Greetings and Salutations,
I trust this email finds everyone busy with “life” and all that entails… The overseas Tebo clan has been doing well, so I wanted to share with you some of our adventures since the last update…
We went home to Bremerton, WA in June for around thirty-five days. We wanted to stay longer, but if we did then we’d lose are foreign residency status and have to pay taxes. We spent some time in Victoria, B.C. for a couple of days to ensure this didn’t happen. It’s a gorgeous place and we had awesome weather but its way too expensive. 14% tax- are you kidding me? It was great being home and having all the conveniences! People drive normal and follow the rules. I can actually find clothes that fit and they’re not badly made knock-offs. Things are just so clean back home- restaurants, toilets, stores. Every time Travis and I went into a grocery store, we were there for an hour just looking at stuff. I think what struck me the most were all the choices and flavors… Reduced-fat, non-fat, sugar-free, cholesterol free, sodium free, etc. And of course Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper. What the hell is that all about? And where can you get just Diet Vanilla Coke that’s not in a 2 liter bottle? But I digress… I do have to say that Diet Coke is WAY better in China, though. And all the flavors of Doritos! Mmmm…This is my personal favorite junk food, although I’m waiting for them to come back out with Jumpin’ Jack cheese flavored. I didn’t miss all the commercialization, and especially all the ads on television- and the media in general. It’s so annoying. All in all, it was a great trip back home. I’m glad we got to see Washington in summer because it’s my favorite season there. I didn’t miss all the tipping, paying tax, and the over-priced meals. We spent so much money and we don’t really know what we spent it on. It was probably on gas- I was shocked by how much it is. Have you noticed that people talk about that a lot too? The best part was seeing our friends and family... Travis and I completely surprised my parents, which was hilarious. If I didn’t see you- just know that I was thinking about you… There’s always next time.
We left home in the middle of July to head for Europe. Check this out. We flew from Seattle to San Francisco (2 hours), then to Beijing (11 hours). By the way, we had to pay 200 bucks extra in Seattle because our bags were overweight- however we got bumped up to business class which was a whole new, amazing world. The seats reclined all the way back!!! Anyway, we got into Beijing around 4 pm and took off the next day around 8 am and flew to Amsterdam (10 hours) and then flew to London (1.5 hours). We had to take a one hour bus to another airport, where we stayed-up the entire night playing rummy because we had a 6 am flight to Dublin, Ireland the following day. When we got into Dublin our hotel room wasn’t ready so we went to the Guinness Factory and then walked around the city a bit. We finally got into our hotel room around 3pm. I slept from 4 pm until 6 am the next day. It was a crazy couple of days, but we were too cheap to by a hotel room in London. Dublin is really cool, but it doesn’t look like a big city. Although there are a lot of people, the buildings aren’t very tall but they look really cool. We came during the heat wave- so the weather was great. Travis and I went on a tour, called “The Shamrocker.” We drove around in a yellow bus with about fifteen other people (all around the same age). I can’t truly describe to you how much fun we had. We met-up in Dublin and drove west and then down south and back up again to Dublin. We saw lots of castles, amazing countryside, and drank Guinness all along the way. It’s true, the Guinness is better in Ireland. I’ve been there before when I was young, but it’s much better as an adult. It really is a very green-looking country. They have lots of hills and mountains, but it’s covered with green grass. My favorite town was Westport. It was right on the water and really cute. You hear this a lot, but it’s also true. The people are so awesome and genuinely friendly. This older fellow, who’s a regular at the local pub (by the way, I’ve never seen so many pubs!!!), started to sing Irish folk songs and everyone followed along- it was magical. Irish people tell great stories, love to sing, and the guys are really flirtatious. Even an old married woman like me was getting hit on. One guy actually kept winking at me across from the bar. I don’t know why, but getting winked at by an Irish guy is just funny to me. And yup, they do seem to really enjoy drinking, especially their Guinness. As one of our tour guides said, “It’s the sweet nectar of the Gods.” The tour we got, through “Haggis Tours.” paid for the transportation, tour guide, and it guarantees a room in a hostel. You can request a private room but not all of the hostels have them. We sometimes had to sleep in mixed dorms, which was weird but you don’t spend a lot of time in there. Just sleep. It was six days and a total blast. We met so many people and had good conversations about traveling, politics, and just life in general… These are now great memories...
