Well, the Saturday after Thanksgiving John and I rode the van into the city. We got off at Traders Hotel and walked next door for a hard-to-find-in-China treat, a Subway sandwich. My Subway melt was not to be melted because I was told the ovens weren't turned on until 10:00. It was 10:27 but whose counting! After our treat of a lunch we headed to Metro, a store that carries many Western brands and a store that had...Christmas decorations!!
We bought a tree for 229 RMB. (This is another word for yuan)and decorations. I did notice that the decorations run a little to the cheesy/gaudy/WOW it sure is Christmas huh?? style, so I have been sparing with their application.
The Christmas lights don't link together as they do in the states. Each strand is separate. Apparently the idea that someone would waste electricity on more than one starnd of lights is a bit foreign. I have four strands on my tree. Every time I turn it on I have to spend five miniutes synchronising their settings so one isnt flashing, one strobing, one cycling and one randomly turning on and off. Also, of the five identical boxes I purchased, four werw hite lights and one was a colored strand that played music! That one...did not go on the tree. :)
So now, Christmas is alive and well in the home, and we did it all in one five hour shopping trip to the city. Not bad!
Monday, November 29, 2010
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Thanksgiving in China!
Well the first holiday in China for us has come and gone. It was quite an interesting event. I will never again take a Thanksgiving holiday from work for granted, as we had classes both Thursday and Friday of Thanksgiving week. One of our staff members on the social committee worked very hard to find us a place to have some semblence of Thanksgiving dinner, and she did a good job, but it was quite the work.
Firstly, there are almost no Turkeys cooked in China. There are also rarely any pies, or any stuffing, or any green bean casserole, or even yeast rolls or sweet potato with marshmallows on top because...the Chinese rarely if ever use ovens! Who knew, the key to all that is tasty and scrumptious about Thanksgiving comes from the wonder of all kitchen wonders, the humble oven!
We actually just recently bought an oven. Our apartment did not come with one at all. Just a two-burner propane cooktop that we werent allowed to use fo rthe first month. The oven is the size of a large microwave and sits atop a small wooden Ikea shelving unit in our kitchen. It does work, though! It has a setting for heat from only the top, only the bottom, or both, but the entire thing is only as deep and wide as a 13x9 inch pan. It is also in centigrade but, luckily for me the US Congress passed a law many years ago that we would shift to the metric system so it is not a prob...oh wait!! It IS A PROBLEM because I have to get online for a converter everytime I want to either not eat raw chicken or not burn the apartment down!Anywho...
So, we did have Turkey at the event, and stuffing, which was actually shaped into little round medallions and placed around the Turkey. The cranberry sauce was there, but the consistancy of strawberry ice cream syrup. Tasty, though. We had mashed potatoes, and they tried to make macaroni and cheese for us (not a signature Thanksgiving dish for my family but for some.) It was actually large penne pasta covered with a lite parmesan-esque sauce, but it was sweet. The pumpkin pie was more of a squash"ee"/gourd"ee" type of thing cut into teeny tiny little squares, but the apple pie was tasty!
Besides the food, however, it was a great time to sit and eat with almost all of our staff, their significant others, and even our two students (that's right...two) and enjoy each others company. I am so thankful to be meeting new people, remembering those that have been in my life before China and are always in my heart. I am trying to keep positive thoughts with me this holiday season and not let my separation from my family and friends overwhelm me. It will be hard, but the experience of a lifetime!
And now... I am off in search of the ever mysterious Chinese christmas tree!
Firstly, there are almost no Turkeys cooked in China. There are also rarely any pies, or any stuffing, or any green bean casserole, or even yeast rolls or sweet potato with marshmallows on top because...the Chinese rarely if ever use ovens! Who knew, the key to all that is tasty and scrumptious about Thanksgiving comes from the wonder of all kitchen wonders, the humble oven!
