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.

The First Few Days

 

 So jet lag is pretty brutal. Sunday night I went to bed at 8pm after only sleeping 3 hours on the plane and 5 hours Friday night before I left. I woke up 330am on Monday. Somehow I managed to stay awake the whole day til 9:30pm, but guess how early I woke up today? 3:40am. Late morning and early evening are the worst…all I want to do is sleep. It’s 4:45pm right now I’m so tired, but I can’t sleep til tonight.  I’m hoping for at least 4am tomorrow. Haha

Yesterday and today are pretty chill days. The school orientation starts tomorrow so we are on our own til then. I’m so thankful for these two days though. I heard that some teachers are getting in tonight at like 10pm and we have to be at orientation at like 8am tomorrow. I feel so bad for them.

I was getting a little lonely Sunday night and yesterday morning, but there is another new teacher living three floors up from me and she came down and met me yesterday. We went to the school together and used the internet then met another new teacher who is going to be teaching at the High School. Everyone I’ve met at the school is so nice and welcoming. We met the Middle School principal and vice principal in the tech lab and they ended up all taking us lunch and showing us some other restaurants to check out. It was pretty random: The principals of the middle school, a high school teacher, and two ECE teachers.

After lunch we took a trip to Carrefour (Think Walmart, but bigger and way more variety. Want to buy a surge protector? Well you have about 50 different ones to choose from!). It was actually a little overwhelming for my tired jet lagged self. A lot of people work at Carrefour. There were four people just working in the mop aisle and four in the pillow section and like 7-10 working at the cell phone counters. They tried to help us pick stuff out, but the language barrier made things tricky (Luckily we didn't really need any help so it worked out). They did point us to the sales so that was nice.  I got some cleaning supplies and a cell phone. The big trip to IKEA is on Wednesday during orientation so I’m saving for that. :-) 

If you want my address email me or facebook message me. I have a mail box and it would be so cool to get mail! I promise to write back!

I’m currently bumming internet off a neighbor whose is not password protected, but it only works at night and in the morning. I’m also going to the main campus to use the internet. Hoping to have my internet set up by next week so I can start making Skype dates!

The Apartment

One of the most exciting things about coming to Shanghai to teach was that the school was setting me up with an apartment and paying for it. I learned the address of my apartment last week, but had absolutely no idea what it would look like or anything. So when I walked in on Sunday evening and saw the cutest pink couches, I was so excited! I really love this apartment. I’ve seen a few other teachers apartments and I think I like mine best. :-)

My apartment is like right next door to the main SCIS campus. I don’t work on this campus, but it’s been nice being so close since it’s where I can use the internet until I get it set up in my apartment. It’s also given me a chance to meet some of the other new teachers too.

I took a walk yesterday to explore my neighborhood, but it was so hot and miserable at 7:30am that it turned into a pretty quick walk. This heat (102 degrees! with high humidity) has turned me into a hot mess. I’m think I need to carry another set of clothes with me for the day so I can change my clothes once I get to where I’m going. I get so gross and sweaty whenever I walk anywhere. Hoping it gets a little better as my body adjusts. So thankful my apartment is air-conditioned and so comfortable! 

I’m not sure it’s set it that I’m actually living here for the next year at least (Next year I have the option of staying here or finding a new apartment). I think once I’m more settled in and have a chance to decorate it will feel more permanent. I feel like I’m on vacation or a long trip or something. 

I’m not going to lie, my first night alone here was a little lonely. Going from a basement room at the Shreve’s to a two-bedroom apartment on the 21^st floor of a high rise apartment complex in Shanghai China is a little bit of an adjustment. Not to worry,  it’s an adjustment I think I can handle!

Here are a few of my favorite things about the apartment: 

The pink couches. I’ve been sleeping on the big one until I get a super soft mattress pad for my super hard bed. They are pretty comfortable. Funny story: checked my mailbox and there was a bunch of stuff in there and one of the things was a magazine for a Scott Something. I’m assuming Scott used to live in my apartment and if that’s true I giggled a little thinking about this being a guy’s apartment.

