Sawatdi ka (“hello” in Thai),
Things are rockin’ along here in Beijing. I don’t know about you, but time has just flown by and the end of the school year and our first year in China is almost here...
Spring has sprung, so it’s starting to warm up a bit- which means that it’s green now instead of gray, which is always good for the spirits. This season is also termed as the “fluffy” season because there are bits of white fluff all over the place, seeming to come from nowhere but the sky. They look like dandelion fluffs, but I have no idea where they are coming from. If you have allergies, it’s not a good place to be. We also had our first sand storm. The sand from the Gobi desert and the high winds blow sand over everything. It was pretty strange... it looked as if it snowed sand and it covered everything in its path. We’ve had a couple of bad pollution days too. If it’s a level five, then no kids can go out to recess and all of the outside activities, like track and field, are cancelled. My poor elementary teacher friends have to deal with squirrely kids all day because they don’t have an outlet for their energy. I haven’t been affected by it, but some people get sore throats and stuff. Hard to imagine, eh? Its days like that when I really miss the Evergreen trees and mountains of Washington. It’s funny how you easily take for granted clean air. I especially miss seeing Mt. Rainer in the distance.... that’s my real home.
Work is going well for both Travis and I. My counseling buddies will appreciate this... Michael Thompson came to speak to our school. He was here for a couple of days and did some workshops for teachers and families. He’s the author of “Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Lives of Boys” and “Best Friends/Worst Enemies: Understanding the Social World’s of Children”. He’s written a lot of other books and has been on Oprah and 60 Minutes. Anyway, the other school counselors and I got a chance to talk to him and stuff. That was really cool. He’s very down-to-earth and we all learned a lot. He helped me out with a boy I’m working with that has some anger issues. At the end of the year, all the high schoolers go on a China Link trip; my tenth graders and I are going to Qingdao. It’s in southern China where it’s warm. The students are excited because it’s by a beach (I guess I am too, though). We’ll be visiting some local places, including going to some homes in the village and learning how to cook authentic Chinese food. From my experience, authentic Chinese food is not that great but whatever. The kids will be able to practice their Chinese, while I just say thank you and hello in my Americanized Chinese. No, I still can’t speak the language but my goal is to start taking lessons with a tutor next year. The last day of school is June 9th, so Travis and I will be leaving on the 10th to do some traveling. We haven’t solidified where we’re going- probably Europe and Turkey. We’re also moving into a bigger place and out of our compound. It’s actually a house in a place called “Modern Home.” It has four bedrooms, a sauna (yes, a sauna in the master bathroom), walk-in closet, satellite and broadband cable, and a stereo and sound system for the whole house. We’ll be the first renters, so it’ll be nice and new and not too far from school. By the 2008 Olympics, there will be a subway stop that goes to downtown and a Holiday Inn right next door. We also have some good friends that live two buildings over, which is convenient. It won’t be completely furnished, so we’ll need to get some furniture. It’s actually pretty cool here. You can get furniture made pretty cheap. We got a book case and two sets of dresser drawers made. I just showed them a Pottery Barn catalog, told them what color, and gave them the measurements. I think they turned out pretty okay.
For spring break Travis and I went to Thailand. WE LOVE THIS PLACE! I mean LOVE THIS PLACE! The people are so nice and the culture is beautiful. A little trivia for you... Per capita, Thailand has the most Trans-gendered/Transsexual people living there. They are gorgeous too! Anyway, back to our trip... After school on a Friday we flew into Bangkok (about a five hour plane ride) and spent the night at the airport (actually at the bar, hee-hee) because we had a 6 am flight to the island of Koh Samui the following morning. The airport was like a resort because it was all outside. Then we took an hour and a half boat ride to Koh Tao (another island off the gulf of Thailand). Koh Tao means Turtle Island, but I didn’t see any turtles so I’m not sure why it’s called that. Anyway, we stayed at a resort there and had the time of our life... white sand beaches, clear blue water, beautiful green hills/mountains in the distant. We stayed in a cottage that was two minutes from the beach and restaurant/bar. While there, Travis and I decided to become certified scuba divers. This was pretty full-on. We spent three days doing this, watching videos, taking quizzes, studying at night, and practicing maneuvers in the pool during the day. We had to take a final test at the end as well. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Studying wasn’t something I had bargained for when signing-up for this so I was a little bummed about that, but anyways, I digress. Now, I like the water or whatever, but I didn’t realize doing this would take-up so much of our vacation time. However, as with most things that are hard work- it paid off. For our first dive, we went 11 m and the second dive for 18 m. When we got to the bottom I looked up and couldn’t see the surface, so I started freaking out a bit. Travis, on the other hand, was living it up- doing summersaults and enjoying the fish and getting all excited. Like most normal people, I’m afraid of drowning so it was a challenge for me. I was like, “Oh my gawd, I’m breathing underwater. Am I okay? What if I swallow water? What if something bad happens?” I’m one of those people who always hold their nose when I jump in water because I’m paranoid about getting water in my nose. We then practiced some maneuvers; one of them was taking off your mask and then putting it back on. Once I did all that, I was fine. It really was cool. Travis and I now want to scuba dive at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia someday. In regards to Thailand the country... It is an amazing place. The people are SO NICE and the food is awesome. What’s even more fun is that things are cheap there. We bought some chicken satay from a vendor and it was only 25 cents a stick and it was some of the best satay I’ve ever had. We love spicy food so we were in heaven. My favorite thing was the fresh fruit and mango shakes. I’ve never had fresh pineapple and mangos like here... Bangkok reminded me a lot like Beijing, lots of markets, a little dirty, some beggars and shacks amongst some modern buildings. We didn’t do a lot of sight-seeing because we know we’ll be back. We did go shopping which is always good. Thailand reminded me a lot of Mexico because it’s a close place that’s cheap and has nice beaches. There are some teaching couples from ISB that own places in Thailand. They have some good deals right now for some really cool houses if you’re in the market. I have to say, though. The sand and beaches on the Yucatan peninsula are better. I think Trav would disagree, but I still do like Thailand better. Where we went was not touristy. It had that remote island feel for sure. In fact, we were the only Americans. Oh man, people hate Americans now! Or maybe they always did, but I definitely feel it when I tell people where we’re from. When we first meet other foreigners and we tell them we’re American, there’s a sort of “Hmmm, what kind of American are you?” look that we get. Once they find out we didn’t vote for Bush there’s a relief that sweeps over them, like “Okay, we can respect you or tolerate you, or whatever.” I just found this out. When I first got to the school, the other parents asked if I was American and Jenny (Aussie counseling colleague) had to reassure them that I’m okay and that I do a good job. She always says to me that I’m not really American- I’m really an Aussie. I’m not totally clear on why- something about being laid back or whatever. Now Bush voting friends and family... I’m not trying to get political so keep your views to yourself. And while I’m at it, I delete all your forwards that are pro-Bush, so there.
In other exciting Tebo news... We have a new nephew!!! His name is Stuart Leodore Tebo and he was born on May 2, 2006. It’s Toby (Trav’s brother) and his wife Debbie’s first child. So we are all obviously thrilled!
All in all, the China-living Tebos are well, but more importantly- how are you guys doing? We love getting your emails, even if it’s just to say hello- so keep them coming!
Dang, these really are long updates. Thanks for reading these, I hope it didn’t bore you too much!
We miss you! Until the next episode...
Cheers,
Cara and Travis
P.S. Notice the new zip code; it is 101318 now.
P.P.S. We get American Idol! So I’m getting my cheesy reality show fix.
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