Day 737 New Kids in Town

I had to come back to school a week early to help
prepare for the arrival of 24 new teachers- coming
from all parts of the globe.  My second day back I
made a HUGE grocery run to make welcome
baskets for them all.  That was an undertaking.
Thankfully, I have years of experience of list-making,
packing, and traveling with our family of seven.
The Chinese staff marveled when I arrived back
to BNDS with a taxi completely LOADED.
They couldn't believe I did all the shopping alone.

The following day, armed with my welcome baskets,
cases of water and houseplants, we traveled to all
of their apartments for inspections and to make
the deliveries.  The Chinese ended up with a
laundry list of things that needed attended to in
all of those apartments, and they only had less
than 36 hours to get them ready for the new tenants.

The first day here was to set up bank
accounts and phones.  Getting SIM cards,
a VPN, and cell phone plan is crucial to
living abroad.  Not being connected to
each other here, or to friends and family
back home is one of the biggest stressers.
It took James (rt) several trips to see
Radio Shack guy in the alley market
to finally get his sorted out.

After opening bank accounts, registering with
the police, and going through medical check ups,
the first big outing was to IKEA.  Getting a
strange apartment in a strange new world to
begin to feel like 'home' is also essential.
I love this new family that hails from Chicago :)

There was no shortage of shock and disbelief,
or laughs, at the Chinese who think IKEA is home.
Yep, they nap UNDER the covers in the store!

For some, the IKEA chaos was enough to send
them puffing on the e-cigs in the check out line, lol.

For their first Friday night in the 'jing, I took them on a subway
trip to Pebbles to experience the hutong life at night. Truth be
told, we were there for the 2 for 1 margaritas and Mexican food!

   

They got a kick out of the sign in the
potty at the restaurant!

The next day a few of us went on a walk through
sculpture park, which is right by our apartments.
This couple was dressed matchy-matchy clear
down to their socks and shoes.  Oh, the Chinese ;-)

By Sunday, I took a few who wanted to
find a Christian church.  I took them to Haidian
Christian, where I attend.

Meet Virginia :)  I double dog dare you to say
her name without humming the song by Train.  I can't.

Sunday afternoon, I took another group by bus to Walmart,
to finish out their 'nesting' and grocery shopping.  On the
lists were ovens, air purifiers, humidifiers, crock pots, and such.

Our group all but OWNED that bus!

One of the conundrums of Chinese apartments
is that the bathrooms are often 'open' as mine
was...which means you are mopping down the
entire bathroom bare a$$ed each time you shower.

During the week I took Gary and his son Lucca
to the "Home Depot" alley market behind my
apartments to get supplies to build a shower
unit.  $30 later, and the use of my saw and
caulk gun, they had a new shower!  I even
had a blue shower curtain and hooks to give
to them that matched their vanity.  Success!
My Len's shower design lives on :)

It was a hectic first week attending to all the
newbies.  Fortunately, I stashed six bricks of
Cuban coffee in my suitcase :)

And when I needed a little comfort and quiet
time, I busted in to my first box of Mac n' Cheese.

Fast forward through several days of meetings
and orientation, then two days of students, and
that brought us to our first POETS meeting :)

It is tradition that Kevin always hosts the first POETS
meeting- Piss On Everything Tomorrow's Saturday!

Jeanette with our new friends from Thailand
and Myanmar, Kio and Pete :)

I love coming back to old friends, too- like
Jade, Carlos and Ale.  Hard to believe it's our 3rd year!

I love the new friends, too- like Elena from FL, and Ciaran from Ireland.

How awesome is it that represented here is the USA,
Scotland, Honduras, Vietnam, and Canada?!

I have to say that the administration did an exceptional job of hiring this year...To Mark, Ashraf, Lucianne, Ellen, LeeAnne, Elena, Leah, Mark, Chris, Sanju, Leah, Margaret, Pete, Noel, Ciaran, James, Elicia, Oliver, Virginia, Mark, Christeena, Kraig, Matthew, and Chloe-

Welcome to the BNDS family!

G'nite, y'all- this girl is worn out!