I'm on a boat

I know it has been a while, and there hasn’t been a great deal worth reporting on. But it seems that now is a good time for an update. The weather has finally turned and it is a beautiful spring day here in Kunming. I’m sitting here in bay window looking at a qoi fish pond, sipping coffee. Lest you think this is how I spend all my days, I must say that we are still on spring break. Ridiculously late in the year, I know. It did coincide with the Chinese tomb-sweeping festival. You go to your ancestor’s tomb and sweep out all the dust, kind of spruce the place up a bit. You give them fresh offerings of fruit and incense, burn some fake money so that your ancestors can buy themselves something nice. It’s kind of like mother’s day for dead people. The best part is lighting off a huge string of firecrackers when you’re all finished, effectively making passersby feel as though they are in a war zone.

I just got back from a trip to neighboring Guang Xi province. They have landforms called “karsks” which are basically gigantic rocks that shoot up from the ground. And by gigantic I mean really really gigantic. Check out facebook for pix. Anyway, on a lovely Friday afternoon a group of us hopped on board a train that would be our home for the next 20 hours. It’s like a moving summer camp with several dozen complete strangers. Good times. We purchased the top bunks, as those were the cheapest. Aside from requiring acrobatic skills to climb in and out of them, they were quite nice. The only minor inconvenience was that occasionally the train would jerk about as though we had just hit a cow (I’m pretty sure it was just moving to a different set of tracks, I’m fairly certain no harm came to any livestock during our journey) and forcibly jerk a sleeper awake. The light sleepers among us were unimpressed. But my cabin was next to the bathroom, so I really can’t complain, although the bathroom made me very happy that I had brought along my rubber boots.

We arrived in Guilin, the capital of Guang Xi province, about 20 hours after we left Kuming. There we wandered about in the rain and found a travel agent who helped us get a hotel. Subsequently we spent a lovely evening having dinner at pizza hut, chilling at a bizarre coffee house, and prowling a night market. The next day were up bright and early to head out to the rice terraces at Ping An. The day started rather bleakly, with nothing but rain and fog as far as the eye could see (again yay for rubber boots!). So we piled into a bus, where the tour guide proceeded to talk (yell, rather) for an hour straight about all the things we would do and see when we arrived at our destination. It made want to bust out a window and make a break for it. We finally arrived in a ridiculously touristy fashion, herded into the tourist information center (read: place where they make you wait in hopes that you will buy their sourvenirs) and after enough time had elapsed we get onto a different set of buses and head up the mountain. This is where things get fun. Careening through narrow, rocky paths on the side of a mountain is really what I came here for. I like the sense of adventure, it’s far better than any roller coaster.

We finally arrive at our destination, a lovely little village nestled in the mountains, home to a minority tribe called the Yao. The views were breathtaking, however it was a bit sad to think that these people just subsist on selling their culture to tourists. We saw a “long hair show” which consisted of the women (who never cut their hair) showing us how long their hair was. There were old ladies everywhere aggressively hawking their wares. One decided that my friend’s fiancé (who was wearing shorts) needed to buy one of her shawls to wrap around himself like a skirt so that he could keep warm. While it was really beautiful, there was something kind of depressing in the commercialism of it all. But they need to eat just like everyone else, and if this is the only way they can do it then more power to them.

After the village we headed up to the rice terraces. On a clear day you can see for miles. This was not a clear day. We didn’t really get to see the rice terraces, but the fog was beautiful in itself and it made for a really cool hike. We ate a delicious meal of chicken and rice cooked inside of bamboo shoots. They actually stuff the food inside of the bamboo chute and put it in the fire. It was one member of the group’s first time to use chopsticks in his life. It was kind of funny. After spending the afternoon hiking through beautiful fog, we returned to Guilin just in time to catch a bus to the neighboring town of Yang Shuo. We met our excellent guide, Christine, and checked into the Fawlty Towers Guesthouse. Funny name, but a lovely place. They had sheets and hot water and everything like that. We arrived in Yang Shuo around 8pm. Christine lives outside of time, so we had to wait at the bust station for her to arrive. While were waiting, we noticed that all the mountains have lights at the base, so you can see the mountains lit up at night. We also saw a cloud of smog that changed colors and weren’t really sure what that was all about. We figured it has something to do with the light show. At least we hoped it did. Anyway, after checking in and showering we strolled down the main western street and had dinner. At which point we were so exhausted that we promptly returned the guesthouse and passed out.

