Day 11 The Olympics?!

The school year began for us on Sunday... that was a first for this Western teacher!  I understand that Sunday classes will happen several times throughout the year- some are scheduled, and some are make up days. I guess it is also 'the Chinese way' :)

The day began at 8:30am with an assembly on the school's soccer field.  This was for all 4000 students of Beijing National Day School and their parents.  Not all parents were in attendance as many students board here at the school in dormitories during the weekdays, then go to their homes on the weekends.  It was a carnival like atmosphere, and true to 'the Chinese way'- it was organized chaos.

This is the view from the 5th floor, where my 'cubicle' is located.  It
is NOT my office view- we teachers don't rate THAT high!  Students
were arriving with suitcases in hand, and there was much confusion
as we were all gathering for the assembly.  They relocated us teachers
no less than three times...and in the end, we stood in the back, in the
corner of an 'end zone' and snapped pics with our phones!

In the lower right corner is the AP principal, who hails from Ohio,
Texas and Key West, of all things!  There are three of us here with
Florida Keys connections- small world. 

This was a video of the flag raising ceremony- it was

a little strange to not hear the Star Spangled Banner.

Did you happen to notice the multiple drones overhead?

At one point they dropped confetti and little trinkets, 

and at the end of the ceremony they flew with a contrail

of colored smoke and carried banners. Cool.
It wasn't the Stealth, but it was cool all the same :)

I loved the Chinese lanterns/balloons.  It was almost
a beautiful blue sky morning- but still, no mountain view.

There was a student band that played several songs- they

were really good.  I was especially impressed by the lead

singer :)  Afterwards, some local 'celebrity' gave the

welcoming address- in Mandarin, of course.  The crowd

was very excited by his presence, and he sure had them

all entertained. There was lots of laughter, while we

Westerners stood there looking dumbfounded.

They could have been laughing at us for all I know!

The rest of our Sunday 'work day' was spent planning, prepping, more cleaning, and classroom decorating. I reviewed my chapter 1 lecture notes, made notes to myself about other important items of business to communicate, and I made a bulletin board for the classroom that I share with a Spanish instructor. Y'all KNOW how much I love to have a plan. and clean. and decorate.  This girl loves cleanliness, organization, and making things 'pretty' :)   If there ever was a doubt as to how important having a P.L.A.N. is to me, refer back to the sailing blog when things did not go according to the P.L.A.N., lol.  http://marquesa34.blogspot.com/2011/01/miami-to-only-donnie-knows-for-sure.html

By mid afternoon it was time for Grade level meetings with all teachers, students, and their parents present. I have been assigned to Grade level 11, though my students are by and large mostly seniors.  I figure it's just 'the Chinese way' again, so along with all my Grade 11 colleagues, we make our introductions, offer a few brief welcoming comments, and we are dismissed for the day.  A total commitment of 1.5 hours for working on a Sunday?  I can deal with that :)

Teachers and students alike are anxious for the new school year to begin tomorrow.  We are more than ready to dispense with the meetings and orientation, and to simply get down to the basics of teaching and learning.  With that said, it's time for this girlie to call it a day.  G'nite, y'all!

Day 10- the Chinese are SO friendly and helpful!

Since Friday and Saturday was our 'weekend', I had set aside Saturday to take care of some much needed business.  I had three missions to tackle in this city of 22 million.  One, I had to figure out the system of paying for electricity on our 'utility card.'  We have utility cards for everything- electricity, gas, potable water, and waste water.  I don't understand it all quite yet, but this much I know...some of my Western friends have already woken up to apartments with no electricity.  Given that it is blazing hot and humid here, and the fact that I have a stocked refrigerator and freezer, I wanted to be sure the meter was loaded with plenty of money.  I checked the meter in my apartment hallway.  I was simply told to 'press the button' to see how much money was left on my meter.  I pressed said button, and every time I did, I got different numbers. Some were two digit numbers, some had three digits, others had four digits with decimal points.  Naturally, the corresponding 'code' for the numbers was in Chinese characters, which was all Greek to me!

Not wanting to take any chances, I headed off to my local bank, where I was told I could find a utility kiosk. Easy enough- since my bank is next to a well-stocked Carrefour grocery, I decided to kill two birds with one stone...

I walked into the bank with my bank card and utility card in hand, ready to play the usual game of Charades with the gracious host who greets you at the entry.  This was a Saturday morning, and the bank was PACKED, y'all.  It looked like the BMV at home, or the ER on the night of a full moon...people were sitting, squatting, standing EVERYWHERE.  I didn't quite understand what all the fuss was about, or if this was typically 'the Chinese way' to do banking business.  Nevertheless, the host animatedly responded to my game of Charades which emitted lots of smiles and chattering Mandarin.  I smiled in return, nodding repeatedly, hoping that he would direct me to the proper utilities kiosk to put money on my card.

