HAPPY MONTHAVERSARY!

I cannot believe it has been almost a month already into this year in China! It has gone by so quickly. To be honest I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make it or not. But this month has been nothing but something new every single day. To celebrate our "monthaversay" my roomies and I have come up with a list of "Things We Didn't Know".

1. We found a lot of things we could find back home. Such as our favorite brands of anything you can think of from shampoo to makeup and clothes!
2. It's not as "dirty" as the internet makes it out to be. Although sometimes we do get surprised by the smells our noses get hit with. We were expecting lots of spitting and whatnot here on the streets but it's not as bad as we heard it was. It's basically almost the same as back home. We will hear that distinct sound of hacking up mucus once in a while but we figured it would be everywhere we look. 
3. It's not as busy as it is also. Yes there are still a lot of cars and people but I think New York City is worse. 
4. The food is AMAZING! We all were a little apprehensive about adjusting to the food here but everything we have tried we have liked. I even brought medicines to help my stomach adjust if anything but there has not been any problems. (Knock on wood) 
5. How excited we get when we see another foreigner or someone who speaks English! 
6. Women over here have excessively long armpit hair. 
7. We live off of chips literally everyday after work, it's a problem. Only because they are literally 50 cents here for HUGGGEE bags.. that we finish in one sitting.. oops. 
8. The children are smart, of course, but they are literally sponges absorbing every bit of English we give them. In the first week we saw changes in them. They are so willingly eager to learn that we see them growing each day we come into work. I love it! 
9. The parents are so sweet! They are so incredibly nice, they go out of their way for us. They understand that we dropped everything to come and teach their kids and they are so grateful for us. But we are so much more grateful for them. They are so kind and they show us that they are our family here too. 
10. The pollution here isn't that bad! Of course at first our bodies aren't used to it so the first day I experienced the air quality my throat was a little dry. But other than that it isn't that bad. And the masks we have to wear to protect ourselves from it suck! They are pretty tight, and make me feel so enclosed. We love days where we can see the clouds in the sky. We are so lucky to not have to worry and check everyday back in America. Some days the kids can't even go outside to play because it's a hazard. 
11. The weather changes so quick over here! One day we were walking home for our break and it was bright sunny skies, next thing you know when we are walking back three hours later it is raining so hard we still got wet with our umbrella. It was like a hurricane rain. Also it isn't that hot....not yet at least. There is always a nice breeze out even when it's 90 degrees out. 
12. Squatty potties aren't that bad! lol. We were dreading using them, but when you gotta go, you gotta go.
13. Every one is so nice here! One day Tirhza and I decided to go exploring and venture out. We took the train and tried to figure out the busses. As we were walking back and forth discussing our strategy plan for the bus, a woman just walks up to us, taps me on the shoulder, and asks us if we need help. Of course I know we both stick out like a sore thumb, but just that gesture helped us. Whenever we are lost we know we can go up to anyone and they will help us. 
14. How much we depended on wifi and our vpn. We literally don't know what to do when our vpn isn't working.... but we just discovered online shopping sites here in China so I think we will be fine. 
15. We didn't know we would have a hedgehog. Jiaozi is the smelliest, cutest hedgehog there is. He loves egg yolks and fruit!
16. Our apartment complex is a city itself! We decided to be adventurous and take a different entrance and almost got lost. 
17. There are cute dogs everywhere! People always make that stereotypical joke, but they love their dogs here. They don't need to be on leashes because they are so well behaved and trained. They follow their owner everywhere he/she goes. 
18. Living on our own is lots of work. Thanks mom and dad for all you do cause this cleaning thing is not for me. I've learned to hate dust! If we keep the windows open, the pollution brings in lots of dust. Who chose these black coffee tables?!!! But we work together and keep our apartment clean.
19. All of the teachers here are so close, like a family almost. From the teachers to the cooks, guards, everyone! We loved the fact that on our second weekend here we took a trip to spend time with everyone and made memories. We laughed, had a bonfire, sang karaoke, claimed a mountain. It was so much fun. 
20. We can't believe how fast the time went by! Our first week was brutal but we got through it and ever since then it has been flying by. We have plans that we continue to count down the days to in October until our plane lands in JAPAN!!!  

Until next time,

xo Ms Suzy

Our Apartment

When we got to our apartment the day we landed in China, it was like walking into a chic New York City apartment. There are four rooms in total, two full bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and a dining room. Plus it's all fully furnished. Our school is literally a 10 minute walk away, and I can see it from my room. Everything is a walking distance to us. We've discovered a little bakery shop  called Holiland,right outside our apartment where we get our fruit drinks. We're on the 24th floor. The view is amazing here with all the city, and mountains in the background, it's so peaceful and serene when the clouds are out and it's a clear day.

Our apartment building. 

View from Tirhza's room.

Outside my window.
There is also a park inside our apartment  complex.

Tirhza's room.

My room.

The bathroom we share.

Living room

Kitchen

Our neighborhood

The big mall with some American stores, makes it feel like home.
There is also a karaoke place, which is very popular here.

Work/School

Our first week was a huge challenge. Being in a new environment and adjusting to the way they do things was more than difficult. But the kids are just amazing and I fell in love with them instantly. They are so warm and welcoming and they make the hardest days that much better.
 Both Harris and I have three classes each. He has a baby class, a little bit older than the baby class, and a sort of kindergarten class. I have a kindergarten class, a class of 4 year olds, and a 3 year olds class. Tirhza has two classes, a class of 3-4 year olds, and a class of 5 year olds. We each have about an hour with each class. Both Harris and I have two classes in the morning and one in the afternoon.

