Welcome to Changsha

I just found out that my friend Effy received high marks on her IELTS Exam. She and I spent 2 hours each week for 3 weeks working to help her prepare for this important exam. It is one of the exams that students here take to demonstrate their English proficiency ( or lack thereof. Ha! Ha!).
This will be a busy day as I am giving Final Exams until 4 and then a friend of mine is going to help me find some things I need to finish my “surprises” for Micki’s Christmas and Birthday gifts. I have been here for about 18 months and still run into difficulties at times knowing where to go to buy certain items. In this case, it is wrapping paper and bows.
After that, I will go to dinner with my regular Friday Night Men’s Group (Me, Joe from Canada, and “Nothing,” “Webb,” “Simon,” and “Jack” who are my really good Chinese buddies). After dinner, we will head to our weekly English Corner gathering at a quiet pub here on campus. An English Corner is simp;ly a gathering of people having conversation in English. It is a chance for students to improve their English by having the opportunity to talk with native speakers. It really has become an enjoyable time for me with the people who have become my good friends here. I will never forget these wonderful times together with this wonderful group.

June 10 , 2009.
Well, this story begins with quite a scare and ends with a comforting feeling and an appreciation for the people of Changsha.
I arrived in Changsha at 9 AM this morning expecting to be picked up by my “friend” (let’s just call her “Suzy”). I met her on an online dating site about 1 year before coming to Changsha and maintained almost daily contact through e-mails and video chats. I finally decided to come to Changsha for a little vacation and to meet her in person.
Okay, back to my arrival in Changsha. As I mentioned, I arrived here at 9AM expecting Suzy to meet me at the airport:
1st Problem: She thought she was picking me up at 9 PM. Easy solution to this problem, right. Wrong!! She had her phone turned off at work so she didn’t hear my calls (I thought she had just decided not to meet me and that I was now “stranded in China”) I am panicking a little now as I can’t read anything in the airport and the person at the information desk couldn’t speak English.
2nd Problem: I finally located the taxi stand and tried to show the location of my hotel to the taxi drivers, but none of them spoke any English and couldn’t read the map since it was in English (stupid me!!). I wondered back in to the airport not sure what to do next. Luckily I had learned how to say “Excuse me, can you speak English” before I came here. I suppose I asked at least 20 people and kept getting the same response “bu hui” ( “Can’t speak).
I finally came across a young lady who I guessed was a Middle School Age student and she seemed excited to “try out” the English she had learned in school. Lucky for me, she had done her homework and spoke passable English. She looked at my map and said “follow me please,” taking me back out to the taxis. She proceeded to say something in Chinese to the driver and then said “Inside, he take you” (my first little dose of what the Chinese call “Chinglish).

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I am writing this “Prequel” from notebook entries I kept during my early days in Changsha and from memory. After setting the story, I will begin daily blogs featuring current experiences ( and yes, even after being here for a ... [Continue reading this entry]