A week ago, I packed all my belongings into my backpack and hit the Beijing train station. Many times in China, I caught myself thinking 'where are all the people? China is supposed to be packed full of humans' well I found them, they are at the Beijing West train station. Being hungover, sad to leave, and carrying a bursting at the seams full backpack through a huge crowd of Chinese people staring at you was quite the event let me tell you. I had never been on a train before, since back in Canada passenger trains are not very common so I was very excited to see what it was all about. Well, being a third class passenger in China was a great way to start. It might not of been very glamorous or extremely comfortable but it was an experience and I'm actually glad I had to do it because I'm sure I would have never chosen to travel that way. The beds were stacked three high and I had the top bunk so it was impossible to sit up on my bed so I spent most of my waking hours sitting in the isle hanging out. To my satisfaction, there was a young boy, maybe about 3 or 4 who was next to us on the train. He was so much fun! Even though I could only say a few words and phrases in Chinese, I was able to entertain this little boy and have fun with him! I would make crazy faces at him and he would giggle and try to copy them! It also worked out in our favour as his mother was constantly offering us fruit, meat, and chinese candies while we were playing with her son. 15 long hours later we arrived in Changsha and were greeted by some extremely friendly members of our department from our school and headed back to our school. We were taken to our apartment, and let me tell you when you expect the worst in China, sometimes you are pleasantly surprised. Our accommodation here in Changsha is absolutely gorgeous!! We all have large rooms with King sized beds and are spoiled enough to have a flat screen tv in our living rooms. The boarding school that we use as our home base is gorgeous and quite large considering it's a primary school. All the other teachers are very friendly and the students are so cute but some of them are a little crazy at times. I am teaching mainly grade 5 so the kids' English is not too bad and they are lots of fun! The younger students are adorable but a little crazy and harder to teach because they don't speak much English...cute nonetheless though!
As for Changsha as a city, what a breath of fresh air...literally! The air pollution levels here are minuscule in comparison to Beijing. The Xiangjiang river flows through the city and there is a range of mountains on the west side of the city, the most famous being Mount Yuelu which makes the city have quite the nature feel to it. The population of Changsha is currently at around 6 million so it's the perfect size for China as it has everything an expat needs without it being too overwhelmingly large and crowded. The people here drive like maniacs and are extremely friendly. Since most of the people here don't see many foreigners, the 6 of us interns are local celebrities and are constantly being stopped and stared at, something that one must get used to. One of the most famous areas of Changsha is a walking street downtown which is home to many stores and restaurants and there is a small bar street that branches off of the walking street with many small KTV bars and pub style places to go and enjoy a cold one. There is an outdoor market very close to Tian Hua (the school we live at). The sights and smells sometimes leave much to be desired but it is much what you would expect to see in China. There are many small shops selling various items, from clothing to shoes to fruits and vegetables to carts with large pieces of meat. Here you can also find many outdoor BBQ's where many Chinese go to enjoy some spicy meat skewers of all kinds and drink tea and beer. One of the things that makes this market smell a bit odd and look quite dirty is the fact that garbage collection means just throwing waste on the ground which gets cleaned up in the wee hours of the morning. This makes for a rats haven and a less than lovely scent for humans and I have twice already seen a rat scurrying around (a bit alarming but is to be expected).
Life in Changsha has thus far been good. It is very refreshing to be out of Beijing and see what else China has to offer!
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