Is a green lemon a lime? Just wondering! :)

Just some pictures! Friends, apartment, school, and my AC remote--see if you can figure it out!!!

Our little kitchen!

A picture of my hair--I dyed it again last night! The color was perfect!!! Thank you, Revlon! The experience of buying the dye was interesting--the women working in that asile had all sorts of suggestions (none of which I understood!) and I think they wanted me to go more blonde--nope!

My bedroom! Our beautiful living room--the tealish wall we painted!

Self-explanatory, I believe!

This is how our couches were delivered--on the back of a bike cart!





Diane (my roommate) and me!

My desk in the English department!

A "dream"--to own a scooter! :)

The middle high school!

Wish I had the time to post more . . . I'm exhausted after a long day of shopping! We went to the "fake" market and the huge mall with 10 floors. Oddly enough, I didn't buy anything (no money!) but it was still fun!

Much to do before school starts on Tuesday!

Thanks for reading!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

~Susannah

That's China!

Hello all!
I am sitting in my apartment just watching the crazy rain pour down. It's a major thunderstorm, and everyone outside is running for cover. The humidity has been about 150%, so a storm was bound to happen. The weather here leaves much to be desired, I'm afraid.
Today marks two weeks I've been here, and honestly, I feel like I've been here for longer. Apparently, I adapt amazingly well (or so I've been told:) but I still miss everyone back home.
I've been super busy lately trying to get caught up on all my work. I'm the only new high school teacher, so I've been in about six meetings a day (you know--gradebook, how to communicate with parents, school calendar--and on, and on . . .). Although I only have a few days left before school starts, I am so not stressed. This is a weird feeling for me. I just started my lessons plans today, and hopefully I'll finish them tomorrow, but I am still not worrying about it! What is this strange new land I've found myself in, you ask? That's China!
My class schedule was changed today, but it still rocks. They changed one of my classes to be in the afternoon instead of the morning, which means every day but Thursday I start teaching at 10. :) Happiness! I've actually met a few of my students, and they were soooo sweet. I'm looking forward to Tuesday!!!
So, I thought I would point out of few of the "strange" things I've discovered about China. Take a deep breath, here we go.
1) Cell phone numbers--why are they anywhere from eight to eleven numbers??? I don't get it. I seriously have to take my phone out and look in my contacts to remember mine. I think it's . . . nope, couldn't even tell you. Ok, now I am cheating--it's 13621989173. And they don't use spaces or dashes here . . . odd. By the way, I bought the cheapest phone possible (50 bucks) and it reminds me of my very first phone (Min, I'm like you now!) Oh Nokia, I've missed you! (NOT!)
2) Paper size. Here's a conundrum. The paper here is NOT 8 1/2 by 11--oh no, that would be crazy, right? It's a smidgen longer than that . . . It's called A4 paper size. I'm still a little thrown off, I won't lie. But, as they say, "That's China!"
3) The umbrella thing. People carry umbrellas here even when it's sunny--I'm sure they don't want to get burned or something, but honestly, you barely even see the sun through all the pollution, so what's the deal? It's another "huh?" moment.
4) So, let's pretend you're at a store. They are about a million people working in one department. You even glance at something and they swarm you . . . creepy. This happened to me when I had to buy notebooks for a teacher friend. Anyway, so you decide you want the notebooks. You'd think you could pick them up and just head over to pay, right? Oh no, that would make way too much sense. You first must get the invoice of the item and then take it to the cahsier, pay for it, and then return and pick it up. I think they enjoy watching people go bak and forth like the balls in a pinball machine. It's amusing, for sure.
5) The audacity of people when waiting in line. As many know, China is not known for people knowing how to wait in lines. I guess it has to do with so many people, and if you don't push and shove, you won't get what you want. I experienced this about 10 minutes after my plane landed--people were all shoving into the elevator, no matter if you got there first or not. The other night we went to Carrefour (super grocery store, lots of shops, etc.) and I was patiently waiting in line with Diane. This older woman rudely tried to get ahead of me. I looked at Diane like "What the heck???" because I was caught off-guard. No worries, I shoved my way back in line, even though we ended up in the other line because it was faster. Seriously, people do not have second thoughts about pushing or shoving . . . oh, and spitting, too. Gross.
6) Ok, one more random thing. So every month you can have a reduced tax fee if you collect and catalog what they call "fa paios"--basically, invoices or receipts for things you buy. Groceries, taxi costs, laundry fees--everything you can think of you can get a fa paio for . . . here's the fun part! You have to catalog them all together and turn them in if you want the tax break. At this point, I know it's worth it, but I just spent the better part of my evening last night with a group of friends saying, "Where is this one from? What does this Chinese symbol mean? Where did I spend 700 RMB?" It was absolutely ridiculous. Ok, it was a fun evening too--I spend time with the girls I've met here--Christine, Diane, Jen, and Danielle. We had a blast, but still--REALLY? Do people actually LOOK at these things???? I guess they do, though. They have enough people employed to look at everyone's fa paios . . . yeah, interesting.
Ok, I must go. It's off to a Bible study tonight with some of the girls. :) I hope you enjoyed my little rant and rave. Despite everything, I still am glad I'm here. It was a good decision!
Miss you all and much love to everyone!!!