Around here most apartments are furnished, but how they are decorated or the actual furniture in the apartment is dependent entirely on the preferences of the landlord. I guess my landlord loves pink. 

All the closet space! I need more clothes and stuff to put in here! 

I have another one of these in the guest bedroom and one out by my living room.

So everyone that said they were going to visit me, I would like to show you where you will be staying. Don’t worry I’ll get a comfy mattress pad for you and some sheets. 

You have a great view of the main campus of my school and the city. You also have your own bathroom with a heated toilet seat and a washer in the shower! Let me know when your coming! 

I have some amazing views in every room of my apartment. 

 I'm so excited to call this place home!

Highs and Lows of Travel to China

 My first blog post from China! Hello everyone. I made it safe and sound. I thought I would share some of the highs and lows of my journey over here. This blog is also functioning as a journal for me so I wanted to remember a few of these things.

Highlights:

1. Getting "lost" on the way to the Vancouver airport with Don and Lynn. We took a little unnecessary detour as directed by google maps and it made for some good laughs. 

2. Everything went smoothly at the airport...got through security without having to do a body scan and got to my gate with enough time to relax. 

3. My flight was not full so there was plenty of room for my carry on and the seat next to me was empty! I was also the first seat so I had extra feet room and there was no seat reclining into me.

4. Everything went smoothly when I got in and my Principal and our driver was there with a welcome sign. I felt so cool having my name on a sign! I’m sad I forgot to take a picture of it. 

5. All of my luggage was there and came out  pretty quick! 

6. We drove to my apartment and I love it! (more on the apartment in the following post)

Low-Lights:
  1. TSA is cranky in Vancouver. 

 2. There were no individual screens on the back of the seats and the "in-flight entertainment" was a bust. There were a couple larger screens and a bunch of super random movies played throughout the flight. Most were Chinese with English subtitles but seriously the plots were ridiculously hard to follow. Thank the Lord for my kindle and ipod or that flight would have been unbearable.

 3. I only slept 3 hours and it was at the beginning of the flight. I was sooo tired, but my body couldn’t get comfortable and I just felt gross. Of course I finally settled in about 45 minutes before we landed.

4. I was sleeping so I missed the first main meal. However, I don't think I missed much. The food wasn't great. I know airplane food is never amazing, but this was just really different.

5. 12 hours is just too long to be on a plane. 

Not the best traveling experience I’ve had, but I really can’t complain. If a little discomfort and boredom is all that I really dealt with then I say it was successful. I’m so happy to be here. Everything is new and a little intimidating at first, but I’m getting there.

How did it get so late so soon?

How did it get so late so soon? It’s night before it’s afternoon. December is here before it’s June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?
~ Dr. Seuss

Leave it to Dr. Seuss to say it best, How did it get so late so soon? As the panic sets in and the the reoccurring nightmare, where I only have an hour to pack everything, seems more and more likely, I wonder how it's possible that I will be in China in just a couple weeks.

This month is crazy. I knew it would be this way. I was excited for it to be this way, but it's still crazy.

So let's recap: 

I finished up work! That was hard, fun, and wonderful. It's still hard to believe I'm truly done there. It feels like a long vacation or something. It was so hard to leave my kiddos and families, but I'm really excited to have many of their parents as Facebook friends and keep it touch.

 I just got back from Family Camp and it was so fun. I spent lots of time with my mom and little brother and it was great to just relax and just enjoy camp. My mom and me really needed that time and I'm thankful we got it. My mom is doing amazing and I was so proud of her this weekend. She's working hard to get and stay healthy!

I also got to spend quite a bit of time with my friend Melissa (she's been in Shanghai for two years now and works as a Pre-K teacher at the same school I will be at) and hear more about my life and what to expect when I get there. She's been so helpful! It's so nice to walk into something so foreign and new with lots of inside info and perspective. When I went to Kenya I had absolutely no idea what I was doing and my trip was so unorganized. It made my first couple weeks incredibly difficult. This is going to be so different and I'm so thankful!