It was not to be.

Instead, he motioned for some teenage boys to attempt to explain to me that my bank does not offer payment of utilities.  I needed to go to a different bank, but I could use the debit card from my bank to take care of the transaction.  The boys who were previously squatting in the bank lobby (not to take care of 'personal' business, mind you), were more than eager to escort me to the correct bank.  So, now I am walking the streets of Beijing, with two teenage boys, playing Charades in an attempt to get acquainted.  I repeatedly tried to ask, "Are we there yet?" but we kept on walking.  They were sweating. I was sweating. But, they continued to smile and nod, so I did the same.

An hour later, I had money on my utility card (I can't even begin to explain how THAT happened), and the boys were escorting me back to the original bank where we had first met so that I would not get lost on the streets of Beijing forever.  Nice kids. So friendly. And helpful. And polite.  I tried to buy them Cokes when we passed by a McDonald's as a gesture of gratitude, but they would have none of it.  They called me their 'nice American friend', and they simply wanted to take a picture of me on their iPhones.  I get this alot; random people stopping to take my picture with them. It is a 'matter of great importance' here in China to have your photo taken with a Westerner.  You are instantly their 'friend', and they genuinely mean it.  You may have just met and said hello, but now you have a friend for life.  They want nothing from you.  I never feel threatened.  I have yet to even feel the slightest bit uncomfortable in my wanderings about this behemoth of a city as a single woman alone.  Instead, I am treated like a celebrity, and they all are eager to help me and be my friend.  To give you another case in point, on a crowded subway, my purse was open, and my cellphone was nearly falling out. In any other city in any other country I have traveled to, this would have been an open invitation to get pick-pocketed.  Not in crowded China, on a ridiculously crowded subway, two different Chinese kindly played a game of Charades with me to take note of my phone and secure it in my purse properly.  Nice people, these Chinese.

I stopped at the Carrefour to pick up a few necessities.  I am
continually amazed at how far my money goes here in China.
The loaf of bread? 50 cents.  A quarter of a watermelon?
70 cents.  Even the cold mango juice and tea at home would
have been $2.00 at the check out.  Not in China.  I got all
of this for less than $6.00.  I couldn't have even bought the
spices at home for six bucks!  I now have enough curry to
last my lifetime, I'm sure :) 

As I left the grocery, this man was playing
another traditional Chinese two stringed
instrument called an 'er hu'.  I love that
music is an important part of their culture.
Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erhu.

So I'm riding up the elevator and for the first time I notice
there is no fourth floor button.  Now don't that beat all!!!
How have I been living here for ten days and have not
noticed this before?!  I thought it was curious that the
first day here when we went to China Unicom to get our
Chinese phone numbers, nearly all the phone numbers
available had fours in them.  The Chinese are tetraphobic!
Fours are bad in their culture, as the sound of the word for
'four' is very similar to the word for 'death'.  It was rumored
that when Beijing lost their Olympic bid for 2000, they did
not reapply in 2004 due to the common superstition about
the number four.  In the end, they hosted the 2008 Olympics.
For the record, my new Chinese number does have a four in
it, as well as the number 21.  I am not the least bit worried.
I figure of the bad luck of the four is far outweighed by
the good fortune of my phone number ending in 21 :) 

With the utility card mission complete, I armed myself with my bucket, mop, bleach, soap, rags, and other cleaning supplies.  The seventh floor of the International Building at BNDS was formerly housing for Chinese teachers.  That has been all deconstructed and the space has been returned to classrooms. Filthy classrooms.
Desks, chairs, floors were covered in a grey film of grime, dust and nastiness. You couldn't see out the windows that had been left open all summer to let the 'fresh air' into the building. Knowing I am a bit OCPD at heart, I was having none of it.  So, I intended to do some serious deep  cleaning this afternoon in my classroom.  This particular 'Chinese way' was unacceptable to this Westerner.  Only the plus side, the Chinese can deconstruct and reconstruct faster than anything I have ever seen.  This school was looking like a war zone just days ago, and now it is nearly ready for the year to begin.  I mean there are walls in the afternoon that were not there in the morning.  Beijing is in a constant state of flux and construction.  Cranes and the sounds of power tools permeate the smoggy air, along with the cacophony of car horns that. never. end.  In fact, Beijing continues to expand it's borders, and it has now moved in to the sixth ring road.  It's a sight to behold. Really.

