My first few weeks in Zibo were spent in a hotel near the campus.  The school generously allowed me a full week to get over my jet leg and find my feet.  I speak no Chinese, and the hotel staff didn't speak English, but this did not prevent us from conversing with each other, especially the intelligent young lady who served as the combination chambermaid/IT person for the hotel. She wouldn't let me take her picture, but she dealt patiently with my inability to get hot water out of the shower and my problems with the internet.

On my second day in Zibo I hopped into a taxi heading into town, planning to go to the only store I knew about, which was a Walmart. I assumed that the driver would understand me when I asked to be taken to the Walmart, but he didn't, and as we drove through town, he grew increasingly perturbed at having a passenger who couldn't communicate her destination. I now know the name of the road that we traveled along, but at the time I knew nothing. Fortunately I spotted a private English college so I asked the taxi driver to stop, thanked and paid him, and went to the college to introduce myself. The manager kindly gave me directions written in Chinese for my shopping destinations.

If you're asking why I wanted to go to a Walmart instead of say, a quaint farmer's market, the answer is that I was looking for breakfast food I could make in the hotel room with a kettle, and all I needed was some instant oatmeal, a bowl and a spoon.  I got my oatmeal -- corn-flavoured Quaker Instant oatmeal in fact. 

Oatmeal appears to be a popular breakfast choice in Zibo City, often prepared as a thin gruel. To this is often added walnut powder.  Or something called walnut powder that contains a lot of sugar. Walnuts themselves are relatively expensive.  For breakfast on the go, the hurried commuter can pick up a long stick of fried bread, the Chinese equivalent of a doughnut, from a bakery or a street vendor.  They look delicious but I haven't tried them. 

BTW I did force a tip on that taxi driver but that was the last time I've tipped anybody. They just don't tip here in China and when you try, they act confused and embarrassed. In fact, on more than one occasion, the taxi driver has rounded down the fare to the nearest half-yuan or yuan.

This blog-journal of my time in China will, I hope, be helpful and interesting for any people contemplating a similar adventure. It's also a place where I can share thoughts and anecdotes about life in Zibo -- but -- I do not plan to post much detail about the school where I work, the students, or my colleagues.  The Golden Rule will be applied. 

I also want to respect the privacy of the locals, who are yes, quaint and/or colorful and/or charming and/or adorable (in the case of the babies) or otherwise interesting, but they are not being quaint or colorful just for my benefit.  So I'd love to post pictures of them, but there won't be many close-ups.

That said, every tale must have a bad guy, so I nominate my landlord to fill the post for this blog.  Details to follow.

I do like sharing pictures of interesting or amusing Chinese packaging and unusual English syntax but this is not done in a spirit of making fun of the Chinese or being an English teacher ready to pounce with her red pen. I really find these things charming. Speaking of unusual signs, I doubt that anything is going to top the sign in the lobby of the hotel where I first stayed:  "No Oneself Schlep Drink." Words to live by.

Experienced China hands would no doubt roll their eyes at some of my naive and/or ignorant observations; but this blog is not written for them and I do not foresee myself ever becoming an "expert" on this country.

Finally, I've lived most of my life in Canada and so I use Canadian spellings, but because I now work at the Sino-American Language and Cultural Center, not the Centre, I am trying to use American spellings in these posts.

I'll try to grab a picture that captures all of the elements of Zibo traffic -- the broad tree-lined avenues are lined with access roads which are used by cyclists and scooters, which are also flanked by pedestrian walkways which double as parking spaces.  U-turns are permitted at intersections. Shoulder-checking before changing lanes is for wimps, as is stopping for pedestrians if you're turning right while they're in the crosswalk. Watching the traffic and the variety of vehicles on the road is endlessly entertaining but I don't know if I can give you the full picture with my little cell phone camera.  In contrast, this peaceful shot shows bicycles lined up outside the New Mart store a few weeks ago when the cherry trees were in full blossom.