Today, I completed the usual routine of test preparation, in preparation for the test. Said test proceeded without a hitch, and we were left free for the afternoon! That meant no Chinese table, and no marginally palatable meals. I took the opportunity to get the best MSG-enhanced dumplings in the city – The Dumpling Shack. They were, as one would expect, great.
Then I made a trip over to ChaoShiFa (Grocery Store, literally) to get some sustenance for the impending train ride. I have to admit, I am a little wary of being on this train for that long. I approach the train ride as one might approach a rattlesnake wearing a tutu and sunglasses in the wild. I want to see, to investigate what is going on, but I don’t want to get to close. We, however, have little choice in the matter, and I want to see ChengDu. I bought some Ramen bowls, fruit, green tea, coffee, and Ritz crackers. I hope that I won’t get too hungry on the train, mainly because I don’t trust the food served on the train…
I went back to the dorm to gather the rest of my supplies and make some last-minute preparations. While I was in the dorm, a most interesting development occurred. Joy wanted to get the keys to my bike, so that she could use them while I was in ChengDu. I had no problem there, and I was standing in the hallway talking to Joy and Eric (JiangLei) about the program and their time in Beijing. At this point, we hear an unmistakably Chinese voice behind us: “Are you speaking English?” We were caught red-handed, English words on our lips. A teacher had come to the dorm to return a 100-Yuan note to Eric, who for some reason had lent her that amount of money a few days prior. She, quite frankly, freaked out. She was on the verge of turning red and getting hopping mad, and told us to confess our sins to the director of the program. Joy decided to send the director an email…
All was well, and I was on my way over to get on the bus, when I was accosted by a livid program director. She berated me for my foolhardy relapse into my accursed mother tongue, questioned my sanity, my allegiance to the Chinese language (which, by this point, was on the wane), and more… I patiently waited for the assault to end, and then she asked me if I had anything that I would like to say. I can say (laughingly, as I write this) that I really had nothing to say. I didn’t even know what to say in Chinese. I believe that we skipped the lesson “How to Counter Attacks on Your Personal Sanity by Your Program Director on the Friday that you Leave for ChengDu,” and so I ducked my head and took a seat in the bus. In the end, I have found this program most instructive, but I will save some observations for a later date.
We then traveled via bus to the Beijing West Train Station, where we prepared to board the train. I was getting hungry as we waited, and I bought a Big Mac at McDonalds. Don’t! Those of you who know me know of my stateside boycott of that restaurant, and I know that I failed. Just don't, haha.
We boarded the bus, and I luckily had a bunk on the bottom “bed.” Beds in Chinese trains are little more than a wooden plank with some cushion on top, and the bottom bunk is by far the best. Long-distance trains, such as the one in which we were traveling are divided into four sections. The first is standing room only, and is reserved for the poorest of the poor, who have little other option than to pay the extremely low fare for this traveling experience. The second is the “hard seat” section, which, as the name suggests, consists of wooden benches with no cushions. The third section of trains is the “soft seat,” where one can sit in a cushioned seat around a table, much like most European trains. The last section is by far the nicest section of the train, the sleeper section (although still a far cry from Western perceptions of comfort. The sleeper section consists of small, 3-walled enclosures lined with 6 beds. Three beds adorn the left well, and three the right. The beds sit three high, and the bottom bunk has the largest amount of space. One could sit Indian-style on the bottom bunk without difficulty. The other bunks had approximately 18 inches of clearance…
We played cards for a little while on the train, and around 10:30, the lights in our cabin were extinguished. I was dead tired from my run from the day before, and was only too happy to get some sleep. There were still a large amount of movement in the train itself, and a lot of my classmates were still hanging out. I took some of sleeping medicine, and fell into a sleep that would have been impossible otherwise.
I’ll write soon!
Love,
Jamey
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