the night continues with a trip to...America?

After our trip downtown, we returned to school and met up with some other teachers...to go back downtown. (I spent way too long in a van yesterday)

But we had good reason to put up with all the driving. VERY good reason.

45 minutes later, we arrived at the Wanda Mall. Our destination: Papa John's. Yes, that Papa John's.

You see, the US pizza chain has dozens of outlets across the country as pizza grips the locals. Normally, pizza (being a foreign food) is very expensive and is eaten by those of high status. But for some reason, on Monday nights, they offer a massive discount to their 6" personal pizzas - to the tune of 80% off - so that each one costs around $1.50 US. Now that's a good deal for good pizza by anyone's standards!

Between the 9 of us, we ordered 36 pizzas (including carry-outs). It was glorious. The garlic butter was flowing like milk and honey from the Promised Land.

Fully satisfied, we decided that all the sodium in our bellies needed some counterbalancing.

So our next stop? Dairy Queen. Tempted as I was by the green tea blizzard, I went for a dipped cone and it was also glorious.

Ahhh life is good. [But thankfully, these American treats are all on the other side of town so I am not tempted more often.]

-alan

it transcends borders....

Yesterday (Monday) we left after school to go downtown to try and get our residency permits. After fighting rush hour traffic, we arrive at the necessary office at 4pm and take a number. I was holding #97 in my hand, when I look up at the screen and see the Chinese equivalent of "now serving #67." Oh boy.

4:05 Enough sitting around. Thankfully, I had some papers with me to grade.

4:20 My coworkers' children are screaming and running around the waiting area. I pretend not to know them.

4:30 Now serving #72, and I'm done with my grading. This is not looking good.

4:35 A quick check of wireless shows no signals in range. Desperation setting in, I start playing Spider Solitaire.

4:38 Another one of my coworkers is slumped over, completely asleep. I begin to imagine the potential pranks I could play.

4:39 Sensibility returns to me and I re-engage in Spider Solitaire.

4:50 Still at #76. One of the guards walks in, closes the windows, and draws the shades. Hope is fading fast.

4:54 The crowd around me begins to shift from impatience to agitation as the reality of the ending work day sets in. Frantic counting of calendar dates begin as people look at deadlines on their visas.

5:00 As the top of the hour hits, the lights turn off and the workers at the desk stand up and exit the room without a word. I pretty sure that means we have to leave.

5:05 The confused, tired, and agitated group of foreigners stumble out of the building wondering what to do next...

Doesn't matter what continent you are on - a trip to a government office is the same!

[update - we returned today to the office and were able to get our paperwork processed with tremendous efficiency, within 15 minutes. It looks as though we just went at the wrong time!]

-alan

More on where we live

For those of you who are Google Earth users, here's the (very) specific location for where we live:
30°45'13.43"N Latitude
103°58'9.24"E Longitude

Looking at the city of Chengdu, we reside in a suburb called Xipu (shee-poo) that is northwest of the city. Just a few km away, you will leave the city and get into the countryside. We'll have to check it out some time.

And just so you can see it, here's our apartment from ground level.

By the way - the images for this part of the world are not quite as well updated - so our school (which was built in 2005-2006) appears as an empty field.

Alan

touring the city

We saw some new sights across Chengdu today.

The first stop was Hejiang Ting (2 Rivers Pavilion). There, two rivers come together to form the Min River, which is a major tributary of the Yangtze. These rivers are the reason that Chengdu is located here (reminds of Pittsburgh). And not unlike Pittsburgh, these rivers are also now badly polluted due to decades of industrial contamination. A real shame!

On the bright side, though, we did see some fishermen - and one decent size fish that was caught! (but now I'm going to try to remain blissfully ignorant of the local restaurants' sources of seafood).






Moving on, we stopped at Chunxi Lu, which is the name of a street and a major upscale shopping area. The purpose of our trip was not to shop, though - but we did take a few pictures.


One very interesting shot was of a statue of Sun Yatsen, the founder of the Republic of China following the fall of the last dynasty. He was a spiritual guy and certainly a sign of China's past - which makes it all the more odd to see him memorialized in the midst of this commercial center in modern China. (Yes, that is a sign for Haagen-Dazs and a Nike billboard dwarfing his statue. Go figure.)
Our next stop was TIanfu Square, in the very heart of Chengdu. They have some great fountains and sculptures there - it reminds me of Chicago's Millennium Park, in some ways. And like everywhere in the city, there are lots of people around!

