Down and Dirty... Part 4. Trains.

Now to highlight the “dirty” part of my internship.

Trying to reach the best fruit

Took the overnight train to Guangdong Province in June to work out of the office in Guangdong for a few days and train the two staff members there (Dolphin and Lynn) on how to use the new CiviCRM. It was quite effective and they gave me great ideas for how to improve the training for the staff in other offices. I got loads of information to analyze in terms of work and communication flows and am really starting to understand how the China offices work together. Looking forward to writing the report for the director on recommendations.

The Guangdong office of CWEF is in a third-tier city called Jiangmen (江门－translates to River Door). They focus all their attention on scholarships for the villager children out in Guangdong. Parents that have lots a limb and can't work, children that have been abandoned, etc. It's really heartwarming to read their letters thanking their donors.

The office is in a really nice apartment complex, so it was surprising to see so many chickens in a residential community. You definitely wouldn't see that in the States (What would the neighbors think!?), but I haven't seen something like that in other parts of China either. The other interesting bit was the amount of fruit trees. Dolphin and Lynn insisted that nobody would care if we picked fruit off the trees, and they both got very excited with my height and monkey arms. I could reach some really high fruit. I came back with loads of green mangoes and what we all decided to call “red mystery fruit”. Turns out that it's called “wax apple”. Tastes like bland star fruit. If you see it in a market, it's probably not worth the money.

Red Mystery Fruit

You may be wondering, “What so dirty about fresh fruit?” Well, nothing actually.

I decided to take the 18-hour sleeper train rather than fly for the experience of it, and to save the 40 USD. Bad idea.

I've taken plenty of trains in China before, and yea, it's not great. But doable. You see the scenery and get to sleep a lot. The problem is when you come home and two weeks later you realize you've picked up skin-eating and blood-sucking parasites. Two different kinds...at the same time. I should have known better when I saw the cleaners just fold the used blankets and put them back on the bed before I got on.

The curséd train

Taking care of these little buggers didn't prove too easy, either. In the States you'd wash all your clothes and sheets in hot water or put them in the dryer on high, vacuum, and basically call it good. In China you boil water on the stove and carry buckets from the shower to the washing machine every time you want to put a load on. Since there are no dryers, you pull out the steamer and steam your duvet and pillows, leaving them on the balcony and sleeping without blankets until the problem is solved. You also have to go out and buy a vacuum and spend a whole week attempting to buy a product on the Chinese Ebay what is readily available at Home Depot (It's called diatomaceous earth, or 硅藻土 guī zăo tŭ). Because you're not a Chinese national and internet banking here is basically impossible, you have to go to the post office to send the seller the money for the order, which is then cancelled for some unexplained reason. You mop your floor in vinegar and leave out bowls of soapy water overnight. You cover everything you own in baking soda...I felt like a 18^th century Irish housewife. Having to stay in my room the entire time was the worst part of it, as I risked infecting other people. Had to cancel a trip and couldn't sit on the couch in the living room. My sanity was maintained by the wealth of inherited DVDs.

I was super glad for the international student health insurance, though. Had to go to the dermatologist twice...but it was all covered! Thanks, WDI, for making me buy that!

After three weeks, the problem was finally taken care of. When I travelled to Yunnan, I most definitely took the plane. Off to Cambodia on Sunday!