Once I lugged all up my supplies up to the seventh floor of the school and I took a look about, I decided I was going to be there a while.  The other mission of the day was to get a long overdue pedicure before the first day of assembly planned for tomorrow.  I mean, how hard can it be to 'get number one toe job' in a city of 22 million people?  There's a "spa" on nearly every corner.  Luckily, when I left my apartment, I grabbed the one bottle of nail polish I brought with me.  Also while I was at home and had Wifi, I plugged the word "pedicure" into my Google translate app.  I was locked and loaded for the next game of Charades to commence!

People....I mean realllllllyyyyyy.....I walked in every direction of the compass.  No joke.

I quickly ascertained that a 'spa' does not offer manicures or pedicures.  Nor does the beauty salon.  Nor does the sign out front that reads "Foot Care".  Each time I walked into a store front, showed my phone, held up my nail polish, and pointed to my toes...no amount of smiling and nodding sent me off in the proper direction.  Nearly TWO HOURS LATER, and in a total sweat, I was ready to give up, when I stumbled upon some young girls in work uniforms who were working at a car wash.  Generally speaking, the younger generation has had some exposure to the English language, if not in school, then by watching music videos. Young Chinese girls are typically quite shy, I have noticed, and simply smile and giggle when you speak with them.  They are reluctant to speak in English for fear they may say the wrong thing, but they clearly understood what I was asking.  I saw them giggling and pointing to their own fingernails and toenails.  Finally, an adult stepped out on to the sidewalk and told one of the girls to escort me to a nail salon.  Y'all, I am not even joking, this girl and I walked another FORTY FIVE MINUTES, making multiple turns along the way.  Luckily, I had the presence of mind to take pictures of the intersections with my iPhone so that I could find my way back. Otherwise, I would once again be lost to the streets of Beijing for forevermore.  Well, a $3.00 cab ride and more Charades with a taxi driver would probably get me home, too- but that was more adventure than I was willing to take for one day.  It was a three-mission day as it was.

True to Chinese form, when my little escort safely and successfully
delivered me to the nail salon, all she wanted in return was to ' have
picture made' with me.  For the second time today, I am in some random
 kid's iPhone photo album.  Seemed appropriate that I take a pic, too :)
These Chinese people are SO friendly and helpful, I heart them. <3

While the process was all a bit different to the pedicure
treatment I would receive from Kayla's Nails back in
Anderson, Indiana- Oh. My. God.  A 'number one toe
job' never felt so good.  It cost me a whopping $15.00
for an hour and a half treatment, and no tipping is allowed.
Funny story too, the nail place had dolphins in their logo.
I showed my attendant the dolphin charm on my necklace
and she became very animated.  I then took out my iPhone
and showed her pictures of Marquesa, our sailboat.  I had
even saved a 60 second video of dolphins that were playing
in the bow wake of Marquesa when we sailed up to
west coast of Florida this past spring.  Before all was said
and done, every attendant in the salon came to watch
the dolphin video with lots of smiles, head nods, and
Mandarin chatter that I could not understand.  Suffice it
to say, I was their 'new American friend', and you guessed
it- I had my photo taken again...several times over.
Again, you'd think I was a celebrity or something.

Nope.  Not a celebrity.  Just a middle aged woman in a foreign country, trying to make her way in the world. All in all, the simple mission of getting a pedicure cost me nearly five hours out of my afternoon and evening, but all was well.  I made many new Chinese 'friends' along the way, and I have the pictures and smiles to prove it :)  By the time I deep cleaned my classrooms, I didn't leave the school until nearly midnight.  Was I frightened leaving the school and walking back to my apartment compound that late at night?  Not in the slightest.  All is well in Beijing, my friends.  G'nite, y'all!

Day 8- Much to smile about :)

Today was essentially a 'work day' for all of us here at school.  A few meetings, brief in duration, and lots of down time to get organized and prepared for the start of the school year this coming Monday.  The good news has been our day ends mid-afternoon so there is plenty time for exploring.  Today is also our last work day of the week.  Our weekend is Friday and Saturday, as we have to report on Sunday for the Back to School assembly and grade level parent meetings.

Because I been here just a week in Beijing, my senses are acute to taking in all the newness around me; new things to see, new things to hear, new things to taste, new things to smell (the acrid air as a distinct smell all its own, sadly), new things to touch and figure out.  So much newness to this life.  I am like a kid in a candy store; I don't want to miss a thing.  I have the curiosity of a child as well, trying to comprehend whatever it is my senses are detecting.  I am in sensory overdrive, trying to take in this strange, new world around me.  In all the newness, though I catch myself smiling all the time, and down right giggling at other times.

