Way High!

Yay I have finally found a faster way to update my blog!! So I have only been here a week, but I have learned SO MUCH about Chinese culture, Chinese/American people, how people CAN adapt to pretty much any reasonable circumstance, and myself. So far they have spoiled us here... I started off with my own room, but then learned we had to have two to a room. So rachy moved in, which is even better!! We have a huge room, with fridge/freezer, washer, fan, bathroom, closet, gorgeous view of the town/kinda ocean, TV. My head teacher did this a couple years ago in another town and he said this is a palace compared to where he was. I keep hearing stories of how bad other schools have it. We are very fortunate and lucky to be here! We havent met the kids we teach yet, but we start tomorrow. My teaching partner, Bri, and I have been getting our classroom ready. Decorating has been a blast and a half! I cant wait to meet them! We have met some of the other kids from around the campus and they are ADORABLE. We walked in on a little girl playing the piano, around 5 -years- old with amazing talent!

We had to go in groups of twos with the Chinese teachers here and meet with some of the students at their homes. The kids are cute and very smart! We corrected their English workbooks. They could write and speak English like it is no big thing! English is their second language and they speak just as well as those in America that only know English! The homes we saw are pretty nice, and the families are so proud of the students. We spent some time looking through photo albums and saw a little more of their culture! They are so happy to meet us.

My group has received a lot of attention around campus. If we go up to the students and say "nei hao," they instantly change their demeanor and become giddy and say "howdy or hello!" Some of them will ask to take pics with us on their camera phones and ask us to give them american names. The other day, this girl, Olano (she named herself an "american name" haha) made Rachel an entire tupperware of dumplings! They were delicious! It was really funny. The boys become jumpy and laugh when we acknowledge them, and the girls tell us how pretty we are and then they literally skip away and jump up and down! Hahah it's so funny. The cafeteria food is okay.. but we go into town and we find delicious noodles or pot stickers and veggies and stuff which are good! We've been to KFC twice already, hah.

The first day was hard! .. 16 hr plane ride.. found out one of my duffels didnt make it, ( I eventually took a cab and got it at the Weihai airport an hr away) 14 hr bus ride and then we stopped for dinner and they brought out the entire fish.. deep fried, the whole shrimp.. eyes and all, clams and what tasted like weeds and cabbage and haha. Nasty!! Besides that day, it has been a fun time. I am lucky to have such a good group. My group is very fun and adventurous! We take the bus into the city which is like 40 min away and the fare is only 1 yuan, which is like 7 cents haha. The market is there and we try new foods, see more of the culture, and buy cheap dvds for a dollar and it is so fun! The people just stop and stare at us.. haha. The other night, my friend Chantel, who is 6 foot and blonde, blue-eyed, got asked to take a picture with these two older men. Haha!! They love Americans... which I love, and is very flattering!

We met this 15-year-old boy, Bobby, who is our new best friend. He is so friendly and knows English very well, and teaches us Mandarin. He sits by us at lunch and tells us about his video games, and his obsession with the Chinese Opera, (which he doesn't admit to his friends). Haha. He told Rachel, as he was looking through her DVD case that his favorite movies are Titanic, 27 Dresses, and Bride Wars. HAH. He, this other teacher ( who we named Steve-O, and is here with another program), and various people in our group have brought us a lot of comic relief. Humor is something that has brought us closer together and kept us from being homesick. All in all, I have just been open minded and accepting and knowing that it is not going to be like the US. It has helped me thus far with culture shock and things that could potentially break my high spirits. I don’t know what I would do without my friends (especially Rachel)! We have “pillow talk” every night and there are 6 of us that are really close and we just talk and laugh, analyze chinese culture, and make up dances and perform them for the rest of the group. Hahah, so ridiculous.

P.s. You should see how crazy we go over dove chocolate/snickers/peanut butter/ice cream at the grocery store!