Our next stop was London. As you may know, I lived in London for four years growing up (aged 7-11). I have always wanted to go back, so this was a different trip for me than Travis because he’s never been there. I was reminiscing the whole time and even visited both of my old houses and elementary school (which, by the way, closed down that June). I also went to my old, favorite candy store and bought some sweets. It’s owned by a different family but it looked the same. On one of the days we went to the Tower of London, London Bridge, and Big Ben. I loved that! I think British history and the royal family is really interesting. Since we went on a previous Haggis tour, we got a discount off the next one, so we decided to do the Cornwall trip around southwest England. We saw Stonehenge, lots of castles, beautiful scenery, Merlin’s caves, the Roman Baths and Lands End. We learned the story about the Knights of the Roundtable and we ate Cornish pasties and had the best scones and clotted cream ever. My favorite place was Newquay. It reminds me of a surfer town in California. They had a place with the best fish and chips too. Plus, all these cute stores that were right above a cliff looking over the ocean. It had a very fun-loving vibe to it and a great place to visit in the summer. The beach was gorgeous! I never knew England had beaches like that. We met some cool people on this trip too, but since it was four days we didn’t really bond like we did with the first tour group we went one. However, we still had a good time, although it was expensive. If you didn’t know, the pound is almost double Travis the American dollar. We pretty much ate sandwiches the whole time. After our two and a half week trip, we flew back to Beijing because I had to start work the very next day. It was great coming back to China and feasting for five bucks.
CHINESE LESSON: The first week of October is a national holiday, so we get a week off. It’s also the time of the Moon Festival or mid-Autumn festival. The Chinese Moon Festival is on the 15th of the 8th lunar month on the Chinese calendar. Legend says that Chang Er (Goddess of the moon) flew to the moon after stealing some elixir from her husband, where she has lived ever since. It is said that you might see her dancing on the moon during the Moon Festival. They celebrate it by making “moon cakes” and you’re supposed to eat these under a full moon. It’s also a time when there are family reunions where you eat moon cakes under the moon and think about how wonderful the world is. Moon cakes are these nasty round cakes with bean paste in them. To be fair, I did have a coconut one which was pretty good. The tradition reminds me a lot of fruit cake at Christmas. People give fruit cake as a gift during Christmas time, expecting that the other person is going to enjoy eating it- very much like moon cakes. Travis and I both got tons of them from our parents. They’re so popular, even Starbucks makes them.
The second year around is so much better… I’m working with a new counselor this year and showing her the ropes, which cracks me up because I was completely lost last year. I’m enjoying my job and keeping busy with parent workshops (I’m organizing a Career Coaching one this year with my colleague) and preparing to run a social skills group for boys. I’m also one of the co-advisors to the Student Council group (we call it STUCO). It’s fun because the kids are amazing, but it’s definitely a time commitment. I have to attend all the school events and chaperone them. My friend is doing it with me, so it’s not that bad and it’s a good chance to get-to-know some kids better. Travis still loves his job and is getting more involved with leadership stuff at the school. We also got a car! Oh man, the quality of life has improved 1000%. It’s a 2003 Great Wall SAFE. The body looks like a Toyota 4-Runner and it’s crimson and gray (go cougs!). We’re SO HAPPY we gave in and bought one. We’ve already had some mini adventures, including going to where the Great Wall meets the ocean and some other towns along the way. In addition, we’re almost settled now in our new place. We just got our furniture (we got stuff made) last week. We’ve been sleeping on a mattress since July and I’ve been dreaming of the day when we could finally have our own bed. This year I’ll be able to finally nest and make a home.
Travis and I are going to Shanghai for the weekend at the end of October to celebrate our birthdays, so that’ll be fun. We’re also coming home for Winter break. I’m looking forward to the smell of Christmas, rainy weather, watching “A Christmas Story,” and shopping. Last year we went to Australia and it was super hot and didn’t feel like Christmas at all.
I hope all is well on your end… Like I always say at the end of these updates, we love hearing from you even if it’s just to say hello…
Cheers,
Cara
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Thursday, May 4, 2006
China Update and Thailand Trip
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.
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.
