Day 3: We Have Arrived!

We're here, we're here! When we got off the plane and walked through the airport, I can't even begin to describe how excited we were. Everyone was reiterating that we were in China and would say really ordinary things like, "I'm going to use the bathroom" or "I am waiting for my bags" but would add "in China" after everything, and it sounded just that much more authentic and exciting. Also, when we said "we're going to use the bathrooms, IN CHINA," we had no idea what we were in for. Even in the airport, which is the most Americanized I feel like, there were squatters. No seat to sit on, no handle for you to flush with, etc. There was just a porcelain toilet looking seat sunken into the floor. Jenna and I walked in, noticed the squatters, and walked out. We weren't quite ready to jump that far into the culture yet.

We drove about an hour and a half from the airport to our school and dropped the three other groups at their schools. It was suprising to me how large the city was, there are four different schools here and all but Kaiyin and Sirqui are a pretty good distance away. When we finally pulled up to our school, we were amazed. I pictured kind of a smaller school, probably not the best of quality, etc. Boy was I surprised. Our school is huge, and beautiful. There is a gate with Chinese dragons on it and guards standing outside of it that allow people to enter the school. There is a separate building for Kindergarten and Elementary school, they have a massive cafeteria where we will eat with the kids, a little area with these sculptures of different things like a globe, a caterpillar, a bunny, etc. Also, probably my favorite feature about the school is the "jungle gym" workout place.

As we passed the track and the swimming pool on the side of the school, we noticed these bright yellow and blue machines by the side wall of the school. Naturally, our group went to take a look and see what they were. We discovered these little stationary bikes, a good representation of a non-electronic eleptical machine, a metal version of an ab lounger, etc. It was inncredible! I recognized most of these little machines, but some were so new and neat. We tried all of them and decided we would have little gym workout sessions as a group on our kids' playground to stay fit while in China.

Our apartments are right across from the school, literally. Such a wonderful convenience that only our school has recieved, we are incredibly lucky. This building is unique because it houses only teachers that teach at the Kaiyin school, kind of neat I thought. Also, we are on the fourth floor, but because the Chinese are superstitous of the number four, we are on the floor, "3B", "3A" is directly below us and the fifth floor is right above, kind of a funny little cultural fact.

Jenna and I share a room, there are two people per room, and its quite nice actually. We have our own little mini kitchen, our own full sized beds, a balcony that renders a beautiful view, a spare bed (that we use to hold all of our luggage, we have yet to unpack it all), a bathroom, and a TOILET! Jenna and I were pretty excited that we wouldn't be squatting for the next four months.

After we all got settled in our apartments, we got to go to lunch in the cafeteria and meet our native coordinators: Gloria and Marine. They are the cutest things. They were wearing fuzzy collared shirts, tight skinny jeans, and really large studded platform shoes. Fashion in China tends to be really outrageous, I've noticed, I love it. I'm sure it will become normal to me eventually and maybe I'll conform to their ways of fashion. Since we were all at a loss for communicating, with pretty much everyone, Gloria and Marine taught us some simple things to say, like, "I'm sorry", and "thank you", and "hello". We all felt really great that we could say these, so we typically over use them and try to use them in any situation as much as possible. When we start teaching (which is on Tuesday!), we will have the opportunity to sign up for Mandarin classes, along with karate classes, painting classes, etc. We are really treated well here.

We all got our Teching assignments for the semester today, and I will be teaching the Kindergarteners, ages 4-6! I am so thrilled. There are two ages that we could teach, the other being 7-9, and I am just so excited to be working with little little ones. I have always worked with younger kids back home, like in swimming lessons, in volunteering in preschools, etc., so I hope and think this wlll best suit me for the time I'm here. Also, I have a wonderful teaching schedule, I work from like nine in the morning to noon, and the afternoon is ours for the taking. That is the time where we can take our classes and also participate in ELE, I don't excatly remember what this stands for, but I know it's when we go into other Chinese classes where the kids are not signed up for the ILP program , and we teach them english for forty five minutes alongside another Chinese english teacher.