We actually just recently bought an oven. Our apartment did not come with one at all. Just a two-burner propane cooktop that we werent allowed to use fo rthe first month. The oven is the size of a large microwave and sits atop a small wooden Ikea shelving unit in our kitchen. It does work, though! It has a setting for heat from only the top, only the bottom, or both, but the entire thing is only as deep and wide as a 13x9 inch pan. It is also in centigrade but, luckily for me the US Congress passed a law many years ago that we would shift to the metric system so it is not a prob...oh wait!! It IS A PROBLEM because I have to get online for a converter everytime I want to either not eat raw chicken or not burn the apartment down!Anywho...
So, we did have Turkey at the event, and stuffing, which was actually shaped into little round medallions and placed around the Turkey. The cranberry sauce was there, but the consistancy of strawberry ice cream syrup. Tasty, though. We had mashed potatoes, and they tried to make macaroni and cheese for us (not a signature Thanksgiving dish for my family but for some.) It was actually large penne pasta covered with a lite parmesan-esque sauce, but it was sweet. The pumpkin pie was more of a squash"ee"/gourd"ee" type of thing cut into teeny tiny little squares, but the apple pie was tasty!
Besides the food, however, it was a great time to sit and eat with almost all of our staff, their significant others, and even our two students (that's right...two) and enjoy each others company. I am so thankful to be meeting new people, remembering those that have been in my life before China and are always in my heart. I am trying to keep positive thoughts with me this holiday season and not let my separation from my family and friends overwhelm me. It will be hard, but the experience of a lifetime!
And now... I am off in search of the ever mysterious Chinese christmas tree!
Friday, October 22, 2010
China has tourists too!!
I have realized that Americans view China only through its tourist attractions. We think of the Great Wall, Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City. These places are as much indicative of China as historic Jamestown or Paul Revere's house are of the modern United States. They aren't anything like the everyday life in the country.
John and I traveled to Beijing during the National Holiday in China and we, and about fifty million Chinese, were all headed to the same tourist attractions!We did Beijing right, sitting in traffic for four hours to get to a part of the Great Wall. Apparently you cannot say you've "done" Beijing without a good hardcore traffic jam.(Part of the traffic issue had to do with the growing fame of a little roadside restaurant on the back roads in the area that was famous for its donkey meat. I was not enticed to stop and eat.) The walk up the road to the Wall was harder work than the actual stairs up. It was like main street Disney, with vendors yelling "Hello! Hello!" and shoving good old fashioned made-in-China tourist kitsch our way. By the way, if you look like a foreigner, the first price quoted will often be fifty to one hundred times more than they will actually take for the item. If they convince one Mei Guo Ren (American) to pay 150 rmb for a t-shirt they'll take twenty for, they've had a good day...lol. We rode a chairlift to the stairs of the wall, toddled up the stairs, and were able to see the most amazing view of the countryside. If you look away from the vendor stalls, food sellers and sedans and suv's parked as far as the eye can see,the view across the the other side of the wall truly can feel, if only for a moment, as if you are transported back in time a few hundred years. Then you walk a little further along the top, buy a Coke Zero and a Snickers bar from a very nice Mongolian man dressed in a Mao-esque communist green, red-starred uniform who wants to take a picture with you. Capitalism is EVERYWHERE in Communist China. As a side note, John joked witht he man that HE was the reason they BUILT the wall in the first place! The guy loved the joke...his English was very good for a vendor!
On that note, I have to say that I think there are probably more entrepreneurs in Communist China than there are the the United States! The only difference is here, its a little less regulated unless the government takes an interest...lol. For instance, only licensed vendors can sell popsicles in Tienanmen Square. Yet you see dozens of folks milling around with cardboard boxes of frozen popsicles. It's a good gig if the police don't take an interest. We saw one man try to non-chalantly turn another way as a bicycle policeman approached. The cop tried to confiscate the popsicles, and the seller attempted to pass his box of merchandise over a low fence to a friend on the other side. Another bike cop appeared out of nowhere and promptly snatched the box from the friend! Then all parted ways, no harm, no foul. It was, honestly, quite funny!
There are some aspects that are still very directly government controlled. There are several of our library books that the local consular general's office confiscated and will not return because they apparently have information on China contrary to that which the government deems appropriate. Additionally, they confiscated our Social Studies text books and removed, not drew a line through but physically removed the top layer of the paper, any mention of Taiwan as an independent state. It was truly masterful work. So again, my friends, there are many, many days when I forget that I am in a Communist country, but then there are days when I most assuredly remember.