The next day was river day!!!! In the morning we took a bus to the village of Xing Ping and rode power boats down the river. You’re supposed to sit in them, but that was really boring so I stood on the front, much to the amusement of the Chinese tourists. It was like something from Lord of the Rings, huge mountains, basically enormous boulders, on either side of the river. We went upriver and then turned around. At the turn around the boatman made us put on life jackets, which seemed strange to me since we’d come this far without them. Apparently the government safety patrol didn’t start work until we’d stopped to turn around, rendering prior life-jacket usage unnecessary. We returned to Yang Shuo for lunch, and then we rented bikes and biked to the river for bamboo rafting.

First, a word about biking. I love biking. Pedaling hard, having the wind in my face, is the absolute best feeling in the world. I am not a leisurely biker, biking slowly sort of defeats the purpose. Many in our group did not share these sentiments, so I would go ahead of them, bike back to make sure they were still there. At one point I took a wrong turn and had to bike back a long ways, but I still say that was their fault for not keeping up with me. We arrive at the bamboo raft place and found a jolly band of raftmen sitting around. After exchanging some dance moves (we are working towards better cultural understanding) some of them finally decided they were low enough on beer money that they were ready to take us out. There are a few small cascades, so old ladies sell plastic bags to put on your feet to keep them dry. I opted to removed my shoes and roll my pants up. It was definitely the better decision. It was really nice and relaxing to just float on a boat down the river watching the biggest mountains I’ve ever seen.

We alit from the bamboo rafts and took the scenic biking route back to Yang Shuo. It was like biking in Cambodia all over again. Dodging water buffalo, riding 6 in wide rice paddy roads, biking through huge puddles and over gigantic rocks was quite refreshing after the traffic of Kunming. Upon our return to Yang Shuo, we split up, some going back to guesthouse, others heading to McDonalds for some coffee, fries, and ice cream. Dinner of champions. After dinner, my intrepid adventure buddy Kim and myself wandered around the city, then we found an excellent spot to sit and people-watch. Got stared at, stared back, played “where do you think they’re from?”, ate fried bananas. Nice. We got back to the guesthouse and played card games. The next day we returned to Guilin and played cards at KFC until we had to leave for the airport. Got back to Kunming and ate take-out while watching the Last Samurai. Lovely end to a lovely trip. And school doesn’t start til Monday!!!

