A million other bloggers have posted that you can see Dalian in the latest BETA version of Google Earth. I thought you might be interested in seeing where we are and where some of the "landmarks" mentioned in the blog are.
First, you need to download Google Earth from here.
Then you install the program, and click on the links below when Google Earth is open on your computer. It will automatically take you to each one. By the way, I understand the irony of not using full names in my blog, and then providing the exact coordinates of where we live. What can I say, we're all full of contradictions :)
Our Apartment Building
DMU Main Building
Trustmart (local grocery store)
Xinghai Square
Zhongshan Square
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Photos: Our Apartment, part 2
Our Bedroom
The view to the north out our kitchen window. There's a faux ship mast in a courtyard full of trees
The view to the south and southwest out our bedroom window
The view to the north out our kitchen window. There's a faux ship mast in a courtyard full of trees
The view to the south and southwest out our bedroom window
Photos: Our Apartment, part 1
Our building from the south (pretty in pink)
Our lovely front door!
The Living Room
The Kitchen (the light's a bit poor in this one)
Our lovely front door!
The Living Room
The Kitchen (the light's a bit poor in this one)
Dogs - love them, don't eat them
My dog Cody didn't want us to go to China. He parked himself next to our bags the night before we left!
First Night on the Town
This entry almost got skipped due to my reluctance to go to our local internet cafe. You see, just about every male here smokes like a chimney, and you can smoke almost anywhere. I've been a few places where I was bowled over that the air was fresh and that they were actually enforcing the no smoking policy. Anyway, I hate going down there because you come back smelling like the Marlboro Man, and it burns my eyes.
However, we just got our DSL working! Back in the saddle at last. It's definitely slower than your garden variety DSL in the US but anything seems better than hanging out down in the cafe (perhaps "internet saloon" is more apt) downstairs. As a side note, another interesting fact about these local internet cafes is the preponderance of 20 year old boys (and I do mean boys) playing Counterstrike and Warcraft III from the wee hours of the morning to wee hours of the morning. It seems in China that male students are either: studying, chanting militaristic-sounding shouts in the courtyard, or making the world safe for democracy through the world of online gaming. I left out "frustrating their western English teachers" but that's a topic for another team.
Last Friday, an Irish fellow and I headed out to meet a few other teachers on the town in downtown Dalian. This fellow has a blog you can check out. He helped make C and I feel comfortable that DMU was a legitimate place that paid on time and wouldn't have us living in an anthill. So anyway, we took the number 23 bus after some dinner. In the evenings here in Dalian, as in New York City, the traffic dies down dramatically (perhaps "dies down" is insensitive given China's poor traffic safety record). So the bus was almost like taking a taxi. It flew along Dalian's wide boulevards and through Zhongshan Square (the heart of town). We got off downtown and meandered down the Renmin Lu ("The People's Street") towards the Shangri-La hotel. For those of with you means, the Shangri-La hotel chain appears to have an excellent 3-4 star hotel in almost every major Chinese city, should you wish to stay in style as you visit China. My Irish friend indicated that the pub we were headed to was on the street behind the Shangri-La.
As we walked down an alley (a BIG alley, not a shifty one), we saw China's winds of change. Old beat up Chinese cars parked next to the mainstay Volkswagens and Toyotas of the upper Chinese middle class, and finally the S-Class Mercedes - truly the transportation of choice for the elite. Once we turned right on the back street behind the hotel, we entered a new world. Apparently in China, expat bars are in the same class as massage parlors and sex shops. China has a funny faux society where the people are loath to express the most basic physical affection in public, but the risqué establishments are as seedy as they come. Of course, unlike an American city, you don't feel unsafe in the Chinese red light district. It's not dangerous, just "adult". A block or two down and we found our watering hole for the evening - an Irish pub called "The Tin Whistle". The other teachers were already there and they were easy to spot since they were the only people in the place other than the staff.
I had a Tsingtao and we shot the breeze for an hour or so. The other American teacher (a 24 year old from Colorado) had a Corona. The beer cost 10 kuai each (about $1.50) The Chinese waitress was exceptionally rude, which I have found to be unusual in China. Almost everyone here is really nice to foreigners so I was taken aback when she practically yelled at me the price of the beer. Sorry lady, I didn't hear you the first time!
Eventually we got tired of the rude waitress and decided to look for a livelier atmosphere. Apparently that's hard to find in Chinese nightlife. The average Chinese person saves about 30-40% of their income, so except for a few karaoke establishments, most places don't get too crowded except on special occasions. We walked back towards Zhongshan Square and settled on a place called Rio that had outdoor tables. Rio was an interesting place. First, there were actually people there. Secondly, half of them were Chinese, and the other half were Russian. My fellow English teachers cautioned me to lower my voice when I pulled my "mother Russia" routine and started talking like a Muscovite gangster. At Rio we had some type of light lager draft beer. It wasn't bad. I also got to experience the unisex bathroom. Chinese toilets of course are porcelain bowls in the ground. I found it a bit odd utilizing this queer WC (as it's called) knowing a Russian girl was in line behind me for my stall. One must adopt the common refrain I've heard from other Westerners - "It's China!" And say it with a smile!
Around 12:15 I had gotten enough of my first taste of Dalian nightlife and the other American teacher and I got a cab back to "Da Lian Hai Shi Da Xue" 大连海事大学 aka Dalian Maritime University. Ironically enough the Irishman and the Brit decided to stay out and keep drinking. "I'm Irish!" he said.
However, we just got our DSL working! Back in the saddle at last. It's definitely slower than your garden variety DSL in the US but anything seems better than hanging out down in the cafe (perhaps "internet saloon" is more apt) downstairs. As a side note, another interesting fact about these local internet cafes is the preponderance of 20 year old boys (and I do mean boys) playing Counterstrike and Warcraft III from the wee hours of the morning to wee hours of the morning. It seems in China that male students are either: studying, chanting militaristic-sounding shouts in the courtyard, or making the world safe for democracy through the world of online gaming. I left out "frustrating their western English teachers" but that's a topic for another team.
Last Friday, an Irish fellow and I headed out to meet a few other teachers on the town in downtown Dalian. This fellow has a blog you can check out. He helped make C and I feel comfortable that DMU was a legitimate place that paid on time and wouldn't have us living in an anthill. So anyway, we took the number 23 bus after some dinner. In the evenings here in Dalian, as in New York City, the traffic dies down dramatically (perhaps "dies down" is insensitive given China's poor traffic safety record). So the bus was almost like taking a taxi. It flew along Dalian's wide boulevards and through Zhongshan Square (the heart of town). We got off downtown and meandered down the Renmin Lu ("The People's Street") towards the Shangri-La hotel. For those of with you means, the Shangri-La hotel chain appears to have an excellent 3-4 star hotel in almost every major Chinese city, should you wish to stay in style as you visit China. My Irish friend indicated that the pub we were headed to was on the street behind the Shangri-La.
As we walked down an alley (a BIG alley, not a shifty one), we saw China's winds of change. Old beat up Chinese cars parked next to the mainstay Volkswagens and Toyotas of the upper Chinese middle class, and finally the S-Class Mercedes - truly the transportation of choice for the elite. Once we turned right on the back street behind the hotel, we entered a new world. Apparently in China, expat bars are in the same class as massage parlors and sex shops. China has a funny faux society where the people are loath to express the most basic physical affection in public, but the risqué establishments are as seedy as they come. Of course, unlike an American city, you don't feel unsafe in the Chinese red light district. It's not dangerous, just "adult". A block or two down and we found our watering hole for the evening - an Irish pub called "The Tin Whistle". The other teachers were already there and they were easy to spot since they were the only people in the place other than the staff.