This life in China is a complete 180 degrees for a country girl who lives in a log cabin much of the year, and on a sailboat for the winter season.  To think this country mouse is now living the life as a city mouse in a language, culture, and country she does not understand is more than a tad bit overwhelming.  I don't want to give the wrong impression, however.  I am not overwhelmed, not like
on-the-verge-of-tears-and-about-to-crash-and-burn overwhelmed. In fact, it is just the opposite kind of overwhelmed.  After the difficult, emotional summer I have had, I half expected I would have regular, reoccurring breakdowns until I could finally settle in to adjustment.  For now, I have been pleasantly surprised.  I'm hanging in there!  I'm not only "surviving China", I actually feel like I am thriving in China.  I am sure there will be my 'down days', but I am relishing in all the good days I have had thus far.  I feel energized like a child, living this strange new life with the wonderment of a child.  I have been singing and dancing in my office, my apartment, and along the street with reckless abandon like a child.  My faith, my strong will, (I have been called 'spirited') and my sense of humor are seeing me through.  I am smiling y'all, and it feels so good.

Sometimes there things that strike me funny, and I catch myself smiling....

Such as the dogs...So. Many. Dogs. in Beijing.  They are small dogs, primarily.  You don't see a Great Dane or a German Shepherd, there simply isn't the room for a large dog in this city of 22 million.  (I could be wrong, and most certainly politically incorrect, but maybe the big dogs are reserved for 'special occasions'- like Thanksgiving- except they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here.  I don't recall the Pilgrims landing on the shores of China.)  So there are small dogs here....lots of small dogs....particularly poodles.  In my trek to the bank over my lunch break, I pass by a veterinary clinic and there is always a line of people and pets waiting to be bathed, curled, coiffed, and such.  I saw a first today, and I busted out laughing....

What is not plainly seen in this picture was a poodle I called 'FiFi'- I mean she
was FiFi-ed up!  She was groomed like a poodle with the poofy socks,
tail and top.  What cracked me up was this black/grey coated poodle's head,
ears, and tail were all dyed a bright cherry red- with matching red toe nails.
Really?!  People dye their dog's fur?!  I half expected Fifi to speak in her
best Chinese accent, trying to proposition me for a "massageeee"  Wowzer.

What?!  There's a bakery in my neighborhood?!  I was so happy to see this.
I walked in just to savor the yeast smell and see what tasty treats I
want to try.  In all of my travels, whether the Caribbean, South America,
Central America or Europe, I always hit up the first bakery I find! 

Watching the Chinese women working in the bakery reminded me of the
candy factory episode with Lucy and Ethel...and I couldn't help but burst
out laughing imagining a Chinese version of Lucy and Ethel :)))
Each day that I pass by them now, I tap the window, wave and say
"Ni hao Lucy and Ethel!"  I'm sure they think I am a crazy ba'ire'n..

When I returned from the bank and was entering the school, I had to smile
yet again.  By and large, I am impressed by the Chinese- they are worker
bees, and this city is under the constant buzz of construction workers and
equipment.  It does not stop, day and night, you hear the noise of building
and growth.  However, this scene made me chuckle.  I guess all over the
world you have those people that make a better straw boss than a worker!
It takes four guys to supervise the two who were washing windows :) 

I stepped out of the elevator to return to my office, and I passed by the
conference room where our meetings have taken place.  The door was closed
and I could hear the animated Mandarin chatter.  I never noticed the sign
before as the door has always been open when we arrive for our morning
meetings.  You mean there's a party going on in there?! For Party members
only?!  You mean I wasn't invited?!  Is there cake, ice cream and balloons
involved in this party?!  What kind of fun activities are planned for this party?!
What's a person have to do to become a Party Member?!  I love activities!!!
Can Somebody answer my curious questions?!  lollllzzzzz.

I took my friend Alejandra to show her the correct bus
to hop on to get to the Walmart.  The stop is just around
the corner of our school, so it will be really convenient for
errands that need to be run after school.  She had a few
things to get, and pouring over the strange things I
see, smell, taste, and touch in the grocery store is one
of my favorite things to do.  We girls were lamenting about
our need for a pedicure, and how we miss some of our
favorite girlie products- like a face mask, for example.  There
was an entire aisle devoted to face masks- for like 50 cents!
Thankfully, they had English translations on most of them.
What we did not see at first was the word "whitening"-
which is a 'matter of great importance' to Chinese women.
We had a good laugh over that one. She is Honduran, and
still have my Keys tan....if we had mistakenly used the whitening
masks, we might have come out looking like a leopard!

Both of us girls, like my Emily, love our juice!  We were so
happy to find mango juice here in Beijing.  Y'all know how
much I love mangoes from living in the Keys.  This was the
real deal- with little bits of mango in it.  YUM!  I now have my
new favorite juice, for under 40 cents a bottle.  I am slayed
that getting a cold drink at a check out is anywhere from 15
to 50 cents.  it's at least two bucks at home, and typically more.