Saturday, January 28, 2006
New Years, Australia, and Singapore Trip Update
Happy New Year of the Dog! There’s nothing like celebrating New Year’s twice, and that’s what we got to do this year. We have this week off for the Chinese New Year celebration, minus Thursday and Friday because we have professional development days. Our school celebrated with a dragon parade around the school and a Chinese Carnival for the first half of the day. Perhaps you’ve seen the dragons before? There’s a huge head with a pole connected to it that someone holds then there are several people who have poles connected to cloth, so it looks like the dragon’s body? Anyway, it was really fun. The school was completely decorated with red lanterns, red signs, and red banners. Red is symbolic because it chases away the bad spirits. It’s also part of the custom to pay your ayi (maid) double the amount in a red envelope and give her the week of Chinese New Year off. Apparently, we’re rather nice. We gave her two and half weeks off, so now we actually have to clean and pick-up after ourselves. I know-I know, poor us. Our ayi lives in the country and will have to ride a train for twenty-two hours straight. There are no seats, so she’ll have to stand the whole time. The counseling secretary says that the price of adult diapers goes up this time of year. Yah, I know. Kind of weird. I hadn’t seen the ayi in about a month, but when we saw each other we gave each other huge hugs. Anyway, she’s starting to become apart of our family. The fireworks are crazy here and go off all the time. It was the first time in fifteen years that fireworks haven’t been banned in the city, so it was chaos on Saturday. We went to a party at a friend’s house and just watched all the fireworks go off. It was really cool, the city looked awesome. Of course, it was straight-up “China” style- which means there were fire hazards everywhere. We saw little kids in the street setting-off fireworks, right next to boxes. I guess the fireworks will be going off for the next month, but I’ve been able to sleep through it fine.
As you probably remember, we went to Singapore and Australia for winter break. We had three weeks off and it flew by, but it was such a good time! Our flight left on Friday, the last day of school before break, so we didn’t mess around in getting out of here. It took about six hours to fly to Singapore and another six hours to fly to Adelaide, Australia. We flew Thai Air, which was pretty good. Singapore was okay, but very expensive. The city is rather clean and VERY humid. Of course, it’s close to the Ecuador Line so it would obviously be hot. Our favorite place we visited was the Night Safari, that’s one of Singapore’s famous attractions. You get there around 9 or 10 at night and go on a train to see all the animals. We saw some hippos, tigers, and lions, and a whole bunch of other animals. They have light that is similar to moonlight, so you can see everything. Then there was a reptile show that was pretty funny and entertaining. I held a python and got my picture taken. The skin of the snake was dry and it was flaking-off on me which was pretty nasty. On one of the days, we took a tram to Sentosa Island and went to a Dolphin show- it’s famous for having pink dolphins from Hong Kong. I love dolphins, so I enjoyed that. We also went to the underwater aquarium and saw some sharks. There’s not a whole lot to do there, but three days was perfect. We ate at some good restaurants and did some shopping. It rained on the last day, so we watched “King Kong” in the movie theater. We got a good deal because it was a stop-over trip with lots of freebies and discounts- but if you wanted to visit Asia, don’t just see Singapore.
As for Australia… That was an incredible place. We flew into Adelaide, which is in southern Australia, and stayed there for a couple of days. We rented a car for the entire time and I’m glad we did because it was nice to have some freedom. One of our friends threw a BBQ party on the beach, which was fun. Adelaide is famous for their wineries, so we drove around a place called, McClaren Vale, and did some wine and cheese tasting. The wine was great, so we bought a couple of bottles here and there. We also went to Cleland National Park. That was awesome! You walk into a huge pasture where there are tons of kangaroos just hanging out. We got to feed and pet them. They were pretty tame and used to people touching them. We also got to pet a koala bear. They are super cute! I guess they can be mean, but these ones were just adorable. We also saw the other typical Australian animals, such as wombats, emus (I’m not a big fan of those), echidnas, dingoes (wild dogs), and some birds. After Adelaide, we drove to Melbourne. On the way, we stayed a night at Mt. Gambier (famous for their blue lake) and Warnambool (famous for their 2 million dollar light show about a famous ship wreck). Our main purpose was to drive The Great Ocean Road. It’s a popular sight made famous by some cool rock formations, such as the Twelve Apostles. It was also where the first ship from England came. Did you know Australia was settled by a bunch of British convicts? The prisons in England were overcrowded, so they brought them to Australia. It used to be a source of embarrassment for the Aussies, but now people take pride in the fact that their ancestors were convicts. One lady we met traced here