August 27

Hello everyone!

My goodness, these last few days have been full of excitement! Just so you all know, I am currently in my apartment in Weihai, Shandong, China. We made it here safely yesterday at about 4:15 PM; I will start at the beginning, or where I left off in my last email.

At 2:35PM on August 27 (about 12am August 27 for those in the States), the Weihai ILP group boarded the plane headed to Weihai; we rode Korean Air. I just love the flight attendants' uniforms: the females wear white sheath (pencil) skirts and cyan/light turquoise silk button down blouses with high collars, black heel, and bandanas made of stiff fabric around their necks that are tied sort of into bows. They look so sleek and stylish and I imagined myself pulling off that look in the States—certainly not as well as they do, but it would still be fun.
I had a window seat, about which I was very excited, though the hour-long flight from Seoul to Weihai wasn’t that exciting visually: mostly I saw clouds and water. (Katy and I were disappointed that the clouds weren’t swirly as Mulan depicts them.) Instead of the usual peanuts and crackers that one receives on short flights, I was served rice, tuna, and kem chi with a pineapple piece and purified water. I believe kem chi is seaweed, though I could be wrong. It tasted strongly of seafood and salt, so that’s probably correct. When mixed with the tuna and rice, it really wasn’t that awful tasting.
Oh, I suppose I could mention that I wanted to get a souvenir from the Korean airport, but after exchanging some American money into won, I discovered that all of the Versacci scarves and Bvlgari purses and other fashion brands were at least $200—American dollars. And that’s all they sold there. So I decided just to be happy with Korean cash as souvenirs.
Back to the story: As we flew over the Yellow Sea, I saw a couple whales down below. And then finally I saw the Chinese coast—and was blown away with how gorgeous the country side is here. There were rolling hills of patches of various crops, all rectangles of different shades of green, and lush trees and winding dirt roads. Now and then, a small village with dusty roads and houses made of cement and orange shingles would break up the sea of green, giving me a glance of rural Chinese civilization.
After landing at the small Weihai airport, we went through Immigration Quarantine Check, where they checked our passports, visa, and arrival card before sending us to baggage claim. Everyone else besides the 20 in my group were Asian, and we all felt like legitimate tourists. I don’t like feeling like a tourist, or a crazy person who has no idea what they’re doing or what they’ve gotten themselves into, but with my blond hair and round eyes and full eyelids, there was no escaping the Clueless American stamp on my forehead.
After collecting our bags from baggage claim, we met the ILP Chinese coordinator, Kelly, who led us to a bus that brought us to our school. Staring out the window, I could hardly believe I was in China. Everything is so lush here; flowered trees are all over the place, and I saw an orchard of some kind of fruit that looks like an apple but peels on the tree like paper origami, leaving a skin that looks like crumpled paper. I have yet to find out what it is.
Kelly is Chinese but speaks English quite well. She is in charge of all people associated with ILP at the Weihai school. We ask her any question we might have, even “How do you say this? Or that?” and she in turn asks us about ourselves and American life and how to say things in English.
We drove through metro areas where everything was written in Chinese characters. Countless buildings are under new construction (or they’re in the beginning stages but have been that way for some time) while all the others ones could use some renovating. Most shops were rinky dinky and under kept; the sidewalks are dirty and crumbling and littered; water damage is common, everywhere—the gutters, the sidewalks, the walls, the roofs, the laundry that hangs out of windows and on poles outside of doors (there are now dryers here), the dogs that wander the streets with reckless abandon. I was actually surprised at how second world Weihai is; I had naively assumed that because it was a tourist city it was going to be kept up and shiny Carmel by the Sea, California. Perhaps I just haven’t seen Uptown living yet.
We continued up a rode that led through tunnels (we all held our breath) and the more rural parts of the city. I wondered if our school was in the middle of nowhere, but we really just took the scenic route to the school. In actuality the school is a fifteen minute walk to one of the largest supermarkets in town.
Finally, we arrived at the school, which is a gated and guarded community. The school consists of several campus buildings and dormitory buildings—it’s huge. It has (rundown) basketball courts, a soccer/futbol field, badminton, and a pool for leisure. We drove past the building in which we will be teaching and the students’ dormitory buildings. Upon reaching our apartment building, we discovered that we were to climb 10 flights of stairs to our rooms—with two 50 pound bags, my 30 pound carry on and 30 pound personal bag. By the time this task was complete, I was soaked in sweat (did I mention it’s super humid here? Because it is) and breathless. We all made a prediction that by the end of the four months, we’ll all have incredible leg muscles from climbing five levels (10 flights, 80 stairs each way) and squatting and arm muscles from carrying supplies and luggage.
We proceeded straight to dinner before settling into our apartments. Kelly told us to say hello (nee how) to everyone—Chinese people are shy and won’t initiate conversation. The cafeteria is in a building right beside our apartment building. It is a large room with tons of orange chairs and tables. We stood in two single file lines at the kitchen/serving counter and were given metal trays filled with rice, some sort of dish, and the whitest, blandest roll I’ve ever eaten. I think it may have been made of rice.
Surprisingly, I really enjoyed the food. I was not sure what to expect, but it’s really not a whole ton different from Americanized Chinese food. (We ate with wooden chopsticks, like the kind you get at Panda Express that you break apart.) Of course, we are eating cafeteria food—I’m sure food at a restaurant would be a different story. Perhaps.
On the way out, we saw a spider the size of about half my palm. Encouraging.
I am rooming Abby Morrison, who is also eighteen. She is here with her sister, Emily; they are from Canada/most recently Pleasant Grove, UT. She’s a sweet girl and we get along well. The apartments have two beds, a fridge and freezer combo, a water dispenser and purified water jug, night stands, desks, and two large closets and lots of storage space. However, the beds are nearly rock hard. There are no mattresses, just a thin pad on a food board. Also, there was a small cockroach in our freezer.
The bathroom makes me grateful I got a tetanus shot. The toilet is not a squatter, thank goodness, but makes a loud hissing noise after you flush it because it takes forever to fill with water again. The shower is a shower head on the wall and handles and a drain in the bathroom floor. EVERYTHING gets wet when you take a shower—you might as well shower and pee at the same time to save time and toilet paper. We had a laundry machine, which is small but seems to get the job done. The soap runs out of a hose and onto the bathroom floor though. We found this out because when I opened my large suitcase, I discovered that my 24oz. shampoo had exploded all over everything. The top literally popped off or something, and the bottle was completely empty. Abby and I took all my clothes out and threw them in the washing machine, supposing that the shampoo would work as a decent detergent.
It was a messy business and I believe I’m just gonna toss that suitcase since it’s still drenched in shampoo and is now rusty.
Abby and I unpacked everything else and settled in. The school supplied us with rice-pillows; I’m very grateful I brought my travel sized fluffy pillow from home—it’s small but soft!
After a quick orientation with Cami and Marie, my head teachers, we went to bed. Abby and I were out almost instantly.
Oh, by the way, I just got internet. We were having problems connecting for the first day but finally figured it out. I have internet connection in my room, so I have easy access to it. Plus, my adapter works but there is also an American plug in the wall that works with all of my American plugs, which is handy. I will send pictures of everything to be put on my blog (andchocolatetoo.blogspot.com) later; I will also write you about today (the 28th) later, because I’m exhausted from exploring and getting lost in the city (I’ll explain later, like I said) and Maren would like to use my internet connection before she hits the sack.
I have loved hearing back from some of you! I’d love to hear back from anyone.

I love and appreciate you all!

Sincerely,
Jillian