Alone in China and I don’t know the way home!

My first English teaching job in China was in Zhangjaigang, two hours inland from Shanghai. It’s a clean, flat, modern city with the title of “Model Sanitation city”. It’s an example of what other cities should aspire to. I love investigating new environments, so I was in my element.

My two house mates who had already been at the school for six months, left for a five week holiday four days after my arrival. They left me necessary notes and instructions. The first evening on my own I went to the supermarket they had shown me, so I could slowly browse by myself. The supermarket was a treasure trove of unknown goods. I was so excited. Catching a bus there was easy and I knew the bus would stop running before I had finished shopping. I had to get a taxi home.

The minute I stood in front of a taxi to go home, I remembered that I did not have my notes with me. Oh dear! Where did I live? No idea! I could not even point in the general direction. I did not have a mobile phone. Within two seconds, so it seemed, there was a crowd around me, many trying to be helpful, most just curious. I did know that I lived in a complex opposite the East Hotel so I used that as a landmark.

Paper was offered by one man, pen from another. What was I supposed to do with those? (A long time later I discovered that people do not always understand each other, but they can all read the same script) Eventually someone in the crowd, that seemed to increase by the minute, understood the word ‘hotel’. The taxi driver bundled me into his car and off we went. He drove to the only Five Star Hotel in town. Oh dear what do I do now? But as we pulled up western woman walked out of the hotel. I asked her if she could help me. “Of course, I speak Mandarin”.

When the taxi driver and I finally arrived at my complex we both laughed with relief.

Have you ever been lost in a foreign country? Tell us your experience in the comments below…