Oh...and the government controls the heat and won't turn it on until November 1st! Did I forget to mention that??? ;)
Cheers friends!
John and I traveled to Beijing during the National Holiday in China and we, and about fifty million Chinese, were all headed to the same tourist attractions!We did Beijing right, sitting in traffic for four hours to get to a part of the Great Wall. Apparently you cannot say you've "done" Beijing without a good hardcore traffic jam.(Part of the traffic issue had to do with the growing fame of a little roadside restaurant on the back roads in the area that was famous for its donkey meat. I was not enticed to stop and eat.) The walk up the road to the Wall was harder work than the actual stairs up. It was like main street Disney, with vendors yelling "Hello! Hello!" and shoving good old fashioned made-in-China tourist kitsch our way. By the way, if you look like a foreigner, the first price quoted will often be fifty to one hundred times more than they will actually take for the item. If they convince one Mei Guo Ren (American) to pay 150 rmb for a t-shirt they'll take twenty for, they've had a good day...lol. We rode a chairlift to the stairs of the wall, toddled up the stairs, and were able to see the most amazing view of the countryside. If you look away from the vendor stalls, food sellers and sedans and suv's parked as far as the eye can see,the view across the the other side of the wall truly can feel, if only for a moment, as if you are transported back in time a few hundred years. Then you walk a little further along the top, buy a Coke Zero and a Snickers bar from a very nice Mongolian man dressed in a Mao-esque communist green, red-starred uniform who wants to take a picture with you. Capitalism is EVERYWHERE in Communist China. As a side note, John joked witht he man that HE was the reason they BUILT the wall in the first place! The guy loved the joke...his English was very good for a vendor!
On that note, I have to say that I think there are probably more entrepreneurs in Communist China than there are the the United States! The only difference is here, its a little less regulated unless the government takes an interest...lol. For instance, only licensed vendors can sell popsicles in Tienanmen Square. Yet you see dozens of folks milling around with cardboard boxes of frozen popsicles. It's a good gig if the police don't take an interest. We saw one man try to non-chalantly turn another way as a bicycle policeman approached. The cop tried to confiscate the popsicles, and the seller attempted to pass his box of merchandise over a low fence to a friend on the other side. Another bike cop appeared out of nowhere and promptly snatched the box from the friend! Then all parted ways, no harm, no foul. It was, honestly, quite funny!
There are some aspects that are still very directly government controlled. There are several of our library books that the local consular general's office confiscated and will not return because they apparently have information on China contrary to that which the government deems appropriate. Additionally, they confiscated our Social Studies text books and removed, not drew a line through but physically removed the top layer of the paper, any mention of Taiwan as an independent state. It was truly masterful work. So again, my friends, there are many, many days when I forget that I am in a Communist country, but then there are days when I most assuredly remember.
Oh...and the government controls the heat and won't turn it on until November 1st! Did I forget to mention that??? ;)
Cheers friends!
Friday, September 24, 2010
Two Continents and One New Blog Style
Ni Hao Ya'll!
Well...I am back at it. Blog guilt has set in. I do have the desire to share, but not the desire to sit down and write. It's a pickle, I say.
That reminds me how much I miss pickles!
Okay, so how can I sum up what has happened in the last month quickly for everyone? Today I am choosing list style because I busted my proverbial butt in the yard at Ikea trying to cut through from the street where the taxi dropped us off, tripped and fell, jacked up my thumb and twisted my knee. Typing is less than glorious at the moment. So list style it is!!
- I rode a bus for the first time in China last week. There were at least four people touching me at all times, so my aversion therapy to confinement is well begun. We got the flow of moving slightly towards the back each time until our stop. It was very amoeba-esque. We were with a chinese friend, thank God, or we might still be making the loop. The great part is any ride in the city is only 1 RMB, or about 16 cents US. Holla!!