I had a Tsingtao and we shot the breeze for an hour or so. The other American teacher (a 24 year old from Colorado) had a Corona. The beer cost 10 kuai each (about $1.50) The Chinese waitress was exceptionally rude, which I have found to be unusual in China. Almost everyone here is really nice to foreigners so I was taken aback when she practically yelled at me the price of the beer. Sorry lady, I didn't hear you the first time!
Eventually we got tired of the rude waitress and decided to look for a livelier atmosphere. Apparently that's hard to find in Chinese nightlife. The average Chinese person saves about 30-40% of their income, so except for a few karaoke establishments, most places don't get too crowded except on special occasions. We walked back towards Zhongshan Square and settled on a place called Rio that had outdoor tables. Rio was an interesting place. First, there were actually people there. Secondly, half of them were Chinese, and the other half were Russian. My fellow English teachers cautioned me to lower my voice when I pulled my "mother Russia" routine and started talking like a Muscovite gangster. At Rio we had some type of light lager draft beer. It wasn't bad. I also got to experience the unisex bathroom. Chinese toilets of course are porcelain bowls in the ground. I found it a bit odd utilizing this queer WC (as it's called) knowing a Russian girl was in line behind me for my stall. One must adopt the common refrain I've heard from other Westerners - "It's China!" And say it with a smile!
Around 12:15 I had gotten enough of my first taste of Dalian nightlife and the other American teacher and I got a cab back to "Da Lian Hai Shi Da Xue" 大连海事大学 aka Dalian Maritime University. Ironically enough the Irishman and the Brit decided to stay out and keep drinking. "I'm Irish!" he said.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Xinghai Square and Pizza Hut
Although Saturday was rainy here in Dalian, C and I decided we should actually see more than the southwestern corner of the city where DMU is. So around noon we headed out to Xinghai Square. Xinghai Square is one of the city's most famous sites. It's apparently one of the largest squares in Asia. And indeed it is huge. We took the 202 tram up about 5 stops and braved the road crossings to get to the square. The square is located in southern Dalian, directly on the Yellow Sea. The square is very beautiful and has many pillars and sculptures scattered throughout. There are also pools of water and marble everywhere. It's a very relaxing walk to take in. Once you get to the end of the square, there's an observation area right next to the sea.
Since it had just rained in Dalian, there were clouds everywhere in the sky but they all had the most interesting shapes. Dalian City has green hills and mountains poking up all over the peninsula, so the clouds draped the green mountains like cloaks. Above the square in the hills is what looks like a european style castle, probably Russian in origin. We have pictures of all of this of course, but we can't upload until we get our own DSL next week (hopefully Tuesday or Wednesday).
After enjoying the square thoroughly, I had a craving for some western food. I knew there was a Pizza Hut on the 23 bus line, but we weren't exactly sure where. C was reluctant at first to go on a Pizza Hut expedition without exact knowledge of how to get there. I convinced her I could find it and off we went. The Pizza Hut was a thing of beauty. Western restaurants tend to be much more upscale in China and Pizza Hut was no exception. Their menu was crazy though. You can get crab pizza there. Ew. Apparently Pizza Hut China was running a "New Orleans" promotion, where many foods were branded as being from Nawlins. For example you could get New Orleans chicken wings, and gumbo soup. But you could also get a cocktail called "The Hurricane"! Talk about insensitive...shame on Pizza Hut - one man's disaster is another man's marketing opportunity I guess.
Anyway, they did have the "American special" which was a pan pizza with pepperoni. And it was just like home.
Since it had just rained in Dalian, there were clouds everywhere in the sky but they all had the most interesting shapes. Dalian City has green hills and mountains poking up all over the peninsula, so the clouds draped the green mountains like cloaks. Above the square in the hills is what looks like a european style castle, probably Russian in origin. We have pictures of all of this of course, but we can't upload until we get our own DSL next week (hopefully Tuesday or Wednesday).
After enjoying the square thoroughly, I had a craving for some western food. I knew there was a Pizza Hut on the 23 bus line, but we weren't exactly sure where. C was reluctant at first to go on a Pizza Hut expedition without exact knowledge of how to get there. I convinced her I could find it and off we went. The Pizza Hut was a thing of beauty. Western restaurants tend to be much more upscale in China and Pizza Hut was no exception. Their menu was crazy though. You can get crab pizza there. Ew. Apparently Pizza Hut China was running a "New Orleans" promotion, where many foods were branded as being from Nawlins. For example you could get New Orleans chicken wings, and gumbo soup. But you could also get a cocktail called "The Hurricane"! Talk about insensitive...shame on Pizza Hut - one man's disaster is another man's marketing opportunity I guess.
Anyway, they did have the "American special" which was a pan pizza with pepperoni. And it was just like home.
Friday, August 25, 2006
Anecdotes
A couple days ago, I took the Dalian tram from our university towards the downtown area. I found it to be far superior to the bus. It's larger so there are more seats, and it's actually air conditioned - which borders on miraculous in China. It's also quicker. And you're not subject to the whims of Chinese drivers. We've been in buses that have made some pretty crazy moves. It would be neat if more cities in the US had a light rail system. I know they are building one out in New Jersey near Jersey City (close to NYC), but it's definitely a very nice system. Smooth, clean, and efficient. Maybe $5/gal gas and we'll think about it...
C and I ate lunch at KFC today. KFC is hugely popular here. Apparently the Chinese love their fried chicken. All week we've been eating native, but after a few poor meals, I wanted a little bit of western food. The biggest problem we have is that unless a helper is with us, we can't read the menu. So we stumble through with our rudimentary Chinese and hope to get the message across. On Tuesday we ate dinner at a local place and ordered a chicken dish which the waitress said was their specialty. Well, their specialty consisted of a few vegetables and every part of the chicken you could think of, NOT including any breast meat. There were feet and ribs and God knows what else. There wasn't anything edible though! But even at the local restaurant that has an english menu, you can get surprises. At least there I was able to avoid ordering the fried pigs blood.
One of my students asked me today if "all americans are tall, handsome, and blue eyed like you".
Some other students asked me what I thought about Taiwan. I was briefly tempted to push for Taiwanese independence - kidding. I told them Taiwan and China should be come one, but only through peace. I think that placated them. The secret police can calm down.
C and I ate lunch at KFC today. KFC is hugely popular here. Apparently the Chinese love their fried chicken. All week we've been eating native, but after a few poor meals, I wanted a little bit of western food. The biggest problem we have is that unless a helper is with us, we can't read the menu. So we stumble through with our rudimentary Chinese and hope to get the message across. On Tuesday we ate dinner at a local place and ordered a chicken dish which the waitress said was their specialty. Well, their specialty consisted of a few vegetables and every part of the chicken you could think of, NOT including any breast meat. There were feet and ribs and God knows what else. There wasn't anything edible though! But even at the local restaurant that has an english menu, you can get surprises. At least there I was able to avoid ordering the fried pigs blood.
One of my students asked me today if "all americans are tall, handsome, and blue eyed like you".
