3 Weeks in!

I can hardly believe I've been in China for three weeks now. It seems like its been less time. Things have smooth out quite a bit. I have an app on my phone that lets me translate into Chinese. I just type what I mean to say and it changes it for me. That isn't to say that it has solved all my problems. The road is still a bit bumpy, but I'll manage.

Life in China is some ways very similar to my life at home and in many ways it is completely different. For instance, at home, if I wanted to order a pizza, I could just pick up the phone and order it. I can't so much in China. For one, I don't speak Chinese worth a damn. And for two, I don't know how to tell them where to deliver it. I do, however, find myself doing many of the same things here that I did at home. I still spend probably too much time on the internet and I still like to spend time working on my cross stitch. That much hasn't changed and it is those small things that remain the same that help to keep me just a little bit sane.

The biggest thing to change (and hold on, this is about to get personal) is trying to find birth control. I take birth control to regulate my periods so I don't become a pimple faced rage monster once a month. The thing about China is most people only use birth control after the fact - the morning after pill. And trying to get the pharmacist to understand the difference is nearly impossible when you speak no Chinese. I know that it is possible to get the same type of pill that I take now, it's just difficult to do. I will have to ask for help. Thankfully, all the Chinese teachers here are women so I don't have to embarrass myself too badly. I'll let you know how the search goes soon.

As a little note about my previous post with the pictures of my apartment. I live on the sixth floor of the building. There is no elevator. Those stairs are not fun. Also, when you look at the pictures, imagine that each room comes off the entry way - the kitchen directly in front, the bedroom and bathroom are on the right and the living room is on the left. It's nice having separate living spaces.

In my apartment, I've had people in to fix the heat twice. Once was yesterday. And again today, the radiators have gone cold. I don't know what I'm going to do if they can't get it fixed and keep the heat on. Maybe I won't be in this apartment for the whole year. If I keep having heating issues, I'm not going to be a very happy popsicle! (Yes, it is really that cold.)

All the complaining aside, I'm having a really good time here. Thanksgiving was just a few days ago and even though it isn't celebrated in China, the students at my school had a drama contest to celebrate and show off their language skills. Some of the younger students sang songs for their parents and some of the older students did little plays. There were several versions on Cinderella, Snow White and Little Red Riding Hood performed over the past two days. The kids were so cute. They even had costumes and props to help tell the stories. I was giving the honor of judging four such contests this weekend. Not that judging meant much. The category winners were pre-selected. There was a best performance award, a best team work award, a best behavior award, and a most improved award. It's was really neat to watch the kids put on the shows and speak in English as best as they could.

Well, until next time!