Saturday – Airport stress

We’re here! After all those weeks (months?) of praying, applying, planning, preparing and packing, the growing excitement, anticipation and apprehension and the days of orientation… this is China!

So how do I feel? Exhilarated, but exhausted. Hot, but happy to be here. Drinking in the sights, sounds and smells of Linqing and savouring God’s grace in getting us here safely.

It’s been an eventful few days since orientation began. The team assembled in High Wycombe on Tuesday, in many cases not knowing the others at all. We had a fairly busy timetable of sessions on Chinese culture, Chinese language, security issues, English teaching etc, but also long meal breaks for relaxing – many of us arrived pretty tired.

And then yesterday we began the journey itself. We got to the plane without incident, but then it sat and sat and sat. One and a half hours later, they apologised for a computer error and we were off but as we approached Beijing we realised that they hadn’t made up much – if any – of the time and that was 1 ½ of our 2 ¼ hrs on the ground in Beijing!

The queues for immigration were long and I wondered when the next flight to Linqing would be. I collected my bag (Heathrow had said they couldn’t check them right through) and wondered if I had a phone number for anyone meeting us in Linqing.

The transfer desk clerk spoke virtually no English, but eventually after a few phone calls, issued 11 boarding cards. The flight number was right, but what about the other 2? Finally he issued 2 more (so we’re all going!) took 13 bags (we had 15 to be checked in, but hey….) and a lady with a walkie-talkie guided us at high speed, parting the crowds like the Red Sea before her, across the terminal to the security gate.

Shame about the airport tax. Maybe they were holding the plane just for us, but his job was to collect airport tax vouchers from all passengers and we weren’t going through unless he did. Walkie- talkie lady had vanished so Gwenan and I ran off in search of vouchers.

First we found the airport tax desk, so Gwenan joined that queue, with her US dollars, while I went in search of somewhere to change travellers’ cheques in case/ because they wouldn’t in Linqing. When even the queue-free bank wouldn’t change travellers’ cheques, a cashpoint seemed the best option and I got the cash just as Gwenan rejoined me with the expected bad news. So back to the tax desk (Gwenan may only be little, but she can run through a crowd like the best scrum half) and then back to the group.

Meanwhile the others had realised that the reason Tammy’s hadn’t been checked in was that it contained her scissors, tweezers etc. We disposed of them and got through smoothly. We finally found gate 43 at the far end of several broken escalators. We were shown straight through and with our seats right at the back (of course!) had to brazen out the “You’ve made us late” stares of the whole plane-ful before collapsing in a heap.

Time to relax and catch our breath, we hoped. But turbulence kept us strapped in our seats the whole flight and had some reaching first for their own sick bags then for their neighbours’.

Linqing is hot. But we’ve made it, on the expected flight, with the whole group together and Gwenan has spotted Peta and Rosie out in the Arrivals Hall as we went past the exit to the carousel to collect our bags… or at least, some of them! When new bags stop coming through, there are still several groups of passengers waiting and we’ve only got 8 of our 13 bags back. Further lengthy delays while I fill in baggage claim forms (detailing how many missing shirts, together with value and date of purchase!!) but then we’re through and on the bus to Linde University.

Our apartments are amazing, I think we will sleep well. Good night!

Tuesday – Irrigation and Ding Ding Noodles

After a day of orientation it was lovely to get out and about today to an immigration project. Its main function is to divert a river into canals to stop it flooding. Despite this unpromising explanation the trip was great. There were great views of the river from the hills and the team found it hilarious when a Chinese woman decided to have her photograph taken with us!

There was a delightful walk down the hill through a temple to the riverside and then a rather scary river crossing on a rickety rope bridge to the other side, which not everybody enjoyed.

The Chinese official (Gerry) who had organised the trip for us also treated us to lunch before we set off for Linqing. The bus journey to and from our sight seeing trips are just as enjoyable as our destinations due to the variety of different people walking along the side of the road. People-watching is definitely a favourite activity here!

In the afternoon we split up as some of the team completed lesson planning and others went to the market to practise their Mandarin. Despite mishearing numbers and offering far too much money to the amusement of the fruit sellers we managed adequately.

In the evening we went to a Uyghur restaurant by the campus where we met Gerry again, we reckoned he thought we were following him around. The Uyghur people are a Muslim minority so the food is rather different to usual local fare. We had ‘ding ding’ noodles which were very popular especially as we got our own plates rather than the more usual common dish.

All in all a very enjoyable and informative day!

Thursday – Teaching - Pandas

Wow, what an incredible couple of days it has been! Yesterday the university kindly organised a trip to take us to see the pandas. It was the first time most of the team had seen pandas and everybody really enjoyed it. The life of a panda does not seem too stressful – they just loll about on their backs eating bamboo it would seem! Yesterday afternoon was free but most, if not all of us, spent it trying to perfect our lesson plans! I think all the team were really excited about meeting the students and starting teaching. However we were naturally quite nervous too! Last night the university did an official welcome dinner for us. It was quite a shock to see the team looking smart! It was a really fun evening and great to meet the classroom assistants who would be in our classes. There were some interesting new dishes to try too. People so far have been generally enjoying the food but it was noticed last night that a few dishes were merely picked at (in contrast to the good old sweet and sour pork which was demolished pretty quickly!) It was a wonderful meal though and huge!

So today…. Teaching began! It was with a few nerves and a lot of excitement that we trooped off to the classrooms this morning. But lessons went really well. There were not as many students in the classes as we had initially hoped for but in a way, small, more intimate, classes were lovely. Showing pictures of Britain and references to David Beckham and Harry Potter were particular hits! Many of the team were able to eat lunch with the students. A group of students then took some of us shopping in the centre of Linqing. It was brilliant to spend time getting to know the students and hopefully as time goes on friendships will blossom. I think it is fair to say that the team are a bit tired after the first day of teaching but very happy and just looking forward to seeing what happens in the coming weeks!