Around the World and Back: Qingdao so far!

     Hi from Qingdao!! I can't believe we've already been here almost a month. Time really does fly in the teaching world. We started school 2 days after arriving, which was a bit stressful but honestly probably helped us recover from jetlag faster. Here are a few of our observations so far...

1. Having a school inside a hotel provides some entertaining challenges! There is only one elevator, and we're not allowed to use the stairs (because then kids might go into the hotel instead of to class). So when it's time for lunch, or time to go to the library, or art class, or music class, 8-15 students and 1 teacher cram into the elevator to reach their destination. You learn quickly not to use the elevator when the tweens have just finished gym class…

2. We went for a post-dinner stroll one night last week, and stumbled upon a tranquil tea house. It was 8pm but much to our surprise, it was very much open. We popped in for a quick look around at the ornate tea sets, and after minimal conversation, a woman working there declared us her English teachers! She told us that drinking tea was free for her English teachers. The next thing we know, it's two hours later, we've had about 8 cups of tea, and she's asking us how many beers we can drink ("Ten? Twenty?"). She steps out of the room and reappears with a Tsingtao (naturally) and pours us two glasses. We left an hour later with a free bag of green tea leaves and a new friend.

3. Everyone who comes to live in China has to register at the police station. The resident taking-care-of-business lady at the school is well versed in this little police station visit. She accompanied us in a school van with our school driver, Mr. Sun, to the police station with a bag of our documents and, inexplicably, a Language Arts textbook. To prove that we're teachers? When we arrived, there was a huge crowd of people waiting outside the police station. Minutes later, the door opened (lunch break over!) and everyone just made a mad dash pushing each other and going every which way (classic). When I was told to sit down in front of an officer, the officer appeared to be inspecting someone else's passport. I sat there for a few minutes (no eye contact or conversation), and then was told to go sit down somewhere else. 20 minutes later, we were on our way back to school… but not without a unexplained stop at an unknown destination. We waited in the van, curious. No answers were given. 20 minutes later we were on our way back to school! Did everything go OK with the police registration? Who knows!

4. One of my favorite things here is the assess pants that babies wear. Who wants to deal with a diaper?! No one. If the baby needs to go to the bathroom, just hold it out over [somewhere] and let it go there. Much easier, and less mess to clean up! **Watch where you step**

5. We have found the world's greatest breakfast stand. On our 15-20 min walk to work, there are a few food vendors set up in the morning, and the one we love serves a thin tortilla-like crepe/wrap, warmed over a grill and topped with so many delicious vegetable medleys, a fried egg, and a bit of spicy sauce. It's satisfying and big enough to fill us up well until lunch time, and all for RMB 6 (less than $1 USD)! The people working there are really nice and they seem to get a kick out of us frequenting their stall (Brian gets a wrap for breakfast every morning). Sometimes they teach us the Mandarin words for the different veggie mixes and we tell them the English words. Sometimes they take pictures of us - are they loving us or making fun of us? Doesn't really matter, does it ;)

6. I LOOOOOOOOOVE living on the 18th floor. Even though our apartment is just a studio, I really feel glamorous living up so high. The apartment is clean and modern, and no sewage smell (which is a very pleasant surprise; I came prepared for the worst). We have a small view of the mountains from our "balcony" aka laundry-drying closet. Plus, when you want to take your garbage out, you just set the trash bag in the hallway next to the elevator, and someone picks them up off each floor every day! It's the little things, seriously.

     So far, so good. I had a slightly rough adjustment to my job here, but things have smoothed out over time. I am notorious for freaking out when I have a new job, so that was pretty normal. :) It's a little different than I expected - I am a school librarian! I do get to work with preschoolers - 5th graders in the library through read-alouds and small lessons each week, which is fun and challenging. Although I was expecting/hoping to be assisting in a Montessori classroom, I have come to like the library work. I have A LOT to learn, but I am getting faster at cataloging books and more knowledgeable each day. I never really considered working in a library, but now I am thinking more about what this experience might mean for me in our future in the international school system. I'm still keeping my options open, but why not see where this takes me for a year?
     Life here is really comfortable. I like the area where we live - there are beaches, parks, and mountains to climb all within walking distance of our apartment, and the school is only a ~15 min walk away. We haven't had any troubles yet getting around or finding things we want without speaking Chinese - although we really want to learn! We got contact information for a Chinese tutor who we plan to set up sessions with soon, hopefully a couple days per week. So far I can count to 100! :) Yesterday a coworker from school (who also happens to have lived in Seattle!) introduced us to the most AMAZING market that's only a ten minute walk from home. They sell all kinds of fruits, veg, plants, grains, spices, tofu, housewares, breads, dumpling wrappers, seafood, meats, and even fresh-ground peanut butter and personalized wellness blends made from Chinese herbs. So yeah, it's basically my dream come true. We will never have to go to a normal grocery store again! We also joined a gym about 5 minutes from our house where we do yoga twice a week (good exercise and slightly weird/entertaining with a Chinese twist!).
     The pollution has been surprisingly low, but just 2 days ago it took a turn for the worse. I am mentally preparing for the Fall/Winter when you can't go outside at all. Coal burning is no joke!

Ok, I better get started on some work for this upcoming week. Only one more week of school and then we have a week off for Mid-Autumn break! We will travel to the nearby city of Jinan and also Tai'an to hike Mount Tai. Keep posted for more stories and photos! Below are some photos from the last few weeks. Love to you all, I hope this finds you well!

climbing Fushan the day after we arrived

it was a little hot!

mall culture is really big here - lots of malls have ice rinks inside!

walking to school

sunrise view from our laundry balcony

this was my first Montessori read-aloud session, totally losing control of the kids haha

busy day at the beach

I think this is a museum

it's so beautiful by the sea!

There's a sculpture park at the beach

a less crowded and beautiful area to swim

can you zoom in on this pic and see what's going on? this is inside "Sprofessional Coffee" hahaha

this is the construction pit next to the school with a rainbow :)

Lotus flowers at the Botanical Gardens

Brian and his Asian carny games ;)

I wanted to save these turtles

Brian got to ring this giant bell

in the Buddhist quarters of the garden

nice and serene

garden meets city

Walking around downtown right before an enormous rainstorm we got caught in!

Having tea with our "English student" at the tea house :)

apartment view

Thai-style meal that Brian cooked us YUMMM. The Chinese wine was pretty good too!

Another amazing dinner by Brian - we went to a seafood market early on a Sunday morning and bought 1.5 kilos of freshly-caught clams and paid just over $2 USD for them :))))

Yesterday we went to Almon and Vivian's (coworkers) house for their son Yi Fan's 100 Day Celebration. There are a LOT of cute teacher's kids at QAIS :)