We eat all of our meals at the school, and they are delicious! Usually in the morning we have boiled eggs with a type of bread, and/or soup. For lunch we have whatever the kids are eating and we are encouraged to eat with them and everything is organic. The chefs are so sweet! Even with the language barrier they manage to care for us and feed us delicious food. When we come back from our three hour break, (I know, AMAZING. We get to go home and take a nap or do whatever we want for the three hours!) we finish our teaching time with our afternoon class and have dinner with them once again before they leave and our day is over.

Here are some pictures of our school:

The front of our school. It's gated with a security guard. We named him Joe. 

Inside one of my classrooms: The 4 year olds.

Inside one of Tirhza's classrooms: The 5 year olds.

In the hallway of our downstairs.
I love how they represent all of the countries. 

Tirhza's 5 year olds's classroom.

The lobby of our school.

The playground in the front of our school.
This is where all the kids park their bikes also. 

This is inside the Elephant room. My baby class with 3 year olds.
Their cots are so cute!

The China flag alongside the American flag.
You see this as soon as you walk in the school.

Me meeting one of my students on our first day. 

WE CAN'T SLEEP!

It's about 3am here and the jet lag is CRAZY! Tirhza and I tried staying up and keeping ourselves busy, but our bodies weren't agreeing. We ended up taking a nap at 5 in the afternoon, because back home it was 5 in the morning. We woke up around midnight here and so did Harris (our other American roommate). Since we all can't sleep we ended up watching some Netflix (THANK GOD FOR VPN and for the new release of Orange is the New Black). We are binge watching it.

So on our first day we had to run lots of errands. We had to stop by the police station to let them know we are her but we weren't able to talk to them because we needed our landlord to show them a contract or something. But we walked around and got to know our area. We went to go see the school that we will be working in and gave our security guard a new American name, since he forgot the one he was given before. We named him Joe!

The school is AMAZING. As soon as you walk in you see the children's and teacher's pictures displayed. You walk down the hallways were there are a couple classrooms and cubbies storage in the hallway. We met some children that are there to see the school to see if they want to enroll their children there. We also met a little girl and her father who has already enrolled her for September. They are so cute! I really am so excited to meet the kids and get to know all of them. We looked at all the artwork displayed throughout the school and all the classrooms and they are so developed! After we explored our new school we walked to the mall to get some supplies for the house. We found a Starbucks! The flavors of course we a little different but having a piece of home felt nice. After our trip to the mall Abby's (our Chinese roommate) boyfriend picked us up and we went back home to "sleep".

Our Journey to China

As I sit here on my flight to China, I’m reflecting back on my last 20 hours of travel. Even in this first day I’ve learned a few things about the world we live  in.  We flew off from JFK in New York, and the hardest part was of course, saying goodbye. Just thinking about how I won’t physically be there for my sister’s first day of Kindergarten or my baby brother’s development in language, and my puppy’s (my baby) first birthday turned into instant water works. think that the only thing that was holding back my excitement was the fact that I had to leave my family behind. But I got to video chat them as soon as we landed for our layover. Now that I can’t turn back from here, I can’t wait to land in China and begin this new life of adventure.

Something that I never really thought about living in America is the difficulty of language barriers. In Russia we had a layover for a few hours and it was so hard trying to read where to go or what to do. Of course, we just followed where ever everyone else was going, can’t go wrong with that! Well actually you can, but we took that chance and it turned out for the better. It’s so hard coming from your homeland and knowing if you ever needed help there was someone to help you when you asked. It’s so different trying to ask someone something and have them give you that “You’re speaking an alien language” face. But we got to our gate safely and from there we waited. The time change is definitely effecting us because as we boarded our next plane, in America it was about 3am and I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I slept so much. All of us were separated from each other and at first it was a little nerve wrecking. Tirhza and I even tried getting someone to switch seats with each other people but in the end it didn’t work out. I had one man sit next to me, who we were actually trying to get to switch his seat, and he was so persistent in keeping his. Or maybe he wasn’t understanding what I was saying. I learned that everything that I’ve heard about the Chinese culture with them being so helpful and friendly to be true. Although I was upset and frustrated that he wouldn’t switch seats with Tirhza, he became my friend. Our conversations consisted of lots of head shaking, gestures, and big smiles. He looked after me in a sense that he woke me up whenever the food or drinks came around. He also saw that I was watching the movie and he just put one of his ear buds in my ear for me to listen (even though it was in Russian). He also didn’t disturb my sleep by waking me up to get back to his (he sat in the middle), he found another seat. When I woke up to see him in another seat I told him to come back to his seat, and he ended up trying to share his lunch. He had brought boiled eggs and just tossed one over to me to eat. But I respectfully declined by a no gesture and a smile. Then I tried out my “Thank you” in Mandarin and he was ecstatic. He taught me how to say “You’re welcome”… but of course I forgot it already. I should get into a habit of writing these things down.  

Today is the Day

Today is the day that will start a year full of adventures, challenges, learning and teaching!
It has been a rough week full of every emotion in the book. As this dream becomes reality, saying my "See you soon's" was probably the hardest thing to do for me.
But I am so grateful and blessed to have an opportunity like this to grow and learn from the experiences I am faced with. But with all these emotions I'm most excited to indulge in the new culture, foods, and opportunities.
Now we're off to the airport! I'm dreading the fact that I have two luggages and a carry on that basically weighs more than me. It's hard putting your life a year in advanced in two suitcases.

Until next time,
xo Ms. Suzy


See you in 20+ hours Beijing!