I Have Arrived! (Part 1)

I arrived in the train station in Shanghai lugging my two enormous suit cases behind me. The large green one, which was already about the size of a bookcase was made even heavier as I moved some stuff from my backpack into it. Somehow I managed to squeeze in through the various fenced off areas that serve as lines and even made it up one escalator. Our guide who had accompanied us to the train station pointed out where we were supposed to go. We waited in an area not unlike any other seating area except for its enormous size. That's what I'm starting to notice about China everything is pretty similar to the US just multiplied by like 5. We waited in this cattle call until our train was called, technically we only thought it was our train since they were making all announcements in Mandarin.

I took my bags and managing to knock over only a few Chineese people made my way to the train. Just as I thought we were about to emerge onto the platform one final hurtle presented its self, a huge flight of stairs which I had to navigate with about 150 pounds of bag in toe. After trying several techniques I just basically dragged both bags, xbox included, down about 50 stairs. I was terrified that I would loose control of the bags and knock over about 2o Chinese people like bowling pins. I finally made it down the stairs not killing any Chineese but brusiing one arm pretty badly. On the train I discovered that there was not nearly enough overhead space for my oversized bags so I simply hoisted both into the seat I was supposed to be filling and stood in the aisle besides it.

Now I can say this for Chineese people they certainly know how to roll with the punches. With my bags taking up the seat and me taking up a good portion of the aisle a lot of people were forced to somehow maneuver around me. Maybe they were angry but the certainly didn't show it. They just bunched up and moved on as best they could. As one other traveler pointed out if this had been Italy or Spain I certainly would have been the target of a lot of yelling and cursing. The people in China are a pretty orderly bunch even if there not much for lines. People make lines but no one seems to have a problem with just bunching up in any area trying to get through, and they certainly aren't going to stop and let you pass, they aren't being rude it's just they're way of getting things done quicker.

The train was pretty quick getting us about 160k in about one hour with only one stop along the way. When we finally arrived we were just able to get all our stuff off the train before it pulled away on towards Nanjing. When we emerged into the city it was overcast and grey but not raining. The city, small by Chineese standards, is huge bustling and growing from all corners. Every where you turn some thing is being town down and rebuilt as a 60 story megabuilding. The Chineese style of building seems less like immoninte domain and more like just domain, we'll tear down anything are rebuild it bigger.

Teddy my Waiban, the person who helps foreign teachers, was there to meet me at the railway station. After finally loading the bags into a van I was off through Changzhou toward the school. The city we saw was huge including a Wallmart, but Teddy assured me that this was only about one-third of this sprawling city. The traffic moves with even more ferocity then it seems to in Shanghai, making crossing the street a near death experience. I don't know about the offical Chinese Communist party line, but there are no atheists crossing the streets in China.

Where Shanghai is an cosmopolitan and pretty clean city, Changzhou is not. The signs of industry and a boom town are everywhere. The air has a sort of permanent construction smell and all the buildings, even the new ones, are dirty. The most surprising building we passed was a rather large restaurant and Mosque for the city's sizable Wuiger population, who are mostly Muslim. I was reading up on the history of Jews in Shanghai, apparently there were quite a few in the 40's as China took a lot in from Germany but most left soon after because of harassment from the newly Communist government. There is at leas t one rabbi I found and apparently one historic Synagogue, which is now some sort of museum or government building was allowed to be used for a Jewish wedding not long ago.

When I arrived at the school to say I was impressed would be a huge understatement. The building I'll be living in is actually a functional hotel, which guessing from what I've seen must be at least 4 stars. The hotel straddles the edge of the campus and is used for conventions as well as to house some foreign teachers. This is not to say I'm living in a hotel room exactly as when it was built the school reserved the top two floors, 14 and 15 for apartments. Not being able to do the hotel justice below are some pictures of the outside and entrance. I would not that it is somewhat better looking then the pictures credit it as being since it was a lousy looking day outside.



Since this is such a long post I'm breaking it up into at least two sections stay tuned from part two of my day and some more pictures.