Day 2

Sorry it’s taken me awhile to post. I was trying to figure out why certain words had been removed or censored out of my website. Hopefully, the problem is resolved. Now, on to Day 2….

At 8 AM Thursday morning I was picked up by the human resources director and driven to a medical examination site. Everyone who comes in to China has to be free of any heart problems, STD’s or “mental diseases”. I knew this was going to be an interesting morning as the sign outside the building read, “Alien examination site.” I wish I would have snapped a picture. Once inside, I stood in line with 100’s of foreigners waiting to pay my fee, get blood drawn and have a chest x-ray. It is an expensive and long process. With my approval receipt in hand, it was off to sign the lease to my apartment.

We met at the real estate office and sat there for 2 hours so they could talk through a booklet full of paperwork and red stamps. I had no clue what was going on. In fact, I ended up not signing anything at all as it was decided that it would just be easier to put the place in my boss’s name. Here, I was required to pay 3 months rent upfront, along with a deposit and the real estate fee. Of course they don’t take cards so I had to run down the street to the bank while everyone waited. The ATM had an English option so I followed the directions. No cash available the screen kept saying!

My boss ended up paying for everything with the agreement I would pay him back when I figured out what was wrong with my account. The lease process wasn’t over yet…We (landlord, boss, real estate agent and myself) had to walk to the police station to register my address. Again, I sat there as they talked for 30 minutes in Mandarin. I had to show the police my passport and get yet another sheet of paper with a red stamp. In China you have to register with the police within 24 hours of arrival to let them know where you. You can get in big trouble if you don’t do this.

After quickly dropping off my bags and getting my keys, it was off to my first day of work. (Keep in mind, I had only been in China for 20 hours at this point!) My boss turned me over to my co-workers for training. I learned how to get in to the system and what standards are required for these news stories. I will tell you all about my coworkers in another post.

After a long day, I was on my own to walk home. It takes me about 20 minutes and I only have to cross one major, and I do mean major, intersection. Halfway there I realized I didn’t have a mattress, pillow, sheets or a towel to make it through the night and next morning. Instead of going home, I had to make my way to the Wu Mart – you guessed it, that’s China’s Wal Mart.

The store deserves a post of its own. You walk in, get a cart and then are immediately overwhelmed with the number of people. It is like the busiest shopping day in America (right after Thanksgiving) every day in this store. There are also employees in every aisle waiting to help you find what you are looking for or to push you to make a purchase. For example, every brand of cosmetics, like Mabeline, had its own display counter with a saleslady. There was also a woman who specialized in cleaning products. She loves putting toilet bowl cleaner in my hands. I just had to soldier through the craziness and my mind switched in to survival mode.

Because my apartment only had a box spring and no mattress (pretty common over here), I had to figure out how to get a mattress pad. It’s not as easy as it sounds when everything is in Chinese. How do you know if you are getting the right size? Same problem with the sheets. After an hour of shopping, I made my way up to the counter to pay. Even the counters are different. There is no conveyer belt to set your stuff on. It’s just a small metal square for just a few items. They also don’t give you any bags, you have to bring your own. That’s where I also learned Wu Mart didn’t take any of my credit cards. The clerk went in to a tizzy. Finally, someone who spoke English came over to inform me that I could only use cash. This was a problem seeing as I only had so much money to get me through the week. In the end, I had to put the TP and some other items back because I didn’t have enough to pay. No worries, I improvised. I had brought with me a small pack of Kleenex.

Flustered yet triumphant, I managed to walk the 6 blocks back to my apartment. Keep in mind how much I had to carry: sheets, duvet, mattress pad, etc. Not a small load. Of course if gave the Chinese even more reasons to stare at me. Exhausted I made my way upstairs, made my bed and collapsed. After all, it would only be a few hours of sleep before I would have to return to work for my first official full day.