- We were shopping in Ikea a few weeks ago having a lovely Swedish/Chinese fusion lunch and as we left a woman took her child into one of the trolleys carrying the used dishes and had the kid pee in a bowl. Nobody noticed but us. We have noticed that public urination is not a big eyebrow raiser for natives. John even broke down and peed behind some bushes one night because we couldn't find a bathroom. I told him when in Rome...or Texas or Louisiana...he is a redneck boy. ;)
- Northern chinese food is not a good weightloss plan. It is delicious, however everything truly is fried and covered in sauce. Luckily we have produce selers on our neighborhood street every day so we are cooking more at home and buying vegetables there.
- Apparently, we left the outskirts of Baytown and a "rural life" to move to the outskirts of Shenyang to a "rural life" only this time you can actually see the pig processing plant on your drive in. I am still adjusting.
- Tai Tai is the mandarin word for wife. Now anytime someone asks John to go somewhere he doesn't want to go he points to his ring and says, "tai tai" and they laugh and walk away. Apparently the power of saying, "my wife, sheesh!" works in both worlds.
- Our shipment came in and we are ecstatic. We realize now that we did not need to bring a years supply of deodorant or feminine hygene products, but we are still glad to have them. Everything made it all the way here unscathed, except the box I dropped carrying up the stairs to the apartment because I was moving things in house shoes. Halfway around the world unscathed and yet I bust crap carrying it up one flight of stairs.
- We discovered a new restaraunt where evrything was cooked on kebobs on a grill out front. Someone ordered one of the fish out of the tank. They caught it in a net, took it outside and unceremoniously power-thwacked it on the road. One hit did it. I was mortified. Our food was good though.
- Don't be surprised when people come into your house and put your shoes on. I was, but now I'm over it. Its customary to have pairs of slippers or house shoes for people to put on as soon as they come in so they can take off their street shoes and not be barefoot. I am, though, less concerned with tracking in dirt than letting in the killer mosquitos that, I swear, are worse than Texas. There will be some benefit to the deep freeze about to commence. At least it will kill those buggars.
- My cat loves China. She's actually halfway nice here. Go figure.
- Squirt now has developed separation anxiety after the airplane flight and sleeps in our clothes hamper when we are at work. Apparentl what's good for the cat isn't always good for the dog.
- We have gotten used to not being able to flush our toilet paper. Apparently the chinese plumbing system does not handle paper flushing well. One gets used to the special garbage can in the bathroom that you MAKE SURE has a lid. And its polite to alwasy empty that particualr garbage before guests are expected...just in case you werent sure.
Welllllllllll...there's a ton more I could tell but I will try and get better about updating more often. Basically, we love it here, work is getting better and we are blessed to have a chance to see the world. We miss and love all of you!
M&J
Well...I am back at it. Blog guilt has set in. I do have the desire to share, but not the desire to sit down and write. It's a pickle, I say.
That reminds me how much I miss pickles!
Okay, so how can I sum up what has happened in the last month quickly for everyone? Today I am choosing list style because I busted my proverbial butt in the yard at Ikea trying to cut through from the street where the taxi dropped us off, tripped and fell, jacked up my thumb and twisted my knee. Typing is less than glorious at the moment. So list style it is!!
- I rode a bus for the first time in China last week. There were at least four people touching me at all times, so my aversion therapy to confinement is well begun. We got the flow of moving slightly towards the back each time until our stop. It was very amoeba-esque. We were with a chinese friend, thank God, or we might still be making the loop. The great part is any ride in the city is only 1 RMB, or about 16 cents US. Holla!!
- We were shopping in Ikea a few weeks ago having a lovely Swedish/Chinese fusion lunch and as we left a woman took her child into one of the trolleys carrying the used dishes and had the kid pee in a bowl. Nobody noticed but us. We have noticed that public urination is not a big eyebrow raiser for natives. John even broke down and peed behind some bushes one night because we couldn't find a bathroom. I told him when in Rome...or Texas or Louisiana...he is a redneck boy. ;)
- Northern chinese food is not a good weightloss plan. It is delicious, however everything truly is fried and covered in sauce. Luckily we have produce selers on our neighborhood street every day so we are cooking more at home and buying vegetables there.
