The Filet of the Neighborhood

Ni hao, yo! I'm new to blogging and a bit technologically disadvantaged for my age, so please hang with me for a few weeks while I labor through my blogging struggles. I started this blog because I'm teaching English as an exchange instructor in Qingdao, China and want to share experiences, mishaps, and accomplishments with friends and family.

Having just arrived in Qingdao from a tour of Beijing, I find myself missing Herbert, the tour guide and master translator who took me around Beijing, from the Chinese acrobat show to the Great Wall. The embedded picture is of Herb and me, palling and hot-rodding around the hutongs in a rickshaw. I was fascinated listening to him talk--all of his anecdotal offerings were filled with symbolism and metaphor. This won't be as eloquent as Herb's version, but here's an example: in teaching me to (more effectively) use chopsticks, he shared the story of how he learned. His mother suggested to him that he is the top articulated chopstick and they (his mother and father) are the foundational bottom. The key is to navigate distance: not too far, not too close.  I like the take-away about balance. Herbert also shared that he works for twelve months on as a guide in Beijing and twelve off as a father, husband, and fisherman in his rural hometown. I asked what he fishes for. He said a buzz. 

I'm now in Qingdao and in an apartment that needs some serious tending. Levi, if you can hear me, I need your help, brother. The air conditioner is down at the moment, and I feel like I've puddled into the recliner. Additionally, the gentleman who lived here last has jerry-rigged the appliances and plumbing; that is, I imagine my digs will be grand once I disarm the booby traps. To flush the toilet (upon which a cracked and duct taped seat and lid sit), I pull up on two chopsticks that are tied to the rubber stopper in the tank. To use the washing machine, I have to move the drain hose around the bevy of bowls and pans pocking my kitchen floor. Yellow water rockets out when the machine drains, I learned last night, much like it does from a gardening hose when thumb is clamped over the hose end. I take such challenges as an affront to my virility, to my ability to be handy and be a man. All that to say, in short, I'm actually looking forward to the coming weeks of repairing and settling into the apartment. (On another positive note, there's an incredible vista beyond my balcony, and there's a group of Bavarians living on my floor I'll become fast friends with.)

In closing, I've really been enjoying myself, I'm looking forward to my year here, and I'm very grateful to Missouri State for the opportunity. I have every faith that my students will be like the Chinese folks I've encountered thus far--really patient, reserved, and curious about me. I reckon this will make teaching easy. I'm glad people have taken an interest in me because I am anxious to connect with them, too.

Zai jian for now.