I don't even know his Chinese name. A thin man with slightly receding chin, an overbite, his skin is dark, his hair is short. He is about forty years old. He is the man who took it upon himself to find me an apartment, when it was time for me to finish my Changzhou University contract and begin working full time for Web.
He doesn't have a car. He walks, or takes the bus. So we bused, taxied, and got rides to see a wide selection of apartments until we finally found the one I'm in now. I love this apartment! It couldn't be better, and a steal. Then he taught me another Chinese tradition. He, his wife and son came and 'dirtied' my kitchen. That is, they cooked the first meal in my new home.
The Web school uses the vocational education philosophy to teach English. Anyone, given proper instruction and enough time, can learn any skill, thank you John Dewey. So Dean made a decision. He would learn English from the beginning, and give himself three years to do it. I was his first foreign teacher, when this branch of Web opened in December, 2010.
We would occasionally have English corner on a weekday afternoon, where the only attendees were Dean, Daniel, Jimmy, Shirley, Vanna and sometimes Zoe and Lisa. Most of these students owned their own businesses. As my business idea slowly began to evolve, they would enjoy talking to me about what was going on. They gave me lots of good advice, as well as instruction about how things work in China.
In time, each acquired their area of special interest. Jimmy would make sure I got my sanitation inspection certificate. In time, when visa issues erupted, his wife would smooth the waters since she works at the police department that issues visas. Daniel helped in buying supplies and equipment. We spent hours on the internet tracking down specialty equipment. He is the go-to man for getting stuff, finding resources. Dean was always there to offer his wisdom and sound judgment, and ultimately, his filial concern for me.
Then a time came when Dean was around a lot. In fact, he was around all day, even on week days. He said that his factory was closed down for repairs for a couple of weeks. But those weeks passed. Meanwhile, he started taking over on site responsibilities. He connected with the contractor, and continued to push and guide him. Daniel was not having success coming up with the shelves that I need, to hold the bread for display behind the counter. I took a photo of the shelving used at Tesco supermarket, but Daniel could not find them online. Dean met me at Tesco at 8:30 one morning, and we asked the managers about it. They came up with a manufacturer's name, in Shanghai.
Dean took it from there. He phoned the company, ordered the shelves, arranged for me to pay, followed through when hiccups arose (they always do).
I needed to deal with packaging. I had heard there was a specialty market, over many concrete acres, somewhere in the east of Changzhou. He stayed with me one day while we tried to find it, asking here and there at other markets. We finally found it, and it offered so many things I thought I could find only on the internet. We walked around for a couple of hours. We found a shop selling paper and plastic bags, but not what I was looking for. They said they could customize. I took a sample. I had already talked with Eric, a new Web student, about packaging. That was his company's specialty. I would take the sample to Eric, and we would work it out from there. We were exhausted and it was getting towards the dinner hour, so we left the market. But I knew I'd be back soon.
During the long bus ride, Dean confided in me. [I know none of you will betray his secret.] He told me that his new job with an Israeli had not worked out. He felt like such a failure! He had left a good job for this new job, thinking he was advancing his career, and now he was unemployed and not getting any nibbles from his online resume. He had not yet brought himself to tell his wife. This explained his availability. He comes to Web every day as if he were going to a job, to keep up appearances. I see him as my guardian angel, put there to take care of me during this difficult time. I pray every day that the Lord will generously bless his kind and generous heart many times over with a great job where he will be truly appreciated.
Then we discovered that my baked goods, from this 200 kg shipment of flour, had a gritty texture. I was horrified! On Friday, July 6, some ex pats organized a little get together at the German restaurant above my shop. I baked all day long, in anticipation of finally getting a decent audience to buy my wares. Buy they did. There were still some things left over, so I took a mushroom/onion ciabatta home for my Saturday breakfast. I noticed that it was gritty.
I emailed an apology to those who attended the dinner, promising that they would receive a free loaf once I'd opened shop. Some wrote back that the bread was delicious. They noticed a little grit, but didn't mind it.
Dean, myself and this new wonderful discovery, Tina, went back to the supply market and hunted down sifters. I had searched on the internet, but they seemed pricey. We spent another long day there, during which I found so many necessary items. And a sifter.
Back at the store the next day, Tina and I sifted. We found lots of black flat stony pieces. The whole shipment was spoiled, useless.
Dean called Mike for me, the supplier. He had a number of conversations. Mike promised to have a replacement shipment to us by Friday. So here it was Monday, I had hired one worker and interviewed a few others. The counter had been put in place, as well as a high table along a wall. We were so close to being ready to open. And now I had no flour!