- Apparently, we left the outskirts of Baytown and a "rural life" to move to the outskirts of Shenyang to a "rural life" only this time you can actually see the pig processing plant on your drive in. I am still adjusting.
- Tai Tai is the mandarin word for wife. Now anytime someone asks John to go somewhere he doesn't want to go he points to his ring and says, "tai tai" and they laugh and walk away. Apparently the power of saying, "my wife, sheesh!" works in both worlds.
- Our shipment came in and we are ecstatic. We realize now that we did not need to bring a years supply of deodorant or feminine hygene products, but we are still glad to have them. Everything made it all the way here unscathed, except the box I dropped carrying up the stairs to the apartment because I was moving things in house shoes. Halfway around the world unscathed and yet I bust crap carrying it up one flight of stairs.
- We discovered a new restaraunt where evrything was cooked on kebobs on a grill out front. Someone ordered one of the fish out of the tank. They caught it in a net, took it outside and unceremoniously power-thwacked it on the road. One hit did it. I was mortified. Our food was good though.
- Don't be surprised when people come into your house and put your shoes on. I was, but now I'm over it. Its customary to have pairs of slippers or house shoes for people to put on as soon as they come in so they can take off their street shoes and not be barefoot. I am, though, less concerned with tracking in dirt than letting in the killer mosquitos that, I swear, are worse than Texas. There will be some benefit to the deep freeze about to commence. At least it will kill those buggars.
- My cat loves China. She's actually halfway nice here. Go figure.
- Squirt now has developed separation anxiety after the airplane flight and sleeps in our clothes hamper when we are at work. Apparentl what's good for the cat isn't always good for the dog.
- We have gotten used to not being able to flush our toilet paper. Apparently the chinese plumbing system does not handle paper flushing well. One gets used to the special garbage can in the bathroom that you MAKE SURE has a lid. And its polite to alwasy empty that particualr garbage before guests are expected...just in case you werent sure.
Welllllllllll...there's a ton more I could tell but I will try and get better about updating more often. Basically, we love it here, work is getting better and we are blessed to have a chance to see the world. We miss and love all of you!
M&J
8/25/2010 (or 25/08/2010)
Things are starting to move along with school. There are tsill a lot of issues between the owner and the school director in terms of who is conrolling what, but they are working through it. We are working on Understanding By Design for our curriculum development, which is a lot like our scope and sequence at home, but much more advanced in terms of the overarching ideas we want kids to maintain over the years from the course. What we call enduring understandings. I am working witht he social studies department during large group meetings and have written all of my stuff for music on the side. I am getting help to check over the music stuff. Should be fun!
Much of the school buildings are not finished or up to par that they need to be, so we are housing everything on the first floor of the main building since our first class will be so small. That being said, the library I am supposed to run is about the size of two large classrooms put together. They ordered over 3000 individual books for me to shelve, along with about 1000 books worth of classroom reading sets that the english department doesnt have room for, so it should be fun! We do not have a library management system software program so I am not sure how exactly they want me to organize this bad boy, unless we go back to the old card catalogue system ( no way!!) so I am trying to speak with someone my director got me in touch with about getting things up and running. Again, it will be an adventure.
Along with a very small class of freshman (I think we have three so far...lol) we may be picking up one tenth grader. This will be fun because it means I may get the opportunity to teach one class of geography (possibly). It should definitely be interesting.
John brought home takeout yesterday that was a fantastic dish of noodles and potatoes in a spicy sauce...with chicken bones all through it. I figured this out when I plucked the head of the chicken out of the dish. This is the second chicken head I encountered here in a dish so I was a bit more prepared for it, although it was still a suprise. Needless to say we mostly just ate the potatoes out of that dish...lol. We are starting to have our cranky issues because the toilet seat keeps breaking and it takes clothes forever to dry by hanging up, but otherwise...we are still enjoying ourselves. I'll write soon!!
Things are starting to move along with school. There are tsill a lot of issues between the owner and the school director in terms of who is conrolling what, but they are working through it. We are working on Understanding By Design for our curriculum development, which is a lot like our scope and sequence at home, but much more advanced in terms of the overarching ideas we want kids to maintain over the years from the course. What we call enduring understandings. I am working witht he social studies department during large group meetings and have written all of my stuff for music on the side. I am getting help to check over the music stuff. Should be fun!
