End of the Long Silence

Wow, I can't believe we have been here three weeks. My apologies on the silence- we had to wait for internet to be installed at home and then we realized that this site has been blocked by the government (most blogging sites have, it turns out), so we had to purchase a VPN (basically software that  makes it look like we are accessing the internet from the U.S.), but now we are back in business and connected with the outside world!

It has been a whirlwind three weeks. We arrived early in the morning on Wednesday, July 25th. We were picked up at the airport by the Member Care Coordinator, Solveig, and her husband, Curt. Solveig is in charge of taking care of the staff at school and making sure all of the new people learn to survive in this very foreign environment.

Our school provided apartment is great and much nicer than we expected. We have three bedrooms, two baths, and a good size kitchen by Chinese standards. We also have a small washing machine on our back patio (very common here) with basic care options for clothes, cold water or cold water, dress shirts or sweaters... We line dry our clothes and, most days, that is a quick process if it gets sunny outside. It has been warm and humid some days, others it has poured all day with massive thunder storms. Today, like most days involves a little of both. It is the rainy season through the end of the month and we have been told that although Kunming has been in drought for the past three years, this rainy season may spell the end of it.  It is not cold at all, probably about 65 degrees at night and 70-75 in the day, rain or shine.




Looking at the front door to the left and out onto the front patio.



From the front door looking into the kitchen.



The kitchen viewed from the dining room. Eric is on our back patio where the washing machine is located.




Our yellow tile bathroom.




The washing machine. Perfect for small loads.




View from our front patio.

 We love our neighborhood. It's like a huge botanical garden with fruit trees, tropical flowers, lakes, water features, and my personal favorite, traditional Chinese exercise equipment. There are lots of paths weaving by the lake, over streams, and around buildings. Our school is in our neighborhood, as well as a few small convenience stores, an international bakery, and small fruit and vegetable markets based out of people's garages.

Our neighborhood, or Xiao Qu (pronounced show-rhymes with chow- chew), is on the southwest side of the city. It is a bubble protecting us from the busy surrounding streets, huge residential skyscrapers, and hundreds of construction projects in the area. Shortly after arriving we were told the official bird of Yunnan was the crane, as in the construction crane, because buildings, roads, and an entirely new subway system are all under construction right now. In fact, when we flew in to Kunming, we landed at their two week old airport!

The first week here was spent shopping. Everyday we were out for something. Solveig showed us all of the Kunming shopping hot spots: Carrefour, a French grocery store, Metro, a German Costco type store, Walmart, and of course, small specialty markets. There is no one spot for basics. One has to shop each place and hope for the best. We got our dishes at a dish market, curtains in a curtain/fabric market, baking dishes in a restaurant supply store, towels at a fake Ikea (rumor has it that one of the Ikea factories sells to "11 Furniture", a store in Kunming, after visiting, I believe it is true), and random other things from the grocery stores.



Looks like my favorite Swedish furniture store, but it isn't!

 Sunday, the 29th, we went to an international fellowship. Many of the people there are M's working in Kunming. We were surrounded by people from about two dozen different countries all singing and pr*ying. It really was amazing. Looking around the room, I was struck with the same thought I have had many times overseas: when you get down to it, people just aren't all that different. We were a room of internationals all serving the same Dad, all lifting up the same praises. We all hope and aspire for the same end: that Dad's will be done, we all work for the same purpose: his glory.

Our first full week in Kunming was marked with such milestones as the purchasing of bikes, and the official start of school new staff orientation. Bicycles are an essential of life here. Many people rely on them for transportation because cars are still very expensive and far beyond what the average worker can afford. Wednesday through Friday was our opportunity to get acquainted with our classrooms and the policies and procedures of KIA.

The weekend was glamorously spent putting away the last of our clothes, rearranging the living room and cleaning the apartment. Yay.

This past week has been spent doing all staff orientation at school. It has been busy, stressful, and fun. We are excited to get going next week with actual students. The school enrollment is about 300 right now, mostly children of foreign workers. Eric and I will both be advisors to different classes (I am an advisor to the Sophomores, and Eric gets the Freshmen).

I  hope you enjoyed our first post from China. I promise I will be better! Thank you for your pr*yers.