Asian Sensation: So this is China

Tong Zhi Men Hao!

I am bustling through my first days in Wuhan, and I am still amazed that I have finally made my way to China . My first dose of Chinese was on my flight from Singapore to Guangzhou on China Southern Airlines (winner of the American Hospitality Association's Five Diamond Award – just like in Ocean's Thirteen). As in any airplane, the safety features were explained and the ground rules were set via the loudspeaker; Mandarin Chinese was spoken first then the information was repeated in English, but unlike the Mandarin that was spoken by a stewardess (not flight attendant, her name tag said stewardess), the English was a recording by a man who must be a distant cousin of the Moviefone announcer. Later in the flight I struggled through the complicated order of " Shui? Uh… Bing Shui? Um… water? Please?" which was clearly answered with "ni yao he shem?" and an inquisitive look. By mealtime, I gave up on my pitiful Chinese and simply pointed at the meal that the man next to me was eating and smiled.

I made it to Guangzhou through immigration, baggage claim and checked into my next flight without a hitch, and wandered around the arrival gate and international departures for only forty-five minutes before successfully locating the security check that would deposit me at domestic departures. Everything about the process was easy except that when I handed my boarding pass and passport to the guard to verify my identity, he took six long minutes to carefully examine my documents and cross check me in the directory of Americans most likely to smuggle hamsters into China, or some nonsense.

Huazhong University of Science and Technology

Me and Christine at the AIESEC Party

By and by I made it to Wuhan and collected my two very large red suitcases and met my AIESECer, Christine/ Fei-Fei. She's a junior at Hua Ke, the local university, and majoring in bio-infomatics. She is from a city about 6 hours from Wuhan, which has the loving nickname of "car city" because of the many car factories, and I am her first foreign friend - she is very excited about that. After a bus breakdown and an angry cab driver we finally made it to the AIESEC office in Hua Ke, an old apartment that they have rented where myself and three other Americans, Rachel (Ohio State), Robert (Baruch), and Tim (GW), are staying until our permanent places are ready. Note: there are only three beds. I moving quite quickly in China, on my very first night, I already slept with someone. Rachel and I shared a queen sized bed that is about as soft as the sidewalk outside with our clashing red and orange sheets.

My shower before bed was comical to say the least. The bathroom is set up such that it is a square with a hole in the ground (aka, the toilet) in one corner with a curtain-free window above it, the sink in another corner, the showerhead between the two, and the door in the far corner. The shower head fixture is weak, so when the water was on, I had to use one hand to hold it in place so that it didn't go wild, but at the same time I had to make sure that I was standing in such a way that the people outside couldn't see me and I didn't fall into the toilet. On top of all of this, I was bathing with only one free hand, which is a feat since I had to wash my hair. Needless to say, the entire bathroom was covered in water by the time I had changed into my pajamas.

We spent our first real day in orientation at the New Oriental School which covered a lecture from the Public Security Association about not staying past the validity of our visas and not getting drunk and robbed in the city. After brief introductions of each department and ourselves, we were treated to Wuhanese food for lunch and received our teaching assignments. I will be working with one other intern, Matt, a half-Chinese, former elementary teacher, twenty-two year-old, fifth year senior at ASU, in the Secondary Education Department. Oddly enough, we are both the only half-Asians, the only ones with prior teaching experience and the only people who have already finished 4 years of college, his Chinese, however is much more functional than mine, even though his is still pretty basic.

Everyone in the program seems to be cool; so far there are four kids from Baruch in New York, three kids from Ohio State, a guy from UMichigan, a girl from Purdue, four of us from GW, the guy from ASU ,and a 24 year-old, that I haven't actually spoken to just yet.

We are only waiting on a couple from Umich to bring us to our total of 17. I'm really excited to try everything here with my new friends. We've already been out to the international club in Wuhan, Vox, where TsingTao beer is less than a dollar, tequila shots are $2, and Bacardi Breezers are $3. The mix is pretty cool, Americans, Chinese, Nigerians, Brits, Australians and more! The first night there was what looked like a dance off between a group of Nigerian guys a group of Asians.

Yesterday we had an AIESEC orientation that was pretty much a few presentations then a tour of the university. My group got really into the part of the tour that involved taking goofy pictures at all the well known and beautiful sights. We also had to do some kind of "roll call" which we turned into a military-esq version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star that ended with a little hip hop dancing. So, last night at the AIESEC welcome party for us we performed our roll call. The party also included a sword dance, a calligrapher (I won a scroll!), choreographed dances, a kissing game, a talent show and a fashion show. The kissing game was kind of like tag but with kissing someone on the cheek, but was definitely funny. The AIESECers are great; they are so eager to help us out and teach us new things so we're definitely making new friends and understanding more about Chinese culture. Last night I also got a new Chinese name, Bai Yang, which means banyan tree.

I'll be sure to keep everyone posted on my upcoming adventures in shopping teaching and eating spicy food. For now, I'm off to my first day of training!

Here are some crazy pics from the tour!

Allen, Matt and Robert practicing their Gong Fu