Meanwhile, my visa needed to be dealt with. I spoke with an agent in Shanghai who specializes in difficult visa cases. He cockily told me he could get me a residence permit. But there was one problem. I had been in China too long continuously. I would need to leave the country, and come back with a tourist visa. Well, I had been trying to avoid the tourist visa. It can be a death sentence. But I didn't know what else to do, so I planned to spend the flourless down time making a visa run.
It was a tough decision. Tenzin Mullin, my dear friend now living in New Zealand, was in Shanghai. We had planned to get together Tuesday and Wednesday, when he would finally visit me in Changzhou. This visa run would preclude that visit.
I had been way too busy to sit down and spend the hours I would need, consulting with others about how to do this visa run. I would just wing it, and make all the wrong choices along the way. In the end I spent almost $1,000, all but about $125, in those two days. Including a return air ticket that I could not use.
Those two and a half days are themselves worthy of their own story.
When I got back to Changzhou with my tourist visa, I called the guy in Shanghai. He told me he was busy and would call me right back. I emailed him. He had stopped communicating with me.
So I went back to Jimmy, and asked him if we couldn't have another consultation with is wife and with the visa officer at her police station.
While I was gone, Strider came by the shop to oversee the installation of the second air conditioner. Strider is a former student of mine, who is now to be a junior at Changzhou University in the fall. He needed to go home to Xuzhou to visit his family, but he wanted to help me for a week or two before he left.
He had trouble with the air conditioning installer. Apart from the fact that the installer promised to come in the afternoon but didn't arrive until 8 p.m., leaving Strider alone and fuming in the bakery, there were technical issues. He called Dean. The two of them spent hours over a couple of days working things out. Strider paid the installation costs from his own pocket, because I thought installation was included in the purchase price and had not left money for him.
And Dean continued to deal with Mike and the spoiled flour. I called a shipper I work with, but left town before he could come and see the job. Dean took that over for me.
And now Friday has come and gone, without a delivery of flour. Mike now says it will come Monday. Had I known, I could have visited with Tenzin and left for Hong Kong on Thursday. Grrr.
And now Tina has come, it is Saturday and no baking to be done. So we will discuss recipes, and hopefully develop a plan. Menus, worker schedules, so many things need to be worked out. We will spend the day at my air conditioned apartment, doing just that.
He doesn't have a car. He walks, or takes the bus. So we bused, taxied, and got rides to see a wide selection of apartments until we finally found the one I'm in now. I love this apartment! It couldn't be better, and a steal. Then he taught me another Chinese tradition. He, his wife and son came and 'dirtied' my kitchen. That is, they cooked the first meal in my new home.
The Web school uses the vocational education philosophy to teach English. Anyone, given proper instruction and enough time, can learn any skill, thank you John Dewey. So Dean made a decision. He would learn English from the beginning, and give himself three years to do it. I was his first foreign teacher, when this branch of Web opened in December, 2010.
We would occasionally have English corner on a weekday afternoon, where the only attendees were Dean, Daniel, Jimmy, Shirley, Vanna and sometimes Zoe and Lisa. Most of these students owned their own businesses. As my business idea slowly began to evolve, they would enjoy talking to me about what was going on. They gave me lots of good advice, as well as instruction about how things work in China.
In time, each acquired their area of special interest. Jimmy would make sure I got my sanitation inspection certificate. In time, when visa issues erupted, his wife would smooth the waters since she works at the police department that issues visas. Daniel helped in buying supplies and equipment. We spent hours on the internet tracking down specialty equipment. He is the go-to man for getting stuff, finding resources. Dean was always there to offer his wisdom and sound judgment, and ultimately, his filial concern for me.
Then a time came when Dean was around a lot. In fact, he was around all day, even on week days. He said that his factory was closed down for repairs for a couple of weeks. But those weeks passed. Meanwhile, he started taking over on site responsibilities. He connected with the contractor, and continued to push and guide him. Daniel was not having success coming up with the shelves that I need, to hold the bread for display behind the counter. I took a photo of the shelving used at Tesco supermarket, but Daniel could not find them online. Dean met me at Tesco at 8:30 one morning, and we asked the managers about it. They came up with a manufacturer's name, in Shanghai.
Dean took it from there. He phoned the company, ordered the shelves, arranged for me to pay, followed through when hiccups arose (they always do).