Susannah

Greetings from the other side of the world!!!

Hello family and friends,
Well, it's been about a week and a half, and so far, so good. I am really adjusting well to China. I really like the people I will be working with, and my class schedule is amazing. I will be teaching as much in ONE WEEK as I taught in one day in the States. The campus here is nice--everything is within walking distance (grocery store, salon, bakery, etc.) I am in the process of moving into my apartment, so that has been very time consuming. There are about fifty different apartment buildings on campus, so you can imagine just how many people live here.
Anyway, I have a roommate now--Diane--and she has been great in helping me get everything settled. She is Chinese-American, so she at least can speak a little Chinese. We shall see just how much I will pick up this year--so far, I know two phrases--"hi" and "thank you." I think I need a little work. The company has an intro class you can take, so I will be signing up for the class!
I don't even know where to begin! I feel like I've done so much in these last few days . . . We bought a few couches from a local family, and they were delivered on Saturday. The family carried the cushions in their minivan, but they also hired an older gentleman to bring the main couch frames over on his bike cart! It was amazing! I felt bad that he had to work for hard for about 6 bucks . . . I took a picture, so I will post it soon.
The other day the school sponsored a trip downtown to help the teachers get school supplies. Sounds easy, right? Not so much. I really miss being able to go to Target and getting stuff . . . they have no concept of folders here, or index cards, or bulletin board borders. Also, my students (10th and 12th graders) have to buy their own textbooks, so I've been assured they will bring their books to class, which amazes me! This is looking to be a really great year, and I am excited to start teaching and getting to know my students. I also may help coach tennis as a club sport, but who knows? I don't want to volunteer for too many things, as I don't know exactly what my teaching days are like.
Let's see . . . the food. I'm sure you are all wondering about what I am eating here. Well, everyone knows just how much I love rice . . . Yup, lots of rice and noodles and fried rice . . . there are also pizza places around here, and a cool "mongolian style" place where they cook the food in front of you--that place was really really good. I went grocery shopping with a few other teachers at Metro, which is comparable to Costco. The imported foods section was amazing! Things were pricy!!!!! Six bucks for a bar of chocolate! Anyway, Diane and I are splitting food costs, so that was nice. I jumped up and down at the sight of Philidelphia cream cheese and bagels! :) There aren't any "Western" fast food chains around here, but I did see a Burger King and a McDonalds downtown.
Another night we headed downtown to the Super Brand Mall (there were at least 10 floors) and we ate at a gourmet Pizza Hut. It had linen tableclothes and the view looked out over the river and the Bund. Beautiful! I also saw the Pearl Tower, which has pretty pink lights/glass. Anyway, it's a Shanghai thing to see, so I saw it!
I've been kinda sick lately--just the "China cough" that I can't seem to get rid of! I guess the air pollution and the humidity are not a great combination!
Well, I need to get going--it's dinner time! We are having leftover pasta and fried rice!
I will write more soon--and I'll tell you the story about how I found out I only have one kidney! (ok, I will tell you now, since I can hear the whining. I went to a health screening for my visa registration and had to get a chest x-ray, blood work and an ultrasound. The lady running the ultrasound machine was concerned because she couldn't find my other kidney. They concluded--after checking me repeatedly for scars and asking me questions like "Have you sure you've never had surgery?" they concluded I was born with only one kidney. So if you need one, sorry, I can't help you! You learn something new every day!:)
Much love to all!!!

Susannah