It was almost the blessed day when I could finally leave Shanghai. But, before I could leave, I had to get another covid test. It had been a week since my last test and Shenzhen wanted me to have at least 3 tests and the last one had to be around my 20th day in China.
Finding things online can be a challenge when you don’t speak the language. Many resources are difficult, if not impossible, to find in English here, even with auto translate helping. After failing to find anything remotely useful after several different searches, I took my employer up on their offer to find me somewhere nearby that I could go to for my test.
A couple minutes later, I had a location pin in WeChat (that I could turn into directions with a couple map apps I have), several pictures of where I was going, instructions, open hours, and a couple useful phrases in Chinese and English. And no reservations required.
A quick trip on metro (no changing lines required) and I was off to find the hospital for my next brain swab. Even with a map and a blue line to follow from the station to the hospital, I still went the wrong way a couple of times.
But eventually, I came to the entrance, according to one of the pictures. I showed a guard there the “I want a covid-19 test” sentence and he pointed behind me. I went in the next door and showed my sentence again and got the same response.
But there was no other open door to go to. I checked the time and realized that I was there too early. They were still closed for lunch. However, I remembered that I had passed a park just a block away.
I wandered around there for a bit and found a nice bench to read a book while I wait for them to open up again so that I could get my test.
Park cat eating kibble
I was having a nice time. Enjoying my book and the nice weather. Of course someone had to stop by and ruin it. A local came up to me and started asking questions and eventually started hitting on me. And, of course, he was old and not attractive. But he didn’t follow me when I left.
And, then, it was time to get my test. Joy!
After some, or really, lots, of language issues, I managed to check in, pay, get my test vials, and have swabs shoved into my nose and down my throat. Just before I left, I realized that I didn’t know how I would get my results. A quick Google translate and showing it to the doctor/nurse got me directed to a sign I had noticed but didn’t understand as it was all in Chinese. I took a picture for later translation, and so I can scan the QR code whenever I need to, and left.
I didn’t want to go straight back to the hotel as it was a nice day out and I didn’t want to go back to the park. Google to the rescue again – I noticed that the Jade Buddha Temple was only a couple blocks away.
Unfortunately, it wanted 200 yuan to enter. I didn’t have that much cash on me and I had already visited it years ago on my prior visit to China. I wasn’t all that impressed with it then. It is worth a visit, but I don’t think it’s worth a second. But it does have a very nice, and large, outer wall that I walked around.
Then it was back to the hotel. I had just sat down when I got a message from work. They were getting me a hotel room for when I get to Shenzhen. They decided that I really needed to get a Chinese cell phone number. And, lucky for me, there was a China Mobile right across the street.
There were a bunch of people waiting for assistance when I got there. They, like almost every business, has a security (I think) guard who took my temperature and gave me a number.
After what felt like an hour wait, but was more like 20 minutes, it was my turn. I tried to say “I want a Chinese phone number” but the poor man behind the counter didn’t understand, so I showed him the translation. And we got started.
I had to individually pick the amount of data and phone minutes I want in a month, hand over my passport, and then I waited a while while he did some things on the computer.
Next, I got to go with the security guard to pick a phone number from one of the machines along a wall. It printed out a receipt that I took back to the man behind the counter, who did more things in the computer.
Then, it was off to a different machine with the security guard to give it 100yuan. The machine printed another receipt, which also went to the man behind the counter.
After, it was time for me to sign a while bunch of times. And, finally, get a new sim card in my phone, grab my receipts, and leave.
Walking back to the hotel, I started poking my phone to get it to use the new number. Since my phone is fancy and I downloaded my US sim card, I could use both my US and Chinese numbers simultaneously. After restarting my phone, it worked!
I also realized that I had no idea how to pay my phone bill, when it was due, or how much it is. Guess I’ll figure it out later.
My TEFL Adventure 