Wuxi

So this is going to be a quick one, but will be followed by some absolutely mammoth posts hopefully within the next week. First order of business is that I am here in Wuxi, safe and sound. The ride I took here from Shanghai today probably should have killed me. The school's driver decided he wanted to ensure his tax dollars did not go to waste (yes, even in communist paradises like China there are taxes!) so he utilized all four lanes of the highway to the fullest extent. But it wasn't just the weaving in and out of traffic, there was also driving in between lanes to get by cars; there was the squeezing himself in between buses and trucks; the time where a truck decided he was going too fast, so he CUT INTO OUR LANE AS WE WERE TRYING TO DRIVE BY HIM! Like seriously, I've always chuckled at the thought of slowing down asshole drivers by getting in their way, but you aren't supposed to actually do that. So after almost hitting the truck, we sped up, cut off the truck, then slammed on the brake, almost causing the truck to rear end us. Also, at several points bridges/highways were under construction. Most of them were well marked when we had to drive on the other side of the road. However, this being China, not everywhere was fully marked. So we drove on the wrong side in their left hand lane, getting honked at by every car. That was bad enough. Then he decided he wanted to pass the car in front of us, so he swerved into the lane that contained oncoming traffic, almost hitting a bike and another car before swerving back into our lane. Good times.

Other than the drive, not much else to report. EIther this is the most polluted place I've ever been, or visibility was just bad because of the weather today (I honestly don't know the answer to that question). I have yet to see Wuxi, because I'm in suburb that reminds me of Florida for some reason.... except if you replaced all the old people and hicks with Chinese people. I'll wander into town tomorrow when I have to register with the local police. The apartment the school gave me is bigger and nicer than I thought it'd be (with those being relative terms in China). I have two rooms, a bathroom, and a room with a washing machine (no dryer, so those dryer sheets were a worthless addition to my already bloated suitcase that gave me fines in both Seoul and Beijing!). As for appliances, I have cable TV (with one English station!), AC (which is currently not working, leaving me to sweat my balls off), a fridge, microwave, hotpot, and internet (which isn't supposed to be working right now, but I'm not complaining). Anyway, I have an early day tomorrow so I must be off now but I'm going to attempt to get some Korea and Beijing stuff up here, and I've taken about 600 pics in the past week, so stay tuned on Facebook for that!