Take care all

Aviation misadventures

Well I have returned to China, after wonderful and somewhat extended visit home for Christmas. Christmas break was great, got some quality family time which made the ordeal of travel well worth it. As you might imagine, trans-oceanic adventures are generally riddled with their fair share of frustrations, and while 30 hours beats the 30 weeks it would have taken to make the journey by boat a hundred years ago, it is still a REALLY long time to be in a plane/airport. As with most journeys, everything went well til I got to the airport. At the ticket counters in the Kunming airport, the delineation between different airlines is fluid at best. There was no one at my airline’s ticket counter, so some random guy took me to a random counter. By some miracle they checked me in. I was even able to speak Chinese to them. A banner day. Then I arrived at Beijing, to be greeted by a Starbucks. Be still my heart. Until I got to the ticket counter (If I ever write a book, it will be titled “It was all going well until I got to the ticket counter”) to discover that my four hour layover had been doubled, giving me 20 minutes to make a connection upon arrival in San Francisco. After a great deal of people-watching, I finally boarded the plane and promptly fell asleep. I woke up somewhere over the Pacific vaguely wondering what would happen to me and my luggage as I most likely wouldn’t make my connection. Many others were wondering the same thing. We finally land and run through customs, only to wait for luggage. Unfortunately checking one’s bags all the way to the final destination does not get them through customs on their own. So we waited for our bags. And waited. And then just to change things up we waited some more. Our connections were leaving. Our bags were in some unknown location. And suddenly the beautiful sound of a luggage carousel clanging. Bags poured forth from every direction. So many that the carousel broke. Back to waiting. By the time we got our bags, they just let us bypass customs and run to the reticketing counter. I was told that I might actually make my flight. It was still on time (meaning it left 10 min ago) but was running just a little late so I could make it. I ran as fast as I could, flying through security and nearly running over innocent pedestrians. I arrive breathless at the gate, and go to join the line of passengers preparing to board. Except they’re all going to Monterrey. It turns out my flight, which was still “on time” was running “a little late” (20 min) because the previous flight was running over an hour late and was just beginning to board. I had time to clean up, grab a bite to eat, relax a bit. My flight ended up being over an hour late but I wasn’t complaining. Although I did have to fight the urge to scream at the woman who complained about the horrors of have to spend four hours in an airport. After all was said and done I arrived at my final destination only an hour late, which I think was pretty good.
But only a week and a half later I had to return. So we packed up the car and the family drove me three hours to Kansas City. It was all going well, until I got to the ticket counter. I tried to swipe my passport, but it didn’t work so I had to give it to the guy behind the counter. He entered my info. As soon as he did, a look came over his face which told me wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon. Turned out my flight (which the airline had told me was on time when I called a few hours before) was delayed 2 hours, but it didn’t matter since my connecting flight was cancelled. After some woeful system searching, it was decided that I couldn’t fly out for four more days. While a bit annoying since we’d driven all that way (and to the co-workers who would have to cover for me), getting another weekend at home was pretty great.
The weekend was fantastic, except the part spent on hold with airlines. There were issues with my rebooking, but after many hours I was assured that everything was fine and dandy. I made it to Los Angeles and everything was going well. Until I got to ticket counter. I discovered things were not fine and dandy. United airlines had sort of forgotten to confirm my seat (and two other people’s) and so they gave our seats away. Standby isn’t a good thing at 12:40 am. When the next flight won’t leave for another 8-12 hours. So I stood there and glared at them til they gave me a seat. Once again I ran through the airport, just making it in time to board.
After all that adventure I arrived safely back in Kunming and made it work that afternoon. Today was wonderful day of picture-taking with my new camera!!! I showed the pictures I took at home to the people who work at the restaurant where I had dinner. They were quite impressed. I know they said the snow was beautiful and then they were really excited to see my family but I couldn’t understand what they said about them. I’m sure it was good things though. Still tired and sore from the plane, so I’ll sign off. Love and miss everyone!

The weird, the sad, and the awesome.

December is here already. Wow. First off, apologies for not having pix yet, I’ve been a bit under the weather. And a bit lazy. But anyway, hoping to have everything ready before I head home for Christmas, which is only about two weeks away! So excited, but so much to do. Things have been about the same. The small children are adorable, but a bit lacking in hygiene, so I’m getting to build up my teacher immunity the hard way. I’m thinking of asking their parents to pay for my Tylenol. Just kidding. Sadly, they had a Christmas recital which I couldn’t attend because I was sick. Boo. But overall things are going well. I can form complete sentences in Chinese, perhaps not correctly, but I can order noodles to go, purchase the world’s smallest tins of vicks vapo-rub, and ask for half a kilo of beef. Of course the market ladies are all very kind and tell me how good my Chinese is. They’re lying of course, but given our initial encounters I have made substantial progress.

One of things that I’m just now getting used to about China is how quiet the motorbikes (honestly they’re more like glorified mopeds) are. In Cambodia, they were gas-guzzlers, but here most of them are electric. Most buildings have electrical outlets on their outside walls so people can plug their motos in. You might think that these quiet, battery powered machines would be much nicer to deal with than the gas-powered ones, with their revving and exhaust and whatnot. I suppose if you’re sitting in your house, that’s perfectly true. But if you’re on the street they have a way of sneaking up on you. They might be going the wrong way down the sidewalk, and if you are not looking where you are going they are liable to run into you. Another fun thing that makes Chinese traffic awesome is that they can text. In Cambodia, most phones don’t support Khmer script so most people couldn’t text. But all phones support Chinese characters. So people riding silent scooters the wrong way while texting. It makes life an adventure

Because it’s turned cold, it’s time to get out the space heaters and… cook. Many people who operate stores don’t want to go back and cook in the kitchen, it’s much more efficient just to put pots on your space heater. Thus most storefronts smell really delicious this time of year.