Here's a video, so you can see the square for yourself.

All in all, this was a fun day! It is refreshing to get into the city and see some more sights. I hope we will have time to get into the city and explore on our own more often in the future. (And now that Rachel knows where the good shopping district is, I know we will be back to these places as well!)

-alan

First week of school

We made it!

Our first full week of school is over and done with, and I am actually feeling pretty good about where things are right now! In the limited time I have had there, I have been impressed with the school and the students. Here's some thoughts (I'm feeling list-y):

1) The students are smart and hard-working. Now, I can see some exceptions to this, but in making comparisons to our old students in Chicago I would say that the students here would come out very favorably. They are studious, polite, respectful, and many appear to be smart. One example - I am giving my math class logic puzzles at the beginning of class. Nearly all of them get into it and try to solve it - and so far, they have gotten them all. In Chicago, few of my students would have bothered to attempt it unless I made it worth a grade!

2) Teachers have autonomy. I almost do not know what to do with the amount of freedom I am given to teach whatever I would like!

3) Everyone is addicted to energy consumption. That is a universal principle. I have to fight to convince everyone that we can stay perfectly comfortably with open windows - it is wasteful to keep the AC on all day! Environmentalism is not as trendy as it is in the states.

4) Middle school is not so scary. Having not taught middle school before, I was a little concerned. But I have really liked these kids so far! It is a pleasant surprise, I must say.

-alan

School's in session!

We started school this past Thursday. I for one was very excited that it was a very short week. It gave me time this weekend to regroup and reassess my plans for the year. We were told that there would be many English as a second language students in our classes, but now I have a little better feel for how things will be now that I've met them! I hope I will be able to learn how to best meet their needs while also pushing the class at a high level. Unlike Alan, I didn't get my masters in ESL! Our classes are incredibly diverse and it will be great teaching classes like World Geography and Comparative Politics in this uber-international context. It will be an adjustment teaching kids who are so motivated and well behaved ;-)

Today I went with some girls to a double birthday party at a KTV. This is a Karaoke place. We had fun singing and dancing to the songs (yes they were in English). For those of you who are unfamiliar with Asian-style Karaoke (they have it in the US, in case you want to go) you rent a private room and are only in there with your friends. They supply the mics, a loud speaker system, a large screen with the words and accompanying video, and even a tambourine! I didn't bring a camera but I know some pics and possibly even some video was taken. Ok, I admit I was jumping on the furniture during a few songs, but it was just sooo fun!

Oh, update on having a house helper. IT IS AMAZING!!!! We come home from school and dinner is ready for us. The dishes are clean, laundry washed, ironed, and folded, floors are spotless, and even our bedside tables are organized. We are really grateful for all her hard work. It really gives us freedoom to spend more time on our school work and adjusting to our new lives in China!

Blue skies smiling at me!

Rachel's random musings with photos!!!!

After days of heavy rain (video from the balcony at our home), today the sky was clear in Chengdu! I took some pictures off the roof of our school. You can also see some pics of my classroom. Things aren't quite set up yet, but my co-teacher was really great in getting the desks all ready. I'll get a pic of Alan's room once it is more set up. He currently has some plants, but may be getting a class pet (rabbit) soon. Please comment and let us know if this is a good idea!

(Above: This is the colorful Chinese school across the way!)

(Above: This our white and grey school...lacking in color but we love it)

(Above: Rachel's classroom not quite ready for Thursday)

So weren't the opening ceremonies spectacular? It was so cool to see! We got to see it live and WITHOUT commercial interruption! It is fun to see how excited everyone here is about the Olympics. We've been watching some of the events and trying to decipher anything we can from the Chinese commentary. We've heard them use the Chinese term for beautiful to refer to anything from gymnastics, to basketball, to shooting, to diving, to weightlifting. I guess it is just fun to understand something! Go China! They seem to be rocking in the medal count thus far.

