ambtraveler

Two weeks in…. Exactly two weeks ago, I was leaving orientation and all of my fellow WorldTeachers who are like family. Well, this is how my last two weeks have went… We arrived at our school after about an hour taxi ride north. Jack and I had to take seperate taxis since we had so much luggage. We arrived to our quaint town of Qingzhuhu, which is mainly just our school’s campus. We dropped our luggage off at our “house”. A quick tour revealed a lot of space that needed a lot of cleaning and TLC. We got lunch with our liaison and vice principal of our school. We immediately got our cell phones after lunch, which was a blessing in disguise. Then we were allowed a much needed break until our next trip to the police station to register ourselves. Then we went to dinner at our liasion’s grandmothers house. We had some delicious Hunan grub and returned home to start the cleaning process. I definitely now know how much work it takes to own a house. Jack and I have 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 4 living rooms and 4 kitchnettes between the two of us. The next day entailed touring our little town for breakfast options and cleaned some more. We discovered we did not have internet connection or a working washer so those things were put on the to do list. We got dinner in Changsha that night and enjoyed a brief tour of Changsha’s nightlife. We made it home safely after a 60 kuai taxi ride. The rest of the weekend and next few days were spent fullfilling many tasks, getting our bank accounts, residence permits, teacher meetings and unpacking and settling in. We were told we would start teaching on September 5th so we began to plan accordingly. However, through all of this we still did not have internet and at least one day we were without running water. We spent a lot of time watching the series Rome on DVD. We also spent a few nights in Changsha at fellow WorldTeachers for some internet leeching to complete assignments that were due. After the weekend, we finally had a working washer so no more hand washing clothes in the bathtub for us, but still no internet. The day before school started, they tried fixing it twice with no success. So Monday morning arrived and Jack and I were stoked to start teaching and meet all of our students. We meet our liaison at the opening ceremony only to find out the Junior 1 students, all of whom we are teaching, had military training for the next week, therefore we would not start teaching until Sep. 13. Jack and I were dumbfounded. Another week of what? We still had no internet and we had explored everything there was to see in our town. So once again in to the city we went again for dinner, shopping and seeing other teachers. And finally, finally, upon our return to our house last night. We have internet!! Therefore I felt it granted for an extra long blog post. We still haven’t started teaching yet but are trying to go visit some other teachers for our long weekend, if we get our passports back. Fingers crossed. Otherwise we are working on lesson planning and other assignments for WorldTeach in the meantime and beginning to plan our travel for the upcoming national break in October. I hope this explains my absence and lack of posting. Hope everyone is doing well in whatever they are pursuing. Zai Jian!! P.S. The photo is of our beautiful school!

Two weeks in….

Exactly two weeks ago, I was leaving orientation and all of my fellow WorldTeachers who are like family. Well, this is how my last two weeks have went…

We arrived at our school after about an hour taxi ride north. Jack and I had to take seperate taxis since we had so much luggage. We arrived to our quaint town of Qingzhuhu, which is mainly just our school’s campus. We dropped our luggage off at our “house”. A quick tour revealed a lot of space that needed a lot of cleaning and TLC. We got lunch with our liaison and vice principal of our school. We immediately got our cell phones after lunch, which was a blessing in disguise. Then we were allowed a much needed break until our next trip to the police station to register ourselves. Then we went to dinner at our liasion’s grandmothers house. We had some delicious Hunan grub and returned home to start the cleaning process. I definitely now know how much work it takes to own a house. Jack and I have 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 4 living rooms and 4 kitchnettes between the two of us.

The next day entailed touring our little town for breakfast options and cleaned some more. We discovered we did not have internet connection or a working washer so those things were put on the to do list. We got dinner in Changsha that night and enjoyed a brief tour of Changsha’s nightlife. We made it home safely after a 60 kuai taxi ride.

The rest of the weekend and next few days were spent fullfilling many tasks, getting our bank accounts, residence permits, teacher meetings and unpacking and settling in. We were told we would start teaching on September 5th so we began to plan accordingly. However, through all of this we still did not have internet and at least one day we were without running water. We spent a lot of time watching the series Rome on DVD. We also spent a few nights in Changsha at fellow WorldTeachers for some internet leeching to complete assignments that were due. After the weekend, we finally had a working washer so no more hand washing clothes in the bathtub for us, but still no internet. The day before school started, they tried fixing it twice with no success.

So Monday morning arrived and Jack and I were stoked to start teaching and meet all of our students. We meet our liaison at the opening ceremony only to find out the Junior 1 students, all of whom we are teaching, had military training for the next week, therefore we would not start teaching until Sep. 13. Jack and I were dumbfounded. Another week of what? We still had no internet and we had explored everything there was to see in our town. So once again in to the city we went again for dinner, shopping and seeing other teachers. And finally, finally, upon our return to our house last night.

We have internet!! Therefore I felt it granted for an extra long blog post. We still haven’t started teaching yet but are trying to go visit some other teachers for our long weekend, if we get our passports back. Fingers crossed. Otherwise we are working on lesson planning and other assignments for WorldTeach in the meantime and beginning to plan our travel for the upcoming national break in October. I hope this explains my absence and lack of posting. Hope everyone is doing well in whatever they are pursuing.

Zai Jian!!

P.S. The photo is of our beautiful school!