Arrived! A New Journal Home..

---

So I've arrived - and I've been living in China for almost a month now - sorry I'm so late with the journal updating - but I've been busy getting settled in and I can't seem to access my livejournal here.. so Travelblog it is.. it's taking me some time to sort this thing out.. but I'm slowly figuring out the formating with this new blog.

So - I've been pretty busy so far - I'm teaching at the Canadian International School of Beijing (CIS) - and I have a grade 2 class. They are great! Originally I was slated in to teach Highschool ESL- but this has actually worked out better - it's kind of an extension of what I did in Korea. My class is the 'intensive' grade 2 group - and our primary goal is to get the language.. and I'm using the curriculum as a means to an end - I guess you could say.



Despite feeling a little overwhelmed with classroom prep - I've gotten to do a bit of touring my first few weeks- on the first weekend- my neighbour Scott took me downtown to see Tiananmen and the entrance to the forbidden city - and also to McDonalds.. which was key. The people here are awesome - I haven't gotten lonely once so far. Something is always happening. Even this week - I've been laying low in my apartment - and most people are away on vacation - I've still had people drop by to check on me 😊



So.. in terms of the sights.. I've taken in - the Long Qing Ice Festival.. it had a lot of snow sculptures and ice sculptures and a ice village with fluorescent lights inside..



Next.. I headed up to the Great Wall with Martha and NJ. Martha has been here visiting with her dad, and NJ teaches in the highschool. The wall was amazing - albeit a little cold - we wore layers - but my hands would be freezing whenever I took them out to take a picture. We had a very full day of touring.. we also went to Wangfujing - a walking-shopping street.. and ate fried scorpions on a stick.. and went to Tinanmen and the Forbidden City - (this time it was a clear day - a huge difference from the first time - the pollution here is pretty crazy) Although lately with everyone having left the city for their hometowns the decrease in smog has been quite evident - we've had several days of clear skies.

That's all for now! 😊

---