The last smile of the day came as I was walking back home through my
apartment compound.  There are Rose of Sharon shrubs and Black Eyed
Susan flowers, just like I have in my yard back home in Indiana.  It's nice
 to be reminded of home in a strange new land.

And....if any of you are interested in a hysterical book about life in China, I highly recommend the book Lost on Planet China: The Strange and True Story of One Man's Attempt to Understand the World's Most Mystifying Nation by J. Maarten Troost. Here's a link for more info:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Maarten_Troost  He is freakin' hilarious!  I am reading it for the third time. It is my last chuckle of the day, as I am now enjoying it yet again before I go to bed.  I laughed out loud reading it previously, but now that I am experiencing China for the first time for myself, I belly laughed until I cried last night.  In fact, I was up well after 2:00am, because I just couldn't put it down.  Check it out- it's guaranteed to make you smile, too :)))  G'nite, y'all!

Day 7 'the Chinese way'

Today was an important start to the school year. I set my alarm early to be
able to get ready for work without feeling rushed.  Cuban coffee and some
variety of dragon fruit, which was delicious by the way, was the perfect start :)

The morning began with all 120 faculty and administrators from the
International Department of Beijing National Day School meeting on
the front steps for a group picture.  The International Program has
expanded greatly since its inception.  They now have nearly 600 students
out of 4000 total enrolled in grades 10-12. There are about 200 students enrolled
in three different international programs.  The international programs specifically
are preparing students to attend universities abroad.  The three international
diploma programs are IB (International Baccalaureate, see www.ibo.org/diploma),
AP (Advance Placement which is operated by the College Board) and A-level
(which is under the UK system, see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-level).  I am teaching
AP Psychology, which is essentially the same as my PSYC 101 course at
the college level.  I only have some minor tweaking to do on my lecture notes :)

At the opening of our large group meeting,
we were treated to a concert by a 10th grade
student playing a traditional Chinese stringed
instrument known as a pipa.  It is a four stringed
lute, but is finger picked similar to a banjo. 

The pipa had a really interesting tone to it.  I

really enjoyed listening to her.  I'm afraid the

video clip doesn't do her performance justice.

You Tube the pipa if you want to hear more :)

The morning group meeting consisted of introductions, a history of BNDS, an introduction to Chinese laws, what life is like in China, refreshments (what's a meeting without SNACKS?!) and getting acquainted activities. We had another two hour lunch break (gotta get your Chinese siesta in!) before our afternoon grade level meetings with the Deans of our particular grade level.  I found out that I will be teaching juniors, which is different for me.  In the US, my Intro to Psychology high school students were high ability seniors who were released from their high schools for part of the day to attend college classes on our campus.  It doesn't really matter the grade level, all the students at BNDS are high ability students.  There are tens of thousands of applicants each year, trying to get in to this school.  It is considered one of the very best in all of Beijing- aimed at preparing well rounded students who are 'prepared for a global economy'.

At our grade 11  level meeting we mostly discussed attendance issues (which are a bit of a problem, believe it or not) plagiarism, and discipline (which is seldom a problem).  I found it curious that attendance is such an issue for high achieving kids.  Here in China it is all about your exam scores.  Great emphasis is placed upon your exam scores- that is what is most important- the numbers on your college entrance exams or your end of the year assessment exams. What happens in between? Not nearly so important.  With that said, it is very unusual that students receive less than an A in their courses- it's not a fluke, they are just that good.  They apparently know how to 'work the system' to perform well on the important projects, papers and exams.  Given that there is a VERY LAX attendance policy, it will be interesting how many bodies actually show up to warm a seat!  There is a definite learning curve to Western ideals and expectations in education vs. 'the Chinese way'.

Funny story about 'the Chinese way'... we hear this phrase often, in reference to a variety of topics and issues.  When I was first brought to my apartment, it was night time.  We rode the elevator up to my ninth floor apartment, and when the elevator doors opened, we stepped into a darkened hallway.  We fumbled around for several minutes trying to fit the key in my apartment door.  When he finally got the key in and turned the lock, like magic, bright hallway lights flipped on.  I commented about the fact that it would have been nice to have a light on to see to put the key in the door, to which my Chinese counterpart responded,
"It's the Chinese way."  Which to me means, 'that don't make much sense at all'- which can only be said with your best hill jack accent :)  With that said...  G'nite, y'all!

Day 6 dancing at 'orientation'

Tuesday morning was our first day to 'report to work' for three days of orientation before the start of the school year.