heritage back to an ancestor who was on one of the first convict ships, she boasted, “Yup, I’m part convict!” I got a kick out of that. On the drive to Melbourne we saw five wild koalas on the side of the road. One of them had a baby koala on its back. That was really cool and we took tons of pictures of that. On Christmas Eve, we drove for most of the day and stayed at a hotel room in Melbourne. Trav made a mixed CD of Christmas songs, so we sang along to them while we were driving. It totally didn’t feel like Christmas, though. The Aussies think that too. That night we ordered Pizza Hut, did laundry, and watched, “The Grinch.” Pretty exciting. On Christmas day we ate lunch with our friend from ISB and her family. That was a riot and it was our first time eating Christmas pudding. It’s this stuff, I’m not entirely sure what’s in it, except for booze and some other ingredients, but it sits for five months in a cloth bag. It was pretty good with hot custard on it. We stayed at another friend’s place for a couple of days and did some shopping in the city, checked out the observation tower, and visited the Old Melbourne Gaol (pronounced jail, I have no idea why they spell it like that). On the 28th of December, we flew to Sydney. Now that is a really cool city! There’s a lot to do there and the weather was perfect. We stayed at a hostel for the week. It was our first hostel experience and it was so much fun! You share a kitchen, common room, toilet, and shower, but it wasn’t a big deal and we had our own room. We met some really neat people and the place was a two minute walk to Coogee Beach and all the shops and restaurants. Bondi Beach is probably the most common beach, but we liked Coogee better. It was less crowded and it just had a better vibe. On one of the days, our friends took us snorkeling and then Travis and I walked to Bondi Beach. It was a beautiful morning and the walk was excellent- very scenic and gorgeous. The beaches are so amazing! It felt like Southern California, but I swear the water felt warmer. For some of the time, we did an obscene amount of shopping and laid on the beach and relaxed. On one of the first days we got there, we drove up to the Blue Mountains and toured and hiked that area. It’s famous for the Three Sisters rock formation. The Aborigines believe that a witch doctor turned his three daughters to stone to try and save them from a giant centipede. But the witch doctor lost his magic bone, so the three sisters are still waiting to be turned into their former selves. There are a lot of folklore stories like that; they remind me a lot of the Native American ones. The Blue Mountains are beautiful and they really do look blue, it’s because of the Eucalyptus oil on the trees. It gives off a bluish glow. For New Year’s Eve, we met-up with a couple who were also staying at the hostel with us. We watched the fireworks at a park that overlooked the Sydney Harbor Bridge. The show was fantastic! I couldn’t believe we were all wearing tank-tops, shorts, and flip-flops for a New Year’s party. On New Year’s Day it was a record-breaking 115 degrees. We went to a BBQ that day at our friend’s house. Luckily, they have a pool so we cooled off there when we got too hot. We swam in the ocean at 9 pm because it was so hot in our hostel. One of the most memorable things we did was climb to the top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge. It’s a three hour long process, but they put you in jump-suits and you’re attached to the bridge by a cable, so you feel completely safe. The tour guide takes you up tons of stairs and tells you about the history of the bridge. The view was incredible! We went at night, so the opera house was all lit up and the city looked awesome. On another day, we went on an Aboriginal Walk-About around the Blue Mountains. It was a five and half mile hike that was full on vertical climbing, but it was a really cool experience. The tour guide was Aborigine and he told us about his culture and stuff. It rained practically the whole time, so we had a camp fire lunch to get dried off. On the last day, we walked around Sydney and went to the Sydney Aquarium. Apparently, it’s one of the best in the world. It was okay. I’m not too keen on aquariums, but seeing the crocodile was kind of cool.
All in all, Australia was our favorite place we’ve visited so far… It was nice to be able to get around without a language barrier. Although, they do have their own kind of language… They shorten everything and put a ‘y’ or ‘ie’ at the end. For example, breakfast is called breaky, pictures are called pikies, and chocolate is called choc-ies. The country people have a very thick Aussie accent, so you have to really pay attention to what they’re saying. For the most part, the people are really down-to-earth and welcoming, much like our Aussie friends from here. But they also have there fair share of racism and homophobia. Aborigines are generally not well respected and for some reason, we met a lot of ignorant folks that said some weird things. I reckon those people are just everywhere, eh? Besides all that, we want to go back and visit Western and Northern Australia. There’s so much to see, you just can’t do it all in three weeks. We had such a good time; it was really hard coming back. Lucky for us, adjusting wasn’t too bad because Sydney is only two and a half hours ahead, so we didn’t suffer any jet lag.