I needed to deal with packaging. I had heard there was a specialty market, over many concrete acres, somewhere in the east of Changzhou. He stayed with me one day while we tried to find it, asking here and there at other markets. We finally found it, and it offered so many things I thought I could find only on the internet. We walked around for a couple of hours. We found a shop selling paper and plastic bags, but not what I was looking for. They said they could customize. I took a sample. I had already talked with Eric, a new Web student, about packaging. That was his company's specialty. I would take the sample to Eric, and we would work it out from there. We were exhausted and it was getting towards the dinner hour, so we left the market. But I knew I'd be back soon.
During the long bus ride, Dean confided in me. [I know none of you will betray his secret.] He told me that his new job with an Israeli had not worked out. He felt like such a failure! He had left a good job for this new job, thinking he was advancing his career, and now he was unemployed and not getting any nibbles from his online resume. He had not yet brought himself to tell his wife. This explained his availability. He comes to Web every day as if he were going to a job, to keep up appearances. I see him as my guardian angel, put there to take care of me during this difficult time. I pray every day that the Lord will generously bless his kind and generous heart many times over with a great job where he will be truly appreciated.
Then we discovered that my baked goods, from this 200 kg shipment of flour, had a gritty texture. I was horrified! On Friday, July 6, some ex pats organized a little get together at the German restaurant above my shop. I baked all day long, in anticipation of finally getting a decent audience to buy my wares. Buy they did. There were still some things left over, so I took a mushroom/onion ciabatta home for my Saturday breakfast. I noticed that it was gritty.
I emailed an apology to those who attended the dinner, promising that they would receive a free loaf once I'd opened shop. Some wrote back that the bread was delicious. They noticed a little grit, but didn't mind it.
Dean, myself and this new wonderful discovery, Tina, went back to the supply market and hunted down sifters. I had searched on the internet, but they seemed pricey. We spent another long day there, during which I found so many necessary items. And a sifter.
Back at the store the next day, Tina and I sifted. We found lots of black flat stony pieces. The whole shipment was spoiled, useless.
Dean called Mike for me, the supplier. He had a number of conversations. Mike promised to have a replacement shipment to us by Friday. So here it was Monday, I had hired one worker and interviewed a few others. The counter had been put in place, as well as a high table along a wall. We were so close to being ready to open. And now I had no flour!
Meanwhile, my visa needed to be dealt with. I spoke with an agent in Shanghai who specializes in difficult visa cases. He cockily told me he could get me a residence permit. But there was one problem. I had been in China too long continuously. I would need to leave the country, and come back with a tourist visa. Well, I had been trying to avoid the tourist visa. It can be a death sentence. But I didn't know what else to do, so I planned to spend the flourless down time making a visa run.
It was a tough decision. Tenzin Mullin, my dear friend now living in New Zealand, was in Shanghai. We had planned to get together Tuesday and Wednesday, when he would finally visit me in Changzhou. This visa run would preclude that visit.
I had been way too busy to sit down and spend the hours I would need, consulting with others about how to do this visa run. I would just wing it, and make all the wrong choices along the way. In the end I spent almost $1,000, all but about $125, in those two days. Including a return air ticket that I could not use.
Those two and a half days are themselves worthy of their own story.
When I got back to Changzhou with my tourist visa, I called the guy in Shanghai. He told me he was busy and would call me right back. I emailed him. He had stopped communicating with me.
So I went back to Jimmy, and asked him if we couldn't have another consultation with is wife and with the visa officer at her police station.
While I was gone, Strider came by the shop to oversee the installation of the second air conditioner. Strider is a former student of mine, who is now to be a junior at Changzhou University in the fall. He needed to go home to Xuzhou to visit his family, but he wanted to help me for a week or two before he left.
He had trouble with the air conditioning installer. Apart from the fact that the installer promised to come in the afternoon but didn't arrive until 8 p.m., leaving Strider alone and fuming in the bakery, there were technical issues. He called Dean. The two of them spent hours over a couple of days working things out. Strider paid the installation costs from his own pocket, because I thought installation was included in the purchase price and had not left money for him.
And Dean continued to deal with Mike and the spoiled flour. I called a shipper I work with, but left town before he could come and see the job. Dean took that over for me.
And now Friday has come and gone, without a delivery of flour. Mike now says it will come Monday. Had I known, I could have visited with Tenzin and left for Hong Kong on Thursday. Grrr.
And now Tina has come, it is Saturday and no baking to be done. So we will discuss recipes, and hopefully develop a plan. Menus, worker schedules, so many things need to be worked out. We will spend the day at my air conditioned apartment, doing just that.
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