Week 2!

Another very busy week....but in a very different way! Work has begun and I can't say that it hasn't been a bit stressful. My teacher friends will understand this: learning a brand new philosophy on teaching combined with setting up a classroom in a place where you know where NOTHING is with very limited resources, plus trying to get ready for "meet the teacher" night and....oh yea....kiddos on Monday! All of this happened in just 1 week! At home, I would have spent a month off and on getting ready. Nope! Not here!

However...I made it through. "Meet the Teacher" night was much less of a big deal than they made it out to be. I did get to meet 4 of my kiddos...all adorable and so small! 1 from Britain, 1 that is 1/2 German 1/2 Chinese, 1 that is from somewhere in Africa (yikes..I know that's so bad I don't know!!!) and 1 little dude from Iowa! Almost all of the remainder of my class is Korean....so excited to meet them on Monday!

And shockingly..this new philosophy of teaching is already starting to make a little sense to me! 3 days ago I was freakin out! Today...calm, cool and relaxed...kind of.  ;)

Tuesday night was...Chinese Valentine's Day of course! Some friends from work went to the Red Lion (can't remember if I mentioned it before), a very western pub in downtown Wuxi with open mic night! As we were walking to the bar we were shocked at the amount of people out on a Tuesday night and wondered why the heck everyone was trying to sell us roses and heart shaped balloons. At this time, we didn't know about Valentine's Day. It came together quickly after that. :)

This is the same place I took the photos of the bridge over the canal before.
So beautiful at night!

I was beyond excited to see this at the pub! Had to take a photo for Nancy and Pat. :) They did the coolest thing at the pub! When there's a large crowd, instead of trying to pay attention to who ordered what as far as tabs go...they give you a bracelet with a big number on it and when you order something...it goes on the tab that matches your bracelet! Pretty ingenious I thought!

Most of my week was spent at school and while I was at home, I was preparing for school. However, today a friend took me to Shanghai...wow! I was so excited to go and it did not disappoint! It was a pretty rushed trip all in all, but she was a great tour guide and it was a beautiful day (minus the extreme heat of course). I can't attached all of the photos I took, so I'll just put up some highlights! :)

This was VERY interesting! It was an area where parents,
or sometimes a "contractor" comes to find a husband/wife
for the child. Because in the Chinese culture it is work, work, work,
it leaves little time for dating apparently!?!?! So basically it's page
after page of eligible bachelors and bachelorettes hoping to get picked!
These pages contain their age, height, how much money they make in
a month! Wow...what a trip! 

She found one she wanted!!!

Walking from the older more historic side of town, the "west side" towards the new part of town called Pudong..which I think translates into something about "the east". :) The east and west sides, new and old sides, are separated by a canal. The buildings in the center are in Pudong. 

Made it to The Bund...very popular tourist spot for taking photos of the amazing skyline of Pudong. We were so lucky...it was basically empty today! However, this actual photo was completely overexposed, so I had to play around with it a bit to show the color. It really was a beautiful day!

More views of Pudong. The unique building with the globes is really amazing...the globes are bright purple! Very cool! 

That building in the middle is referred to as "the bottle opener" :)

This is the view of Pudong as we were walking away from The Bund into a garden that led us to a much more historic and "untouched" part of town. 

Walking down this little alley/street, the smell of "stinky tofu" they call it..was out in full force! So disgusting! I saw them cooking some on the side of the road. Can't say it looked very tasty either, but the smell was enough to make me NEVER want to try it! This road was so tiny, but still the bicyclists, motorbicyclists and even motorbicyclists towing trailers buzzed right through like it was no big deal. 

Clothe lines hang everywhere and really show "life" in China. As sad as it might look, it's also so beautiful to think about this culture that has existed for SOOOOO many years and remains relatively simple, modest and safe. 

Jiu Qu Bridge...legend has it, if you cross this bridge it will bring you good luck! We...shall...see...

Really????? 

 If any of you "blogger people" would like to give me some hints as to how to format these photos so they're not in a line...I would gladly accept your help!