We moved into our apartment on Saturday and decided that we may never have a place with a better view. I will have to take photos and post soon, but we can see the mountains from our bedroom/living room and pretty sunsets over the city while in the bathroom. It's a beautiful community we live in and the school is literally a 2 minute walk from our place.
I experienced what Debra (Erich's Mom) must have gone through in Korea with Kim (his Dad) when we visted the "RT Mart" for the first time on Saturday (RT Mart is the local one stop shop down the street). As I was wheeling my cart in the sea of people and trying to smile back at the stares I was getting, I turned around and my heart was pounding...I could not find Erich! In the states his head of black hair and complexion sticks out in the crowd, but here he is just another Asian man in the midst of the locals. After tracking him down, I decided it might be a good idea to know what color shirt he's wearing when we go to the store from now on :)
We're loving the food and it's much easier to eat vegetarian than I had thought. Meat is more expensive here, so vegetables are a part of every meal and place to eat. For example, we've had these steamed, bread buns with vegetables (Erich gets pork too) in them from street vendors that are very tasty and very cheap (1 yuan...which is about 25 cents...for 2 buns). I think they're called something like "bao za. Today, we stopped in a little mom and pop restaurant, pointed to some photos that looked tasty and I ended up with a heaping plate of cooked potatoes and peppers. Erich's dish required noodles and we had the excitement of getting to watch a very talented local make the noodles from scratch right in front of us! Why don't they have this everywhere in the US?? It was pretty amazing entertainment and the food was good too :)
Anyway, must rest up for getting my classroom together tomorrow. More on that later, but for now, zai jian, good-bye, and see you soon...
So ah-ma-zing!!! Cant wait to hear more!!!
ReplyDeleteSound like you and Erich are settling in nicely. I'm sure the anticipation of this move created much anxiety, but life is an adventure, it should be enjoyed and you are making the most of it :) After reading your blog about getting seperated from Erich while going to the market, I was wondering if you and he always keep your cell phones on you and if something like this should happen again, would it help? Sorry but the mom in me had to ask. As you know, Jamie took me to Nashville for my birthday. It was such a wonderful surprise - honestly, I thought someone would slip up, but nobody said a word. It was one surprise after another, including Dan and John sitting at a restaurant table waiting for us to arrive. The time went by too quickly and the memories make me laugh and cry. You girls are more loved than you'll ever know.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned getting your classroom ready and I was wondering if you met any of your co-workers yet? Are most of the teachers local or internation? I think I heard that most, if not all, of the students spoke English - but I imagine there must be some language barriers? So many question - probably too many! Thanks for the blog link, as I'm not very techno savy and would like to keep in touch.
May God keep you and Erich safe.
Love, Debbie
sorry for the delayed response debbie! erich and i do have a cell phone...but just one. we share it and erich has it while i'm at school then we're usually together when we venture out and about. it's kind of weird to be a little more disconnected from technology here, but when there are only a handful of people who speak english in beilun, there's not much use for phones here :) now that we've been here a month too, we're much more comfortable in getting around, hailing taxis and communicating with the locals if we get separated.
ReplyDeletethe teachers i work with are GREAT. many are from the US, but some from New Zealand, Australia, the UK, etc. we spend most of our free time hanging out, traveling and exploring with them, so we're fortunate that everyone is so friendly and welcoming. we have a wide range of english language learners at our school. some students are fluent and others are non-verbal as far as english goes. it's a challenge but our ELL team is very helpful in giving us tools to make life easier. art is an amazing subject to teach to this group because it is such a universal way of communicating. i am lucky that it is so visual and so i think communication is easier for me than some other teachers.
what's new in ohio? hope your labor day weekend was eventful!