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Published: September 29th 2009
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Our apartment is onthe second floor -- away from most* of the mosquitos but not quite all.We have safely arrived to our school in Yangzhou, China. For those of you who didn't know, we are spending the next 10 months teaching English at the Beijing New Oriental Foreign Language School at Yangzhou or Beijing Xin Dong Fang for short. This place is the real deal; we are a part of a giant education franchise that apparently rules all of China. Hell, you (yes you!) could become a proud share holder of this school on the New York Stock Exchange.
It has been our intention to set up a blog, but we have found that most (and by most, we mean all) blog sites are blocked, as is facebook. We will try to maneuver through the Chinese censoring system and sooner or later find a way to post stories and pictures. In the meantime it looks like we will have to use good old fashioned email.
As to our short time in Yangzhou so far, we have become quite familiar with the school. Very familiar. We (all the foreign teachers) are being quarantined so that we do not spread H1N1. All of us are completely healthy; regardless of our health status, we dutifully stick a
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Heading over to the school cafateria -- they feed 4,000 people three squares a day! thermometer in our armpit twice daily and with great regularity and pride produce a temperature reading of 36.5 degrees C. It is sort of a funny quarantine, being that we are in close contact with any one of the 500 Chinese national teachers and easily another 500 Chinese school employees who have free range to the outside world. That said, if the State's intention was to concentrate any foreign illness (big Petri dish, extra warm, extra moist conditions) and then quickly spread it throughout Yangzhou, then great success shall be enjoyed by all.
The pollution, coupled with extreme humidity and absolute stillness of air, makes for an impressive mile of visibility. From the school we can barely make out the skyline of Yangzhou (we are located just outside of the medium sized town of 4.5 million people) and the nuclear power plant down the way (a strikingly similar view is in the opening scene of the Simpsons). The mystique of the city lying before us is unbearable. At any rate, today, after four days of living protected behind the walls of the school, we are finally going to pass through the gates and go into the heart of town
Liz & Kelly's Departure 004
At the Sea-Tac Airport just before heading off for a year of traveling for a bit of exploration. Tomorrow. We think.
We've gotten a tour around the school and are now in the depths of training. The school is big. All the buildings are 5 stories tall and massive. The academic buildings themselves are quite architectural and impressive; the designer school was built almost entirely in three years. However, China is not a culture of unions, building codes, or standards - and the entire school, while only seven years old, is seemingly crumbling on its own new foundation. Everyone lives on campus; K-12 plus all the teachers and their families. This ¼ mile x ¼ mile campus manages to squeeze 3,600 students and easily 1,000 teachers and family members into a density that rivals that of, well, China. Imagine soviet shoe box apts. with crumbling designer stairways and a nice Asian flare. There are nice grounds with a stream/little river running through campus and the school has two tracks and a pool that doesn't work - think face value here folks. Our apartment/dorm room is quaint. It is two rooms and a bathroom with a little balcony. We have two apartments, but aren't quite sure what to do with both; all of our stuff fit into a backpack and daypack each - sort of filling one apartment and leaving the other quite empty. We have lately dubbed the empty apartment as “the Saturday morning cartoons and premium bike storage” apartment.
Lately we have been training with our coworkers, all from different English speaking countries, about the different styles and techniques of classroom management and teaching. Flexibility in scheduling is a must. At one moment we are hurried over to some random classroom only to learn that a 20 minute wait is necessary before work can begin. Soon we will find out our schedule, our class assignments, and of course, what it is exactly that we will be doing the following day. Its all so great and so foreign. What a fantastic adventure.
Love to you all - and zaijian.
Kelly and Elizabeth
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James Dohnalek
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Photo 2 - exterior view of apartment
Are those Kelly's underwear in the lower right hand corner of the picture?