On Saturday (May 18) night I took a train from Beijing to Nanjing. It was supposed to be 14 hours, but it actually took 16. I guess you could describe this train as incredibly slow. I have no complaints though, because the train ride has probably been my favorite part of the trip so far. The train has these awesome triple-decker bunk beds so I did a lot of sleeping. I was in the middle bunk. When I wasn’t sleeping or listening to music in my bunk, I would just walk around the train.
A lot of the men would hang out between train cars to smoke and talk. Some of these guys were very excited to see a foreigner. I got lots of offers for coffee, cigarettes, beer, etc. A business card and a cigarette seem to be the standard gift.
The train arrived 2 hours late and there was no one there to pick me up when I got off. Luckily, I met a PhD student on the train who helped me out and let me use his cell phone. He also stayed with me for 30 minutes while I waited for them to arrive. He was stand-up guy, and I have his contact info so we’ll probably hang out later.
Ms. Zhang, who goes by Gail, came to pick me up with another teacher named Hu Liang. This was our first conversation as we were getting in the cab:
Gail: “So Jordan, how long have you been a nurse?”
Me: “Uhhh…actually”

TO BE CONTINUED