Tomorrow our house helper will come to work for us. I know it sounds weird, but it is going to be a huge help for us. We are each teaching 5 different classes and don't really have the time to take care of our house. Right now she's slated to come 3 days a week to clean, cook, shop, etc. It will be somewhat strange because we will rarely cross paths. We will come home and have dinner ready without being able to truly show our appreciation. We will have to work on our Chinese to write notes or just take the easy way out and type her notes (it is much easier to type!)

In other news, we rode our scooters for a second week to fellowship without problems. It is so strange for me to ride a scooter because I was so scared of motorcycles in the US, but it's fun! They only go 25 mph at top speed and are pretty easy to maneuver. One crazy thing from this Sunday was this baby kitten (think the size of a guinea pig) that was scampering across the road. We all stopped our scooters because we didn't want to hit it and it climbed under Alan's wheel and then under our friend Katie's wheels. Soon it started to run into fast moving traffic. We were freaking out because it was just so sad but there was nothing we could do! We had to ride on. I hope you're ok kitty!

One last thing, I'm attaching a picture of McDonald's taken off the roof of our school. Yes, it is that close. I reluctantly admit we've been there twice already (for the convenience) but I also reluctantly admit it tasted really good. Of course McDonald's has the yummy fries, but the sandwiches here in China are different and somewhat tailored to local tastes. It was strange to eat something so familiar with a unique twist. Ok ok I'll stop praising my former employer and hope that we don't start "lovin' it" too much!

(Above: The oh so convenient temptation)

Next.....

We got our physicals done today. We were reluctant at first because we already went through the whole process in the US, but it was wonderfully efficient. We zipped through the lines getting our EKG, chest X-ray, blood drawn (by sticking our arm through a window), and the always lovely urine sample.

Afterwards, we went to Pete's Tex Mex (yes, it exists in Chengdu) to feed our western bellies! I had burritos and Alan got Philly Cheesesteak. Here are some pics...we should have internet too and will post more!

One week in

It's been a week since we first arrived here, but it seems like we have been here much much longer. It's not home, but it is getting there. A clean apartment and new curtains help.

But internet access at home would make things even better.

We went into school to help cleanup today. Things were a mess (and still are). After spending all our mental energies working on getting our house in order and learning, it is daunting to think that school begins in little over a week. I'm not ready for this!

First thoughts on food

I've been warned and warned about the food in Chengdu. Hot and spicy, la and ma, etc. etc. I would say this is surely true, but by no means has it been too much to handle. I actually think my digestive system will take longer to adapt to eating so much oil (which everything is cooked in!). We've been eating out a lot, so we have been able to get a decent range of the local cuisine. So far, so good...This is us eating beef noodles at the "bulk market" - an expansive market where we bough fabric to make sheets and curtains.

Our new apartment

Here are some pictures of out apartment - these were taken when we first got here, so keep in mind that there are already differences as we rearrange and decorate....





We also did a video tour that may show things a little better:

A cash-only society

It's only been 5 days, but it feels like we have been here forever. I admit we have been on a bit of a spending spree in the last few days - but when you move halfway across the globe with only books and clothes, you need to replace some things.

Speaking of buying things, it is amazing how much I have gotten used to the cashless society that America has become. Here, I have only had success using a credit card at Ikea - and I do not think it is only because I am a foreigner. Here is an example: On Wednesday, we traveled to B&Q, which is the Chinese equivalent of Home Depot, to look for a ceiling fan. After a good deal of explaining what a ceiling fan and some time cajoling the employees to take boxes off the high shelves for us, we finally approached the checkout with around $300 USD in merchandise to purchase. After being told that they did accept credit cards, the cashier called her manager to help with the transaction. The manager came by, whisked our Mastercard from Rachel's hand, and disappeared to the service desk. There, she spent a good 20 minutes on the phone (with whom, I'll never know) as she leafed through a powerpoint printout relating to processing credit card transactions. In the end, it was a fruitless endeavor and we had to pay cash. The only explanation we were given is that we could have used Visa. I feel like there is a commercial idea in there somewhere...

So imagine life where you can only pay cash, yet the largest bill available is only worth $15. Think of the wad of cash you need to buy a sofa, a TV, a car, a plane ticket...

On the other hand, I appreciate that this society does NOT promote consumer debt as a fact of life...