I hope all is well with you! As always, we love to hear how life is going in your neck of the woods… Take care and keep in touch.
Warm Regards,
Cara
As you probably remember, we went to Singapore and Australia for winter break. We had three weeks off and it flew by, but it was such a good time! Our flight left on Friday, the last day of school before break, so we didn’t mess around in getting out of here. It took about six hours to fly to Singapore and another six hours to fly to Adelaide, Australia. We flew Thai Air, which was pretty good. Singapore was okay, but very expensive. The city is rather clean and VERY humid. Of course, it’s close to the Ecuador Line so it would obviously be hot. Our favorite place we visited was the Night Safari, that’s one of Singapore’s famous attractions. You get there around 9 or 10 at night and go on a train to see all the animals. We saw some hippos, tigers, and lions, and a whole bunch of other animals. They have light that is similar to moonlight, so you can see everything. Then there was a reptile show that was pretty funny and entertaining. I held a python and got my picture taken. The skin of the snake was dry and it was flaking-off on me which was pretty nasty. On one of the days, we took a tram to Sentosa Island and went to a Dolphin show- it’s famous for having pink dolphins from Hong Kong. I love dolphins, so I enjoyed that. We also went to the underwater aquarium and saw some sharks. There’s not a whole lot to do there, but three days was perfect. We ate at some good restaurants and did some shopping. It rained on the last day, so we watched “King Kong” in the movie theater. We got a good deal because it was a stop-over trip with lots of freebies and discounts- but if you wanted to visit Asia, don’t just see Singapore.
As for Australia… That was an incredible place. We flew into Adelaide, which is in southern Australia, and stayed there for a couple of days. We rented a car for the entire time and I’m glad we did because it was nice to have some freedom. One of our friends threw a BBQ party on the beach, which was fun. Adelaide is famous for their wineries, so we drove around a place called, McClaren Vale, and did some wine and cheese tasting. The wine was great, so we bought a couple of bottles here and there. We also went to Cleland National Park. That was awesome! You walk into a huge pasture where there are tons of kangaroos just hanging out. We got to feed and pet them. They were pretty tame and used to people touching them. We also got to pet a koala bear. They are super cute! I guess they can be mean, but these ones were just adorable. We also saw the other typical Australian animals, such as wombats, emus (I’m not a big fan of those), echidnas, dingoes (wild dogs), and some birds. After Adelaide, we drove to Melbourne. On the way, we stayed a night at Mt. Gambier (famous for their blue lake) and Warnambool (famous for their 2 million dollar light show about a famous ship wreck). Our main purpose was to drive The Great Ocean Road. It’s a popular sight made famous by some cool rock formations, such as the Twelve Apostles. It was also where the first ship from England came. Did you know Australia was settled by a bunch of British convicts? The prisons in England were overcrowded, so they brought them to Australia. It used to be a source of embarrassment for the Aussies, but now people take pride in the fact that their ancestors were convicts. One lady we met traced here heritage back to an ancestor who was on one of the first convict ships, she boasted, “Yup, I’m part convict!” I got a kick out of that. On the drive to Melbourne we saw five wild koalas on the side of the road. One of them had a baby koala on its back. That was really cool and we took tons of pictures of that. On Christmas Eve, we drove for most of the day and stayed at a hotel room in Melbourne. Trav made a mixed CD of Christmas songs, so we sang along to them while we were driving. It totally didn’t feel like Christmas, though. The Aussies think that too. That night we ordered Pizza Hut, did laundry, and watched, “The Grinch.” Pretty exciting. On Christmas day we ate lunch with our friend from ISB and her family. That was a riot and it was our first time eating Christmas pudding. It’s this stuff, I’m not entirely sure what’s in it, except for booze and some other ingredients, but it sits for five months in a cloth bag. It was pretty good with hot custard on it. We stayed at another friend’s place for a couple of days and