After we finished our meeting, we were told that we were going to go to the supermarket to get some of our basic needs and whatever treats we wanted. I forgot my purse at the apartment, along with Jenna and a boy named Cameron Garlick, so they told us to run back really fast to get them. We had to catch a bus to go there and it was due soon for arrival, so we needed to book it. Anyways, I thought it would be a good idea to skip down the stairs, as I do basically anywhere I go, and after the third flight, I ate it down the porcelain steps. It was quite embarassing and pretty painful, but funny at the same time. I rolled my ankle pretty nicely and wanted to laugh/cry. I tried hobbling back up to continue running, but definitely didn't happen. I stayed there and waited for the rest of the group while Cameron and Jenna ran back to get their wallets. My ankle has swollen up a bit around my shoe, but let's just cross our fingers that my lack of common sense won't try and put a damper on this trip for me!

We got to the supermarket and I have never seen such a bright building. Just as you entered, there were signs of just about every color, and were located in just about every place you could possibly put them. Everyone in the group wandered around and gathered what they would need for the next four months (laundry detergent, toilet paper, etc.) and we all sat in the aisles trying to mathematically convert yuan into American dollars. It was so difficult to try and figure what everything converted into, every little item we chose we were doing math equations in our heads to try and compare prices as to what you would pay in America. Eventually, we hope to just get a hang of this and not make it such an ordeal to buy some toilet paper. Also, when I went to checkout, I paid 81 yuan, which equals out to be 13 American dollars. I had so many things too, purchasing these things in the states would probably be arounf fifty dollars, so I think I can get used to this.

We decided to skip eating dinner at the cafeteria and go out on the town for dinner as a group. We really wanted to try the whole, "point at a picture and order it" idea that previous ILP people had talked about. I sat at a table with our head teacher Amanda (such an amazing girl by the way), her husband Preston, and another teacher named Courtney. Courtney and I are pretty similar I think; I really got placed in such an amazing group that is drama free and up to do anything. We decided to share three dishes: two orders of dumplings and some kind of soup with dumpling looking things in it. Still after eating these dishes, I can't even tell you what was in them. All I can say was that they were both incredible! Whoever was telling me that real Chinese food was terrible was quite wrong. I haven't had a lot of it, but so far I was liking what I was tasting.

With the dumplings, we got a side of this brown looking sauce that we weren't quite sure what it was. I dipped my dumpling in it and it was PEANUT BUTTER! It was amazing with the dumplings, I have no idea why but it was so tasty. When we went to pay for all of these, the total came out to be just a little over a dollar, for three dishes! Everything here is so cheap, it seriously blows my mind! I could seriously get used to this, I might have a hard time coming back to America and paying like eight dollars for a generic sandwich.

After dinner, we explored the city a little bit and got to visit a few little shops they have along the streets. They have pet shops (with a lot of brown poofy dogs, they're everywhere here, they must the rest), cute little pastry shops, dry cleaning places, a piano lesson shop, karate training facilities, etc. Everything is so easily accesible and so close to our apartments, it's incredible.

Our city, school, apartment, native coordinators, etc. are all phenominal. It is so surreal being here and actually living my life in China. We have more training tomorrow before we begin teaching, but I can't wait to learn more about what we will be doing. I love it here already, I can't get enough of it.

Pictures:
#1: At the airport with our massive bags
#2: Our humble abode for the next four months
#3: Their version of a washer, no dryer folks. Yay for old fashioned close lines!
#4: This, is our school. Amazing, right?
#5: Bean bread. Jenna and I thought they were raisins, but no, they're like sweet sugary beans. It's easily the best bread I've ever had (sorry Mom). It's so addictive, who would've known.
#6: Me in front of our school!
#7: The jungle "gym" that I explained, this might help give you a better idea of what I'm talking about.
#8: They have oreos, in so many flavors. We all have been missing out for so long, and we didn't even know it.