Some other students asked me what I thought about Taiwan. I was briefly tempted to push for Taiwanese independence - kidding. I told them Taiwan and China should be come one, but only through peace. I think that placated them. The secret police can calm down.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
The Human Spirit
No matter where you go, it seems that most people are the same. We want to love, be loved, be with our families and give back to our world. In my second class with one of my engineering sections, I had them write a short essay describing their home town. They were to identify any historical significance of their town, talk about the natural beauty, and what they enjoyed about growing up there. Some of the essays were unremarkable – “my town is beautiful and I like it very much”. That’s a decent sentence for a non-native speaker but perfunctory. Here are some of the essays I got that I found more inspirational – or representative of the changes that China is undergoing.
“I am from Hebei province. My hometown is not very beautiful but I love it because the people are kind-hearted and they teach me how to face my future. I will study hard and build it more and more beautiful and rich. Welcome to my hometown.”
“I was born in a small village in Hebei province, the town is about 200 kilometers from Beijing. When I was a child, my good friends and I always go fishing and swimming in spare time, but now the loved river besides our village has been dry out. It is a unfortunate thing! There are lots of trees around our village, kinds of. The people there are very friendly and they most have never seen a foreigner.”
“My hometown is a small village of Henan province. There are lots of mountains and rivers around it. In my childhood, I usually climbed the mountains and swam in the rivers with my friends. Sometimes we went fishing too. However, great changes have taken place in the past four years. Now a highway comes through it and the people of our village live a happily lives and many of the children have the chances to go to university in my village.”
“My hometown is Tieling which is in the north of Liaoning. It is called the bigger city. I like my hometown very much. When I come back from school, I want to go home. My hometown is not beautiful and rich, but it is my root, is the place which I grow up. My heart belongs to there.”
Now if I were in Chinese class and trying to write an essay in my beginner Chinese about my hometown in Pennsylvania, I doubt I could have written such things. I could have said it was “hen mei” (Very beautiful) but that’s about it. I’m impressed with how these students are observing the changes observing in their lives. You can see that this is a hopeful time for them. And how could someone who worked with these students see them as enemies? China brings many challenges to the United States but what Americans must never forget is that thousands in China are being brought up out of poverty every day by the tremendous economic growth. We’re all people and we all want a decent life for ourselves, our families, and our communities. We must help Chinese understand that about Americans as Americans must understand that about Chinese.
“I am from Hebei province. My hometown is not very beautiful but I love it because the people are kind-hearted and they teach me how to face my future. I will study hard and build it more and more beautiful and rich. Welcome to my hometown.”
“I was born in a small village in Hebei province, the town is about 200 kilometers from Beijing. When I was a child, my good friends and I always go fishing and swimming in spare time, but now the loved river besides our village has been dry out. It is a unfortunate thing! There are lots of trees around our village, kinds of. The people there are very friendly and they most have never seen a foreigner.”
“My hometown is a small village of Henan province. There are lots of mountains and rivers around it. In my childhood, I usually climbed the mountains and swam in the rivers with my friends. Sometimes we went fishing too. However, great changes have taken place in the past four years. Now a highway comes through it and the people of our village live a happily lives and many of the children have the chances to go to university in my village.”
“My hometown is Tieling which is in the north of Liaoning. It is called the bigger city. I like my hometown very much. When I come back from school, I want to go home. My hometown is not beautiful and rich, but it is my root, is the place which I grow up. My heart belongs to there.”
Now if I were in Chinese class and trying to write an essay in my beginner Chinese about my hometown in Pennsylvania, I doubt I could have written such things. I could have said it was “hen mei” (Very beautiful) but that’s about it. I’m impressed with how these students are observing the changes observing in their lives. You can see that this is a hopeful time for them. And how could someone who worked with these students see them as enemies? China brings many challenges to the United States but what Americans must never forget is that thousands in China are being brought up out of poverty every day by the tremendous economic growth. We’re all people and we all want a decent life for ourselves, our families, and our communities. We must help Chinese understand that about Americans as Americans must understand that about Chinese.
Monday, August 21, 2006
Day 2
Day 2 was pretty good overall. The day began with a tour of the DMU campus where we met all of the other new foreign teachers. There's several people from the US that are the same age as C and I, including a guy from Indiana and one from Colorado. There's also a retired Aussie, a retired Dane, and an early 30s guy from the UK. It's an interesting group. A few of us decided to get some lunch and the fellow from Colorado walked us to a Muslim noodle restaurant he had tried.
We had a number of additional errands to run including getting some allergy medication for C, getting a copy of our apartment key, picking up some bed foam, and buying a printer. Our student volunteers Sylvia and Molly took us on a long bus ride to a main shopping district in Dalian. We hit an electronics store named Gome, and I got to see the huge Carrefour. Carrefour was my first taste of real Chinese crowds. It was packed to the gills with people. Every aisle was a fight to get through. Despite this, I didn't find the tremendous rudeness and shoving that I've heard existed. It was no more rude than New York City. When there's a lot of people in a small space you are going to bump people, there's just no way of getting around that. And it can be very frustrating but there's not much you can do but accept it.
We took a taxi back to our apartment for 20 kuai ($2.50) because there was no way I was going to try and hold on to a printer in a packed Chinese box. From here our student volunteers took us out to a Chinese dumpling restaurant. It was very good...I even enjoyed the pork dumplings which is a rarity for me. We went to bed at 9pm....our sleep schedules are still totally crazy but at least we are getting some sleep now.
By the way, I am sure people are wondering where the pictures are. We are working on it - without DSL in our apartment yet it's difficult to upload them at the internet cafe. They will get up there eventually.
We had a number of additional errands to run including getting some allergy medication for C, getting a copy of our apartment key, picking up some bed foam, and buying a printer. Our student volunteers Sylvia and Molly took us on a long bus ride to a main shopping district in Dalian. We hit an electronics store named Gome, and I got to see the huge Carrefour. Carrefour was my first taste of real Chinese crowds. It was packed to the gills with people. Every aisle was a fight to get through. Despite this, I didn't find the tremendous rudeness and shoving that I've heard existed. It was no more rude than New York City. When there's a lot of people in a small space you are going to bump people, there's just no way of getting around that. And it can be very frustrating but there's not much you can do but accept it.
We took a taxi back to our apartment for 20 kuai ($2.50) because there was no way I was going to try and hold on to a printer in a packed Chinese box. From here our student volunteers took us out to a Chinese dumpling restaurant. It was very good...I even enjoyed the pork dumplings which is a rarity for me. We went to bed at 9pm....our sleep schedules are still totally crazy but at least we are getting some sleep now.
By the way, I am sure people are wondering where the pictures are. We are working on it - without DSL in our apartment yet it's difficult to upload them at the internet cafe. They will get up there eventually.
Our first day
After waking up (can you do that when you didn’t sleep?), we talked for awhile and then showered in our shower curtain less bathroom. The bathroom is interesting – unlike in the US, there’s no separation between the shower stall/tub and the rest of the bathroom. Needless to say we had to be quite careful where we pointed the shower head. We might have flooded the whole apartment otherwise! After getting dressed, we headed down to the internet café in the first floor of our building. That’s where I posted the previous 3 entries describing the travel to Dalian. Thankfully our families had received our emails from the night before letting them know we were ok.
