Well, we finally got our internet to work, so here is our first china entry. China is incredible! The total amount of time we spent traveling to get to the school was about 24 hours. I slept maybe about three of those hours... should have taken a sleeping pill. The plane we rode in was huge, a double decker actually. The food was the nicest plane food I've ever had, and the had over a hundred complimentary movies to watch. Very fancy. Go Korean Air!
As soon as we arrived in Shanghai we found our native coordinator, and my new best friend. Emma, is our native coordinator, and Lily(pronounced Lee-lee) was a girl she brought with her to help. As soon as i put my luggage down Lily came up to me and said " You look very beautiful." Wow... she must not have a very extensive vocabulary if she is calling someone who just got off a 13 hour plane ride, beautiful. I told her she looked beautiful too. She said " I want to be very good friends" I smiled and said ok. She stood very very close to me the whole time at the airport, and she stared at me a lot. She asked me to sit by her on the bus, and i said okay. I don't think she quite understood that Ted and I were married. She busted out a bag of candy as soon as we sat down. She then proceeded to stuff me with candy. I ate everything she gave me, and as soon as I was done, she would give me something new. She tried her best to explain it, but most of the time it was a mystery what was going into my mouth. After about the tenth piece of candy I realised this could go on forever if I didn't do something. We had an eight hour bus ride ahead, and I didn't want to entertain my taste buds, or her, the entire time It is considered rude to refuse something offered to you, so I just told her I was really tired, and I wanted to sleep. I laid my head on the glass, and pretended to sleep for a long time. Eventually I drifted off, but I woke up soon after because Lily had snuggled up to me and laid her head on my shoulder. She gave me this really interesting soup that was in a can. I asked her what was in it and she mumbled something about mice, and spit. So I dont think I will be trying that one for a while. Lily is really sweet, I try my best to be her friend.
It is really beautiful here, in a non traditional way. The city is very dirty, but very clean. There is no trash anywhere, but the builidings just look dingy. Every time I look out our apartment window I can see someone sweeping the street, even when it is raining. The people are beautiful, the bicycles and scooters are beautiful, their shops are beautiful. Not because they are shiny, or clean, but because they are different and simple. We walked to the bank the other day, and we passed women washing vegetables in a big bowl on the sidewalk. We passed a rack with ducks and other unidentifiable cuts of meat hanging outside in the breeze. There was a man riding a tricycle, he had trash piled in his cart, it was towering over him. Their are lived very simply. They never act above anything. What a refreshing thing to behold.
We have only been outside of the school gates a few times, only because we have been busy settling. But, when we go out we are heavily stared at. It is unreal. We went into a small restraunt (which was really brave) and tried to order as best we could. What we recieved was a mystery. One dish had a chicken foot in it, that was when I decided not to order any more meat.
We meet the kids tomorrow. I am really excited to teach them. It has been a little confusing getting classes and lessons together, but I think we will be okay. There is much much more i could write about, but this is good for now.
