The Road To Xuzhou

It was a week ago that I was frantically packing and about to leave for the airport on the long road to Xuzhou.  This journey, actually began last year when I landed a job teaching Academic English at a university in Melbourne as part of preparations to teach in their joint venture program in China.  Fast forward 5 months and here I am - we made it!  And what a journey it’s been.  Similar to my Daniel Babji personal travel memoirs, I hope to write about my time living and working here, warts and all, and everything in between. 

Xu-what???

Xuzhou, somewhat pronounced as Shoe-Joe) is largely unheard of outside of China, other than Sinophiles and within the Chinese diaspora.  Located in Jiangsu Province some 700 km south of Beijing and 600km northwest of Shanghai), Xuzhou is a major city of 9.5 million people and lies near the borders of Anhui and Shandong provinces.  During the Han Dynasty, it was known as Pengcheng and was the capital of the new Chu Kingdom.  Fast-forward to modern times where it has reinvented itself from a coal-producing area to a major science and educational hub. More interestingly for me, it has become a household name across China as a food paradise.

Planes and Trains

My flights were quite smooth overall, although I only managed to sleep 3 hours on the first leg from Melbourne to Guangzhou, arriving at 6am.  I usually have negative experiences at Guangzhou Airport, both the old airport and the new sprawling one.  Having watched Joker: Folie à Deux on the flight only added to my grumpiness.  This time around, shops were open, and staff made far more of an effort to assist than on previous visits.  Discovering that the China Mobile sim card I’d been given wasn’t working, and there were no wifi login stands around, I spent half my 4 hour stopover time attempting to get connected.  When I finally did, I tested my new We Chat payment facility linked to my WISE RMB wallet. Thankfully it worked and I was able to savour my breakfast of Ferrero Rochers.

Wedged between two guys who clearly hadn’t come across the notion of bathing regularly made for an interesting flight to Shanghai.  Upon arrival, I grabbed my two 23kg suitcases, took an elevator down to B1 then walked a short distance to the subway stop.  Realising I had no wifi, and therefore no means to pay a ticket to go one stop, I had a slight stroke, but the subway staff pointed and said “Hongqiao Station walk 5 minutes”.  And so I did, a nice workout, all very easy, and arrived at the fast speed station with over an hour before departure.  Having been to Hongqiao Station once before, on a public holiday, with arguably a million people in every direction, this time it was more subdued.  I was told that ATMs were upstairs on the departure level.  Unfortunately, there were none.  Also unfortunate was my brand new nice deodorant spray being confiscated, because apparently, sprays can set off the smoke detectors on board the fast trains.  When the barriers opened to head to the platform 10 minutes before departure, I set off alarms and held everyone up for 30 seconds as I didn’t know I was meant to be stuffing my passport in some scanner and had already packed it away, much to the barrier attendant’s irritation.

Xuzhou Arrival

The very fast train journey was uneventful other than the bag of assorted snacks I was given.  Upon arrival, and after lugging both suitcases down 3 flights of steps, I was met by a student holding a sign with my name and a bunch of flowers for me.  I was not expecting that!  I followed I’m to street level and he ordered a taxi but it turns out the taxi rank is in the basement, so after hauling cases back down, we made it to a taxi and headed to my apartment.  My first impression of Xuzhou was that I’m back in the land of haze, as the sky had a brown tinge to it.  Being somewhat hilly and mountainous, Xuzhou reminded me of South Korea except it has endless banks of brown apartment buildings.  Every so often and at every traffic light, overhead cameras flash endlessly, taking photos of everyone. A little dystopian but comes with the territory.  We finally came to the main road on which the university is located.  A couple of km further down is a little shopping street with gigantic gated apartment complexes to the north, south and west. 

The Apartment of Cupboards and Drawers

My apartment complex has some 30 buildings spread out amongst leafy little streets and paths.  Each building has multiple entrances which makes it seem even more huge.  My apartment is on the 7th floor, looks out onto the street at one end and with a view to the huge intersection and distant hills, and at apartment buildings at the back.  Needless to say, it was freezing inside and it took some time to get the heaters on.  Conveniently, there were two hot water systems, which created confusion as to which one to use and then how to operate it.  Additionally, the stove wasn’t working either.  Joy.  In the end, the landlord had to be summoned and repairs made, while my patience was being put to the test.  Finally, some semblance of hot water was created and I was left to myself.  The apartment is medium to large, with low benchtops in the kitchen, six light switches near the entrance operating all kinds of lights, from downlights to fake chandeliers that light up in blue.  It seemed every available inch of unused space had been converted into either a cupboard or drawer.  In the spare bedroom was a large bunk bed and underneath the window sill were cupboards and drawers to make for some kind of home office.  I’ll stick to the kitchen table for the time being!  

After unpacking the stored items left by a previous teacher that had been carried over from his old apartment (that had been suddenly sold late last year), I made the bed and made note that there was no kettle or bottled water or toilet paper or even operational guides for appliances like the heating, remote controls - basic items one would expect to be provided in these situations (as has been in numerous prior roles).  I went for a walk up and down the street, looking to see what stores were open.  About two-thirds of them were restaurants, and I went into a Lanzhou Pulled Noodle place that had a few pictures labeled in English, pointed at one, and a few minutes later a humongous plate of rice with a few pieces of beef and lots of green capsicum was served.  A good feed, then a barely hot shower then to sleep in the king-sized bed.