Getting Established

We have made it to the point where we are establishing our routines.  We are getting the hang of day to day life and learning how to survive. We know which markets provide the best vegetables and where to get the best price on fruit. We know the bike route to get to one of the local fellowships. We know the back way to Carrefour (this important because we are less likely to get ran over by a car taking this route).  We can even make a phone call and order more drinking water. But there is still a mile-long (or kilometer-long, to be locally correct) list of things we have no clue about: how to buy tea from the bulk bins at the store, what is the difference between the 100 different choices of soy sauce, how do I buy postage stamps, how do I pay my electricity bill (we know that we have to somehow set up an account at a bank and deposit money into it for the electric company, but we are unsure of the overall process), where can I get a new bolt for my bike seat, what are all of these weird fruits and how do I eat them, how much do we pay for bike parking?????? The list goes on.

Eric’s Classroom



This is the view from Eric's classroom window. The buildings in the foreground on the left side of the road are our neighborhood apartments. The four of huge grey towers in the background are across a main highway from our complex.




These are all apartments in our neighborhood.



Blessed

I need to take a little time to convey how blessed we have felt in coming to China. We left the U.S. secure in the knowledge that we were going exactly where G wanted us to be and with a full measure of support and love from our family and friends. Although it was so hard to say goodbye, this knowledge has and will continue to sustain us during the rough days.

From the very first moment we arrived in Kunming we were welcomed by our colleagues at KIA. Before we knew anyone here, we were invited to birthday parties, dinners, brunches, and outings. We have had so many offers of help extended to us and we are so grateful. The community here has been fabulous and I can’t imagine how hard this transition would be without their advice, guidance, and help.

We came from loving and supportive community and we landed in the middle of another. We are blessed.

The First Week of School

We survived our first week of school. I have never worked in a school setting before so I had no idea what to expect. Eric, on the other hand, has many years of experience and knew what was coming this past Monday as hundred's of school aged kids invaded campus.

For those of you who do not know, Eric is teaching World History to the 9th and 10th graders and I am the Online Coordinator. My classroom is a computer lab and my students are either taking online Advanced Placement courses or they are in study hall. My job is to get the online kids going in their classes and make sure they become self-directed and to keep the study hall kids quiet and focused on homework. Basically, I have become the peson I didn't like in High School: the one who always made sure everyone was working and "shhhushed" us whenever we talked. While the kids are working, I am doing projects for the office and working on the school website.

Monday started with a high school assembly and it was our first exposure to our new students. The assembly consisted of a short new teacher intro time (we just stood up and waved to the crowd) and then info on school policies that had changed over the summer or were going to be reinforced this year. Afterwards, it was off to homeroom time. Eric is a co-advisor to the Freshman class, and I am a co-advisor to the Sophomores, so we both had tasks to perform (handing out school supplies) and class meetings to facilitate during that time. At the end of homeroom, the real school day began. I have students in my room 2-6th periods and Eric has kids 1, 3, 5-7th. The class periods were shortened because of the assembly and we had just enough time to introduce ourselves, hand out books and syllabi, and go over classroom expectations before the bell rang. By the end of the first day, both Eric and I were exhausted.


This is my classroom. The wall on the left is glass and looks into a larger secondary computer lab. The refridgerator like thing in the back right hand corner of the room is our A/C / Heating unit. The school, like all buildings south of the Yangtze River, does not have centralized air or heat.


Over the course of the week we better aquainted ourselves with the kids and already we appreciate the diversity we seen in our classrooms. The student body at KIA comes from all over the world: 1/3 are North American passport holders, 1/3 are European passport holders, and the final 1/3 are Asian, mostly Korean passport holders. I gave my students a quick survey the first day asking general questions: what is your passport country? What languages do you speak? In what countries have you lived? What counties have you visited? etc. The answers were amazing! Some of the kids have lived in 5 different counties and fluently speak 3 languages. Keep in mind these students are 15-17 years old. When they got to "What counties have you visited?" some of them just laughed and asked if they really had to write down all of them. They have interesting stories to tell and I am eager to get to know them as the year progresses.

How to Wash Fruits and Vegetables

The tap water here is not safe to drink and is only used to wash dishes. It can be used to wash fruits and vegetables, but special soap needs to be used and you have to do a bottled water rinse. See below.

1. Put food items into warm tap water with special dish soap (it really is supposed to wash both food and dishes). Scrub and let sit.

2. Rinse with tap water.

3. Rinse with bottled water and let air dry.

Enjoy knowing you won't get sick.

The Old and the New

Tonight we rode our bikes from our neighborhood to the local Carrefour, passing through old and new China as we went. We first rode through a neighborhood in transition. The buildings had all been gutted and abandoned. They stood ready for demolition.

The next road we turned down was the old China, a small market road with little shops and stores. Traffic jams are the norm here as scooters, taxi's, vendor carts and pedestrians all try to make their way through the narrow lane.

At the end of this street rode into the new China: high rises, shopping malls, and Starbucks. The transition happens over one intersection; cross the road and the buildings are completely different.



We are sitting across the intersection looking back at the road we just biked down.




This is where we are parked. Next to the mall, banks, insurance companies and the like.



The Importanceof Ponchos and Mosquito Bats

The poncho is arguably the most important bike related purchase you can make. I had no idea the poncho was even necessary until we attempted to bike to a friends house in the rain and were soaked through in 3 minutes. As soon as it starts raining everyone on a bike or scooter has their poncho on. They are made with a long section in front to drape over the front of the bike or scooter and some even have a clear plastic section for the headlights to shine through. We haven't seen one yet, but supposedly there are ponchos with two head holes made for tandem bikers.



Using my pink poncho. I'm standing in front of the bike parking area at our school.




Eric's red version.




Mosquito Bat, where have you been all my life?

 Mosquito Bats are basically electric tennis rackets used to electrocute mosquitoes. You swing them around the house and then, SNAP! There goes the pest that has been buzzing around your head. Pretty fantastic.