After our café visit, we decided to take a stroll in our general area to see what’s what. We didn’t go out for long before another student volunteer was coming to help us get acquainted with the area an accomplish some of our initial tasks. Our apartment building is just south of Dalian Maritime University on a little road. Just west is another apartment building. Our building and the other apartment building have a number of little shops and restaurants on the ground floor. There’s a water bottle supply place (no one drinks from the tap in China), a phone card store, and we haven’t figured out the others yet. To the southwest of our building about a quarter mile is the Dalian Maritime University West Campus, which is beautifully laid out. We ventured that far and then came back to meet Sylvia, the student volunteer.
Continuing a trend, Sylvia was very sweet to us and a huge help. We went through our list of todos and items we needed and she helped us plan out what we could get Saturday and what would need to wait until Sunday. Our first destination was the local police station, where foreigners are required to register within 30 days. It seemed to take some prodding from Sylvia to pull the officer on duty away from his TV, but he eventually filled out the required forms while smoking a cigarette. C was a little offended that he ashed his cigarette in her passport.
From the police station which was just across the road to the southeast of our building, we caught the number 10 bus to take us to a shopping area. Each bus ride costs 1 RMB no matter where your final stop is. I was impressed with the bus driver as the bus was a stick shift! I would hate to operate the clutch in their traffic. We stood in the bus and as I held on I noticed there were handles you could grab that had the McDonalds logo and the ubiquitous “I’m Lovin’ It” tagline. The bus also had a strange feature – live Chinese TV. No one seemed to be watching the TV behind the driver’s head but I guess it’s a plus if you have a long ride.
After four stops we got off at the first commercial district we've seen in Dalian. We noted there was a Popeye’s Chicken next to our destination, “Trust mart”. TrustMart seemed to be one stop shopping as they had everything from groceries to electronics. It was a large, well laid out store and we picked up some more bottled water, coke, ramen, silverware, chop sticks, garbage bags, and some hangers. By this time, my 1 hour of sleep in 36 hours had started to get to me. I got really woozy and felt like I was going to pass out. Because I wasn’t feeling well we had to abandon our plan to have a Sichuan Hot pot lunch with Sylvia. Instead we grabbed Popeye’s and headed back to our apartment on the bus. Yes, I know – my first eat out meal in China was an American fast food chain. What can you do…
To close out the day, we walked over to the DMU administration building at 2:30 to meet with Flora, our Foreign Affairs liaison from the School of Foreign Languages. She gave us our class schedule and helped answer a lot of our questions about how the process works with teaching.
Finally, we went back to our apartment and started doing some schoolwork. I was brainstorming for my first class morning and making up a week by week schedule. Around 4:45, both C and I just crashed. We went and laid down and didn’t wake up until 10pm. Then we went back to sleep and didn’t get up until 5am the following morning. Hopefully we are finally starting to overcome the jet lag.
After our café visit, we decided to take a stroll in our general area to see what’s what. We didn’t go out for long before another student volunteer was coming to help us get acquainted with the area an accomplish some of our initial tasks. Our apartment building is just south of Dalian Maritime University on a little road. Just west is another apartment building. Our building and the other apartment building have a number of little shops and restaurants on the ground floor. There’s a water bottle supply place (no one drinks from the tap in China), a phone card store, and we haven’t figured out the others yet. To the southwest of our building about a quarter mile is the Dalian Maritime University West Campus, which is beautifully laid out. We ventured that far and then came back to meet Sylvia, the student volunteer.
Continuing a trend, Sylvia was very sweet to us and a huge help. We went through our list of todos and items we needed and she helped us plan out what we could get Saturday and what would need to wait until Sunday. Our first destination was the local police station, where foreigners are required to register within 30 days. It seemed to take some prodding from Sylvia to pull the officer on duty away from his TV, but he eventually filled out the required forms while smoking a cigarette. C was a little offended that he ashed his cigarette in her passport.
From the police station which was just across the road to the southeast of our building, we caught the number 10 bus to take us to a shopping area. Each bus ride costs 1 RMB no matter where your final stop is. I was impressed with the bus driver as the bus was a stick shift! I would hate to operate the clutch in their traffic. We stood in the bus and as I held on I noticed there were handles you could grab that had the McDonalds logo and the ubiquitous “I’m Lovin’ It” tagline. The bus also had a strange feature – live Chinese TV. No one seemed to be watching the TV behind the driver’s head but I guess it’s a plus if you have a long ride.
After four stops we got off at the first commercial district we've seen in Dalian. We noted there was a Popeye’s Chicken next to our destination, “Trust mart”. TrustMart seemed to be one stop shopping as they had everything from groceries to electronics. It was a large, well laid out store and we picked up some more bottled water, coke, ramen, silverware, chop sticks, garbage bags, and some hangers. By this time, my 1 hour of sleep in 36 hours had started to get to me. I got really woozy and felt like I was going to pass out. Because I wasn’t feeling well we had to abandon our plan to have a Sichuan Hot pot lunch with Sylvia. Instead we grabbed Popeye’s and headed back to our apartment on the bus. Yes, I know – my first eat out meal in China was an American fast food chain. What can you do…
To close out the day, we walked over to the DMU administration building at 2:30 to meet with Flora, our Foreign Affairs liaison from the School of Foreign Languages. She gave us our class schedule and helped answer a lot of our questions about how the process works with teaching.
Finally, we went back to our apartment and started doing some schoolwork. I was brainstorming for my first class morning and making up a week by week schedule. Around 4:45, both C and I just crashed. We went and laid down and didn’t wake up until 10pm. Then we went back to sleep and didn’t get up until 5am the following morning. Hopefully we are finally starting to overcome the jet lag.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
A Grief Observed (Dalian Airport to our Apartment)
Once we gathered our bags, we were met by two lovely students from Dalian Maritime University. I will call them S and E. S was a fourth year student studying marine engineering and E was a fourth year tourism management major. They were really sweet to us and their English was quite good. They corralled a couple of taxis (we needed 2 because the tiny Volkswagens used as taxis couldn’t hold our bags and 4 passengers) and we headed south to DMU. It was getting dark so it was hard to draw too many impressions but Dalian has very diverse architecture and a very interesting landscape. Our drive featured different types of buildings ranging from sparkling new to tiny and dingy. It seems to be a very sprawling city, but unlike American sprawl the “suburbs” of Dalian are filled with multi-story buildings. After about a 25 minute ride, we arrived at our apartment building, which is just south of DMU. It shouldn’t take us more than a couple of minutes to walk to any of our classes.
When we got to the building, S and E directed the taxis to drive up onto the brick walkway in the back. I don’t think this was intended to be a road, but the taxi drivers gladly obliged. Talk about door to door service. We haven’t seen it in the daylight yet but the building has three entrances. We are in door number 2. To be honest, the stairway up to our fourth floor apartment is dimly lit and a bit dingy, but the apartment itself is pretty nice. C and I probably have more personal space here than we did in our apartment in Jersey! S and E showed us how to use all the different appliances and answered a lot of our initial questions. Later, the Foreign Affairs Officer of DMU stopped in to say hello. They were very attentive to our concerns but being exhausted we forgot to ask if we could dial internationally from our phone.