did some shopping in the city, checked out the observation tower, and visited the Old Melbourne Gaol (pronounced jail, I have no idea why they spell it like that). On the 28th of December, we flew to Sydney. Now that is a really cool city! There’s a lot to do there and the weather was perfect. We stayed at a hostel for the week. It was our first hostel experience and it was so much fun! You share a kitchen, common room, toilet, and shower, but it wasn’t a big deal and we had our own room. We met some really neat people and the place was a two minute walk to Coogee Beach and all the shops and restaurants. Bondi Beach is probably the most common beach, but we liked Coogee better. It was less crowded and it just had a better vibe. On one of the days, our friends took us snorkeling and then Travis and I walked to Bondi Beach. It was a beautiful morning and the walk was excellent- very scenic and gorgeous. The beaches are so amazing! It felt like Southern California, but I swear the water felt warmer. For some of the time, we did an obscene amount of shopping and laid on the beach and relaxed. On one of the first days we got there, we drove up to the Blue Mountains and toured and hiked that area. It’s famous for the Three Sisters rock formation. The Aborigines believe that a witch doctor turned his three daughters to stone to try and save them from a giant centipede. But the witch doctor lost his magic bone, so the three sisters are still waiting to be turned into their former selves. There are a lot of folklore stories like that; they remind me a lot of the Native American ones. The Blue Mountains are beautiful and they really do look blue, it’s because of the Eucalyptus oil on the trees. It gives off a bluish glow. For New Year’s Eve, we met-up with a couple who were also staying at the hostel with us. We watched the fireworks at a park that overlooked the Sydney Harbor Bridge. The show was fantastic! I couldn’t believe we were all wearing tank-tops, shorts, and flip-flops for a New Year’s party. On New Year’s Day it was a record-breaking 115 degrees. We went to a BBQ that day at our friend’s house. Luckily, they have a pool so we cooled off there when we got too hot. We swam in the ocean at 9 pm because it was so hot in our hostel. One of the most memorable things we did was climb to the top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge. It’s a three hour long process, but they put you in jump-suits and you’re attached to the bridge by a cable, so you feel completely safe. The tour guide takes you up tons of stairs and tells you about the history of the bridge. The view was incredible! We went at night, so the opera house was all lit up and the city looked awesome. On another day, we went on an Aboriginal Walk-About around the Blue Mountains. It was a five and half mile hike that was full on vertical climbing, but it was a really cool experience. The tour guide was Aborigine and he told us about his culture and stuff. It rained practically the whole time, so we had a camp fire lunch to get dried off. On the last day, we walked around Sydney and went to the Sydney Aquarium. Apparently, it’s one of the best in the world. It was okay. I’m not too keen on aquariums, but seeing the crocodile was kind of cool.
All in all, Australia was our favorite place we’ve visited so far… It was nice to be able to get around without a language barrier. Although, they do have their own kind of language… They shorten everything and put a ‘y’ or ‘ie’ at the end. For example, breakfast is called breaky, pictures are called pikies, and chocolate is called choc-ies. The country people have a very thick Aussie accent, so you have to really pay attention to what they’re saying. For the most part, the people are really down-to-earth and welcoming, much like our Aussie friends from here. But they also have there fair share of racism and homophobia. Aborigines are generally not well respected and for some reason, we met a lot of ignorant folks that said some weird things. I reckon those people are just everywhere, eh? Besides all that, we want to go back and visit Western and Northern Australia. There’s so much to see, you just can’t do it all in three weeks. We had such a good time; it was really hard coming back. Lucky for us, adjusting wasn’t too bad because Sydney is only two and a half hours ahead, so we didn’t suffer any jet lag.
I hope all is well with you! As always, we love to hear how life is going in your neck of the woods… Take care and keep in touch.
