GUANGZHOU


The last couple of days has been quite intense. The last day in HK was really nice and Marla and I went to buy tickets for the train to GZ and went sightseeing in the Kowloon area of HK. We visited a famous temple but the one thing I will remember the most from that day is when we met an older man just outside in the park. He stopped us and started talking to us asking why we would bother visiting the temple. He was a really nice man and he was so curious about the western world. His English was good due to the fact that he had spent a lot of years teaching English so we were able to have a good conversation. He told us a lot of gossip about China and asked a lot of questions. When I told him I was from Sweden, he made me tell him everything I knew about the Vikings, and all of the time he would ask if I wa proud of my ancestors... All in all he was such a nice guy and this actually made me remember the best thing about traveling, you meet so many interesting people with all different backgrounds. 

To go to GZ was not a big problem. I find myself always making me do things the most difficult ways of some reason. I normal person would just take a cab to the train station, by me, I took the metro. Thinking I was clever and saving some money, but after that adventure I wouldn't recommend it to anyone! Bringing a lot of luggage through he metro system of HK, changing lines two times and then have to walk for a long time through several tunnels ... No I wouldn't recommend it even to my enemies. But I got there just in time and meet Marla at the gate. 

The journey took two hours and you were able to get quite good food on the train as well. We were supposed to meet our buddies at the station but the hadn't told us where to go so the first mission was to find wifi. Luckily enough we found it at Starbucks on the opposite side of the entrance. When we got hold of them and they found us at the cafe, Jasmine told us she had seen us at the station and recognized my pants from H&M!! Later she told me that she had been to Stockholm this summer for a summer course so she was so excited to meet me and that what why she had spotted me at the station. 

Our buddies took us to the hotel, showed the campus and took us to a nice restaurant for dinner. In the evening we bumped into Alejandro who just had arrived to the city. The last couple of days we have been getting to know the area, visited the different institutions, bought public transport cards, Chinese SIM cards, booked doctor appointment for health check and started the hunt for an apartment. The later on is by far the most difficult one but we wouldn't have been able to do any of the steps without our buddies. 

Not being able to speak is by far the most annoying thing. You feel so stupid all the time, but I pick up new things everyday. The fact that you easily understand that they try to fool you and rip you off but not being able to speak up your mind is extremely irritating. We have to put all our trust to our buddies, but I'm sure they are trying their best, although I can tell they are not used to negotiate with business people. Right now I will tell them in English what I want them to say and then just hope they understand what I said and that they actually say it. It puts us in a very shaky position to get a good deal. Also the standards of apartments vary a lot. After a couple of days of looking at pretty much only shitty apartments full of dirt and cockroaches I'm quite tired of this and I hope we will find something in the end of this week. Luckily enough I think that at least or buddies are slowly starting to understand what we would like. My fathers colleges brother has been very helpful during this time and a couple of times I have been able to call him so he could have a talk with the agents to try to negotiate price and get them to know what we are looking for. What would you do without contacts? 

Tomorrow we will go to the doctor for health check and then continue the hunt for an apartment.. Wish me luck! 



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Postat av: Ylva

kul att höra om dina ups and downs =)

2015-09-13 @ 21:31:09

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