A Week in the Life of China

Constant sweating. Constant. Especially since my classroom a/c was not working. It was just a constant sticky sweat. Ugh. It's 80's when I wake up at 5 am, and maybe it's the humidity, but it feels so much more intense than Spokane 80 degrees. And that's at 5 am. When Line and I walked to RT Mart and back, we joked that on the way back, the eggs that we had bought were hard boiled. Now cooking mac and cheese in my kitchen, I am mystified that it actually takes some time for the water to boil. I only a/c the family room. But as I complain, I can't believe that we actually have blue sky, hallelujah!!! Real blue sky! And last night, I kid you not, I saw stars!

School with a real blue sky!!

Blue sky, river back to normal, and hills that I want to return to with my mountain bike!

Being a Red Head.
This happened last year, but it happened again, on the first day of school. My students really wanted to know, "What's all over your face?" The correct response would've been angel kisses, but I really wanted to say, "A serious and highly contagious disease, so make sure you give Miss Lanham her space."
The next day, since my classroom had no a/c, I pinned my hair up in a loose bun (off my neck) and I guess I was wearing a style that was a little old fashioned because Line took one look at me and said, "My God, you look like Anne of Green Gables!" Now I understand that as a red head, I automatically look like every other red head that ever existed, and I get this a lot, and even though Line is from the islands close to where the story of Anne happened ... I looked in a mirror and I really think I did have her look down. Especially the hair!


Soccer.
It's back! All the regular routines, including the knitting club. This is the first time I've seen the team since my epic debut in the Ningbo news. I am "famous" and the "star". This wasn't helped by the fact that I scored in the first 5 minutes. The ball was quite bouncy, as was the field, and a few lucky bounces did help. Typically a team is not happy to be scored on so quickly, but they all fell over laughing, literally on the ground laughing, at their two teammates that I had beat. I was not underestimated again, but any time I did anything, it was met with a lot of laughter, good, friendly laughter.

Driving through town.
I took some video of my tour with my aunt, and I was surprised how interesting people thought the streets look. To me at this time, it just looks like normal China. I took this short one on the way back from soccer, since Leo was driving (a very good driver) and I was sitting shotgun. I've tried taking video in the taxis, but the drivers stare at me funny, and their driving is so erratic that it's hard to keep the camera steady. Still, youtube detected that my video is "shakey" but I asked them not to fix it. You get the real experience :)

Chinese neighbors :)
I got in the elevator and my ear drum was just about blown out by the lady talking on her cell phone. I'm not sure why, but it seems if they are talking to family members, or on the phone, the Chinese speak VERY LOUDLY. I always have to remind myself that they aren't always angry, because it sounds like it, but they really aren't. It seems that the longer distance the phone call, the louder they need to yell, and I really want to explain that this is not the case, but my Mandarin isn't good enough.  Nida, (Head of School's wife and my new neighbor) said she thought that a Chinese family lived in my place based on the decorations from last Chinese New Year that are still up on my door. She thought I was the first quiet Chinese family that she had ever met (or I guess not met, since they hadn't seen the people living in my apartment.