Ok, so my whole internet situation is still really bad. Yes, I have a mac and the cable internet will not work with that here in Linyi. It took me FOREVER to communicate this to people so that I could buy an aircard that was compatible with macs. I bought the aircard and payed for 4 months though. Then it didn’t work for some reason. Then finally it worked until I ran out of internet prematurely...I tried going back to unicom to see if I could add more to my plan, but that isn’t an option for some reason. And they told me that since I ran out I cant go to the next month, which still doesn’t really make sense to me. And why do they only tell me this after I already ran out? The girl that works there is also always sending me to a different unicom location except by then I am usually too frustrated to handle the 5 girls that work at that location because they just laugh at me the entire time. I don’t think I have ever straight up laughed at someone back in the states that couldn’t really speak english. So naturally all of this gets on my nerves. So now whenever I have problems I ask the nice girl to go with me to the mean girl location. She also always gives me a ride on her motorbike. Twice though she has had to leave all of a sudden and I get stuck with the laughing girls and then have to take one of those little bumpy vehicles back. Also, I always ask her if my internet can be fixed and she says no, yet we ride to all of these other unicom locations anyway. I don’t really understand the point in that because I always just end up having to buy these prepaid cards that give me a little more internet. I guess I will just have to watch what I download next month and try very hard not to run out of internet though that too is hard to measure. What a pain...or maybe I am the problem, Im too concerned about having internet hehe.
But I am getting used to finding humor wherever I can, for example, riding on the back of the nice unicom girl’s motorbike people would look over at me like wheres that American going with that girl on that bike...but I was also wearing basketball shorts and rain boots when it wasn’t even raining and too cold for shorts, but i kept getting compliments on the boots like they were a nice pair of shoes or something. I think in the states people wouldn’t wonder where I was going just why I was wearing the boots and shorts considering the weather. Different things matter to Chinese people I guess and its good to be able to laugh at. I never make it obvious that Im laughing at a specific person though. Pointing and laughing should be a crime! ha.
Anyways, I had my first regular class today. But it wasn’t regular at all actually. First of all, its Sunday and today was just a makeup class for a class I’ll miss next week on national holiday. To make it even more confusing, it was in a different classroom than normal and the bus schedule was also off. The only thing about it that will be consistent are my students. The Total Immersion Program is over so now I am teaching the students I will be teaching for the entire semester. It went well considering all that was off but still. The rest of my day was pretty much spent reading a book called Rule of the Bone by Russell Banks. I started and finished it today which tells you that I found it interesting enough. After reading though, I needed to burn some energy and so I went for a walk around the world.
When I say I went for a walk around the world, I mean I walked on and around this fountain on campus. Its a big fountain of a world map and they only turn the water on when something special is going on. The rest of the time is just a circular space with platforms where the continents are. The thing thats different about it for me though is that East Asia is in the upper center. I am used to a map where North America is to the West and Europe and Africa are in the center-ish with China to the East. This map begins with Africa and Europe and then Asia, and then the Americas in the East. Different, but probably good for me to see for a change. So the fountain wasn’t on and I was hopping across the countries listening to my music. I think it was one of those nights where you feel ready to make some sort of little discovery about life but you feel like you have to be moving around for that to happen. I was walking across Antarctica when it came to me. Im in China! How cool is that? It sounds silly, but sometimes I sorta forget. I think the thought came from the book I read, though in the book he was talking about Jamaica instead of China. But what was said is that you often get used to other cultures quickly. And also, sometimes what Americans are very vague about things that other cultures might be specific about. Also, we might expect details on things like internet/phone where China is very vague about such issues. You get used to it though and forget it might be different back home.
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