chinamarilla

I have now been in China for almost three years. I'm used to living in China which is something my friends back in Ecuador still don't understand. They often ask me about the reasons for coming to such faraway place and sometimes also ask me about the trip. This composition tells why me and my family came to China and of how we came.

One day while me and my family were having lunch at Mac Donald's my father told us the news. He said we were going to China. Even my mother was surprised at such news. My father later told us the reason for the trip. He said he wanted my brother and I to learn Chinese. Now I know why he asked us all the time if we wanted to learn Chinese.

My father left to China first. We went there about a month later. The day we left Ecuador was a very sad day. All of our family went to the airport to say good-bye. I think my cousin was the sadest because she and I used to play together, almost every day. Also because we were both the same age and even went to the same school.

The first part of the trip was from Ecuador to Los Angeles in the USA. The airplane we took was very nice. I liked it. In the airplane there weren't too many people. When we were about to arrive in Los Angeles we had dinner. My brother and I had the children's menu. We had some juice, a chocolate bar and some other things I can't remember.

When we arrived in Los Angeles, the airport was very crowded. I was surprised because it was already night time. Outside the airport the bus from the hotel picked us up. The bus was almost empty because there were only the bus driver, of course, my mother, my brother and I.

That day we spent the night in the hotel. The hotel we stayed in was very nice, big and clean. The room was also very beautiful. There were two single beds, one T.V., two night tables and a small lamp. Before we went to sleep my mom let us watch T.V. We watched "X-Men the movie". I of course couldn't understand what they were saying because at that time my English was not as good as now. When the movie was over my mother went to sleep in one of the beds and my brother and I slept together in the other bed.

The next morning my mother took us to a mall. We didn't buy anything there because everything was too expensive. After a while we came back to the hotel to have lunch. After eating we went back to our hotel room where my mother went to sleep while my brother and I watched cartoons. We watched "Pokemon" and "Sakura Card Captor". In the evening we went back to the airport to take the flight to Seoul in Korea.

The airport in Seoul was very nice, clean and big. We didn't see much of Seoul's airport because all the shops were closed when we got there. Finally we flew from Seoul to Beijing, China, where we saw my father. We spent the day in Beijing and in the evening we took a train to go to Zhengzhou. The train had many beds. Lucky because we were so tired that we fell asleep as soon as we put our heads on the pillow. The next morning we arrived in Zhengzhou, where one of the persons that worked for the school that hired my father, helped us to get to our new appartment.

Our trip to China was the longest and most tired trip of my life but it was worth it. Three years after we arrived in China me and my brother can speak both Chinese and English very well and our life in China is also very good.

He estado varias veces en Beijing, pero jamas me habia interesado visitar la famosa Ciudad Prohibida – la que aparece en la pelicula “El Ultimo Emperador”. Esta vez me decidi, pague mi entrada y me fue directo a buscar el Starbucks – Si, Starbucks – que se encuentra al interior de la misma. Semejante invasion de las transnacionales, que tienen mas poder y dinero que algunos gobiernos, es inaudita. A quien la existencia de un Starbucks le parezca un ultraje que levante la mano.

Estamos 29 de Abril y a solo dos dias del famoso feriado del 1ro de Mayo, que aunque normalmente se celebra por no mas de un dia en muchas partes del mundo, aqui en la China dura una semana completa. Tener algo de tiempo para descansar admito es buena cosa, ya que el trabajo (sin importar de que tipo) se vuelve cada vez mas pesado y por sobre todo, estresante.
Sea como sea, es durante los feriados que todo el mundo; y cuando digo todo el mundo en China, quiero decir HARTA GENTE, quiere salir de viaje. Si bien es cierto se puede viajar por ya sea por avion, tren o barco. El problema es 1) la cantidad de viajeros y 2) las mafias que se dedican a la reventa de todo tipo de pasajes; mas que nada los de tren.
Segun la politica de la empresa ferroviaria, las reservaciones se aceptan desde diez dias antes de la fecha de viaje; en el caso del 1ro de Mayo esto seria el 20 de Abril. Como persona civilizada y respetusosa de las politicas y leyes adoptadas, llame el 19 para realizar mi reserva de 4 camas (o en su defecto sillas). Me dijeron que aun no era posible realizar reservas y que llamara o fuera a la boleteria al dia siguiente. Hice como me dijeron y estuve en la boleteria a las 8 de la manana (que es cuando abre la misma al publico) para que me dijeran que ya no quedaba ni una sola cama y que si queria viajar que solo habia una que otra silla (y en carros separados). Esto, siendo el primero en la fila en el primer dia habilitado para reservaciones. Sera que algo se pudre en Dinamarca?
Ya ofrecido el viajecito a la “family” tuve que recurrir a un amigo que tiene amistades en la administracion de la empresa ferroviaria, pero para mala suerte se estaba yendo ese mismo rato para alguna ciudad en el sur de China y no regresaba hasta el fin de semana siguiente. Finalmente decidi recurrir a otro amigo cuya oficina se encuentra justo en frente de una agencia de viajes y boleteria de tren. Fue una suerte poder encontrar sitio en un tren que sale a las 4 de la tarde de este Domingo (y que llega a Tianjin a la 3 de la manana del dia siguiente). Lo malo es que conseguimos las ultimas tres camas y una silla; las camas en cuartos diferentes de un mismo vagon, y la silla en un puesto dos vagones aparte. Veamos como nos va... Nunca he tenido la oportunidad de viajar en tren en ninguna otra parte del mundo. Sera que es lo mismo?
En lo que respecta la mafia de revendedores, supongo que debe ser lo mismo en muchas otras partes. Lo unico cierto es que estas mafias (aqui en la China) estan conformadas por grupos organizados y bien conectados (con supongo la oficina de reservaciones y venta de la empresa ferroviaria), de modo que ni apenas dan las 8 de la manana del 1er dia abierto para las reservaciones, estos oportunistas / malandros comienzan a llamar a todos los telefonos habidos y por haber para efecto de finiquitar la oferta, saturando las lineas evitando asi la realizacion de reservas por parte del publico. Digo que son mafias bien conectadas con la parte "legal" y que de hecho su actividad "comercial" es legal, por que sino como es posible que todo el mundo conozca de su numero telefonico y se contacte con ellos directamente sin molestarse siquiera en comunicarse con la boleteria.
Eso me pasa por tratar de hacer las cosas legalmente. La proxima vez pago el doble (que es muchas veces el sobre-precio de estos revendedores en fechas pico) y me evito todo este drama.