Joe

'Maybe one of those wasters who teach English as a foreign language instead of working for a living'.
Quoted from the book 'My favourite wife' by Tony Parsons.

I might be one of those 'wasters' soon as well. I had a meeting with Joe today, the recruiter from New Start China College. Joe, a tiny, short, boyish girl with spiked hair, explained to me that teachers are expected to teach English from 9.00 - 11.30 am and from 2 - 4.30 pm. At 11.30 am, lunch will be served (early!) and at 5.30 pm dinner will be served. Guess where the food will be served? On the roof terrace, just like McK! The main focus of the classes is on speaking and listening. Joe invited me to join Katy's class, a 29-year old Belgian lady. There were only 4 (!) students in her class. Joe told me that this was elementary level - which surprised. The English of the teacher surprised me as well. Her pronunciation was better than her students', but it wasn't English-English. She didn't do much either. I chatted with her after class - in Dutch (!) - and she told me that she doesn't have a teaching degree nor a TEFL certificate. She doesn't really prepare for her classes either. All she does, is download teaching material from the internet and then she lets her students talk. What?!? Do you call that teaching??? I also met two other foreign language teachers and they told me exactly the same story. Apparently, most foreigners go to Yangshuo to practise martial arts. Teaching English is just an easy way to make a living over here. I stayed until 5.30 pm and had a bowl of rice with the other teachers. I'll be going to the New Start China College again tomorrow night for an 'English Corner Session'. It's a good way for students to talk English in an informal setting. I'll have demonstrate my teaching skills on Friday afternoon. One of the teachers advised me not to worry about it and not to be too strict in class. He probably didn't realise that he presented me with two challenges....!

On my way to the New Start China College, I walked past the Outdoor English College, the other school that I had been in touch with before I left. I walked inside and addressed the first person I ran into, which happened to be Mr. Simon Ou, the president of the school. When he heard me talking, he demanded me to leave my hotel and move into one of the teacher's dorms. Excuse me? He was clearly interested in hiring me, but something told me not to accept his offer. I told him I'd think about it and be back. When I asked the teachers at the New Start China College what they knew about the other schools in the region, they said:'Most schools are OK, but you should stay away from the Outdoor English College'. Katy used to work for Mr. Ou and she told me quite a few unpleasant stories about him. Her stories confirmed that my gut feeling had been right...

Now let me tell you something about Yangshuo, the Chinese and their food. Yangshuo is a beautiful town (I know I've said this before!), but it's also very touristy and extremely HOT. One step outside of my hotel room and I'm sweating. Yuk! The Chinese are friendly, but also quite direct. The first thing Joe asked was:'Are you tired? You look tired'. I thought Dutch people were known for being direct! Another unpleasant surprise: the Chinese eat with their mouth open. I find that very gross. And what they eat, isn't really my cup of tea either.... The Chinese eat a lot of pork, beef, minced meat, noodles, eggs, creamy sauces and junk food. Yangshuo has a McDonald's AND a KFC. The funny thing is, that the locals go to fast food places and the foreigners go to Chinese restaurants! So far, I've had trouble finding food that I like and that I can eat. Fresh fruit is hard to find and so are vegetables. You can buy fruit in the supermarket, but it's either dried or squeezed into juice - and it contains a lot of added sugar. What's wrong with the real stuff? Luckily, I have a lot of 'ontbijtkoek' with me (hence the heavy suitcase!!), so I'll survive.

Guess where I am now? In the hotel lobby with 4 Chinese people who offered me Chinese tea, watermelon and peanuts when I entered the hotel. We tried to have a conversation - even though they don't speak English and I don't speak Chinese - and we had a lot of fun trying to understand each other! They were impressed when they taught me how to count in Chinese, haha! I hope I'll still remember it tomorrow!

Good night!

Hong Kong - Shenzen - Guilin - Yangshuo

Hello,

I'm in Yangshuo now, so it looks like I've made it here, but it was quite a long journey... I left the Dragon Hostel at 2.30 pm and I didn't arrive at the Guotai Hotel in Yangshuo until after midnight. Phew! I took a taxi from Mong Kok East station in HK to Kowloon station in HK. From Kowloon, I took the Airport Express bus to the Shenzen Immigration port. There, I received more stamps in my passport (yippee!) and on the other end was another bus waiting that took me to Shenzen airport. I had to wait three hours at the airport and there weren't even chairs there, so that wasn't much fun. There were signs indicating the presence of a McDonald's restaurant, but it turned out to be situated in the basement and there was no way I could go there with my heavy suitcase. Sigh! So I just walked around, got stared at, did a little window shopping and stared at the Chinese toilets - holes in the ground, no thank you!

My plane didn't leave at 8.15 pm as I thought yesterday, but at 9.10 pm. I'd mistaken the boarding time for the departure time. I really need to brush up my Chinese!! I had to pay extra for my suitcase, because it was 'overweight'. The lady at the check-in counter looked very stern when she said ' overweight'. So I paid. When I arrived at gate 17, there was a group of Chinese Happy Holiday goers there as well. They were all wearing orange baseball caps and orange bags. I just sat down (finally, a chair!) and read a book. Suddenly, the orange crowd started to move. I had no idea what was going on, but I thought it wise to follow them. Apparently, our flight would leave from gate 29 instead of gate 17... There was no airplane at gate 29, however. Instead, there was a bus that took us to a small plane. When we were all inside, a friendly voice on the intercom told us that our flight was delayed. Great! We had to wait an hour before we left off. By the time I arrived in Guilin, it was already past 11. Luckily, I didn't have to wait very long for my suitcase. When I walked outside (no customs or checking or whatsoever), a driver holding a sign with my name was waiting for me. We drove 120 km/hour on dark roads until we reached Yangshuo after midnight. I cried tears of happiness and relief when I was brought to my room. Space! A big bed! Windows! Needless to tell you that I slept very well! When I woke up this morning - correction: this afternoon - I went straight downstairs and secured the room for another 3 nights - which wasn't easy, haha! I'm so happy with my Point-It booklet. I can see why there's a demand for English teachers here!