Ah the cold. I have missed it, apparently my lungs don’t. I really can’t complain however. At night I curl up in warm clothes under mountains of blankets with a heating pad. The construction guys working behind my house have a tent. They are most likely from more rural villages, not from the city. This makes them illegal (people can’t just decide to move, their citizenship papers are only valid in their mother’s district) so they basically have no rights. Most of them speak their local village dialects, not Mandarin which puts them at a disadvantage. Since they and they’re children are illegal (even thought they’re all Chinese citizens) they don’t have access to schools or clinics or decent housing. Another problem is their bosses can basically treat them however they want. They might promise them a certain salary, and only pay a small portion, saying the rest will come next month. Of course it doesn’t come next month, but because they are illegal, they have no recourse. Very sad stuff.

But I wanted to end on a bright note. Thus I will tell you about possibly the coolest group of people in the neighborhood. The old ladies who do tai chi. On the basketball court. With swords. That’s what I call aging gracefully. My downstairs neighbor is one of indelible gals. Tai chi starts at 8, same time I’m supposed to be at work. Clearly neither my neighbor nor I are morning people, so we often meet on the stairs, booking it to be on time. It’s so surreal to see this basket ball court, where young guys play basket ball all day, being taken over by their grandmothers. They are extremely graceful, they do their warm ups, then some of them bust out what look like smaller versions of samurai swords. Wow. My neighbor has a hard time pulling open the door to our building because it is pretty heavy, but then she just goes down to tai chi and whips out her sword. Do not judge a book by its cover my friends.

It's fall!

It’s fall!!!! It’s fall! Its fall! I’m only a little excited about that fact. Leaves are brown, it’s chilly sweaters and slippers weather. Oh how I’ve missed fall. The only thing missing is getting up at ridiculously early hours to go eat Little Debbies in woods, waiting for deer to emerge. I must say, without camo, fluorescent orange clothing, and muddy pick up trucks it just doesn’t really seem like fall. But it is cold and there are brown leaves, things I haven’t experienced in a couple years. So I purchased some fur-lined boots and heating pad and they make me happy. In an attempt to try to readjust to the cold I held out on using any sort of heating device. And then I got a terrible cold. So I did the adult thing and got more blankets and turned on the heat.

My house is painted! Hopefully I will the light fixtures and art up within the next week and then I can post pictures. It really looks great. I am excited.

With fall comes nasty bugs and no one spreads nasty bugs as well as first graders. Many of them were sick this past week, so hopefully the weekend gave them a chance to get better.

Thanksgiving is coming. We do have school Thursday, but we’re off Friday. There is a western store that will order turkeys, but I’ve been promised one at Christmas so I will wait until then. If I tried to fry a turkey in my apartment I might end up burning the whole building down.

That’s about all for now, hopefully will have pix soon!

chi fan le ma?

That means "Have you eaten rice yet?" Like Cambodians, the Chinese are far more likely to ask you about your food situation than how you are doing. Which I like a lot. Honestly, when we say to someone "How are you?" we really don't care how they are. We are being polite, merely acknowledging their existence. I think this is a much less pretentious greeting.

I think cities have it in for me. It took a couple years for me to get really sick in Cambodia. I have been in China for less than 3 months and have already gotten sick twice. Good times. So my dear mother has reminded me that I haven’t updated in a while. A lot of this has to do with the fact that I work mainly with Americans and other westerners now, so I don’t have nearly as many fun and exciting stories.

However, if you ever do up and decide to come to China, here are a few things you might want to keep in mind. I mentioned before that China is a strange mixture of America and Cambodia, so case in point: Like Cambodia, almost all toilets are squatters. And like America, they don’t have basins of water for clean-up purposes, people use toilet. Unlike America, the paper is not provided. Ever. If you go to Cambodia you can’t stay quite clean because of all the water, you just have to deal with a wet spot on your pants. But here that is not the case. If you don’t have any paper you are slam out of luck. And restrooms are generally filthy. While they always flush theoretically, usually (in order to conserve water) the pressure is pretty minimal. So imagine a public toilet that hasn’t been flushed in a few days. I’ll go in the bushes thank you very much. Also, and to be fair I have only seen this one time, there was a bus stop where the stalls had no doors. It was not pleasant. If you have a problem with people staring at you because of the color of your skin, I don’t suggest entering a doorless restroom. It is strange because there are people all over the place cleaning up streets and sweeping and scrubbing traffic dividers. No one cleans the bathrooms. Everyone has to have a job here; it’s the law. Unfortunately public toilets got the short end of the staff list.

