I’m five days into my move to a new job and life at an international school in China and only just feel I’m in a state of mind that I can write about the last few days. Safe to say the learning curve has been fairly steep up until Saturday when I finally settled into my flat and could breathe a sigh of relief. I imagine most entries to this blog will be shorter than this but the longer I wait the more I will fall behind..
Wednesday 14th August
After a 9-hour, mostly sleepless, flight I landed at about 8.30am. The meant I skipped the night and my body felt like it was about 1am upon landing but still having an entire day ahead to get through. I got through security fairly easily with the visa I only received on Monday, and like most of this week a lot of things were going to be a last minute rush that you get swept along by. Fortunately two teachers, a couple, had arrived shortly before me and they would be who I was going to rely upon for the next few days to keep my sanity as both had experience working abroad previously and would always be there for reassurance and confidence. From what I can see, everyone who has joined the school has previous experience, I’m the only coming from the UK fresh.
First stop was at the school to sign for the 20,000rmb (approx £2,400) advance. We stuff these huge bundles of notes into our bags and are dropped off at the hotel.
After this we ate in the hotel, first authentic meal in China. I ordered a chicken dish and found out that chicken dishes in China typically are full of bones, and bone fragments which led to some very careful chewing and I’ll likely be cautious about these in future. After that walked up the road to see absolutely nothing (typically the shops were the opposite direction from the one I took) and then met up with the others for an evening meal, and avoided the chicken...
Exhausted, I collapsed into bed, but jet lag kicked in big time when I woke up at 1am that night and stayed awake until 4.30am.
Thursday 15th August
After having barely any sleep the previous night and not actually having a night the day before, I felt like hell. The breakfast was largely the food of the night before, noodles, various meat dumplings, meat filled pancakes, potato things - a variety of deep fried stodge. I tried my best but that’s a big ask on your stomach first thing. The only drink available was hot water, not tea, coffee, juice or even cold water, and it was 35oC outside. Strewth.
First job was viewing for flats, we split up and went to about half dozen each. A guide from the school helped translate, sleep deprived and not having much of a clue I went along with it not knowing what was expected and hoping it would work out. The whole area looks as the above photo, colossal towers for miles around. First few flats were not in a good state, dirty and run down, there doesn’t seem to be a belief that flats should be tidy for people viewing them here, they clean them after you agree to take the place. I saw flats as high as the 25th floor but the novelty wore off fast. Eventually I settled on a 2nd floor flat with a view out the window onto smaller houses opposite. Also the cheapest flat at 2100rmb a month (barely £250) astonishing at the size of it. You wouldn’t even know there were 20 floors above and that you weren’t in a two floor house yourself. So they agree to clean up the walls and repair the hole in the ceiling, and I’m asked to sign a contract (all very reasonable) and pay the advance - six months rent (erm...). This is normal, the school guide tells me, I hand over nearly 18,000rmb. The vast majority of my advance gone.
After that we went out to get a phone as western phones simply don’t work in China, also I preferred to keep my UK phone and number. Then we set up a WiFi account for our new flats. This took about 45 minutes, with passport being copied, documents to sign, photographs, etc.
Friday 16th August
In the morning it was a trip to the medical centre on the far side of Beijing for the medical tests. Other than the ride itself, the longest bit was waiting for a ticket in the queue. Once the tests started it was done in 20 minutes. In no particular order you went into a series of rooms connected to the main waiting room, blood test, urine sample, x-ray, ECG, ultrasound, blood pressure/weight/height and eyesight (failed that for sure, I could barely see the chart). Remarkably fast and efficient.
In the afternoon we went to Walmart to buy essentials for our flats, bedding, cleaning things, kitchenware, etc. After the trip to Walmart I was broke, and hadn’t really spent that much there. I had barely 100rmb (£12) remaining and nothing to live off the rest of the month. I contacted the school guide telling them that this was hopeless, at his advice I’d signed away the near entirety of the advance on the rent leaving me with nothing! So he arranged the letting agent return a chunk of the money...
The combination of the lack of sleep and the constant stress of the situation as not knowing what was happing with money, the condition of the flat, and how all our mountain of stuff would be transported safely into the the flat (I had visions of it piled up on the pavement as I tried to carry bits in one at a time) was giving me terrible tension headaches. The frustrations of things generally being somewhat confused and rushed was driving me up the wall and I was sure I was going to crack!
Saturday 17th August
I have a small amount of the breakfast, the 5th or 6th fried meal is a struggle. Then a taxi arrives to move us to our flats, one of the other teachers comes to help me move my stuff and then I return to help move theirs. Then the agent returns to the flat bringing the money, no issue whatsoever. Then I unpack. True to their word, the flat has been cleaned very well, walls touched up and that hole in the ceiling plastered over. Also a WiFi hub has arrived from somewhere and is already plugged in and flickering away. I breathe a sigh of relief, suddenly everything has fallen into place.
Not a lot else happened that day. We arranged a DiDi (Chinese Uber) to take us again to Walmart and we bought food. Then dropped us back at the school to go our separate ways home. The bags were absurdly heavy, there has to be an easier way of doing this, but still, I’ll work out deliveries another time. The best bit was going to the section with western food, getting a box of Cheerios and knowing that tomorrow my breakfast would be cereal with milk, some orange juice and a banana!
Sunday 18th August
Our first chance to see the school properly. All new teachers who have arrived so far assembled, along with some current staff and the principle, for introductions and a tour. It’s nothing like any British school I have been to, might detail this in time but currently the school looks a bit of a building site and many things are remodelled for the new term.
After that we went to a restaurant popular with the school staff that does a range of both Chinese and western food. Was so good to have simple things like bits of pizzas and cake again, but also spicy Chinese things too.
In the afternoon we went into Tianjin to see some of the more attractive parts. I was desperate to buy a hat because the sun is so intense here but no luck. We got some attention from the locals. I’d been told that something people stare, but I’ve also seem the smile and wave, so the attention has been friendly. A family asked some of us to pose with them for a group photo, I assume we are that much of a curiosity to them.
So that’s the first five days done, and I’m really looking forward to the next.
Oh, and they really don’t have cheese here.
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