Wifi in the apartment makes everything better.
Hello everyone. It looks like getting wifi in my apartment may change everything. I can update my blog. I haven't figured out how to upload pictures yet, but this is a good sign. Since I don't know if I'll get to do this again soon, let me update you quickly.
Life has had its ups and downs since I've moved here. I am enjoying China for the most part. The food is amazing and the people are very friendly. Since I've been here, I've rented an apartment and started work teaching English. Classes are mostly 1-5 kids ages 9-14 and then a handful of 20ish year old students. I've only had 1 or 2 older than 20s. I think my biggest class is 6 students. We talk about anything from adjectives and adverbs to names of clothes, occupations, where you go to buy certain things: post office, supermarket, department store, cinema/movie theater, etc. I work Wednesday to Friday from 1 pm to 9 pm. I usually teach 4-5 classes a night. Then I work on the weekends Sat-Sun from 9a-7pm. I have a one hour lunch break during the week and 2-1 hour breaks on the weekends. I normally teach 6 classes each weekend day.
Work is about a 15 minute walk from my house. It is a life size game of frogger as I have to cross two sets of streets (3 lanes each). There is a fruit market and a convenience store on my walk and I usually buy a liter of filtered water to drink each day and then buy fruit on my way home. Last week, I was buying fruit and a man behind me asked if I could speak English. I told him that I do, and he said that he was just in American visiting his son at college. I asked where his son goes to school and he told me Texas. I smiled and said, "I am from Texas, which school does he go to?" Then he told me Texas A&M. (For those of you in Texas, I wanted to say an Aggie joke, but I didn't know if it would translate well.) So we talked for a few minutes. I found out his wife is in Texas now. I hope I will be able to invite them over in a few weeks for tea or something.
A few days ago, my mom, who works at an antique shop had a customer from China. She told him that I am here and he asked what city. She told him and he had a friend from Suzhou. So he gave her the contact information for his friend. I contacted his friend today and he speaks English well. Hopefully we will meet and have a chance to talk and get to know each other. They both seem eager to take care of me if I need any help. It is ideal to get plugged into a family and get to know people well.
I've had a few rough days where the culture shock of internet or other daily life challenges has felt overwhelming. I wouldn't say that it is easy to live here and not know any Chinese. I have a translator app that helps significantly. I can order a taxi and go to any location I want in English, which is helpful. I can buy food from the Walmart here. It's really a Walmart and feels like a Walmart, but is more like a Sam's Wholesale. Most of the items are bulk. It feels like a Sams Wholesale and an International Food Store had a love child.
I was able to visit Pingjiang Road. If you go to the China page you can see some videos from Youtube that talk about it. I will post my own pictures as soon as I can figure it out.
I am slowly building a better relationship with my co-workers. I am the only full time foreign teacher. There are approximately 8 full time Chinese teachers and three part time foreign teachers. Many foreign teachers work at International Schools and can make more money and then work at a training center part time. I have an option to do that too, and hope it will work out.
That is all I can think of for now. I will post this and try to figure out how to post pictures in a few days.
You can email me at nihaojillleann@outlook.com or call/text me at +86 151-5043-6634. I am still researching Instagram access as well.
Life has had its ups and downs since I've moved here. I am enjoying China for the most part. The food is amazing and the people are very friendly. Since I've been here, I've rented an apartment and started work teaching English. Classes are mostly 1-5 kids ages 9-14 and then a handful of 20ish year old students. I've only had 1 or 2 older than 20s. I think my biggest class is 6 students. We talk about anything from adjectives and adverbs to names of clothes, occupations, where you go to buy certain things: post office, supermarket, department store, cinema/movie theater, etc. I work Wednesday to Friday from 1 pm to 9 pm. I usually teach 4-5 classes a night. Then I work on the weekends Sat-Sun from 9a-7pm. I have a one hour lunch break during the week and 2-1 hour breaks on the weekends. I normally teach 6 classes each weekend day.
Work is about a 15 minute walk from my house. It is a life size game of frogger as I have to cross two sets of streets (3 lanes each). There is a fruit market and a convenience store on my walk and I usually buy a liter of filtered water to drink each day and then buy fruit on my way home. Last week, I was buying fruit and a man behind me asked if I could speak English. I told him that I do, and he said that he was just in American visiting his son at college. I asked where his son goes to school and he told me Texas. I smiled and said, "I am from Texas, which school does he go to?" Then he told me Texas A&M. (For those of you in Texas, I wanted to say an Aggie joke, but I didn't know if it would translate well.) So we talked for a few minutes. I found out his wife is in Texas now. I hope I will be able to invite them over in a few weeks for tea or something.
A few days ago, my mom, who works at an antique shop had a customer from China. She told him that I am here and he asked what city. She told him and he had a friend from Suzhou. So he gave her the contact information for his friend. I contacted his friend today and he speaks English well. Hopefully we will meet and have a chance to talk and get to know each other. They both seem eager to take care of me if I need any help. It is ideal to get plugged into a family and get to know people well.
I've had a few rough days where the culture shock of internet or other daily life challenges has felt overwhelming. I wouldn't say that it is easy to live here and not know any Chinese. I have a translator app that helps significantly. I can order a taxi and go to any location I want in English, which is helpful. I can buy food from the Walmart here. It's really a Walmart and feels like a Walmart, but is more like a Sam's Wholesale. Most of the items are bulk. It feels like a Sams Wholesale and an International Food Store had a love child.
I was able to visit Pingjiang Road. If you go to the China page you can see some videos from Youtube that talk about it. I will post my own pictures as soon as I can figure it out.
I am slowly building a better relationship with my co-workers. I am the only full time foreign teacher. There are approximately 8 full time Chinese teachers and three part time foreign teachers. Many foreign teachers work at International Schools and can make more money and then work at a training center part time. I have an option to do that too, and hope it will work out.
That is all I can think of for now. I will post this and try to figure out how to post pictures in a few days.
You can email me at nihaojillleann@outlook.com or call/text me at +86 151-5043-6634. I am still researching Instagram access as well.
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