Fortunately at school the bathrooms are much better, and we have awesome cleaning people. Our cleaning/maintenance people are pretty cool. We can’t really communicate but they smile a lot and help whenever they see I’m having problems with Chinese appliances.

Instead if just working with English Language Learners like I thought I would, I work with pretty much all of first grade. It’s a fun mix, but first graders are certainly a handful.

I’m enjoying living on my own. I can cook a few different meals and the veggie stand across from house has excellent stuff. The funny thing is that I don’t really know how to cook a lot of western food. I’m much better at making rice-related dishes. Although I did recently purchase a Jiffy cornbread mix and am planning to make it in my rice cooker. Will let you know how that turns out.

A parting note: congrats to both the Rangers and the Tigers for reeking of excellence.

one month in...

I’ve been in China over a month now. In many ways it’s a lot like Cambodia. You can throw chicken bones on the floor, wear clothes that don’t match, spit on the street, and drive however and on whichever side of the road suits your fancy. In a lot of ways it’s different, there are roads, and cars, women wear high heals, and everyone has a washing machine. Sometimes this combination throws me off. I have sort of compartmentalized my life into Cambodia and America. For example, staring, in Cambodia I’m a foreigner and everyone stares so I’m used to it. But I’m used to it when I go to an open air market with a mud floor where people are throwing fish at me. Not so much in.. say … an international airport. Or WalMart. China does have a plethora of locations where vendors are enthusiastic about their wares in a more outdoorsy kind of environment, by the area of the city where I live is not one of those. Because it is so developed my brain goes into America mode, where large numbers of people staring at you mean you’ve probably broken some important social convention. I definitely don’t get stared at nearly as much here, but because of the setting it is still very strange to me. Also, I work mainly with other Americans. They are wonderful people, but being American they kind of assume I know how Americans are supposed to act and to be honest, I’ve kind of forgotten. It’s not that I’ve completely forgotten, when someone goes to shake my hand I don’t bow to them or recoil in terror, I’m just very unsure of my social skills. These were never really my strong point before, and two years in completely different culture hasn’t helped. When small children hear more than on language growing up, they will usually be able to speak both languages and distinguish between the two, but if they hear the languages mixed together, they become language confused, unable to distinguish grammar and vocabulary of the languages. I think I have become culture confused. I’m sometimes not sure what is appropriate; I do or say something and then realize that isn’t something you can do in Western culture. For example while I would never call a person I know fat, I will sometimes refer to overweight people as fat in the same way that I might refer to someone who has brown hair as a brunette. Luckily most people here can’t understand me and if they could they probably wouldn’t mind. But this tendency does bother foreigners a bit.

So aside from this sort of reverse culture shock I’m doing well. I’ve picked up some Chinese, enough to go shopping, order take out, and refuse offers of peach flavored condoms. However, I still don’t understand the majority of things that are said to me, so depending on the level of importance I can say I don’t understand, or use elaborate sign language, or simply smile and nod. That skill has come in quite handy over the years.

So China. I live in Kunming, which is surrounded by mountains. There is virtually no place in the city where you can’t see mountains. There are a couple WalMarts, a German equivalent of a Sam’s Club. There are a couple of lakes and several beautiful parks. There isn’t a lot of old, however. They tear down any building over 50 years old and build new ones. People can actually own their own homes, but if those homes are more than 50 years old the government will tear them down. Kunming is by far one of the nicest places in China. It is a very wealthy town, especially the area where I live. I do admire the Chinese devotions to the aesthetic. This is a new development, in the past all the building were the same sort of industrial design. But now almost every apartment complex (and there are lot of those) can be distinguished by it’s own unique colors. The upside of everyone having a job is that you have get creative in giving people jobs to do. There are sweepers everywhere. They sweep every inch of roadway, including six lane overpasses. Sometimes you see people scrubbing road dividers. There is a definite if not love then appreciation of nature. They go to great lengths to ensure greenery is everywhere. A lot of this has to do with the government’s energy reduction campaign. But like all countries, it is dealing with modernization. China is now a first world country, as the 60 mile traffic jam outside of Beijing proved, but it conflicts with a lot of cultural values. It is basically, like America, a nation trying to balance it’s love of nature with it’s love of tall buildings.