When they left, I went to call my parents who I am sure were very eagerly awaiting our call to make sure that our pickup panned out. Unfortunately the phone card that I purchased (eCallChina), apparently does not work from our phone. It claims you can use a particular toll free number in any city in China. Well that may be but we started to panic because we couldn’t contact our families and let them know we got here safely. There’s an internet café in the downstairs of the building so we did make it down there and pay for a few minutes of time to send emails. But as of this writing we don’t even know if they were received so we hope we have not given our parents heart attacks.
After doing some unpacking, C and I eventually decided to go to bed. You would think that having been up more than 25 hours, it would have not been hard for us to fall asleep. Unfortunately it was quite the contrary. I have to say that of all the nights in my life, this was probably in the top 10 of worst sleeping nights ever. Both of us got hit badly with missing our families. We got to see them more in the last two weeks then probably in the preceding 6 months but that actually made it worse. We were just there with them, enjoying the family life. I miss being with my parents and my brother. They were so good to us before we left and it was so nice to get an extended visit rather than just a weekend blip. And we worry about our families. Generally everyone is in good health but our parents are getting older and we don’t want to lose them. All of these feelings came out last night as we felt powerless and unable to call anyone. We spent a lot of time sobbing and holding each other. Finally we tried to get to sleep but it was a pretty fruitless efforts. I think C got 3 or 4 hours and I probably got 1 hour.
When you’re in a new place and you don’t speak the language, don’t know how to dial a phone, or buy food, or do anything that is so simple back home, you panic. That combined with missing our families made it very hard. But here we are – we eventually made it through the night. And yes we’re exhausted and need sleep (which God willing we can get tonight with our body clocks adjusting). The daylight is bringing new possibilities. Instead of being sick with grief and worry, we’re making a list of things we need and we’re about go out and explore campus. Later, some more student volunteers are coming by to help us shop and get acclimated. Right now honestly it is a struggle, but rather than the torment of last night it’s turning into the growth experience we hope this trip will be. Who knows – perhaps we will never get past our homesickness and end up coming back early, but we are going to give it a go the next few days and see what happens.
When we got to the building, S and E directed the taxis to drive up onto the brick walkway in the back. I don’t think this was intended to be a road, but the taxi drivers gladly obliged. Talk about door to door service. We haven’t seen it in the daylight yet but the building has three entrances. We are in door number 2. To be honest, the stairway up to our fourth floor apartment is dimly lit and a bit dingy, but the apartment itself is pretty nice. C and I probably have more personal space here than we did in our apartment in Jersey! S and E showed us how to use all the different appliances and answered a lot of our initial questions. Later, the Foreign Affairs Officer of DMU stopped in to say hello. They were very attentive to our concerns but being exhausted we forgot to ask if we could dial internationally from our phone.
When they left, I went to call my parents who I am sure were very eagerly awaiting our call to make sure that our pickup panned out. Unfortunately the phone card that I purchased (eCallChina), apparently does not work from our phone. It claims you can use a particular toll free number in any city in China. Well that may be but we started to panic because we couldn’t contact our families and let them know we got here safely. There’s an internet café in the downstairs of the building so we did make it down there and pay for a few minutes of time to send emails. But as of this writing we don’t even know if they were received so we hope we have not given our parents heart attacks.
After doing some unpacking, C and I eventually decided to go to bed. You would think that having been up more than 25 hours, it would have not been hard for us to fall asleep. Unfortunately it was quite the contrary. I have to say that of all the nights in my life, this was probably in the top 10 of worst sleeping nights ever. Both of us got hit badly with missing our families. We got to see them more in the last two weeks then probably in the preceding 6 months but that actually made it worse. We were just there with them, enjoying the family life. I miss being with my parents and my brother. They were so good to us before we left and it was so nice to get an extended visit rather than just a weekend blip. And we worry about our families. Generally everyone is in good health but our parents are getting older and we don’t want to lose them. All of these feelings came out last night as we felt powerless and unable to call anyone. We spent a lot of time sobbing and holding each other. Finally we tried to get to sleep but it was a pretty fruitless efforts. I think C got 3 or 4 hours and I probably got 1 hour.
When you’re in a new place and you don’t speak the language, don’t know how to dial a phone, or buy food, or do anything that is so simple back home, you panic. That combined with missing our families made it very hard. But here we are – we eventually made it through the night. And yes we’re exhausted and need sleep (which God willing we can get tonight with our body clocks adjusting). The daylight is bringing new possibilities. Instead of being sick with grief and worry, we’re making a list of things we need and we’re about go out and explore campus. Later, some more student volunteers are coming by to help us shop and get acclimated. Right now honestly it is a struggle, but rather than the torment of last night it’s turning into the growth experience we hope this trip will be. Who knows – perhaps we will never get past our homesickness and end up coming back early, but we are going to give it a go the next few days and see what happens.
Been in China 5 minutes and already got fleeced (Beijing Airport to Dalian Airport)
After getting off in Beijing, we headed up the escalator and down various long hallways to China Border Control. There was one additional entry form to fill out and then we got in, er attempted to get in line. Apparently all the international flights had landed at once so the lines for “Foreigners” as the neon signs read were snaking around the room. This of course caused a mass stampede of various nationalities aiming to get into China first. Fortunately they opened a few additional “Foreigner” lines (each of which caused an Ellis Island style immigration to the new line) which limited the chaos and allowed C and I to operate with more polite queueing methodology. Getting through customs was easy, I think all they cared about was that you had a valid Visa and checked “No” on each “do you have anything to declare” box. My name was spelled wrong on my Chinese Visa so it was with no small amount of trepidation that I took my turn at the desk but he didn’t give it a second thought. STAMP.
After you clear the customs desk and pick up your checked baggage you have to drop off a baggage customs form. What’s strange is that there’s no real sign or line or roped off area directing you to this desk. If you try to go past the desk one of the Chinese women will politely ask you to drop off your form but they could eliminate a lot of confusion with a couple of signs and a rope line. Finally, you have to pass your checked bags through an x-ray machine before you finally escape all the customs procedures. I amused the X-ray attendant by trying to ask where Terminal 1 was (the location of our connecting domestic flight to Dalian). Well “terminal 1” apparently doesn’t mean anything in Chinese so I tried asking where “zhongguo nanfang” (China Southern – our domestic airline) was. This produced a laugh and no further information so C and I headed out to the jungle that is Beijing Capital Terminal 2. We knew that we needed to get to Terminal 1 but there was a major shortage of signs even mentioning Terminal 1.
Keep in mind as you read this next section that C and I were hauling around (without the assistance of a luggage cart) 4 bags total, each weighing about 50 lbs. Had we been traveling a bit lighter I have no doubt in my mind that we would have figured out where to go and would have successfully checked in by ourselves. Unfortunately this was not the case and we were both quite stressed carrying 100 lbs each. I was sweating like a pig and C was struggling to roll her big bag with the duffel on top. We picked an area that seemed to take us towards Terminal 1 and a uniformed man (probably in his 20s) stopped and asked what airline we were flying. I showed him our tickets and he told us to go to Terminal 1, which we knew. He realized we had no clue how to get there and he started leading the way. We were so stressed we followed him and he led us down a long corridor that connected the two terminals. Along the way he picked up a luggage cart which simplified the trip. He also spoke decent English. C indicated to me that he was going to expect a payment for his assistance so I dug out 20 RMB (about $2.50). He definitely deserved a good tip because he took us a long way and at that time we were in no condition to figure all this out ourselves. He even took us right to the China Southern ticket counter in Terminal 1 and helped negotiate our greater than 20kg bags onto the plane. We were afraid we would have to pay more so avoiding this was great news. Finally, he lead us directly to the security checkpoint. By this time I had pulled a 50 RMB note because I felt he deserved extra for all the trouble he went to. When I went to hand it to him he said “too small, try 200 RMB”. Now 200 RMB is almost $25, which is extremely steep even for the amount of help he gave us. I tried to resist a little but I was soaked in sweat, exhausted, and he was holding our passports. Reluctantly I gave him the 200 kuai and he went on his merry way. Yes, we got taken but this was not the time to practice our negotiating skills in the Chinese marketplace. To be honest, we may have even saved money as he talked the China Southern attendant out of charging us for our heavy bags. Nonetheless I felt like a complete idiot for not standing my ground. As C and I walked away (and I must warn my sensitive readers of an upcoming offcolor remark), I muttered “I’ll tell you what’s too small”. A moment of a weakness for a weary traveler – surely our readers will allow me that.
