A Week of Firsts

Many firsts for Erich and I to share...if we can remember them all. I have been meaning to carry my sketchbook with me more oftento write down all of the new things we're learning and experiencing, but typically we just pick up and go before Ican remember. So this week, you're getting what's on the top of my head and what I have photos of to jog my memory.

This is our apartment complex...we're on the 7th floor and just off the photo to the right is the school I work at. Our neighborhood is peaceful and quite...large magnolia trees everywhere and a little stream running through it with some koi looking fish. We walk everywhere and have the maturing leg muscles to prove it :) We're hoping to purchase bikes with our first paycheck this week to get further in shorter timeand explore more of the city.

Last weekend wasfullof art experiences, thanks to some great friends we've made. Brian (HS teacher at AIAN) and his wife Lauren (an amazing fabric artist) arranged a feast at a local restaurant Saturday night and invited many of the Chinese friends they've made over the past year in Beilun. The food was abundant and tasty...here everything is treated like family style eating in the states. We just order a bunch of plates, they goin the middle and there's a huge lazy susan most of the time that you just swing around to try it all. Brian and Lauren know all of the best plates too, so we're never disappointed when they order for everyone...tofu and hot peppers, battered pumpkin chips, steamed cabbage, a spinach/kale-like veggie...my mouth is watering just talking about it :) Anyway, after our bellies were full, they invited us back to their apt to share in a collaborative art experience Lauren was planning with a local Master Calligrapher, Robert. This photo is of Robert painting a Chinese passage onto a scroll of hand-dyed fabric that Lauren created and printed text from an old report from a ship that freed slaves in the Caribbean I believe. It was gorgeous. Lauren is an incredible artist and we're planning to take some calligraphy lessons from a local artist together!

As if that weren'tenough for one weekend, Rachel (AIAN's business manager who is a local from Ningbo) invited us on Sunday to visit and tour her/her husband's Art and English School called The Colorful School. This photo is of one of their painting studios. They have courses in oil and watercolor painting, calligraphy, drawing, and English for students of all ages. It is an amazing facility...I think there were about 10 art studios and 10 English classrooms in the building and the work I saw from students blew my mind. It made me want to take classes there! We were lucky to sit with Rachel and her husband Dave to talk about their school, future expansion and the possibility of Erich and I helping out there in different ways. We also got to hand out prizes to 3-6 year olds at the end of the day for English competitions they had been participating in while we were there. The incredible thing is that there are several other schools just like this (the English part, not the Art) all around Beilun that we've been introduced to. There is such a high demand from parents to have their children tutored in English and be ahead of their peers in this field. Yet, when walking around Beilun, not many people speak English. Maybe it is this up and coming generation that will be more comfortable and fluent...I guess Erich and I should be trying to talk with kids when we have questions we don't know how to ask in Mandarin.

Our first week of school was this past week and I had first day jitters like I was in kindergarten again. This is a photo of my elementary/middle school art room. The doorway in the middle opens up to a boys/girls bathroom just for art class (with 4 sinks...yay!) and you walk right through the bathrooms into my high school art studio. I am so excited about having 2 art rooms...we will be creating some fun art this year! I have to admit though that the middle and high school classes which I was most nervous about, are so far my favorite classes! They are so interested and engaged and I have some kids that are very talented and creative in whatthey've done just the first few days. I have 3 AP art students who I think will impress meas the year continues and I hope I can challenge them in ways they will find rewarding. Most of my classes are about 10-15 students, a very manageable size and hopefully that will lend to us doing some more interesting, messy and more intensive projects. Keep looking as I'm sure student work will be posted later in the year.

We went out with several teachers to dinner at a "hot pot" restaurant this week too. This is a photo of just some of the spread...more came later...mmmm. Basically, think Asian style "melting pot". Each person gets their own pot and burner filled with whatever type of liquid/broth you want...everything from your basic chicken broth to pumpkin flavored and spicy (what I got...and they weren't kidding about being spicy). Then you get bowls and bowls of fresh veggies, meats, tofu, etc. You place whatever fixin's you want in your boiling broth and take it out whenever you're hungry to eat. Holy moly, it was fabulous. You can bet if anyone comes to see us in Beilun, we'll likely take you here. All of this and of course beer too (beer is as cheap as water most places) for about $6/person. My belly loved this place :)

The last "first" to talk about is our first trip to Ningbo yesterday. Ningbo is a city of about 6 million and we live in Beilun (a district of Ningbo). It was about an hour taxi drive with Erich, Dennis and Tim (fellow teachers) and cost $5/each to get there. In Ningbo, we started off by eating some delicious Indian food then headed to Moon Lake and the oldest standing library in China. This photo is from the grounds of the library...it wasn't just any library...it was an entire compound of gardens, buildings, sculptures, stone wall carvings, bamboo groves, rock formations, and history. We spend awhile there just walking around and taking in all of the beauty and history. It also housed a Mahjong (ancient Chinese game that includes domino looking cards and that I know little about) exhibit, because the man who invented the game was also from Ningbo.

After this, we went on a little boat cruise on Moon Lake, wandered through some shops, checked out the back room of a DVD store for bootlegs, and a wandered around a Western grocery store before finding a German restaurant/pub. Didn't take much convincing for any of us to stop there, sit on the patio by the river and have a tasty German beer while enjoying the sunset. From here, we ventured to "The Londoner"...a bar owned by a guy Erich met in Colorado who has lived in Ningbo for 8 years. We met up with Thane (the bar owner), a super intelligent and connected guy, who bought us some drinks while we got to know each other, played pool and wii. Overall, a great day/night in Ningbo...thanks to Tim and Dennis for showing us around and making the day that much better :)

More firsts to come I'm sure, looking forward to the next "first" this week..."first paychecks"... :)