So I spent the past week in Xiamen exploring, getting my new apartment and doing visa paperwork.
So I sent some boxes ahead (see my previous post) and then followed by train. I needed to take a slow train to a nearby city and then a fast (but still 11 hour) one south to Xiamen. The first leg went off without a hitch. However when I arrived at the next city and attempted to pick up my train ticket I had some problems. I had bought my tickets online but I still had to pick them up at the station. The lady at the window took my document and everything came up right away and she printed a ticket. However the machine was nearly out of ink and she claimed it couldn't be read. This sounds like the easiest problem in the world to solve right? Wrong! I was told that she couldn't reprint it and would have to cancel the whole ticket and reissue a new one. This seemed absolutely insane since the problem was entirely on their end. However (as usual) arguing that this made no sense didn't work. Eventually I had to agree, however they couldn't actually just transfer the money and give me a new ticket. No, they had to refund the original one which I had used a card to buy so it would go on the card I was told, but I couldn't use that card to buy a new ticket, I had to pay cash. So suddenly I had
to have a large amount of cash on me to pay for this ticket. Perfect. Fortunately I had enough on me but the whole thing took way too long.
The next day I made the 1,800km trip on a fast train which took just under 11 hours. Those trains are really nice as they are on time, move fast, and are clean. The slower trains here are... not those things. I managed to watch nearly the entire first season of Homeland.
I arrived in Xiamen around 9pm and was met by a lady from the university who took explained that the apartment I was supposed to go to wasn't ready but I'd be staying in a different one. The apartment she took me to was quite barren but is on the 17th floor and has a great view over the city and the bay. The view was awesome but the apartment was so barren that I wasn't sure what to think. She told me I could keep that one or she'd show me others the next day.
The university and apartment are not in Xiamen proper, but rather in an area called Jimei. Xiamen proper is an island. It's where most of the tourist stuff is as well as the beaches however it's also very expensive and there are strict rules (absolutely no motorcycles on the island). Jimei is right across the water, much cheaper and easier to get out of town. It's also really easy to get onto the island but transit during the day. The only annoying part is trying to get home at night which means a $20 cab ride but I likely won't do this too often and living in Jimei looks to be pretty cool.
The next morning I had to go do my medical required to get my visa. It went pretty smoothly as this facility was set up especially for people who need their visa. Compared to Dongying where no one knew what was going on, it was great. Of course they did make me take my shirt off to do an x-ray which I thought was weird.
In the afternoon I was shown the campus and met a few of the people I'd be dealing with at the new job. The campus is gorgeous with lots of trees, grass, and mountains in the background. I also looked at some other apartments including one that clearly used to be a store but was converted into an apartment. They were nice places and the location was much closer to the school that mine, however I loved the view from mine too much so I stuck with the one they gave me originally.
I met up with my friend Matthew who I met 1.5 years ago when doing the CELTA. He's the one who happened to be in the room while I was doing the interview in the spring. Over the next few days he showed me around a lot. We went to the beach on the island and the water was almost HOT, not just warm, but hot. It was glorious.
We also went to a furniture market and I got some bar stools and a table to set up the Wise Bar on my balcony.
Eventually I went to get my visa. They say it takes 3 weeks so I'm without a passport for that duration. I was given a receipt certifying that the local police have my passport and I was told I could use the paper to fly. I was hesitant but it worked fine to fly back to Dongying. The annoying thing is that the paper is needed to get my passport back so I need to mail it back to Xiamen to my boss who will use it to get my passport then mail my passport to me. Should be fine but is a little ridiculous. I'm supposed to get my passport back July 18, then it needs to be mailed here which may take 3ish days. I'll probably book a July 23 flight just to be safe. I fly back to Xiamen Aug 16. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone, especially Hannah and Daniel who I haven't seen since they were in China!
My current school has thrown a small wrinkle at me. They want to "redecorate" this apartment so they want me out by the end of my contract (July 15). Normally I could stay here and no one would even notice. This means I'll need to find a place for a week or so but that shouldn't be too difficult and I've already been given several options. It's just a bit of an annoyance.
I'm really excited about Xiamen and was sad to leave. It's a great city with lots to do and see. I'll need to make new friends but I've already been added to a chat group called "Xiamen nerds" so things seem to be going well. Dongying has been a lot of fun and I've met some great people and learned a lot but it's definitely time for me to be leaving and moving to this job in Xiamen seems to be about the perfect place for me to go. A few people in Xiamen warned me that Xiamen gets "really cold" in the winter because there will be 2 or 3 nights in January when it gets down to 5C. I laughed, that isn't cold at all and that sounds great to me!
