Hello all, Well, we just got back from a four-day class excursion to Xi'an in Shanxi province and we learned as much, or more, than anyone! For example, did you know that over 2,000 years ago, the first emperor of China built Xi'an into a capital that would eventually rival the cities of Rome and Constantinople as the greatest city in the world? NO!? (Well, we didn't either....:-) So, it was an incredible experience visiting such an historic site, and here are some of the other interesting facts we picked up..... ** Xi'an was the center of ancient China for 2,000 [View Full Entry]

---

---

Ni hao, And I'm ashamed to say that our Chinese has not progressed MUCH beyond that....so on my to-do list is taking Chinese lessons. Roel's campus provides him with lessons every other week after school, so I guess it's off the local Chinese for expats school for me. Now that we're going into our third month we're getting quite settled -- no more jet lag and far less culture shock. In fact the daily routine is strikingly similar to our work schedules back home....up at 5:00 am in order to make our 7:10 am bus pickup, which is a 1/2 hr [View Full Entry]

---

---

Sunday, October 7/07 Hey everyone! Well, Shanghai continues to dazzle yet frustrate....regarding the latter, one of my colleagues uses the acronym 'TIC', for 'this is China' for every time something doesn't go the way you'd expect and lately we, too, seem to be throwing it into every other sentence....for example, on the first night of our holidays, the taxi took us to the wrong area in Saturday holiday traffic and after one hour in gridlock we ended up in the wrong part of town; our pay went into the bank for the first time but our money cards didn't work; the [View Full Entry]

---

---

Wednesday, September 12, 2007 Well, we’re off the island....Sun Island Resorts, that is. On Saturday we shifted all of our worldly belongings from our one-month digs into our new-home-away-from home in the French Concession. It felt strange to leave the resort, but the few remaining islanders saw us off with a night at the Korean restaurant, followed by a game of pool and table tennis in the games room. Saturday was the moving day, and with the help of some of our friends we managed to almost fill a good-sized bus (even in China our stuff is growing...ie. toaster oven, handmade [View Full Entry]

---

---

Today marks the beginning of our third week in Shanghai, and this means that the jetlag, culture shock and general overall confusion such a move entails are all somewhat lessening. The weather has been a mixture of hot, boiling and inferno ranges, and today lies somewhere between the first two. But I am writing this in the air-conditioned living room of our English tudour bungalow in Sun Island, which is a five star resort about one hour from downtown. (And that's a bona fide five star -- the place is incredible -- from its "Western Restaurant', tropical foliage, and natural hot [View Full Entry]

---

---