Basically, the morning was spent covering the Master Schedule.  I thought
I was teaching four classes, but instead it's just three. That amounts to 15
hours of face to face time in the classroom- woohoo!  It didn't take me long
to fill out the necessary paperwork, so I was naturally more interested in
the snacks, lol.  I don't know what these little fruits are, but they are
delicious!  They have the texture and taste of a granny smith apple, but
are about the size of a large grape.  Somebody Google it, and tell me the name!

With that little bit of business out of the way, it was on to more important
things- namely, a two hour lunch break with my new friends!  Left to
right is Samuel, Alejandra, Eric, Jerrod, Mexico guy (forgot his name!) and Matt.
Jerrod ordered us a feast and it was all delicious.  I wrote the names down in
my iPhone so that I can order some of them again.  No unwanted trips
to the squatting toilet afterward either, lol.

The afternoon we were introduced to our office cubicles, of which there are
seven of us together- four Western teachers and three Chinese teachers.
I lucked out (again) on office mates.  My new teacher friends are Eric,
Carlos, and Kathleen (the other 'new' teacher from Canada in my age range, lol).
My Chinese teacher friends, with their American names are Helen, Chase, & Edwin.
Helen and I spent part of the afternoon dancing to country music on my iPhone!
She doesn't speak a word of English, but dancing is universal- I even taught her
some disco moves from back in the day, lol.  We had a ball :))))

Since our 'orientation' was done for the day, I decide to tackle the public
bus system by myself with a mission to find Wanda Plaza in search of
a brick of cheddar cheese.  Believe me, it is no easy task finding a brick of
real cheddar cheese in a Chinese city of 22 million!  I had one little hiccup and
missed my stop, but I quickly got turned around and caught the next bus-
for a whopping 10 cents.  Money goes VERY FAR here.

I thought Wanda Plaza simply had a larger Carrefour store. I was shocked to
walk in and find a four story shopping mall- with many American stores- not that
 I needed anything more.  I scored on a brick of cheese and was a happy camper :)

It was well into night by the time I spent two more hours pouring through
the aisles of the grocery store- I find all the food strange, interesting, fascinating.
As I exited the plaza, the sidewalks were filled with people DANCING!
I thought maybe these were scheduled classes that met in public places-
like an exercise class that you pay to participate.  Nope, it's all free!
These folks just like to dance and have fun- right. up. my. alley :)
This lady was instructing couples in ballroom dancing.

What I loved were all the women doing their version

of line dancing.  I saw a group of women doing a similar

dance in the courtyard of my apartment complex the

other night, but I wasn't sure if it was appropriate to join

in or not.  Now that I understand what it's all about, 

you can be I will get in on the fun!  I love this place :)))

G'nite, y'all!

Day 5- health checks

This morning the entire group of new hires met up to receive our official health screenings.  This is the last step in getting our permanent residency card.  It was kind of like a health fair, in that you visited a total of eight stations to get screened, poked, and prodded.  While it seemed a bit intimidating at first, (I caught two different 'security' guards taking photos of me), in the end, it was no big deal.  The place was swarming with people, but even at that, it was all run very efficiently.  All of us were in and out in less than two hours, which was good, as we had nothing to eat or drink since the night before.  I packed a pbj so that the minute my blood was drawn, I could have a snack!

A couple of funny stories....the vision test.... A Chinese man in a white coat points to the eye chart and says, "this is M" and "this is E"  He then points to letter on the very next line, which was still higher than the halfway mark and says, "What this?"  I am looking at a five inch tall "M", so I say, "M?!"  He says, "You good."  And that was my eye exam.  The next stop?  The ear, nose and throat specialist, who never had me open my mouth or peek in my ears!

The funnier one was the ultrasound of our abdomens.  I get slathered with gel and she proceeds to pass her wand all over my midsection.  She keeps circling on my right side.  She has me roll up on my side and continues to move her wand all over my right side and back.  It finally dawns on me that she is looking for the right kidney that is no longer there.  She speaks no English; I speak no Mandarin.  I didn't have Wifi to use my iPhone app to translate.  It was a hoot trying to show her my surgery scar and with animated gesturing I tried to explain she was never going to find a kidney there!  This game of charades went on for several minutes before she finally acted disgusted and stamped my form anyhow.  Eight stamps collected, and I was done for the day.  Good to know I am healthy by Chinese standards, lol.

Several us went across the street to the convenience store in search of
drinks and snacks.  These are my new friends, Carlos, Hank, and Kirsten.
I loved the advertising to this man's store- an upside down McDonald's sign, lol

I got another yummy coconut ice cream bar for 1 yuan.
(that's just fifteen cents!)