Getting through security was very easy and Terminal 1 was reminiscent of a small US airport a la Buffalo or Rochester. It was very clean and modern just like Terminal 2. We bought a bottle of water and hung out until our flight left for Dalian. It was a half hour late but overall not a problem. The announcements were in English as well as Mandarin so it was easy to navigate. To my surprise there were at least 5-10 other non-Chinese on our flight to Dalian. The flight itself was very quick, about 45 minutes. They served a brief snack that consisted of an imitation American hot dog. And we got to speak our first Chinese words to a Chinese person on the plane. The flight attendant actually said “ni hao” instead of “hello”. I must say, it’s a little annoying when everyone speaks English when your purpose for being in China is to learn Mandarin. The flight attendants wore snappy red Chinese dresses (the type where they button high along the neck) and the seats were dressed up in a bright blue fabric with a pattern that seemed to design to evoke a Chinese motif. I guess China Southern is going for that “river boat on the Yangtze” feel. It was a good flight though and our bags were ready for pick up on the conveyor within about 10 minutes. Overall a thumbs up for China Southern, Terminal 1, and clever English speaking entrepreneurs wearing fake uniforms.
After you clear the customs desk and pick up your checked baggage you have to drop off a baggage customs form. What’s strange is that there’s no real sign or line or roped off area directing you to this desk. If you try to go past the desk one of the Chinese women will politely ask you to drop off your form but they could eliminate a lot of confusion with a couple of signs and a rope line. Finally, you have to pass your checked bags through an x-ray machine before you finally escape all the customs procedures. I amused the X-ray attendant by trying to ask where Terminal 1 was (the location of our connecting domestic flight to Dalian). Well “terminal 1” apparently doesn’t mean anything in Chinese so I tried asking where “zhongguo nanfang” (China Southern – our domestic airline) was. This produced a laugh and no further information so C and I headed out to the jungle that is Beijing Capital Terminal 2. We knew that we needed to get to Terminal 1 but there was a major shortage of signs even mentioning Terminal 1.
Keep in mind as you read this next section that C and I were hauling around (without the assistance of a luggage cart) 4 bags total, each weighing about 50 lbs. Had we been traveling a bit lighter I have no doubt in my mind that we would have figured out where to go and would have successfully checked in by ourselves. Unfortunately this was not the case and we were both quite stressed carrying 100 lbs each. I was sweating like a pig and C was struggling to roll her big bag with the duffel on top. We picked an area that seemed to take us towards Terminal 1 and a uniformed man (probably in his 20s) stopped and asked what airline we were flying. I showed him our tickets and he told us to go to Terminal 1, which we knew. He realized we had no clue how to get there and he started leading the way. We were so stressed we followed him and he led us down a long corridor that connected the two terminals. Along the way he picked up a luggage cart which simplified the trip. He also spoke decent English. C indicated to me that he was going to expect a payment for his assistance so I dug out 20 RMB (about $2.50). He definitely deserved a good tip because he took us a long way and at that time we were in no condition to figure all this out ourselves. He even took us right to the China Southern ticket counter in Terminal 1 and helped negotiate our greater than 20kg bags onto the plane. We were afraid we would have to pay more so avoiding this was great news. Finally, he lead us directly to the security checkpoint. By this time I had pulled a 50 RMB note because I felt he deserved extra for all the trouble he went to. When I went to hand it to him he said “too small, try 200 RMB”. Now 200 RMB is almost $25, which is extremely steep even for the amount of help he gave us. I tried to resist a little but I was soaked in sweat, exhausted, and he was holding our passports. Reluctantly I gave him the 200 kuai and he went on his merry way. Yes, we got taken but this was not the time to practice our negotiating skills in the Chinese marketplace. To be honest, we may have even saved money as he talked the China Southern attendant out of charging us for our heavy bags. Nonetheless I felt like a complete idiot for not standing my ground. As C and I walked away (and I must warn my sensitive readers of an upcoming offcolor remark), I muttered “I’ll tell you what’s too small”. A moment of a weakness for a weary traveler – surely our readers will allow me that.
Getting through security was very easy and Terminal 1 was reminiscent of a small US airport a la Buffalo or Rochester. It was very clean and modern just like Terminal 2. We bought a bottle of water and hung out until our flight left for Dalian. It was a half hour late but overall not a problem. The announcements were in English as well as Mandarin so it was easy to navigate. To my surprise there were at least 5-10 other non-Chinese on our flight to Dalian. The flight itself was very quick, about 45 minutes. They served a brief snack that consisted of an imitation American hot dog. And we got to speak our first Chinese words to a Chinese person on the plane. The flight attendant actually said “ni hao” instead of “hello”. I must say, it’s a little annoying when everyone speaks English when your purpose for being in China is to learn Mandarin. The flight attendants wore snappy red Chinese dresses (the type where they button high along the neck) and the seats were dressed up in a bright blue fabric with a pattern that seemed to design to evoke a Chinese motif. I guess China Southern is going for that “river boat on the Yangtze” feel. It was a good flight though and our bags were ready for pick up on the conveyor within about 10 minutes. Overall a thumbs up for China Southern, Terminal 1, and clever English speaking entrepreneurs wearing fake uniforms.
Pennsylvania to Beijing Airport
Well, it’s 5:23 AM on Saturday, August 19 in Dalian, PRC. This entry probably won’t go up for a bit due to our lack of internet access but I wanted to write before I forget the details. I am also splitting the entries up because otherwise this post would be enormous and no doubt encourage our loyal readers to seek greener blogging pastures.
We got up at 6 AM in Pennsylvania and enjoyed a delicious breakfast prepared by my mother – turkey bacon, cinnamon roll bites, and fruit. A very good way to start a day of international travel. It took about an hour and a half to get to Newark from Bucks County. There was a little stop and go traffic on US22 but not bad. My dad pulled up to Continental departures at the C terminal and we got out and said our goodbyes. It was terribly hard as it always is. The current plan is to be here for a year and I know that moment of hugs and last minute declarations of love and concern is burned in my head for the duration. There’s something about saying goodbye that heightens your memory and allows you to relive those last few seconds with loved ones (and thus experience the heartache all over again). I know it was hard for my family to see us go to China so it was very tough. C went through the same thing a few days earlier when she left her parents in Buffalo.
