I arrived in Beijing on August 16th, and a friend and I made our way to a hostel for the night. We got ripped off by the taxi driver and had to pay too much, but at that point I was just happy to be where we were supposed to be. It was an uneventful night and the next morning we made our way back to the airport because we had to meet up with the rest of the group there. We met the group and got on bus for five hours headed to Shijiazhuang (I still don't think I can pronounce it correctly, so don't worry if you can't either). We were to stay there for about five nights and have some Chinese lessons along with just trying to learn some of the Chinese culture. It was a good time and I picked up a few useful phrases, but I still have a long long way to go. The second night in Shijiazhuang I got "Locked in China." I went to use the bathroom in my dorm room, and when I tried to get out my door wouldn't budge. Lucky for me, my roommate came into the room a couple minutes later and after a few laughs realized I was seriously locked in the bathroom. We tried different things to get me out and finally my roommate had to go get a guy from the front desk to come help me out. The guy eventually got the doorknob off so I could see him through a two inch hole, but still the door remained shut. What the hell, guy? Anyway, it only took a couple more minutes and the door finally swung open. I was in there for 50 minutes. 50 minutes I will never get back, but I guess it makes for a decent story.
On the weekend, I went and stayed with a Chinese family. The picture above is of me and the 11 year old son of the family. I was with him and his mom for most of my time at their home, but I did meet the dad on my last night there. They were incredibly nice to me and made me feel very welcome in their home. The son did most of the translating for us, but it was still rather tough. He spoke fairly good English and the mom didn't speak much at all. There were a lot of awkward moments with them laughing at me and me not really knowing what was going on, but it was a good experience. Their food was delicious. They kept bringing me more and more food, and then told me I didn't eat very much. Holy cow. They also showed me around Shijiazhuang, which was very thoughtful of them. They told me if I was ever back in their city that I was welcome at their home and they also gave me th
eir phone number to call anytime I needed help. All in all, it was a good experience and a good insight into what Chinese families are like.Carmine, Eder, Kaitlin (the three others from Drake in Guilin with me), and I left on Monday afternoon on a train headed for Guilin. It was a 26 hour train ride, but for the most part it wasn't too bad. I was so happy when we finally arrived in Guilin. It is a beautiful city and the weather is nice too. Actually, it's kind of hot right now, but I'm not complaining. We came straight to our apartment. I was able to get all my stuff put away, which made me feel a lot better because I was not enjoying living out of my suitcase. The pictures to the left are of my apartment. I also ha
ve a video, but it wouldn't load so if you want me to send it to you, let me know.I've spent all week just exploring the city and seeing what there is to do around here. It is a pretty awesome city, and I'm pumped to be living here for the year. I'm thinking about buying a bike or an electric scooter (which would be awesome), but I haven't decided which one yet. I got a Chinese phone the other day and we finally just got internet yesterday thanks to two Chinese students who helped us with the phones as well. The Chinese people really go out of their way to help others. It's pretty awesome.
So far, so good here in China. I of course miss everyone back home, but like I told many of you, you are welcome to come visit me anytime you'd like. I would probably just make sure I know you're coming first, but hey, if you just show up I'll be just as excited. The hardest part about living here in my opinion is the language barrier. It's hard not knowing if I'll be able to eat because I don't know how to order something. I've met a few people here that know some Chinese so it's helpful when we go out to eat together. I hope to start getting language lessons soon. Also, school starts on September 6th, but I really have no idea when I will start teaching. We haven't heard much from the school so far, but I'm not real worried. Life is good right now.
I hope to post on here at least once a week, but sometimes the time gets away from me. Any of you are welcome to email me if you want...kevinshrout@gmail.com, or you can also find me on skype...kevin.shrout. I hope this post finds all of you well (I'm saying all of you, but it's probably just mom and dad reading this ha).
Kevin
