My Afternoon in GongYi

On Tuesday, I finally got hot water in the bathroom. This wasn't such a big deal because It's been so hot and humid, I've actually been enjoying the cold showers. But, by Wednesday morning it had cooled down a bit and my first hot shower felt really good. As for me, I have been doing a lot of studying online and had a pretty interesting adventure in downtown GongYi on Tuesday. Jackson was given the assignment of taking me downtown to get my photo taken for my work permit, help me get a local cell phone and to help me open a bank account. As always, Jackson had been up to 2 am picking up another teacher from India the night before and he was also preparing other apartments for the arriving teachers who would all be coming on today, the 20th. We left the campus at about 3:30 and hopped on the old number 11 bus where people immediately took notice of the foreigner and stared directly at me for the next fifteen or so stops. Downtown GongYi is like being on-top of a big ant hill, except each ant is driving a car, scooter, motorcycle or some type of contraption- illegal to even attempt to operate in the US. Between all these mechanical ants is about a million feas running here and there trying really hard not to get run over....this was Jackson and I. Jackson paid no mind though as I nearly was hit twice trying to keep up with him. Here we were running like a bad foot chase on an old episode of the "Streets of San Fransisco," except we were chasing nothing but time. It was hot and I was sweating like I had a faucett taped to the top of my head. First we went to a photoshop where there were people waiting, but Jackson forged ahead saying something in Chinese and within minutes the photographer had me sit on a small wooden bench (I thought it would flatten under my weight, but it only shuddered a bit) and lined up the shot. He motioned for me to tilt my head as if I were taking a glamour shot, but I thought differently and shook my head "no." He frowned and took the photo anyway. I could just see me now showing everyone my school ID, just a body with half a head leaning over to the left. They took a total of two photos and without asking choose the one with my eyes practically closed. Ah Hah, I thought to myself this is more normal to them....As soon as Jackson gave the Okay, we ran another block and raced into a cell phone store. Jackson took me directly to the cheapest phones and this took a little longer as he flurted a bit witht the sale girl. When she rang-up the phone, Jackson smiled a big smile and told me that he had talked her into taking 50 yuan off the sales price. That is about $8 US, but boy was he proud of himself. Unbeknownst to me, I think he must be quite the ladies man... I asked him outside the store if he knew the woman inside and he admitted that he did and she liked him but, exclaimed very seriously, "But, she's over 30 years old!" Okay, onward for more jogging. We did squeak into the bank of China just in time and by this time I was soaked. I hand brought a hankerchief with me and as Jackson wrote out an application in Chinese, I mopped up much of the sweat covering my entire head. Jackson had me sign a few documents (now I probably have to donate a kidney) and I gave them about 300 yuan and within minutes they handed me what looked like a chinese debit card. Jackson turned his back and I typed in my secret code 3 times into the compter, and within a few seconds, I am now a bank account holder in China with about $50 US in it. Let the US find my money here!!! Afterwards you could see the look of satisfaction on Jackson's face. He had accomplished what he was assigned to do and was he ever happy. We now walked slowly and the city was a feast for the eyes. I had never observed in my life such a mass of humanity. Men welding, women selling goods and small children running around virtually naked (diapers are a no-go in China). I saw a motorcycle that could carry all Jeanette's luggage when her and Ashley finally make the trip to Vegas so I took a picture.

Ashley's new cycle "With Jeanette's Traveling Gear"

S=Afterwards we walked to the store where I was able to gather-up 5 diet cokes and Jacskon filled a baggie with more than a dozen eggs. I forced him to let me buy the eggs for him, about $1.50 and his gratitude was again humbling. Afterwards, I asked him if we could pick up a meal at Kentucky Fried Chicken. We didn't have time to eat it there so again we got it to go. Apparently, eating at Kentucy Fried Chicken in China is like going to a five star restaurant in America. Jackson couldn't belive when I spent about $8.00 on both our meals and he thanked me all the way home. With my food in hand, I climbed the 5 stories up to my apartment and called it a day.

View from Bedroom

My Afternoon in GongYi

Gongyi, China