Arrival!

Hey Team, this is El at the blog. We finally got access to our blog and so I'm doing a quick update for those interested. We have arrived! We are settling into our apartment, which is owned by the company that owns the school (for those of you who don't know, the school we are working at is for students who are children of employees of a massive semi-conductor manufacturing plant down the road). Our apartment is on the 11th floor of a 12 floor tall building and has some neat views of the the high-rises of the city of Wuhan. Where our LQ (living quarters) is, is out on the edge of the busy city areas.

Lunch on our flight to Shanghai (or maybe it was breakfast)

So far we have seen much of the city, as some wonderful friends have taken us under their wing to show us around. It is hard to describe what it is like here in China. Often it helps to compare one place to another, but the one word that comes to mind when I compare China to the US is: Different! From the way people drive, to how food is cooked, to how blood is drawn (we had to get our blood drawn. The experience was like nothing I've ever encountered before) Stephanie and I are constantly astounded at the lifestyle here. We really look forward to getting to know the people and culture more as we start working at the school.

Yesterday (the 15th) was our first day at the school, getting prepared for when the students arrive on the first of September. Both Stephanie and I are experiencing the challenge of working amongst the obvious blockade of language. There are a number of other english speaking teachers at the school, as well as employees who speak both Mandarin and English, but there is much clarification and experimentation still! We look forward to settling in at the school.

Based on our apparent enthusiasm,
this picture was probably taken early
on into our  25 hour journey.

The temperature seems to be getting hotter each day, which is insane because we thought it unbearable the day we arrived one week ago. Routinely over 90 degrees with 80-100 percent humidity has us perpetually sweaty and thirsty. Nothing relieves us more than a cold shower before bed and getting lullaby-ed to sleep by the hum of the AC. However, it is literally a rude awakening in the morning when we walk out of our cool bedroom and into the 80 degree and sticky living room.

Thank you for your thoughts! We definitely feel watched over and provided for.

Until next time,


El

Preparing!

Hi everyone! This is L taking a turn at updating the blog. This past month has seen us doing a lot of preparation. The picture below is of our spare bedroom in our apartment. We are slowly going through books, clothes, and random things, trying to keep the piles of what we want to bring to China smallish. 

We are less than a month from leaving and are getting more and more excited! Yesterday we mailed our passports off to Washington DC for a necessary step in the visa attaining process. Hopefully all goes well! It seems like the paperwork never ends. I know our blogposts have been few and far in between (if you could say that about two posts in all) but we are going to start updating regularly as we get closer to leaving, and after we have left. Love to you all!

L and S

Here We Go!

Hello Friends,

We are excited to keep sharing life with you even as we go to China! We're thankful for you, and will miss you very much. We'll update a bit as we get ready to go, and then come August, we'll be reporting from the other side of the world!

Love to you,

L&S

P.S. We just got back from a great trip visiting family and having all kinds of fun! We went to Disneyland, which was great fun and we celebrated our first wedding anniversary. Yippee!