Most of my teacher friends went back to their apartments after
the health checks to get settled in.  Since I was up until nearly 2am
the night before putting my IKEA furniture together and putting the
finishing touches on my 'nesting', I decided to be a brave little toaster
and tackle the foreboding Chinese washing machine. It was scary,
y'all!  Thankfully, Li Ang, our 'life coordinator' made a photo copy of
the controls and wrote in some English words to translate.  Even
at that, it was not the usual 'heavy, regular, or delicate' selections.
I added soap, said a prayer, and hit the start button.  Forty minutes
later, I had a clean load of clothes and no mishaps.  Alejandra was not
as lucky- she flooded her entire bathroom :(  God was smiling down on me!

The guest bedroom balcony alcove is my drying center.  The Chinese typically
do not have dryers- they hang their clothes to dry- but not in the dirty air!
This drying rack and a laundry hamper was provided to us by BNDS.

About twenty or so new teachers met up to go to dinner at The Peak.  It's a
popular restaurant and bar for expats as they have western food and beers on
their menu, in addition to traditional Chinese cuisine.  Even better? The menu
is in pictures so you simply point to what you want!  A burger and fries never
tasted so good.  These are some new friends, Kirsten and Jeanette.
Robert and I decided to leave after dinner, we weren't up for a  late night
of partying.  We bid our goodbyes to the group, and then I walked
full on into a glass door.  OMG, that was embarassing! (and it hurt like hell).
I swear, all I had to drink was a Coca-Cola, not a drop of alcohol in it, lol.

The early evening view from my apartment was beautiful- another
day of clean air to savor that mountain view.  G'nite, y'all!

Day 4- done nesting! Home Sweet Apartment :)

I slept in Sunday morning, as I was up late watching last night's storm and I am still working to get on Beijing time, which is 12 hours ahead of EST back home.  I have been told that it takes one day for every hour difference in time zones to get completely adjusted.  I have to start teaching in less than 12 days- ain't nobody got time for that!

Imagine my surprise when I woke up, opened my eyes, and looked out my
bedroom window- blue sky!  What the what?!  I have a MOUNTAIN VIEW?!
I didn't even know there were mountains out there!!!

I was so excited!  I ran to my guest bedroom window
and looked out- more mountains!!! The storm last
night must have cleared out the smog.  I was so
excited at the thought of clean air, that I wanted
to go for a run...

Instead I brewed my first cup of Cuban coffee, and poured it in my
brand new glass mug.  I am so happy to have my Bella with me-
and eight pounds of Cafe Bustello :)  I packed well for this new life!

BNDS was gracious enough to arrange for a motorcoach to take us
new folks to an IKEA so that we could finish out our shopping for
necessities to make our apartments a home. Some of my new teacher friends-
Alejandra, Rob, Jeanette, John, Daquila, Grant, Sarah, Robert, Kirsten
and so many others!  Three of them have Keys connections, and three
have Hoosier connections- very cool :)  Robert has been teaching in
Key Largo for the last 30 years- how crazy is that?

Alejandra (from Honduras, by way of Chicago) and her husband, Eric,
are my closet friends here, as well as Carlos.  The four of us all live in
building 24, though in different towers.  Alejandra and I compared
shopping lists and decided to divide and conquer.  It was like Black
Friday shopping, only different!  While this was the 'not as busy' IKEA,
it was a mass of Chinese humanity in the store, complete with
shopping cart ankle biters :/  

It cracked me up to see how the Chinese 'shop'
the display models :)))

I mean, really, shopping is tiresome work!  This lady had her shoes neatly
tucked under the bed and was passed out.  I mean PASSED OUT.
The Chinese are all about an extended lunch so that they can squeeze in a nap :)

The check out process was loud and noisy, and a wee bit crazy- but
it all was surprisingly orderly and went very well.  I realized when I
got home that I was missing my rice paddle, but it was only 4rmb,
which is about 50 cents.  I bought a nightstand, and storage cart for the
bathroom, a floor lamp, bedside lamp, lots of fun kitchen stuff, a
houseplant, candles, over the door hooks for coats, and.... 

I was so happy to find this child's wicker chair to set up...

...a reading nook in my bedroom!  It's like an enclosed balcony, of sorts,
that I can savor my mountain views on the 'good air' days :) 

My bedroom- the lavender linens were already here for me!  I put the
slicks up on the wall that says Be your best kind of Beautiful :)

The view from the doorway- the dressing mirror was
left by the former tenant- perfect!

The guest bedroom- all ready for guests!

My kitchen- so much nicer, and bigger, than I expected! 

The bathroom is a bit perplexing.  I bought a three shelf cart at IKEA
which is now between the sink and washer.  My towels and medicine
cabinet stuff' is stored there.  This room is about seven feet square.