Warm Regards,
Cara
Saturday, December 17, 2005
Holiday Letter 2005
Hiya everyone,
As always, I hope this email update reaches you in happy spirits and that all is well… I imagine that you’re looking forward to some down time as Christmas approaches very quickly, once again. Travis and I have really enjoyed getting your emails. Thanks for keeping in touch…
It’s been quite awhile since I sent an update out and lots has happened since then…
Here’s a List of the Tebo Happenings:
1. For the most part, the honeymoon of living in a foreign country is slowly dissipating. Don’t get me wrong, we love living in Beijing! This truly is an amazing country to live in. In fact, we’ll probably be here longer then we originally thought. It’s just the little things are frustrating. The language is still awkward for me, although I can get around in a taxi and I can say my numbers with no problem. I’m also learning some new phrases, but there are times when you get stuck-That’s when having a good sense-of-humor is very helpful! Things just take a longer time then I’m used to, so I’m learning lots of patience. There are just little, stupid things that add up to be annoying. For example, I can’t find decent deodorant. They only have this weird, roll on stuff. When you go shopping you have to go through three different people to finally buy your purchase. This is because there are tons of people who live here, so they create jobs that seem rather unnecessary- but on the other hand, I’m glad they have a job. Anyway, it just takes forever to go shopping. The meat here, at times, is just not right. I ordered a chicken salad and when I got it, it was fried pieces of chicken parts. I bit into one piece and it was a chicken foot, all fried-up. Nasty. Things are also not very clean here. The grocery stores, in particular. One store had a huge table with ice and chicken pieces on top of it. When I mean chicken pieces, I’m talking beaks, legs, feet, the whole deal. Underneath the table, there’s a bucket catching all the chicken juice and blood. Kind of unsanitary, ya know? Bird flu, anyone? The children here, who are learning how to go to the bathroom, just squat down and poop or pee on the sidewalk. They wear clothes that are opened in the back, so they can do this easily. I’m guessing it saves a lot of money on diapers and really trains them for the squatting toilets. Anyway, nothing surprises me anymore! And I am definitely becoming more patient…
2. We’ve made some good friends here and we vent to each other when we have “Bad China Days,” as we refer to them, or are a little homesick. I haven’t gotten homesick a lot. It’s mainly when I see pictures of Seattle or after I get emails from friends and family that I miss. It’s hard not being able sharing in memories with your friends and family, but the ones we’re making here are hard to pass up. You do make a mini-family when you live overseas, so that’s been really cool.
3. The first week of October is a holiday for all the ex-pats in China. We get a week off, so from October 1st-8th we visited Toby (Trav’s little brother) and Debbie (his wife) in Italy. They live in downtown Rome and we saw just about everything there is to see- The Trevi Fountain, The Pantheon, the Roman Forum, Sistine Chapel (very awesome), the Vatican Museum, San Pietro, and the Spanish Steps. And so many churches that I lost count! My favorite sight was the Coliseum. It’s truly magnificent. In fact, when Travis and I got off the subway and went outside, we both actually had a tear in our eyes. I know that sounds super cheesy, but it’s really breathtaking. I’ve always wanted to see it, so we got a guided tour and learned about all the history and stuff. It was nice to be in a country where you could actually make out what they’re saying and you could actually read some words. In China, they look like an ink-blot test. One of the days, we took a train and spent the night in Florence. We stayed in a hotel right next to Cathedral Square (where the Duomo and Baptistery is). We also saw the Ponte Vecco (old bridge) and the statue of David. The statue of David, the real one, is actually pretty cool. We walked around and stared at it for about a half-an-hour. There is something mesmerizing about it. Travis and I were both re-living our Fine Arts 101 course that we took at Wazzu. I guess we actually did learn something from that class because it was all coming back to us when we were in Rome. You know, the “Renaissance” period and all the famous works of art and the statues. I was definitely not disappointed; the food was “Oh my gawd” good- especially the pizza and gelato. I think we ate that everyday. The pizza doesn’t have sauce on it and the crust was thinner, but I liked it better. The coconut and nutella gelato was my favorite. Thanks Toby for introducing that to me! The people in Italy are gorgeous. People take good care of themselves. In general, that country is just beautiful, I suppose. We had a great visit and it was hard to leave, but we’ll be back someday. It’s a country we’d like to visit again. Next time, I’d like to go to Venice and Pompeii.
4. Travis and I both celebrated our birthdays. His was October 21st and mine was November 16th, in case you forgot. ; ) There was a huge 80’s party the night of Trav’s birthday, so that was really cool. For my birthday, I wanted American food, so we went to the “Hard Rock Café.” It was alright. It was over-priced as the rest of them, but they did have decent guacamole- so that made my day. That was first time that I chose American food instead of Mexican, Indian, or Chinese.
5. We saw our first movie in a Chinese theatre, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.” It was in English and it was great watching a real movie in a real movie theatre. The next day, I saw someone selling the DVD of it for 2 bucks. They pirate everything, it’s funny. A student said they pirate game systems too. He’s going to buy a fake X-Box 360 for twenty bucks.