Much of the school buildings are not finished or up to par that they need to be, so we are housing everything on the first floor of the main building since our first class will be so small. That being said, the library I am supposed to run is about the size of two large classrooms put together. They ordered over 3000 individual books for me to shelve, along with about 1000 books worth of classroom reading sets that the english department doesnt have room for, so it should be fun! We do not have a library management system software program so I am not sure how exactly they want me to organize this bad boy, unless we go back to the old card catalogue system ( no way!!) so I am trying to speak with someone my director got me in touch with about getting things up and running. Again, it will be an adventure.
Along with a very small class of freshman (I think we have three so far...lol) we may be picking up one tenth grader. This will be fun because it means I may get the opportunity to teach one class of geography (possibly). It should definitely be interesting.
John brought home takeout yesterday that was a fantastic dish of noodles and potatoes in a spicy sauce...with chicken bones all through it. I figured this out when I plucked the head of the chicken out of the dish. This is the second chicken head I encountered here in a dish so I was a bit more prepared for it, although it was still a suprise. Needless to say we mostly just ate the potatoes out of that dish...lol. We are starting to have our cranky issues because the toilet seat keeps breaking and it takes clothes forever to dry by hanging up, but otherwise...we are still enjoying ourselves. I'll write soon!!
8/18/2010 (or in Chinese style 18/08/2010)
Well we are still moving along. Although we love the country, the school administration dysfunctionality is starting to take its toll. As a start-up school we are struggling with our direction. It is interesting to see the power struggle between the school owner and the school director. Who has purchasing power, when are orders getting done, etc. Construction is behind schedule (of course) and it is interesting learning to adjust to how the Chinese do business. Schedules are definitely flexible!
On a better note I have found a great grocery store called Metro that has lots of identifiable western brands. I found several cheeses, old el paso salsa (the only brand but there it is!), worchestershire sauce, montreal steak seasoning and Jack Daniels! Anywho, that has made life a little better, because we eat local at least five times a week, which we are really enjoying, but being able to cook a few
meals for ourselves keeps you connected to your home culture. There are a few dogs here on campus that belong to the workers, and Squirt is actually tolerating them!! A co-worker Holly named the little one Gizmo, because he looks like a mogwai!
John has found a group of guys who play basketball at 6 every day and has played with them twice. He is not the tallest guy there! He is enjoying that, and I am enjoying getting the house together.
Soooo...other than crazyness with work, life is going well! Keep us in your prayers. Love you all!
Well we are still moving along. Although we love the country, the school administration dysfunctionality is starting to take its toll. As a start-up school we are struggling with our direction. It is interesting to see the power struggle between the school owner and the school director. Who has purchasing power, when are orders getting done, etc. Construction is behind schedule (of course) and it is interesting learning to adjust to how the Chinese do business. Schedules are definitely flexible!
On a better note I have found a great grocery store called Metro that has lots of identifiable western brands. I found several cheeses, old el paso salsa (the only brand but there it is!), worchestershire sauce, montreal steak seasoning and Jack Daniels! Anywho, that has made life a little better, because we eat local at least five times a week, which we are really enjoying, but being able to cook a few
meals for ourselves keeps you connected to your home culture. There are a few dogs here on campus that belong to the workers, and Squirt is actually tolerating them!! A co-worker Holly named the little one Gizmo, because he looks like a mogwai!
John has found a group of guys who play basketball at 6 every day and has played with them twice. He is not the tallest guy there! He is enjoying that, and I am enjoying getting the house together.
Soooo...other than crazyness with work, life is going well! Keep us in your prayers. Love you all!
8/12/2010 (Or in the Chinese style 12/08/2010)
Hello all!!!!
We are officially moved in to China and now have internet access at the school. We have lived here
about 12 days and we are loving the country! There has been so much happening it is hard to tell it
all, but I'll try. Our flight was relatively un eventful, though we were stressed about the possibility
of needing to re-check our bags in Bejing. A very nice young man helped us and we made it through
all right. We were delayed in getting from b eijing to Shenyang a few hours but we made it in fine,
and SPA (Shenyang Pacific Academy_ staff were there to meet us. We made it back to our on
campus housing and slept there that night.
