I have an Office

... which I share with 11 other teachers but nonetheless I have an office. 

Now that I am settled in Jinshitan, scenic and exciting photos will probably be few and far between. But life here is far from dull - on Tuesdays and Thursdays I am playing ball hockey, on Fridays there is a bowling league, and on my way home from the OFFICE today I was invited to play basketball on Saturday morning. This is all on top of teaching 2 social studies and 2 PE classes. 

I have been planning a ton for my Social Studies class so I am excited to begin teaching, and my PE block is doing soccer right now so that's running smoothly. Cooking my every dinner is time consuming, but I have been happy with results. Tonight I will fry up some shredded beef and make some form of a burger, with Gioza on the side. 

The photo posted is of my sponsor teacher and one of his Grad Transitions classes which I will take over. During the class I had the students make name tags and pose in the hallway for a photo - I hope to learn all their names sooner than a week before I head home...

This weekend I have my heart set on buying a phone. 

Its already the end of February... half way done. 

My Place

For the first time in my life I had the feeling 'this is my apartment'. But unfortunately, this is my apartment which the previous owner did not clean before moving out. It was embarrassingly exciting buying things like clothes hangers, garbage baskets, dish soap, and towels. It even felt good cleaning... for about an hour - then it got boring. However, now I sit in an ordered apartment with spotless floors and a fridge that no longer smells odd. The grocery store was an interesting trip - it took me about an hour to spend $25. The most expensive thing was cooking oil ($10 for a big jug... I have no idea why) while every thing else was rather cheap: loaf of bread $1, canned peaches $1.50, big bag of oatmeal $2.50, 2L of water $.60, and more. Dinner last night was average as I don't know where to buy vegetables or good meat yet, but breakfast this morning was delicious - oatmeal with canned fruit, and bread and jam.

These pictures are an attempt to describe my apartment... there are 2 bedrooms, one bathroom with shower and laundry (crowded), a kitchen, a corridor with a fridge and cupboards, a sun room (for drying clothes), and a living room with couch and TV. It is a good size, and it is warm enough! The picture of the boy making the Red Star with thread is above my bed - my first piece of wall art. It is painted... but it is mass produced... don't ask me how. 

Today I will continue to work on my lesson planning. The school is rather deserted right now, but thats ok because I have plenty to do and I will actually be able to concentrate. 

Forbidden City and the Olympics

The Forbidden City was amazing. I got there first thing in the morning and rushed through the larger areas trying to get some photos without hundreds of people in them. Then I got an audio guide and spent another 4 hrs wandering... some very interesting stories. *Stephen those creatures on the corners of the roof are there to fend off evil spirits, and depending on the importance of the building there are more or less present (9 is the most). The first picture is of a wall made up of many tiles, and showing 9 dragons. Emperor's were apparently reincarnations of dragons. And 9 is the strongest number (also my soccer number...)

I'm at a new hostel now, it is fine but there aren't many people staying here so it's not very social. I did however meet a German on the subway and we (along with 5 others, 2 of whom I'd met the night previous) went out for dinner and drinks last night. I saw dead Mao... sort of an eery experience - being 10 feet away from a man who is so historically important, considered by some a hero and by others a monster. Just like most of my opinions, I am open to a grey area. Not to say I believe he was a good man, but there are a lot of political leaders who have done a lot of bad things. Bored?

Today I went to the National Olympic Stadium. I loved it - I walked around the track and imagined Husein Bolt's perspective after he broke the 100m record, and then I sat down in the first row where only the coaches were allowed to sit. Now I am back at the hostel, tired. I will go for a simple dinner, maybe Bjorn is around again.

Beijing - Stephen's long weekend

After a nice nap at the Beijing airport, Stephen arrived. The first night was a beer and trying to stay awake as long as we could - we made it until 11pm. A free bike rental at our hostel let us explore the area the next day and really blend in with the locals (see picture). Our days in Beijing have consisted of a mixture of exploring the major sites and finding character restaurants that have and have not gone out of business (ask Stephen). I think for both of us the highlights were hiking 10km along the Great Wall, and spending a morning in the local park juggling and twirling ribbon amongst hundreds of people (see photo... of Stephen looking not a day older than 19). Stephen leaves today so I will make my way to another hostel on the other side of Tiananmen Square. I head back to Dalian on the 15th (found a flight cheaper than the bus!) so for the next 5 days I will visit some of the other sites and do some shopping. I am looking forward to spending some serious time in the Forbidden City - although there are restaurants and a Starbucks inside... a shame. However, Stephen has just walked in the door from a visit there and said it was amazing (I didn't go because he only had an hour to visit) so I am further excited.