I'm Here!!!!

Hello all!! :) So as my first update this might be a long one. Especially because it took me a bit longer to get internet access than I originally thought. And as it turns out, Google and China still don't get along, so I might be rethinking the gmail account. It just takes longer to load. So that's why there haven't been any emails.

As always on my travels, I like to divide things up, so read what you like!

The trip:
- Getting over here had zero hitches! Everything went so smoothly. WOOT!
- I was immediately pegged as a teacher in Seatac by other passengers who asked me about my trip, and again on the flight. I got a travel buddy who taught me some Mandarin and helped me navigate the Beijing airport. 
- It was entertaining once I got to the domestic terminal in Beijing, and I knew that no one else spoke English. I would bet all my luggage that all the airport officials are swearing in Mandarin as I approach because they know that no one can help us communicate.
- The first flight, Seattle to Beijing, left a little after 4pm Seattle time, and got in a little after 6pm Beijing time, so for 11 hours ish we basically just followed the sun accross the sky. The entire trip it was perpetually almost sunset. Cool.
- I thought I had defeated jetlag. I have heard that the secret is staying awake during the trip, picking a flight that arrives at night so you can get a good night's sleep, reset your internal clock, and wake up in the morning local time. I stayed awake for as much of the trip as I could. I definitly konked out in Beijing for a few hours, but other than that I made it to the hotel in Beilun at about 2:30 am. I slept til 9 am, got picked up at 10 and moved into my apartment. That day, I also got a tour of the school and TJ (my interpreter) took me shopping.  For the first day, it worked. Everyone commented on how refreshed I looked. I thought I was golden. Til the next morning, I woke up at 1 am, again feeling refreshed .... shoot. I fought it. But there was nothing to do, I was wide awake. This morning I woke up at 2am. Adjusting one hour at a time! I was so awake I just started my morning routine. I made coffee :) and finished unpacking and setting up my aparment. Momma always says I have issues sleeping because I drink coffee regardless of the hour. I can just picture my her reaction at the thought of me, awake at 2am, sipping coffee in bed and reading a good book :)

Pleasant Surprises:
- Water pressure!!!!! I have a hot shower with REALLY good water pressure. YES!! I was so not expecting that. (Though later I'll tell you how I keep that hot water flowing. So weird)
- I have my own classroom and it's all setup for me! Woah! Ask my parents what it was like setting up my last classroom in the High/Scope style. Those were many late nights. Sometimes 10 pm trying to label everything.
- Business cards. Everyone has business cards. Which at first, I have the ???? reaction. They're obsessed. But until I get enough Mandarin under my belt, the cards are actually super useful. I just need to show the taxi driver the business card of my favorite restaurant and that's that. No lost in translation-ness.
- Cup of Joe. My new home. The husband of one of the teachers here opened an American coffee shop last spring about a block from my apartment. YES.

Things I'm already used to:
- The stares. I really want to learn "Watch the road!!!" in Mandarin. They have these amazing electric bikes here, and all the people seriously turn 180 degrees just to look at me, while driving! Wendi says some of the bikes have crashed into trees while staring at her. I'll keep a tally if this actually starts happening :)
- Driving tactcs. I actually think the Chinese are amazing drivers. Sure they break all the rules, but there are no sudden movements. No sudden braking or accelerating. Everyone drives sooooo smoothly that you can anticipate the other driver's intentions and avoid collisions. And while I'm talking about no sudden movements, same goes for crossing the street. Choose a steady pace and just start crossing. It's almost like playing frogger, except the cars have enough time to adjust their speed based on whether or not they can beat you or go behind you. I'm told running across will likely get you hit. Fender benders do happen here, they're called "kisses" and you just pay the other driver in cash on the spot for any damages.

Things to get used to:
- Not understanding what the people say when they stare. I'm used to eavesdropping on the Spanish. It's a little weirder not knowing what they say about me. Though I'm guessing it's all the same stuff.
- Blue toilet water. I don't know why.
- No dryer for the clothes. I like it when my jeans shrink. And I totally spaced on bringing a belt, now that everything is air dry.
- Light switches are outside of every room. I've seen this done before with bathrooms. But it's EVERY room. It took me the longest time to figure out why the lights I turn on are never for the actual space I'm in. More often it's for the room I just left.
- It's warm!! Maybe 70 degrees I think. I want my tank tops!! But no one wears them here, Winter is coming and everyone is wearing their fall jackets and boots, which is super unfortunate since they don't believe in deodorant here.