Now I'm home for a couple days before flying off to California to visit friends from college that I haven't seen in years. I'm really excited! Once I get home from Cali I'm doing a quick turn-a-around and driving to Oregon for five days before I head back to Everett on Sunday, July 21st for my going away party.

Then I will have one whole week to pack and see people and tie up loose ends.

I can't stop thinking about that morning back in January when I opened my email and saw I had a job offer. It felt sooo far away then and now it's almost here.

How did it get so late so soon?

Wait? What? This is really happening? (T-minus 2 months)

As my departure date nears, I'm having to face the exciting and also terrifying reality that I am in fact relocating to China in two months (months that will probably feel both excruciatingly long and incredibly short at the exact same time).

Here's a couple reasons why reality is suddenly setting in:

1. The To-Do list is getting shorter. I've done the major "purge" (amazing how much more space I have now) and now all that reminds is a final sort through of clothes and books. I also need to organize important papers and pictures and ensure I have a safe place to store them.
2. It's almost time to do all the things that are on "to-do-when-it-gets-closer-to-me-actually-leaving" list.
3. I only have 21 days left at work. This is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I've invested so much into my classroom and kiddos and it's really hard to let go and relinquish that control. When I started at BHE as a summer sub after  freshmen year of college, I never thought I would eventually be a full-time two's teacher. It was never apart of "THE PLAN." However, life happened and I did end up in B-1 and I really have grown to love it.   I'm also realizing how attached I've become to this group of kids. I stopped today and looked around and my heart broke a little thinking about leaving them. We've been talking about how Miss Julia is going to China soon and one of my little girls keeps saying, "I go to China too! I go to pink China" (EVERYTHING can or should be pink, you know!). Saying goodbye and letting go is a lot harder than I thought it would be. 

It is a very exciting time and I'm really looking forward to all the fun these next two months have in store (weddings, trips, adventures with friends, relaxing, family time, sleeping in, not working).

This July will be the longest I've ever not worked or been a full time student since the summer before senior year of high school. Having a month off is like a foreign concept, but a very welcomed and exciting foreign concept :-).

So many lists!

I'm working hard to fight my natural instincts of procrastination and being super last minute. It's hard. I'm such a procrastinator! It's not a good habit and it really makes life harder than it needs to be.

Moving to China for at least two years is a big deal and involves a lot of preparation. This is different than a month long mission trip, packing  to go back to school, or even six months in Kenya. This isn't a "trip", it's my life. I'm relocating my life. I'm still processing this. All this to say, there really is no way I could get away with my normal last minute process. I think my sub-conscious is also aware of this reality, because I've had this reoccurring dream where I completely forget to pack for China and I have to go to the airport and I only have an hour to throw things together and it's insanity. I always wake up from this dream in a sweat and panic and have to quickly remind myself I still have a couple months, but we all know how fast a couple months go by!

In the past I haven't been much of a list maker. I take that back, I've made a lot of lists in my life, but I usually lost them or forgot about them shortly after they were created. A list is pretty useless if you don't look at it after you make it. In preparation for China, I'm making lists and using them! It's a new concept, but so far it's working. I'm trying to stay organized. It really helps my anxiety level and keeps the nightmares away. Writing things down instead of having a million "to-do's" bouncing around in my head all the time is much better. 

In the spirit of list making, here's a list of my current lists:

1. The "Ultimate To-DO List"
This list includes an "ASAP" section and a "Within the Next Month" section.
2. The "Packing/Things to Get List"
This a very detailed packing list and I star the things that will need to be purchased.
3. The "Things to Return/Give to People List"
Going through all my stuff leads to finding other peoples treasures. Things I've borrowed or things I've got for people long along.  I've made a list of things and the people they belong too.
4. The "July Planning List"
I have the whole month of July off! I'm really looking forward to this time and I'm determined to make it count. This list includes people I want to connect with, places I want to go, family I must see. This list is fun!

How many times did I just type the word "list"? Haha. Probably way too many. That's the low-down on my preparations. I think things are starting to sink in. It's craziness.