The next several days were occupied with dealing with issues in our apartment of broken and
non-working things (sometimes construction here can be very fast but not always very good) and
trying to find our way around our neighborhood and to get food. We laughed at ourselves a lot and
fumbled through ok.
There was a lot of uncertainty and confusion as we first began here, with our school director not
being on campus and there being little to no communication or direction, but after our initial anger
and confusion at that, all has since worked out. We have attended a huge media event announcing
the school, with television and radio as well as other media outlets here in China, and will do more
of those in the future. We are enjoying the food and people tremendously, and have also found a few
spots in the city where you can get a little taste of home (including air conditioning and toilets
where you can actually flush the paper instead of having to put it in trashcans next to the toilet.
I SUCCESSFULLY USED A SQUAT TOILET (which happened to be when I had to pee in a cup
for our medical screening) so I feel confident I can do it again when necessary and not fall over and
die.
Our pets made it in safely, though we had a lot of stress and fear in getting them here as the drivers
did not speak English, we do not speak Mandarin, it was very late at night and our school is in a
part of the outskirts of the city where addresses are somewhat subjective. We have shopped at local
stores as well as WalMart, Ikea, TESCO, and even gone karaokiing at a KTV. Overall, we are loving
it, and I'll update soon now that I have some internet access. It does happen to be only in one room
in our school, but it is better than nothing! Love you all and I'll post again soon!
Hello all!!!!
We are officially moved in to China and now have internet access at the school. We have lived here
about 12 days and we are loving the country! There has been so much happening it is hard to tell it
all, but I'll try. Our flight was relatively un eventful, though we were stressed about the possibility
of needing to re-check our bags in Bejing. A very nice young man helped us and we made it through
all right. We were delayed in getting from b eijing to Shenyang a few hours but we made it in fine,
and SPA (Shenyang Pacific Academy_ staff were there to meet us. We made it back to our on
campus housing and slept there that night.
The next several days were occupied with dealing with issues in our apartment of broken and
non-working things (sometimes construction here can be very fast but not always very good) and
trying to find our way around our neighborhood and to get food. We laughed at ourselves a lot and
fumbled through ok.
There was a lot of uncertainty and confusion as we first began here, with our school director not
being on campus and there being little to no communication or direction, but after our initial anger
and confusion at that, all has since worked out. We have attended a huge media event announcing
the school, with television and radio as well as other media outlets here in China, and will do more
of those in the future. We are enjoying the food and people tremendously, and have also found a few
spots in the city where you can get a little taste of home (including air conditioning and toilets
where you can actually flush the paper instead of having to put it in trashcans next to the toilet.
I SUCCESSFULLY USED A SQUAT TOILET (which happened to be when I had to pee in a cup
for our medical screening) so I feel confident I can do it again when necessary and not fall over and
die.
Our pets made it in safely, though we had a lot of stress and fear in getting them here as the drivers
did not speak English, we do not speak Mandarin, it was very late at night and our school is in a
part of the outskirts of the city where addresses are somewhat subjective. We have shopped at local
stores as well as WalMart, Ikea, TESCO, and even gone karaokiing at a KTV. Overall, we are loving
it, and I'll update soon now that I have some internet access. It does happen to be only in one room
in our school, but it is better than nothing! Love you all and I'll post again soon!
4/25/10 11:44 am - Home, Old River-Winfree TX
I am currently still messing with the website, trying to figure out how to make
the site viewable to people in the best aspect ratio for the most computer
screens, which are now of all different widths and heights. Woo fun!
Oh yeah...and John is getting onto me about not working on my class and all I
really want to do is go outside and see this beautiful day!
I am currently still messing with the website, trying to figure out how to make
the site viewable to people in the best aspect ratio for the most computer
screens, which are now of all different widths and heights. Woo fun!
Oh yeah...and John is getting onto me about not working on my class and all I
really want to do is go outside and see this beautiful day!
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