My body definitely isn't used to humidity. The second I got off the plane I could feel it. Our apartment has individual air conditioners for each bedroom, that we are recommended to only have on while we are at home, and no lower than 26C (you do the conversion: I'm trying to immerse myself in metric without a conversion). I'm really hoping my body will adjust quickly, but it hasn't in the past day.
We live in a small town about 20 minute bus ride from the school we will be teaching at. From the little we have walked around, it is entirely residential with shops on street level, which I think is just adorable!
Our apartment building is in a gated community. I wandered around this evening and nearly got lost, so it's a lot bigger complex than I initially thought, and definitely taller than anything I've been in before. But we are on the second floor, so no long stairs or elevator ride which is nice.
The front of our building. It doesn't seem like much, but it's nice!
We walked to the bank and super market today. The super market wasn't very big, but after noticing a few smaller marts on our street, I think I can see the difference. Especially in prices. Oh, and if we play our cards right, everything is cheaper here! I got dinner for less than $2, but more on that later...
We spent most of the day at the school, getting orientated and advised. Sometimes I forget I came to teach English, but that will change tomorrow when we start writing our lesson plans and getting ready to teach Monday. The school is so cute! I wasn't expecting it at all, and it is much larger than I thought it would be, but much smaller than many of the other schools, according to our coordinator.
The front of the school
Mini playground!
Our coordinator had a lot to say about everything: how there are very few people we can or should trust (besides the school and public transportation), what the weather is like--typhoon this weekend, but because of the ideal location of our city we just get lots of rain and a few felled trees a year, amazing spots to visit in our own city (best zoo on mainland China!!), and how willing they all are to help us/how helpless we are without knowing the language (although she would never, ever phrase it that way). It was good to hear all the info she could share, but some of it was overwhelming, like when buses go where since I don't know where I am or where I'd want to go... And then, surprisingly, she let us loose to figure out dinner, and all the rest of our meals for the weekend.
Not knowing the language at all to try and communicate with restaurant servers kind of sucks. But not being able to read any signs saying what it is, or what it costs, is even worse. But we found a little shop tonight that had pictures... There was not a soul in the shop that spoke English, and we only know "hello" and "thank you," so there was a lot of pantomime and pointing. There were pictures of the dishes outside on a sign, so we all pointed at the picture we wanted and then say down at the table he gestured to.
They brought out the food really quickly, which was awesome, and it was hot and good. No clue what type of meat I ate, but it looked like classy ramen. There were even two of the girls who got to-go boxes, through pantomime, and we let them know we would pay separately. Who knew how effective charades could be??! Even despite having a pleasant experience while not knowing the language, It made me want to learn Chinese as soon as possible! I hope I can find people to help me practice and learn. But as I thought about all the Chinese I have learned from friends, I was surprised with how much I have picked up and retained over the years. I'm hoping this is a good sign for future learning!
There are definitely differences that could make adjusting here difficult, but I've had a positive attitude in all my endeavors so far, which makes it easier to enjoy the moments. Even with the jet lag, China's not that bad, so it can only get better from here, and I look forward to that 😁
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