When you can't sleep...

So I just spilled pepto bismol on my couch. I guess it's a good thing my couch is pink.

I can't sleep. My stomach is freaking out and I got the complete 4th season of One Tree Hill and I just have to watch one. more. episode. Mostly I can't sleep because of my stomach. I'll leave out the details. It's just awful.

I really should be sleeping. Tomorrow is Back to School night and I have to give a little presentation to all my parents.

I know I've been bad about updating lately. I promise I've tried. I have four unfinished blog drafts and they are all about different things. I've just been busy and it feels like there is much to report, but at the same time it feels like there is nothing really exciting going on.

School is going well. It's so different from BHE, but I'm getting used to it. I remember at BHE we used to always say that there should be someone who comes around the center putting all the beds out for us cause it was so time consuming and annoying. Well here they do! I take my kids to lunch and when we come back the beds are all set out, blinds down and lights off. It's a nice change. However, even  if I did have to put out beds it would only be FOUR beds so I wouldn't be able to complain since I used to put out 14 every day. I only have 8 kids right now and only 4 of them are full day. I'll get up to 15 kids the end of the year, but for now it's 8 kids and three teachers. It's awesome, but still a lot of work. It's just different.


I still haven't been out exploring too much yet. The last few weekends I've been either completely exhausted or really sick so it's been pretty low key. I've gone out to dinner a few times with friends and I went to see the Michael Jackson Cirque du Soleil which was awesome! I think my city exploring will pick up quite a bit after PAY DAY on Friday. After two months of no income I will have money again! The school gave me some relocation money, but it just wasn't quite enough.

I promise a more informative and less random blog post soon! I'll take some pictures of something soon too!

Gonna try for bed again! Goodnight!

It's 7:30pm and all I want to do is go to bed.....

If you couldn't tell by the title of this post, I'm tired. This is a busy week. I finished my classroom today, tomorrow is open house, and then kids come on Wednesday.

I'm pleased with the way my room turned out. I think all my time at Bright Horizons had an impact in terms of how I decorate a classroom. It's been overwhelming...suddenly I can put anything on the walls, the boards, wherever! However, I realized I didn't really want to put a bunch of stuff up just to put stuff up. My walls are pretty bare compared to other classrooms, but I really like putting up pictures of my kids, documentation of  learning, and showcasing art work and I have none of that right now, because there aren't any kids yet. Wall decorating will have to wait.

However, it was fun to do themed boards like these:

I have the sweetest most helpful MA's (Mandarin Assistants) in the school. They worked so hard today and this past week cutting and laminating for me. We just have a couple of small laminators at the school so laminating is more of a process here. I'm so thankful to have the help.

Tomorrow is Open House and all of the children and their parents are coming to meet me. I'm excited to put faces to these names I've been writing and typing over and over. I'm still at 8 children which is awesome. Hoping and praying the tears aren't too terrible on Wednesday when it's time to stay and play.

In other news, it's been hot, but it's cooling off a little this week and by cooling off, I mean it's 95 instead of 105. I still sweat all the way to school, but it's bearable.

I'm taking the metro to and from school and it's pretty easy! The metro here is very clean and user friendly. I think it will make exploring a little easier.

That's all I got. It's 8:04 and I'm going to go to bed. I'm so tired.

A Few Random Things

Hello! I can't believe I've been in China over a week. It feels much much longer! I've been so busy. Transitioning to life in China is busy, stressful, and exciting. It's a lot at once. I've been trying to figure out this massive city, settle into a new apartment, and figure out all the ins and outs of my new job! Looking forward to when I have things more figured out, but I'm also trying to enjoy this crazy time of learning.

I wanted to write a real blog post, but there is just so little time. I decided I'd show a few pictures of some random things and give you a little insight into my life at the moment.


I finally went grocery shopping today and got everything I need for green smoothies (and a couple other things)! I got a blender from a teacher that left last year and it works pretty well. It's like a Chinese magic bullet. The smoothie was yummy. Hoping I get up early enough in the mornings to make them before school. 

 

When it's not 105 degrees outside, it's thundering and lightening like crazy. We've had a couple pretty big storms. It's a pretty cool view from up here, but also a little scary. When it thunders, I literally jump...every. single. time.

 So new teacher orientation is over. All of the returning teachers come back tomorrow and we do training as a whole group. We've been in our classrooms the last couple days and my room is coming together. It's so unlike anything I did at BHE. Everything works so differently here, but I really like it.

We were issued brand new MacBook pros and I have all these new programs to learn and tons and tons of supplies to put way and organize.



I can't wait to show you the actual classroom and how I have things set up. Plus I can do cute boards here and I can't wait to show them off.

Rumor has it that I'm starting the year off with only 8 two year olds. I can have up to 15 and I will probably will within a couple months. I'm thankful the numbers are low at least to start. This will be the first time my kids have ever been in school. Many of them have probably spent minimal time away from their parents. The first couple weeks involve a lot of tears....or at least that's what I've heard.


I need to figure out to use my washer, but it's all in Chinese. I'm going to show this picture to the secretary at my school and hopefully I'll be able to start washing my clothes!

          So I went shopping at City Shop and I found these great deals...not. 88 rmb for this box of cereal. That's about 14 dollars.
And that oatmeal is about 18 dollars. It's nuts. I won't be doing too much shopping here, but I'm sure there will be a time when I just really need/want something and I decide that eating my favorite cereal is worth 15 bucks.