A typical day for me in China goes a little something like this:
My alarm goes off at 6:30, but it’s still dark, so I am unmotivated to move.

I finally get up sometime before 7 and have breakfast, usually yogurt and fruit

At work by 8:00, molding young minds. *Read: trying to get them to put periods at the end of their sentences.I have 6 students, Koreans, a “Canadians,” (Canada only requires one year of residency to get citizenship, so a lot of Chinese move there for a year, to get their kids Canadian passports, people with Chinese passports can’t attend international schools), Japanese, and some who are have parents from two different countries. While I only have 6, I work with all of first grade, which is a lot of fun. Some kids speak 3 or 4 languages, some are new to China, it’s a really diverse group.

I try to pack a lunch, but that doesn’t always happen. They have Chinese and Korean lunch at school.
Chinese food is a lot of meat and veggies stir fried, the rice is just a filler, eat at the end of the meal.
Korean food is basically spicy pickled cabbage called kimchi that is used to season everything. The other day there were kimchi burritos. If you are ever offered this particular dish, it would be a good time for you suddenly develop a burrito allergy.

There are usually meetings after school, so when I get home I play with my cat and listen to music to recharge my brain.

In the evenings I make dinner, or go to dinner with friends, or go to the park, or watch tv online.

That’s pretty much my life.


In the exciting news department I just bought my ticket to go the US for Christmas! I’ll be there from the 19th – 29th.

My house is pink.

Ok, my building is pink, or perhaps it is more rust colored, but all the buildings in my apartment complex are yellow and rust colored. This is convenient, as it makes the place easy to spot from a distance. I don’t know my way around yet, so I spend a lot of time wandering.

On Wednesday I left Cambodia. The night before I stuffed myself on Cambodian food for the last time. I managed not to cry until I was on the way to the airport. My Cambodian friend came with me, so at least I wasn’t alone. I was able to stop crying by the time I arrived at the check in counter, but after I got checked in I waited with my friend before I had to go through security and just started bawling. People were definitely staring but I’m used to that by now. Walking up the stairs was hard. Getting on the plane was hard. I feel bad for the people who sat next to me. I was definitely crying most of the way to China.

We landed in Guangzhou. Thus began my 7 hour layover. In Phnom Penh they told me that my luggage was checked all the way to Kunming. At the transfer counter in Guangzhou I learned there was some sort of misunderstanding. So I had to go back through customs, back to the luggage carousel, and retrieve my bags. I already knew my bags were overweight and that I would have to pay extra for them, so I arrive for the second time at the transfer counter, ready to pay for my bags. Alas there was another misunderstanding. As the staff spoke rather poor English, and I speak zero Chinese, I understood that the bags had to be paid for before they could be checked in. And the paying happens on the 3rd floor. So I get in the elevator, only to find that there is no 3rd floor button. I wander the second floor trying to ask staff where I’m supposed to be going. Each person tells me to go somewhere else, when I arrive somewhere else, I am told to go elsewhere yet again. Did I mention my luggage was heavy? The staff was very eager to help, but the language barrier was a bit too much.