My apartment has a king size bed in the spare room so come on over and visit next year! Hong Kong and Taiwan are easily accessible from Xiamen too. I've loved it so much when people have come over to visit. I realize that not everyone can do so but know that every one of you is welcome and I'd be thrilled to see you!
Josh
PS I just uploaded a tonne of pictures from March to present including some of Xiamen and what I've been doing in Dongying. They can be found at the link on the right or here.
So I sent some boxes ahead (see my previous post) and then followed by train. I needed to take a slow train to a nearby city and then a fast (but still 11 hour) one south to Xiamen. The first leg went off without a hitch. However when I arrived at the next city and attempted to pick up my train ticket I had some problems. I had bought my tickets online but I still had to pick them up at the station. The lady at the window took my document and everything came up right away and she printed a ticket. However the machine was nearly out of ink and she claimed it couldn't be read. This sounds like the easiest problem in the world to solve right? Wrong! I was told that she couldn't reprint it and would have to cancel the whole ticket and reissue a new one. This seemed absolutely insane since the problem was entirely on their end. However (as usual) arguing that this made no sense didn't work. Eventually I had to agree, however they couldn't actually just transfer the money and give me a new ticket. No, they had to refund the original one which I had used a card to buy so it would go on the card I was told, but I couldn't use that card to buy a new ticket, I had to pay cash. So suddenly I had
 |
| A city that nerds to specify "aquatic" seafood understandably can't figure out how to reprint a ticket. |
The next day I made the 1,800km trip on a fast train which took just under 11 hours. Those trains are really nice as they are on time, move fast, and are clean. The slower trains here are... not those things. I managed to watch nearly the entire first season of Homeland.
 |
| first view from my apartment |
The university and apartment are not in Xiamen proper, but rather in an area called Jimei. Xiamen proper is an island. It's where most of the tourist stuff is as well as the beaches however it's also very expensive and there are strict rules (absolutely no motorcycles on the island). Jimei is right across the water, much cheaper and easier to get out of town. It's also really easy to get onto the island but transit during the day. The only annoying part is trying to get home at night which means a $20 cab ride but I likely won't do this too often and living in Jimei looks to be pretty cool.
The next morning I had to go do my medical required to get my visa. It went pretty smoothly as this facility was set up especially for people who need their visa. Compared to Dongying where no one knew what was going on, it was great. Of course they did make me take my shirt off to do an x-ray which I thought was weird.
 |
| The XMUT (Xiamen University of Technology) campus |
I met up with my friend Matthew who I met 1.5 years ago when doing the CELTA. He's the one who happened to be in the room while I was doing the interview in the spring. Over the next few days he showed me around a lot. We went to the beach on the island and the water was almost HOT, not just warm, but hot. It was glorious.
 |
| The Wise Bar is open! |
Eventually I went to get my visa. They say it takes 3 weeks so I'm without a passport for that duration. I was given a receipt certifying that the local police have my passport and I was told I could use the paper to fly. I was hesitant but it worked fine to fly back to Dongying. The annoying thing is that the paper is needed to get my passport back so I need to mail it back to Xiamen to my boss who will use it to get my passport then mail my passport to me. Should be fine but is a little ridiculous. I'm supposed to get my passport back July 18, then it needs to be mailed here which may take 3ish days. I'll probably book a July 23 flight just to be safe. I fly back to Xiamen Aug 16. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone, especially Hannah and Daniel who I haven't seen since they were in China!
My current school has thrown a small wrinkle at me. They want to "redecorate" this apartment so they want me out by the end of my contract (July 15). Normally I could stay here and no one would even notice. This means I'll need to find a place for a week or so but that shouldn't be too difficult and I've already been given several options. It's just a bit of an annoyance.
I'm really excited about Xiamen and was sad to leave. It's a great city with lots to do and see. I'll need to make new friends but I've already been added to a chat group called "Xiamen nerds" so things seem to be going well. Dongying has been a lot of fun and I've met some great people and learned a lot but it's definitely time for me to be leaving and moving to this job in Xiamen seems to be about the perfect place for me to go. A few people in Xiamen warned me that Xiamen gets "really cold" in the winter because there will be 2 or 3 nights in January when it gets down to 5C. I laughed, that isn't cold at all and that sounds great to me!
My apartment has a king size bed in the spare room so come on over and visit next year! Hong Kong and Taiwan are easily accessible from Xiamen too. I've loved it so much when people have come over to visit. I realize that not everyone can do so but know that every one of you is welcome and I'd be thrilled to see you!
Josh
PS I just uploaded a tonne of pictures from March to present including some of Xiamen and what I've been doing in Dongying. They can be found at the link on the right or here.
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