Blogs from Wuhan, Hubei, China, Asia - page 31

Our apartments are in the South Building of campus. There is a big gate that is locked every night that guards the back courtyard area. We are looked after by the shirfu. He lives in the little hut in the courtyard with glass windows. The courtyard has several plastic chairs (like an old bowling alley) and an outdoor pool table (a la Drew Carey). If we are out past 11pm when they lock the gates, we can either wake up the shirfu or climb the wall. The wall in question happens to have shards of glass embedded in the top of it. The International Offices of the campus are on the first floor of our building. My place is on the second floor right at the top of the stairs. Sarah is next door to me ... read more

I made it through my first day without a hitch, almost! This morning I wanted to finish up my lesson plans and rest so that I was fully refreshed for my evening class. I worked on my powerpoint presentation highlighting different parts about my life. I included a map of the US and the state of Illinois then I highlighted Chicago and Gurnee. I talked about things Chicago is famous for, architecture, hot dogs, pizza and theater/comedy. I also talked about things Gurnee is famous for; Great America and Gurnee Mills. Then I talked about myself; my favorite color, movie, food, music, hobby, holiday. I had slides with pictures of my family, and Mom one of my students is Susan so she thought it was funny you shared the same name. I had slides with pictures ... read more

Today we all woke up without a plan which was nice for once. It has been good to travel as a group and share ideas and learn things together but it is also nice to have time alone. This morning I spent time boiling lots of water so that I can have cold water to drink this afternoon. I also tried to figure out my washer which is set all in Chinese, I ran water through the cycle first in hopes of getting rid of the loess that was left in the pipes over the summer. The hose is not connected to anything so I have to run in the bathroom during each of the three rinse cycles to point the hose in the bathroom drain. I think I am now ready to try really washing ... read more

Today we met with Lori, our foreign affairs liason and he took us to get a meal card. We have heard from previous teachers that the food is not so great and when eating in the cafeteria you are bombarded by your students and it is not so relaxing. That being said none of us were really thrilled to pay 100kuai (13 dollars) for a card however we were told it works at our supermarket just outside our apartment so we were ok with it. We have become more aquainted with the campus, Lori tested our memory by letting us lead the way. We arrived for our 'welcome party' with the english and general english departments in a meeting room in the english building. We introduced ourselves to 10 people who spoke english amazingly well. We ... read more

We arrived yesterday afternoon, Wednesday, in Wuhan and I am all moved into my apartment!! It has been an exhausting few days. Monday we left Chicago at 1pm and arrived in Tokyo 13 hours later Tuesday afternoon. The flight was ok. It is always smooth in such a large plane, two stories tall. I barely slept on the plane because I couldnt get comfortable but I had my own personal TV with games so I kept myself entertained. We had a lay over in Tokyo airport. It was cool to see Japanese culture again and it brought back memories. We used the bathroom in the airport and the toilets had heated seats with optional bidet and an option of a courtesy flush. (basically the sound of the toilet to block the sound of what may be ... read more