After the tears got jerked away during our farewells, we went inside and checked in with our bags. We checked four total and our two biggest ones just sneaked in under the 50 lb mark. Actually they topped 50 but the attendants let us check them without an extra fee anyhow. We made it through security in about 10 minutes – it was a cakewalk. Everything logistical went well on the trip. As a tribute to leaving our homeland we sought out a Starbucks (iced grande coffee for me and a soy chai latte for C), and then wolfed down some Dunkin Donuts. Chances are we will lose 20 lbs in China so we indulged a bit. The flight boarded around 11:25am EST and took off around 12:45pm EST. The night before when we checked in online we were able to snag seats in row 16 – which is the first economy class row. We had seats up against the bulkhead meaning we had a terrific amount of leg room compared to most of economy class.
The food in economy class was so-so. Our meal choices were sirloin steak and salmon for lunch, then for our pre-landing snack it was dim sum or an omelette. C and I both went for the steak and the dim sum. The actual meat wasn’t too bad but the accompanying salad was a bit brown around the edges and the dim sum was unremarkable. The biggest refreshment issue was the availability of liquids. The current security situation of course prevented us bringing a bottle of water on the plane and we were constantly harassing the attendants for more.
We didn’t sleep a wink of course – it doesn’t matter how much leg room I have if I can’t lay flat. To pass the time we monitored our flight status on the heads up display, watched Mission Impossible 3, enjoyed each other’s company and pretended to sleep. Oh and C went bonkers without her lip gloss available. That’s one of life’s little conceits for her so she was quite angry at TSA for outlawing it in carry-ons. Otherwise the flight was unremarkable and LONG. Once you’re flying over Siberia you’d think you’re almost to China – wrong – another 2500 miles! We did okay for the first 8 or 9 of 14 hours but the remaining 5 seemed interminable. It was also the 8 hour mark where C developed motion sickness and spent much of the remainder doubled over in her seat. She’s proud that she didn’t lose her lunch though!
The plane landed smoothly in Beijing around 1:45 PM China time. Maybe it’s in my head but the bigger planes (like our 777-200) seem to land effortlessly, while the smaller A320s and 737s feel like they will shake apart. We had filled out the 2 available customs forms on the plane, and grabbed our carry-ons and disembarked – we were in Beijing Capital Airport, but not to Dalian by any stretch as my next entry will describe!
We got up at 6 AM in Pennsylvania and enjoyed a delicious breakfast prepared by my mother – turkey bacon, cinnamon roll bites, and fruit. A very good way to start a day of international travel. It took about an hour and a half to get to Newark from Bucks County. There was a little stop and go traffic on US22 but not bad. My dad pulled up to Continental departures at the C terminal and we got out and said our goodbyes. It was terribly hard as it always is. The current plan is to be here for a year and I know that moment of hugs and last minute declarations of love and concern is burned in my head for the duration. There’s something about saying goodbye that heightens your memory and allows you to relive those last few seconds with loved ones (and thus experience the heartache all over again). I know it was hard for my family to see us go to China so it was very tough. C went through the same thing a few days earlier when she left her parents in Buffalo.
After the tears got jerked away during our farewells, we went inside and checked in with our bags. We checked four total and our two biggest ones just sneaked in under the 50 lb mark. Actually they topped 50 but the attendants let us check them without an extra fee anyhow. We made it through security in about 10 minutes – it was a cakewalk. Everything logistical went well on the trip. As a tribute to leaving our homeland we sought out a Starbucks (iced grande coffee for me and a soy chai latte for C), and then wolfed down some Dunkin Donuts. Chances are we will lose 20 lbs in China so we indulged a bit. The flight boarded around 11:25am EST and took off around 12:45pm EST. The night before when we checked in online we were able to snag seats in row 16 – which is the first economy class row. We had seats up against the bulkhead meaning we had a terrific amount of leg room compared to most of economy class.
The food in economy class was so-so. Our meal choices were sirloin steak and salmon for lunch, then for our pre-landing snack it was dim sum or an omelette. C and I both went for the steak and the dim sum. The actual meat wasn’t too bad but the accompanying salad was a bit brown around the edges and the dim sum was unremarkable. The biggest refreshment issue was the availability of liquids. The current security situation of course prevented us bringing a bottle of water on the plane and we were constantly harassing the attendants for more.
We didn’t sleep a wink of course – it doesn’t matter how much leg room I have if I can’t lay flat. To pass the time we monitored our flight status on the heads up display, watched Mission Impossible 3, enjoyed each other’s company and pretended to sleep. Oh and C went bonkers without her lip gloss available. That’s one of life’s little conceits for her so she was quite angry at TSA for outlawing it in carry-ons. Otherwise the flight was unremarkable and LONG. Once you’re flying over Siberia you’d think you’re almost to China – wrong – another 2500 miles! We did okay for the first 8 or 9 of 14 hours but the remaining 5 seemed interminable. It was also the 8 hour mark where C developed motion sickness and spent much of the remainder doubled over in her seat. She’s proud that she didn’t lose her lunch though!
The plane landed smoothly in Beijing around 1:45 PM China time. Maybe it’s in my head but the bigger planes (like our 777-200) seem to land effortlessly, while the smaller A320s and 737s feel like they will shake apart. We had filled out the 2 available customs forms on the plane, and grabbed our carry-ons and disembarked – we were in Beijing Capital Airport, but not to Dalian by any stretch as my next entry will describe!
Thursday, August 17, 2006
The "undiscovered" country
Well, this is the last post before we head off to China. The bags are packed, the power of attorney is signed, the health insurance is purchased, the cars are sold, and the farewells have begun. It's with no small sadness that we leave for China, but we go believing that a tremendous adventure is awaiting us. The way things have worked out the last few days I can only attribute it to Providence. We are truly blessed and fortunate that we can take this trip. I hope we can take these upcoming experiences and not just internalize them but use them to give back to the world. If you have resources, you must use them wisely and I believe that understanding China and its people and bridging a gap between our two societies is very much worthwhile. I hope that we can change the Chinese people we interact with, just as we allow ourselves and our view of the world to be changed by them. I know this entry is overly optimistic but I hope we will not allow this trip simply to be a vacation from the real world, but the opportunity for personal growth in our faith, marriage, and future careers.
To our friends and family in the US - we love you and will miss you tremendously. Thank you for your tremendous support of our adventure and may this be a wonderful year for all of you as well.
To our friends and family in the US - we love you and will miss you tremendously. Thank you for your tremendous support of our adventure and may this be a wonderful year for all of you as well.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
China flights on the cheap
Being the cautious bloke that I am, I didn't want to book our flights until we got the paperwork from the university. I reasoned that if they went to the trouble to get us the necessary visa paperwork then they were probably serious. So once that came through, I went to book our flights.
Early on in my research I found out that Continental Airlines added a Newark-Beijing direct flight in 2005. Given that Newark is tremendously more convenient for us to get to than JFK, this was rather appealing. Unfortunately a trip to continental.com showed a One-Way ticket to be $1500 for one person. That was prohibitive and probably more than the school would reimburse us for. The other dilemma I had was finding an agent who was capable of booking the second leg of our flight from Beijing to Dalian on the same itinerary as the EWR-BJS trip.
After scouring various sources, I find this post on the ESL Cafe China section that has a lot of great flight resources. Basically the way the various sites on here can offer cut rate prices is the existence of "airline consolidators". Airline consolidators apparently buy bulk fares from the airlines and get a significant discount by doing so. Consolidator fares are harder to make changes to (it would cost $300) and impossible to cancel so they are not for the faint of heart but are good for our situation.