And then I had a bit of meltdown. I was lugging my heavy bags through a deserted hallway. My mind was racing, wondering why I left a place I knew, people I loved who loved me, to come wonder to a strange place all alone. I have never been so lonely in my life as I was at that moment. I just sat down on my bags and cried. Two guys drove by on an electric cart and asked if I needed to go anywhere. I’m a foreigner, alone in an empty hallway, sitting on luggage, crying her eyes out. I can’t imagine what a sight I must have been to them. I just shook my head, opting to attempt to pull myself together before any more social interaction. I finally find my way to another part of the airport, where lo and behold there is an elevator the third floor. The third floor was huge and bustling with people, I felt a lot better. Surely I could pay for my excess baggage here. I hunt for a promising counter. First I go to international overweight luggage. They tell me I’m in the wrong place, and point me to domestic overweight luggage. Domestic overweight luggage tells me I have to check in first, and I attempt to explain that the check in people told me I had to pay first. He sends me to CDE. I wasn’t sure what that meant so I just wandered some more, looking for any signs written in English. By now I’m feeling rather fantastic. It’s as though I’m playing some of airport counter scavenger hunt, go to as many counters as you can in seven hours. I am clearly dominating this game. I see a counter marked oversize luggage and give it a shot. Finally light is shed on my situation, it is the wrong counter yet again, but the guys manages to get across that CDE isn’t a special counter, it means that I can check in my luggage at counters C1-C20, D1-D20, or E1-C20. Yay! So it turns out the bags could be checked in, but just not downstairs. So I finally check in my bags! They weigh them and write the excess weight on a ticket, and hold my boarding pass hostage until I pay and bring them the receipt. I am more than happy to do this, elated at the idea that I have finally found someone willing to take my money. So after three hours of trying, I finally get rid of my checked bags.

Success. Time for McDonalds. The McDonalds is about the size of a closet. There are a total of three menu items: ice cream cones, oreo mcflurries, and spicy chicken sandwiches. A balanced meal if I ever saw one. I got a mcflurry and a sandwich. I’m slightly embarrassed to admit how delicious they were. Seriously it tasted just like they do in America. Granted I have been gone a while, but still. It made me ridiculously happy. So I napped until it was time to board the plane.

The flight was uneventful, until we got over Kunming. The weather was bad, so we circled the airport for about half an hour. Then the pilot decides it’s just too dangerous, so we land at another airport and wait there for over an hour. I felt terrible because I knew someone was waiting for me, and had been since my plane was supposed to arrive at 9pm. By the time we finally arrived in Kunming it was 1am.

But I made it to China. Kunming really is the nicest place in China (I haven’t actually seen any other places, but I’m assured by everyone that it is) and I believe it. It’s incredibly clean. Women with brooms are everywhere, sweeping. And there are trash can placed conveniently around the city so you don’t have to through trash on the ground. Nice. My apartment is wonderful, I definitely hit the jackpot as far a first apartments go. I have a big master bedroom, and two smaller rooms (so you can come visit!) in addition to a large living room, smaller kitchen, and a laundry room. I have 3 loveseats and a cushioned chair that are ocean blue. I have running (hot) water, a washing machine, and a bathtub. No dryer or AC, but those are really unnecessary. The weather here is great. The only times I’ve broken a sweat have been during exercise. Yay. The apartment complex has over 80 buildings. It’s really huge. The school is less than a ten minute walk away from my building. There are tons of convenience stores, fruit stalls, and various other small shops in the complex. There is even a coffee shop with wireless. The grounds are beautiful. There are tons of gardens and ponds and trees. In the mornings I can watch old people doing tai chi or bringing their pet birds out for some fresh air. There are gazebos and benches for hanging out, and random exercise equipment for anyone to use.

The school is ballin. The classroom are air conditioned and the entire campus has wireless. My room has a 3D image projector. You put anything inside this little box and it projects a 3D image of that object onto the screen. The new teachers all seem to be great. They’re all quite a bit older than me and more experienced. Which is good because I have no idea what I’m doing. I’m working with a guy named Jeff who has worked with underprivileged kids in Chicago for several years. He and I will basically be making sure the non-native English speakers in 1st and 2nd grade can keep up. The school is very progressive as far as teaching techniques. My instructions were to do whatever will help the kids learn, if standing on my head helps the kids learn than I should do that. So we’re probably going to move the desks, and get rugs, pillows and beanbag chairs to make it feel more comfortable. I’m thinking of maybe getting a play kitchen, and maybe even a classroom pet.

So that’s about it. I still need to go shopping and buy house stuff, and learn Chinese so I can buy stuff without it turning a game of charades.
I love and miss you all, and please come visit if you can!