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!