Mark's world! Mark's world!

Ok, first of all I want to show you what I see when I look out my window right now:




I was assured when we moved here that this does not happen. Hang Lei said it is the first time in 7 or 8 years...I'm not sure if it is God displaying His sense of humor or reminding me that we cannot hide from His presence anywhere....

So, since Natalie posted last (yeah for Natalie!), I will attempt to give an update on my boring life....

The apartment: I have moved into a different apartment. We broke the lease on the apartment in downtown Zhangjiagang, because the landlord was never able to contain the water in the pipes. Every night we would come home and wonder where the water would be in the apartment. I think the final straw was when the wash machine drain plugged off, and the whole apartment had flooded (the floors here are all tile; water can spread rather rapidly!). So, after living in a hotel for a month I moved into a local apartment in Jingang town. It would be like a suburb of Zhangjiagang, and is only a ten minute taxi ride to the plant (about 13 minutes if you follow all the traffic lights and keep all four wheels attached to the road). There are a few differences in Jingang from Zhangjiagang.

1. I am the only white person living in the town (it has about 30,000 people). They have started to adjust to seeing me around my apartment, but walking down other streets is pretty interesting...
2. There are no Western restaurants. I eat local food every night. I have friends from work that make sure I do not eat shellfish. Everything else I try first, and if it tastes good, I keep eating it. If it doesn't, I don't. It is only after dinner do I ask what I have eaten...For the most part, a dinner for 3 to 4 people costs about 30RMB (4.25US). Like I wrote, if it tastes good, I keep eating it....(sometimes they even remove the claws from the chicken feet!)
   
3. It is much louder. My apartment is above a storefront on a busy road. There is also a crosswalk in front of it. I am not positive, but I believe there is a traffic law that says you have to honk your horn every time you come to a cross walk...
4. Stephen King's Cujo lives behind my apartment! If I ever get close enough I will finish the dog off. The dogs bark pretty much non-stop here. After awhile you get used to it. I sleep with a fan next to my headboard and it seems to drown out the noise...
5. Finding anyone who speaks more English than, "Hello" or "May I help you?" is nearly impossible. After you answer, "Yes!" to the "May I help you?" question, they usually cannot help you because the question is the only English they know. The other problem with the language is that they speak, "Zhangjiagangnese". It is a local dialect, and is kind of like Mandarin but different. I would attribute it to the difference between Spanish and Portuguese. Close, but not the same. So, when I do attempt to communicate, I have to speak in a different language than what I have been learning. I usually understand what they are saying, but cannot respond with words. It makes for a lot of fun...
6. I have learned how to make dumplings. There is a local couple that lives across the street (I work with Maggie) that have taken it upon themselves to ensure that I remain fat, dumb, and happy. So, they find out what days I will be in my apartment, and then ask when I want to eat out or when I want to eat in. On the days I eat in, I go to their apartment after work and watch/help them cook. I think last week I must have made about 400 dumplings. Jack's (Maggie's husband) mom was staying with them. She speaks no English but is convinced I am too skinny. She has since gone back home (and taken Jack and Maggie's son with her), but when she was here she constantly was forcing food down my throat. I guess mother's are all the same; I was never able to leave the table without a clean plate!

Work has been getting busier, but it is nice to finally be making some progress. I am not sure when we will be done, but eventually I do believe there will be a chemical plant to run. It has been a lot of fun getting to know some of the local people and it is also a great reminder for the saying, "It's not wrong; it's just different!" Eventually, at the end of the day, things get done just not the way you envisioned them.

Chinese New Year! Every day I wake up and go to sleep to fireworks. For about the past two weeks, there are fireworks being set off in the field behind my apartment in the morning (yes, it is daylight out) and in the evening. I can't wait to see what it is like when the New Year finally arrives...

Anyway, that's a very quick update on what's been going on with me. I don't know who will blog next, I can just guarantee that someone will....