She brought along to the airport an "official" driver that she says they use for "very important visitors" (I can hear your chuckles even from across the globe).  

Changsha was about a 25-30 minute drive from the airport, so it was a good opportunity to ask Li Jun questions about the city and the university.  It's good that I was absorbed in the conversation too because the driving in China is super scary.  They drive on the same side of the road that we do in the U.S., but often people don't respect it.  Picture yourself walking through a crowd of people on the Vegas strip.  You would weave in and out, working your way past whatever obstacles (usually bodies) stood in your way.  Now picture doing that with cars.  This makes the art of driving in Changsha seem very "random."  I saw cars driving on sidewalks and people attempting u-turns on what we would classify as a "freeway."  And, I thought Chicago traffic was bad.  I don't think I would choose to drive in China if I didn't need to, so walking, taxis, and bussing are probably my best bets.  Jaywalking in Changsha was pretty thrilling (translation: I almost got hit by a car three times) too as they rarely have traffic lights that direct people to cross.  

So, when we first got to Changsha, I was treated to lunch at the famous Mona Lisa restaurant (yes, we're in China and not France).  I had actually read a bit about this one prior to my trip and many tourists had raved about it.  Every dish was very spicy, but not more than I could handle.  I asked Li Jun if the foods represented a typical level of spiciness and she said they did.  So I think I'll be able to handle at least some of the cuisine here.  Some of you may know this already but Hunan and Sichuan Provinces are the most well known for having very hot and spicy food.  I have seen my daughter Jeanie eat wasabi right out of those tubes, so I know she'll be ok too.

After lunch, we took a tour of campus and I was shocked at just how exquisitely beautiful it was.  I will attach some pictures below so you can see the beauty of this place.  Lush vegetation is everywhere on campus and the Lushan Road that runs alongside the campus is packed with many stores.  I generally had no idea what was in them, but I did see some pretty nice purses for like $12 bucks, so I know Stacie will be happy. 

Overall, it has been positive. My favorite things about Changsha so far are: 1) Every person I have met on an individual level has been incredibly warm and kind to me, 2) I have never seen vegetation like this in my life (the Yuelu mountain behind campus looks like pictures I've seen of the Amazon rain forest), 3) The food (although still a bit foreign to me) is delicious...and cheap!, 4) The temperature in my room right now is 18 degrees celsius, which I have no idea how to convert that to fahrenheit but it's freezing in here and I love it!

However, there were those small elements of culture shock.  Let me just list a few: 1) This place is hotter than heck (85% humidity and about 85 degrees), 2) No Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi, 3) Saw my first squatter type toilet and decided to hold it in, 4) Went to the grocery store and saw whole chickens, turtles, fried chicken feet, and meal worms, 5) Stinky tofu really does deserve its name, 6) I don't know what anybody is saying and the few words I do know aren't cutting it because my pronunciation is so bad, 7) The Chinese are always screaming at each other and it's just very loud out on the streets (they are just intense and not actually angry).

I admit that there were a few moments today that I wasn't sure I could handle things long-term.  When Li Jun left, I rested for a while in my room and then had to go out and try to find myself some dinner.  I walked past the stinky tofu and decided I was definitely not ready for that (impossible to describe the smell).  Then I saw some fried stuff, but I didn't know what it was so I passed on that too.  Then, I went into the grocery story and bagged up some fruit the way we would at our local market. I took it to the counter and the lady yelled (from a Westerner view) at me because I apparently did something wrong and so she took my fruit and gave it to another worker to put it back.  So, I left with no food.  On my way home, I passed a KFC and went inside.  The menu was all in mandarin and they didn't have value meals listed as 1 through whatever, which as you know is common in the U.S. and would have been helpful since I can count to ten in chinese.  I second guessed my ability to effectively order and left.  Then, I spotted a McDonalds and went inside.  They too didn't have value meals and the prices were listed listed as 26 RMB (about $5), so I decided to point at a double cheeseburger and say "na ge" or "that one." This time, they either understood my Chinese or the universal signal of pointing at a hamburger and widening the eyes.  I took my food back to my room and watched Pawn Stars on Netflix while I ate.  I felt like such a sellout.  I'll do better tomorrow!

I couldn't get the exact image I wanted, but I like that the sun was so orange and you can see the Seoul skyline below it.  Thanks for the camera, Asher.  

I thought this man looked a bit like my father-in-law, Mark Huish's, long lost Asian brother.

Li Li Jun and the very nice, but very assertive driver. I thought it was amusing that my very first restaurant in China had pictures of Brando, Deniro, and the Terminator on the back wall.

I wanted to get a shot where you can see some of the food. Top left is a super spicy soup with Tofu, spinach, and little tiny  whole fishes.  Not sure what was in the broth, but it was amazing.  Next to it on the right is some kind of "porridge."  The one just below the spicy soup is a stir fry with pork, an usual kind of mushroom, and hot peppers.  Also, very good.  The dish is the middle of the table was my favorite.  Li Jun described it as a kind of "barbecued steak."  I could not get enough of the stuff.    On the very right is a plate of bananas, watermelon, cantaloupe, and a type of fruit that looks like white watermelon with poppy seeds on it.  I'm not sure how else to describe it.

Just a view down the street in Changsha.

Western-style bathroom accommodations.

My room for the next 6 weeks or so. The tv gets one english language channel and it's CCTV (I believe China Central TV).  There is also a channel in Spanish, French, and Russian.  I'm not sure what those are broadcasting, but it looks to be similar content to the one in English.

An old temple.  Li Jun couldn't remember all the details about it, but it sure is cool looking isn't it?

This is a small pond in the middle of campus.  The temple in the above picture is also right on campus.  I couldn't believe how pretty this all is.  

Today is the Day!

Ok, packed and ready to depart for China.  Obviously there is some nervousness, but the people helping me in Changsha have been very warm and accommodating.  My Mandarin teacher, Manqiong Xiao, gave me a Chinese name, so from here on out you can call me 剀文, which in pinyin is Kai Wen.  She told me that the Kai doesn't really mean anything in particular, but apparently it always coincides with something good.  The Wen is kind of any adjective meaning "cultured" or something like that.  So, I'm "good" and "cultured," which is probably making those of you who know me chuckle right now.  I do think the name sounds a great deal like "Kevin," so that's good.  The pinyin for professor is "jaioshou," which is pronounced like "jow" and "show."  I will instruct my students to either call me Kai Wen, or Kai Wen Jiaoshou (Professor Kai Wen).  Anyway, it should be a long flight on Korean Airlines (one of the best airlines in the world according to Jee-Young and Johnny).  Not that they are biased or anything :)  I fly direct from Vegas to Seoul and then to Changsha, where someone will be picking me up, driving me to my place of residence, and then taking me on a tour of campus.  Then, I'll crash from the severe jetlag.

I probably packed too much.  Jee-Young told me to pack and then when I'm done to take out half the clothes and then double the amount of money I bring.