First Impressions

Hello from China. I hope everyone is doing well. I have received e-mails from many of you and I really appreciate being kept abreast of goings on in the USA.

Sorry for taking so long to get this first email out but I have been quite busy since arriving and I just found out there is internet access in my hotel. They have been working us pretty hard since we all arrived...but we'll get to all that in a little bit.

My time in LA was great. I got to spend time with every member of my family out there so that was nice. The trip out was a little hectic with delays in LA and SF but me and my baggage both made it so I can't complain too much. The plane ride was the worst I've ever had. I was seated in the middle of the middle section of seats. The flight was packed to the gills. The movies were 16 Blocks (average to bad), She's the Man (surprisingly hilarious), and Pride and Prejudice which I refused to watch.

After 12 hours ( we arrived 45 min. ahead of schedule somehow) I arrived in Shanghai and met up with 5 other members of my group (3 Americans, 1 Israeli, and 1 Brit). From there we took the 3 hour private bus ride to Changzhou. Shanghai was beautiful at night from a distance. We finally got to the hotel around 10:00 p.m. local time. The hotel is amazing. It is brand new and not actually open to the public yet. They are conducting a dry run of sorts. Everything is way too fancy for me. The next day we woke up early and met everyone else from WITT and took a bus to the local college's campus to begin training. Training sucks and is way too long. We spend 10 hours a day in an un-air conditioned room listening to stuff we have already been told before we arrived. I got to meet the other teachers I'll be working with and they are all super cool. There are 2 older ladies (40's and 50's) from New Zealand, 1 dude from England, and another American guy. Most of the 60 or so teachers are from either New Zealand or England but there are teachers from Canada, Australia, and the USA as well although we Americans are definitely the minority. Over half of the teachers are 40 or older whit the other half around my age.

One of the ladies in my group actually worked at our school last year and has really filled me in on all the juicy details. The accommodations sound like they should be above average when compared to the accommodations the other teachers will have in other cities. They have people going to some way out of the way places throughout China. I really lucked out with being placed in Beijing. Tomorrow we will have our 3rd day of training. Thursday will be our last day of training here in Changzhou and Friday we will be flown to our respective cities.

And now for observations and silliness

Last night a handful of us went out to dinner at a really cool little restaurant. It was located in Kevin's favorite place, the mall. It was actually a really nice place that had grills at each table and served raw fish, chicken, beef, shrimp, squid, and pork that you cook yourself at your table (pork is the national meat for sure). Four of us had a big dinner and 4 beers apiece for a total of 300 yuan which is like 40 dollars.

After that we met some others at a club recommended to us my the concierge. It was so tacky. Lasers and lights and loud music...it was great. When we walked in all eyes were on us. We are the only white people in town so we attract a lot of attention. They had scantily clad girls pole dancing on a stage in the middle of the bar. No stripping though. We drank a fair amount and as a result had to use the restroom. It was a trough style urinal and there were two bathroom attendants. As I began using the facilities I was approached by both attendants. They proceeded to give me a back massage and shove a piece of gum in my mouth. It was alarming to say the least. With all of that distraction I of course got stage fright so the whole incident lasted a lot longer than it should have. It was crazy. I also used a squat pot for the first time. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I still prefer our method. As you might have predicted the night ended with me dancing on stage entertaining the locals. They really loved us by the end of the night. The people here are sooo nice and friendly. They are fascinated by the thought of life outside of China.

Sorry this was so long. For those of you who have read to this point, congratulations and thank you. I am still investigating the blog situation but this form will have to do for now.

I miss you all dearly and would welcome any visitors at any time. This place is sooo cool. Take care and I hope to be in contact again soon.