Using flychina.com, we were able to get a $634 per person for a one-way ticket from Newark to Beijing and Beijing to Dalian. Although I know we could have done even better, given that this was less than a month before the flight, I am pretty pleased. Flychina.com made me a bit nervous because you couldn't confirm everything online, you just submit your request and then they email a form that you print out and fax to them. All and all though it worked out very well - within an hour we had confirmed flights on Continental and China Southern.
Now if we can just survive the jet lag...
Early on in my research I found out that Continental Airlines added a Newark-Beijing direct flight in 2005. Given that Newark is tremendously more convenient for us to get to than JFK, this was rather appealing. Unfortunately a trip to continental.com showed a One-Way ticket to be $1500 for one person. That was prohibitive and probably more than the school would reimburse us for. The other dilemma I had was finding an agent who was capable of booking the second leg of our flight from Beijing to Dalian on the same itinerary as the EWR-BJS trip.
After scouring various sources, I find this post on the ESL Cafe China section that has a lot of great flight resources. Basically the way the various sites on here can offer cut rate prices is the existence of "airline consolidators". Airline consolidators apparently buy bulk fares from the airlines and get a significant discount by doing so. Consolidator fares are harder to make changes to (it would cost $300) and impossible to cancel so they are not for the faint of heart but are good for our situation.
Using flychina.com, we were able to get a $634 per person for a one-way ticket from Newark to Beijing and Beijing to Dalian. Although I know we could have done even better, given that this was less than a month before the flight, I am pretty pleased. Flychina.com made me a bit nervous because you couldn't confirm everything online, you just submit your request and then they email a form that you print out and fax to them. All and all though it worked out very well - within an hour we had confirmed flights on Continental and China Southern.
Now if we can just survive the jet lag...
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Getting a Chinese Visa
This blog has been far too PC so far, so this entry will begin with an offcolor reference - getting a Chinese Visa feels a little bit like a Chinese fire drill! Actually, that's not true at all - I just thought it was an interesting Wikipedia entry. Although the Chinese consulate managed to spell my name wrong on the Visa, I was otherwise rather impressed by their efficiency, professionalism, and ability to win a staring contest. It was actually I who was running back and forth and getting little accomplished.
But I've gotten ahead of myself, let's backup...how does one go about getting a Chinese Work Visa (aka a "Z" visa)?
Step 1, like most visas is to find someone to sponsor you. In our case, this was the university that hired us. But just because you sign the contract doesn't mean you can run off to the nearest consulate. You need to have your papers. In the case of Liaoning province, where Dalian Maritime University is located, we needed two things - a local work permit from the provincial government, and a Foreign Expert Certificate from the central government in Beijing. Your Foreign Affairs Officer at the relevant institution is responsible for acquiring these things after you provide them with your passport information and proof of your credentials. Credentials in my case was a Software Engineering degree that allows me to teach English. Go Figure.
Step 2 involves biting your fingernails and anxiously wishing, waiting, hoping, and praying that the FAO actually follows through your request and that said request does not get lost in the mazes of Chinese bureaucracy. For us, we submitted our information to the FAO on June 20, 2006 and received a fax of our papers on July 20, 2006. All the while we were waiting to book our flights.
Step 3, you have to go to your nearest Chinese consulate IN PERSON - or pay a Visa agent to go on your behalf. Yes, for all your Idahoans out here this means you have to make your way to the Washington DC consulate. In my case I ran over to the New York Consulate which is on 42nd street and 12th avenue, right near the harbor. With my Visa applications filled out, our passports and papers from the FAO in hand I figured nothing could go wrong. And it was pretty painless overall. You take a number when you get in and go up to the deli, er visa counter when your number is displayed. My conversation with the sullen gentlemen behind window number 4 seemed to consist of grunts but he seemed to understand I wanted a work visa. He was rather upset I had faxed copies rather than originals, but relented when I made a copy of my work permit for 25 cents. That afternoon around 2PM, I returned (yes I splurged for same day service!) and picked up our passports. All was well...
Or so I thought!
It turns out that they spelled my name wrong in my Visa. They typed a M as a H. I was horrified given that I invested half my day riding the M42 bus from Lexington Ave to 12th Ave and enduring the silent rage of disgruntled bureaucrats. So I returned a few days later to get it fixed. The helpful but not particularly glib gentleman behind the information window informed that "it no matter". A few google searches also confirmed that Chinese customs officers don't actually care about the Western characters on the Visa - imagine that! Well whatever - it could say Jackie Chan for all I care, we just need to get into the country.
And that is my visa adventure.
Word to the wary - although the procedure for me required a certain set of papers and procedures you cannot count on it being the same. Different provinces have different rules and it changes regularly. Your mileage may vary!
CHINESE CONSULATE INFORMATION
But I've gotten ahead of myself, let's backup...how does one go about getting a Chinese Work Visa (aka a "Z" visa)?
Step 1, like most visas is to find someone to sponsor you. In our case, this was the university that hired us. But just because you sign the contract doesn't mean you can run off to the nearest consulate. You need to have your papers. In the case of Liaoning province, where Dalian Maritime University is located, we needed two things - a local work permit from the provincial government, and a Foreign Expert Certificate from the central government in Beijing. Your Foreign Affairs Officer at the relevant institution is responsible for acquiring these things after you provide them with your passport information and proof of your credentials. Credentials in my case was a Software Engineering degree that allows me to teach English. Go Figure.
Step 2 involves biting your fingernails and anxiously wishing, waiting, hoping, and praying that the FAO actually follows through your request and that said request does not get lost in the mazes of Chinese bureaucracy. For us, we submitted our information to the FAO on June 20, 2006 and received a fax of our papers on July 20, 2006. All the while we were waiting to book our flights.
Step 3, you have to go to your nearest Chinese consulate IN PERSON - or pay a Visa agent to go on your behalf. Yes, for all your Idahoans out here this means you have to make your way to the Washington DC consulate. In my case I ran over to the New York Consulate which is on 42nd street and 12th avenue, right near the harbor. With my Visa applications filled out, our passports and papers from the FAO in hand I figured nothing could go wrong. And it was pretty painless overall. You take a number when you get in and go up to the deli, er visa counter when your number is displayed. My conversation with the sullen gentlemen behind window number 4 seemed to consist of grunts but he seemed to understand I wanted a work visa. He was rather upset I had faxed copies rather than originals, but relented when I made a copy of my work permit for 25 cents. That afternoon around 2PM, I returned (yes I splurged for same day service!) and picked up our passports. All was well...
Or so I thought!
It turns out that they spelled my name wrong in my Visa. They typed a M as a H. I was horrified given that I invested half my day riding the M42 bus from Lexington Ave to 12th Ave and enduring the silent rage of disgruntled bureaucrats. So I returned a few days later to get it fixed. The helpful but not particularly glib gentleman behind the information window informed that "it no matter". A few google searches also confirmed that Chinese customs officers don't actually care about the Western characters on the Visa - imagine that! Well whatever - it could say Jackie Chan for all I care, we just need to get into the country.
And that is my visa adventure.
Word to the wary - although the procedure for me required a certain set of papers and procedures you cannot count on it being the same. Different provinces have different rules and it changes regularly. Your mileage may vary!
CHINESE CONSULATE INFORMATION
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