I haven't seen much of Yangshuo yet, but it strikes me as a beautiful, touristy town with friendly people (although the restaurant owners seem to be a little pushy...). There are a lot of foreigners here. I hope I'll be able to find the school where I'm supposed to meet Joe (female) at 3 pm today. Yangshuo is a small town, but still new and confusing to me.

Talk to you later!

Stress!

Yes, I'm stressed. Probably not really a surprise for those who know me well...

This trip is supposed to make me more relaxed, but I can tell you one thing: don't go to Hong Kong for relaxation! I was in Hong Kong two years ago and I had a great time then, but this time, it's been very stressful. It started with dragging my belongings with me from Hong Kong airport to the Dragon Hostel. I cursed myself for having packed so much stuff. I probably won't use most of it. I couldn't find the Dragon Hostel where I had booked a room for 2 nights and the people I asked, couldn't help me either (most of them didn't even speak English). Anyway, I finally met a guy who was willing to walk the extra mile for me - literally. I found the Dragon Hostel, up on the 7th floor of a grey building. My room resembled a prison, I had to shower in the toilet (literally!), my bed was too small and too hard and I could barely fit all my stuff in, but: it was situated in the city centre. I had wanted to go to Disneyland yesterday, but because I suffered from jetlag, I didn't sleep at night, but in the morning, so by the time I got out of bed, half the day was over (sounds familiar? Don't think I can really blame the jetlag...! ). I went shopping instead and at the end of the day (of course), I discovered the Langham Place Centre, a fantastic shopping mall with H&M, Esprit and - to my great surprise - a Lush store! It felt good to see some familiar brands. Of course, with my suitcase being so heavy, I couldn't buy anything, but I enjoyed being the ultimate Dutch tourist!

And now the stress: I have a flight that leaves at 8.15 pm tonight, but it doesn't leave from HK airport, but from Shenzen. And Shenzen is ' real' China. I'll have to cross the border in order to get there and I won't be able to pay with HK dollars. Sure, I can change a few HK dollars for renminbi or yuan (same thing) here in HK and I already have a Chinese visa, but how to get from here to Shenzen appears to be a great mystery. Great! Can anyone please explain to me in real English how to go to Shenzen? Please...?

Apparently, there's a bus that goes from Kowloon Station to Shenzen airport. I'll take a taxi from the Dragon Hostel to Kowloon station. The taxi ride takes between 10 and 30 minutes, depending on the traffic. The same applies to the bus: it'll take between 2 to 3 hours. I need to be at Shenzen airport 2 hours before my flight departs, so if I leave here around 3 pm, I should be in time. Wrong! The Chinese have a different way of calculating. 'You should leave at noon. Take no risk. You can go shopping at Kowloon or Shenzen'. But I can't go shopping! Sigh. I'll leave around 2 pm. Can't leave without saying good-bye to the Langham Place Shopping Centre!

Can you please keep your fingers crossed that my trip to Shenzen will be okay? I'm so glad I bought a Point-It booklet (thank you, Frank!). I have a feeling I'm going to need it....!

Next time I write, I'll be in 'real' China. I'm curious to find out what that's like. Oh, I have my first job interview tomorrow. More stress!

Take care and please leave a message in my guest book!

Around the world in 4 steps - Step 1 :-)

Hallo allemaal,

Eindelijk is het dan zover: mijn wereldreis is begonnen, hoera!

Sorry, it's all in Dutch. Please let me know if you'd like to receive a translation in English (please try to read it first, you may understand more than you think!).

Ik ben nu in Hong Kong. Het is hier 35 graden, overvol en krankzinnig druk. Ik verblijf hier twee nachten in het Dragon Hostel. Het Dragon Hostel is gevestigd midden in de stad op de 6e en 7e verdieping van een saai, grijs flatgebouw. Ik heb een piepklein kamertje waar ik redelijk in pas, maar mijn koffer nauwelijks... Douchen moet ik in het toilet. Ja, echt! Het doet me heel erg denken aan mijn verblijf in Japan, 9 jaar geleden. Toen kon ik ook vanuit de douche de voordeur opendoen. In Japan heb ik 4 maanden gezeten en dit is maar voor 2 nachtjes, dus ik overleef 't wel!

Wegkomen uit Nederland viel trouwens nog niet mee. Nooit geweten dat er nog zoveel dingen te doen zijn op het allerlaatste moment... Pffft! M'n koffer was keurig ingepakt toen mijn ouders arriveerden, maar helaas was 't ding 6 kilo te zwaar. Zes kilo! Op mijn vorige reizen woog mijn koffer juist altijd minder dan 20 kilo. Op Schiphol heb ik spullen (voornamelijk boeken) uit m'n koffer gehaald. Toen-ie 21,9 kilo woog, mocht-ie zonder problemen mee.

Tijdens de vlucht ging alles prima. Dankzij de extra beenruimte, heb ik heerlijk geslapen. Op zich was het ook nog wel te doen om van de luchthaven naar het Dragon Hostel te gaan, alleen die koffer.... Pffft! Wat een gesleep! Ja, er zitten wielen onder, maar ik had ook nog een kei-zware rugzak, een handtasje en m'n laptop bij me. Ik moet iets meer spinazie eten, denk ik....

That's all, folks. I hope to hear from you - you'll definitely hear from me again soon!