China Prep 2006

Only 2 more weeks till I leave on my China "Midlife Adventure". I will be teaching at the Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics in Hangzhou China. Hangzhou is located about 2 hours train ride SW of Shanghai. I am scared to death. I feel just like I felt 33 years ago right before my son popped out and I realized that my life was going to change forever.

Hum......Clothes for a year......If I was a tiny little thing that could fit into Chinese size clothes it would be easy- just buy it there. But as many women in the online mating sites say I am a "Rubenesque" type and since the TANG (look it up) woman is no longer popular in China I will probably have a hard time finding large enough clothes. I figure my size ten shoes will also pose the same availability problem. I am attempting to get everything I think I will need and want into 1 large suitcase and 1 carryon. Computer and techie stuff will go in my backpack. My bedroom is a mountain range of clothes with "maybe piles", "for-sure piles" and "time to get rid of them piles". My son's girlfriend has been nice enough to critique my outfits so that I am no longer wearing "horrible pleated front pants" and my favorite white socks and sneakers. Most of my real friends are way too nice to tell me to wear boot cut jeans because they make my fat butt look a least a LITTLE skinnier. Also she is way nicer to me (and much less embarrassing) than the people on TV that tell other people how to dress.

I have not spent all my time pondering over what sweater to take, I actually have been productive enough to get my plane tickets, Z visa, and shots. Tickets and Visa were expensive but if I can hang in Hangzhou for the full year I should get reimbursed for the tickets. I still have on my list the Chinese physical and blood work to make sure I am not a TB, AIDES or STD carrier.

Biggest question I get from people is "Do you speak Chinese"? No! -- I am LD (dyslexic as you will soon notice from my spelling mistakes) and lack the ability to quickly learn languages. I figure with a little electronic translator, my college students (that want to earn extra credit) and my computer I should be able to get by. I foresee lots of embaressing mistakes being made.