It has been too long since i have written, nearly 2 1/2 weeks! I have bee here almost 5 weeks! Man o man, time flies!
I just feel like this is where i belong. I feel very at home in Qingdao. This was no doubt the right move for me.
I have been a bit sick, as some of you know. And getting ready for the fall semester. I am teaching full time now. I LOVE teaching my kids. I have 6 classes and 70 kids at the moment. In September we should have 150 kids. There are 2 classes i do not teach. The Xiao Xiao Ban (Phonics: Sh-ow Sh-ow Ben) and the all day English class. These are both taught by Judith Rose, one of my colleagues. This week I am learning ALL of the names and the kids learn about shapes. I team teach with Chuck until September, and he is doing fruits with them. We have done games and songs and drawings. And they love to do the Hokey Pokey. I keep that as a Bonus to do with them if we have time and can get through the day.
The weather is nice. It is usually very hot, in the 80s or 90s. I tried to straighted my hair today and went outside and it curled up in a matter of a few hours. While i love the summer weather i am excited about fall, my favorite season. I can't wait to see the leaves change color and i love wearing jackets, a bit cooler.
Qingdao int he summer:
these are some of the mountains you can see from near my school
May 4th near the water
This is more of the City. Where the red sculpture is, that is May 4th square.
This is a park near Little Qingdao where people come and relax.
This is a place you can climb down and go wading in to the ocean!
got to stick my feet in!
Some of the kids in town found relief from the heat in a fountain!
Busy street in front of Hisense. Hisense is where we do most of our grocery shopping.
Part of Polar Ocean World!
Mandy walking along the base of a lighthouse we visited last wkend
No, there are not sanitation requirements at chinese restaurants. This is one reason i have gotten sick from Chinese germs. I like the hole in the wall places where you can get some of the best Chinese food in town. The expensive are nice as well, but they still do not have a sanitation code. It may look clean in the dining room, but i dare not look in the kitchen.
There are mixed feeling about the Olympics here. While it is fun to watch and the Chinese take much pride in hosting, i find a lot of locals and long term foreigners are ready for them to be over. They have been preparing for 8 years and are ready to get back to normal life. Although the Olympics are mainly in Beijing, the sailing is held here in Qingdao. Mandy and i got to catch a bit of it. There was also an opening ceremonies event on 8/9/08 at May 4th square in town, with fire works and everything.
(some sort of connection interruption will not allow me to upload any more pics. I will do a whole Olympic post when they are over. Hopefully i can upload pics then.)
I can not believe it has been 5 weeks already! Time is flying. I promise i will try to get better at writing. There is so much to tell you. But i fear I have been a bit overwhelmed and extremely busy preparing for the coming months.
Our Fellowship with internationals is fantastic. I have met so many people and am forming so good friendships with others i have met over a month ago! I am so excited for this year! One thing you can be thinking about is my computer. It is still broken i am thinking of sending it home. I am not sure what to do with it.
Thank you for your support and emails! I enjoy hear from all of you!
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