From Chengdu to Chongqing

Today our language skills were tested in four different classrooms: In one we made pretend phone calls to the shifu to come repair our leaky water heaters, in another we haggled with the ticket taker for a seat on a train to Lanzhou, in still another we fended off robbers and molesters, and in still another we had to make peace with passengers who had different ideas about an open window.

Monday all this will cease to be academic: I will make my first solo trip--by taxi to the north station in Chengdu, then by "long distance" bus to Chongqing, four hours away. Will I remember to tell the taxi cab driver to turn on the meter and will he understand me? Once in Chongqing, will I be able to avoid the ritual toasts to honored guests--Ganbei! Bottoms up!--without insulting my university chair and waiban? Will the banker understand me when I try to open a bank account? Will I be assigned writing classes enrolling 90 students each? What will I think of the Yangtze and the Three Gorges?
Or Chongqing? If you don't want to wait for whatever I have to report next week, check out  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chongqing for more about Chongqing. My university is in the Beibei district, a forty minute bus ride from downtown Chongqing.