Shopping:
- The carts are designed to slip on all four wheels. They have no traction. Which at first is super annoying, but apparently they're designed for peak times and being able to navigate mass crowds.
- TJ took me shopping that first day for a few essentials. His English isn't the best (when we were going over the inventory for my apartment, he said "buffet" table phonetically), but I can usually guess what he means and we've had no trouble communicating all day. Til I ask for sugar. I brought 3 pounds of Starbucks coffee, a coffee grinder, a french press, and my favorite mug (one that Kyla painted for me) and I totally forgot sugar. I can't drink straight up black coffee. And TJ just stares at me blankly. I cannot believe this is the only word he doesn't understand all day. It is soooooo essential!! I tell him it's for my coffee, and he shakes his head. His first suggestion is chocolate, and I say, yes it does make chocolate sweet, but that's not it. Then he leads me to the cereal, and as I think about it, the way he says sugar totally sounds like cereal (the Chinese espeically have difficulty with the r sound). I'm getting a little exasperated when I say, "TJ, don't you EVER bake cookies???" And that's when I finally get the right reaction.
- Shopping with Wendi, Rosalee, Carol, and Mr. Fan. (Note that Mr. Fan is actually pronounced Mr. Fun) Mr. Fan is our Chinese driver and he takes us into Ningbo for bigger shopping, he's slowly learning English. Carol is the headmaster's wife. She's from the Philippines, but her exuberant personality reminds me of Adriana, my Mexican master teacher from student teaching. Carol's English is a step up from Mr. Fan's but still not crystal clear. Wendi is from Michigan, she the kindergarten teacher, and Rosalee is her 3rd grade daughter adopted from China. Rosalee's primary language is English, but she has the ability to pronounce all the Mandarin like a native. With everyone in the car having at least elementary English and elementary Chinese, What a car full we made! We hit all the international stores, yes including Starbucks, no I didn't get any. I'm trying to limit myself to essentials this first month. Rosalee and I immediately bonded, she holds my hand when we go shopping and translates for me. She's a total goofball, but I think she's adorabe. Until she asks what's all over my face. "Rosalee, you've never seen freckles????"

My apartment:
- It's huge!!! No really. I mean it. HUGE. I know I've been politely inviting you all to come visit me, but I'm dead serious. I need to fill this space.
- I have 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms (including the master) a living room, dining room, kitchen, laundry room, extra sink room (??), and a study. These are not small rooms either. I don't even know what to do with my king size bed. I only like to ever sleep on the edge. The rest of bed feels like a waste. Also, one of my sofas folds into a bed. I think I could comfortably sleep 5 extra people here, no problem. Which is perfect because I have 6 dining chairs. So I was going to have a sign up for visitors, but I don't think that's necessary anymore :)
- I've tried closing the doors to the spaces that I don't use, like the extra bedroom and the study, and definitely the extra sink room. It'll just make me feel less whatever the opposite of claustrophobic is, but I haven't figured out the door stops here. So the doors are stuck open til I have a moment of intuition (though I'm beginning to feel that these little contraptions were never meant to be figured out).

General China Oberservations:
- There is a distinct smell here. Not good or bad, it's just the smell of China. My travel buddy asked me if I noticed it the moment we stepped off the plane in Beijing. It's totally there. Especially in my apartment.
- Buildings go up FAST here. I wish I had taken a picture of the skyline from my apartment on Friday when I first got here. I'm not sure if I noticed it Saturday, but this morning there is a noticable difference, I think there are 8 new buildings blocking my view of the mountains. Ariana said she went to Shanghai one weekend, 3 days was all it took. By the time she got back, there was a corner store mini mart, which by the way is super handy. I'm told shops disappear as fast as they go up, so I'm hoping that mini mart stays.
- Marriage is controlled by the govenrment. They can decide when/if you get married. They can ask you to wait two years. And they even have incentives for marrying after 25, like getting 6 weeks off for the planning and honeymoon. We saw several marraige processions in Ningbo on Saturday so I had to ask about them.
- At least in Beilun, no one speaks English. The kids are starting to pick it up, but it's a very new thing. People are starting to enroll their kids in English because of the obvious economic ties with the US. (I thought this was already a trend, but it's just now hitting Beilun) But what I think is more interesting, is that they are also learning Spanish because they hear that Spanish is also a prominant language in the US.
- Fireworks. No joke. You can hear them all the time. As I'm writing this I'm watching some from my window.
- You can't get away from Taylor Swift music. Our first night out at a restaurant, they were playing a full playlist from all of her albums. But don't worry, after about an hour they switched over to Lady Antebellum :) Cup of Joe's plays oldies, which only makes me want to dance.

:( unhappy face:
- Plug ins. :(  I've managed to fry everything I've plugged in, which is a short list. My clock no longer works. And the coffee grinder started smoking. I may have unplugged it in time, if I get a voltage converter it just might still work. My laptop also sparked and produced a burnt smell, but so far it's doing okay.
- I know you're all thinking that food should be on the :( list, but I happen to live on International Row in Beilun. Along with Cup of Joe's there's also a good pizza place that delivers, a wine shop and a pub! Plus Cup of Joe's will order and deliver from the Costco in Ningbo, or even KFC for me. I did go on an adventure with Wendi and Rosalee, Rosalee ordered for us and I ended up with some type of spicy cabbage. So we went back and tried again. This time it was pork, potatoes, rice and carrots. That I can handle. I tried using the spoon they provided but the chopsticks were WAY easier.

Okay, I think that's quite enough for now. I start teaching this week!!! But the last week in every month is also a shortened week with meetings and professional development :( Still, I'll try and get some good classroom stories.