The shower is located in the third corner, and the toilet
is behind the centered door in the fourth corner.  What you
see in the bottom right corner is the mop bucket.  There
is no shower curtain, or doors, and in my shopping excursions
I have yet to find any sort of  'portable' surround shower rod.
I cannot have anything permanently affixed to the walls.
So, after I finish showering, I am butt-naked and mopping
down the entire bathroom.  There has GOT to be a better way.
I am open to any and all ideas at this point!
The plus side?!  I've never had a bathroom so clean, lol.

I love my dining area.  My favorite photos of friends and
family are all up, as are my crosses and some
Bible verses.  With God, all things are possible- Indeed!

A window in an interior wall seems a little strange, but it lets in some
much needed natural light from my bedroom.  I love it.
Listen to me- talking like I'm on an episode of House Hunters International!

Actually, since I mentioned House Hunters International, I should share the story of how I came to be working and living in Beijing, China.  Last October, I became very frustrated with my previous employer.  Actually, that is not entirely true- I have loved teaching at the college the last 10 years. I've had some wonderful experiences with my students through the years.  I love my colleagues, the Department Chair, the Division Chair, and the Dean of Academic Affairs.  They have been so good to me.  I know I was very much appreciated by them, and my students.  I had a very high retention rate, and a very high pass rate and I am not an easy prof!  My work life was great, and my employer was gracious enough to grant me a sabbatical every spring semester for the last four years so that I could spend the winter months living and sailing on Marquesa.  They all followed my sailing adventures through my blog marquesa34.blogspot.com

At the beginning of fall semester 2013, it was announced that due to the Affordable Care Act (lovingly known as Obamacare), all faculty that were not tenured were having their hours cut to just three classes per semester.  President Obama, in his infinite wisdom, calculated that a nine credit teaching load at the university level equates to a 27 hour work week.  In what fantasy world?!  Any teacher will tell you the easiest part of the day is in the classroom itself- it's all the hours spent in meetings, filing reports,and working at home prepping and grading that all equates to a much longer work week than forty hours.  Teachers, unfortunately, don't punch a time clock.

What this all meant for me personally was that my teaching load (hence, my salary) was being cut in HALF- and it was a meager salary at that.  I attempted to negotiate three plausible alternatives throughout that semester, all of which were shot down.  Let me say again, my immediate superiors were all in favor of each solution I offered, but their hands were tied.  These decisions were being made by the powers that be, and my university was unwilling to risk paying a $5000 penalty (per employee over the nine credit hour load) to the federal government for not complying with Obamacare.  

So, about November 2013, I was at home, grading papers on a Friday night and watching a string of House Hunters International episodes on HGTV.  After about the fourth episode, I began to notice that several people who were relocating abroad were educators.  I'm thinking, "How the heck are these people finding teaching jobs overseas?"  What do I do when I want to know something?! GOOGLE IT!  So I did.

I immediately came upon two companies, International Schools Services and Search Associates. Both companies operate as a clearinghouse for administrators and educators to locate job openings all over the world within their particular career field.  I joined up, and within ten days I was in a bidding war between schools in Shanghai and Beijing.  In the end, Beijing was the better position and better situation for me all the way around- making nearly four times the salary I previously had been earning, and I am teaching only three classes.  Back home, I usually taught six sections of Psychology, carrying about 180 students in the grade book.  Now I have just three sections and only 45 students- at four times the salary!  It was a no brainer for me.  This girl loves to travel and loves an adventure.  Since Survivor did not come calling again this past cycle of applications, (yes, I have been applying to that show for twelve years running) I decided to go make my own Survivor adventure.  What better place for a major life change, full of new experiences and new adventures, than in China?!

And there's the rest of the story. 

Now back to my beautiful apartment that BNDS has provided to me...

And this is my new living room!  I absolutely love it :)  Opposite the
sofa is a 42" flat screen TV with over 800 channels.  The tea table elevates
and folds out to a standard round dining table (for more guests).  The sofa
also becomes a double bed, better than any pull out couch- no springs in

your back!  Again, more room for guests ;)  Anybody catching the hint, yet ?!

So, the long and the short of it is that this girl feel like she has hit the lottery!  My money goes so much further here in China.  My apartment is beautiful.  I mean, really- I have a mountain view for crying out loud!  I come home, and it feels like home.  I feel safe.  I feel secure.  I feel like it is becoming my neighborhood with each day that I step out to explore, grocery shop, or walk to school. I am beginning to see the same faces at the same times of day and I am greeted with a 'ni hao' and a smile :)

In a word, I am happy.  

G'nite, y'all!