6. The karaoke bars are awesome here. We went to one for our friend’s birthday. It was in a huge place with like 200 separate rooms. You rent one out and its two stories with big, fluffy couches and chairs and flat-screen televisions. Good times…
7. Thanksgiving was so much fun! Our friends had us over on the Sunday afterwards. There was about thirty of us and it was potluck style dinner. The turkeys were delivered frozen and not cooked at all, so we had to cut them up and cook them. We had to wait a little while for dinner, but we had good company and plenty of wine- so we were okay. What’s a Thanksgiving without a problem with the turkey? On the actual day of Thanksgiving and the Friday afterwards, we had to work. In fact, I totally forgot it was Thanksgiving until a student mentioned it to me. Travis and I had a Chinese dinner at home on the actual day. No big deal, really. It felt like another day.
8. Work is going fine for us, I can’t believe how much there is to learn about high school counseling! However, I’m starting to find my “nitch,” so to say. It’s taking a little more time then I’m used to back in the States, but the kids are really warming-up to me. That’s been nice. I won’t bore you with the details, but our counseling department is without drama and issues. I stay out of it. I have thought about moving down to the middle school, but I’ll wait and see how things pan out and if my colleague (Jenny) moves or not. It’s like being in a bad relationship- you know it’s not a right fit but you still try to make it work. I also just finished doing a series of parenting workshops with Jenny. Yup, because I’m the guru of parenting. Surprisingly enough, I guess I do know a lot more then I originally thought. You work with teens long enough and hear about all the crappy things their parents do and say, you begin to learn what works and what they need. We also got some good feedback from the parents, so that’s pretty cool. Travis, on the other hand, is still diggin’ the little ones. He’s adjusted well to teaching a different grade level and a new subject (math).
9. We need a break. Seriously. We work a lot at this school. It seems more demanding than the other international school jobs that I’ve heard about. So for the winter break, we’re going to Singapore and Australia. We are SO EXCITED!!! We didn’t get a summer because we were all stressed-out from packing, moving, storing stuff, and saying goodbye that we didn’t really enjoy it. As I’m sure you’re aware, it’s summer there. In fact, it’s in the mid 80’s. I can’t believe that I’ll be able to wear flip-flops and tank-tops soon. Big difference from the shocking cold of China (it’s been in the teens and low 20’s here). We have some friends scattered in Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney, so we’ll be traveling there and staying with them part of the time. We have three weeks off and we’re renting a car too, so we’ll be doing things off the beaten path. I’ll let you know how it goes…
As I mentioned in earlier emails, we LOVE hearing from you! Even it is to just say hello. Take care and have a wonderful holiday season with your loved ones…
Cheers,
Cara and Travis
As always, I hope this email update reaches you in happy spirits and that all is well… I imagine that you’re looking forward to some down time as Christmas approaches very quickly, once again. Travis and I have really enjoyed getting your emails. Thanks for keeping in touch…
It’s been quite awhile since I sent an update out and lots has happened since then…
Here’s a List of the Tebo Happenings:
1. For the most part, the honeymoon of living in a foreign country is slowly dissipating. Don’t get me wrong, we love living in Beijing! This truly is an amazing country to live in. In fact, we’ll probably be here longer then we originally thought. It’s just the little things are frustrating. The language is still awkward for me, although I can get around in a taxi and I can say my numbers with no problem. I’m also learning some new phrases, but there are times when you get stuck-That’s when having a good sense-of-humor is very helpful! Things just take a longer time then I’m used to, so I’m learning lots of patience. There are just little, stupid things that add up to be annoying. For example, I can’t find decent deodorant. They only have this weird, roll on stuff. When you go shopping you have to go through three different people to finally buy your purchase. This is because there are tons of people who live here, so they create jobs that seem rather unnecessary- but on the other hand, I’m glad they have a job. Anyway, it just takes forever to go shopping. The meat here, at times, is just not right. I ordered a chicken salad and when I got it, it was fried pieces of chicken parts. I bit into one piece and it was a chicken foot, all fried-up. Nasty. Things are also not very clean here. The grocery stores, in particular. One store had a huge table with ice and chicken pieces on top of it. When I mean chicken pieces, I’m talking beaks, legs, feet, the whole deal. Underneath the table, there’s a bucket catching all the chicken juice and blood. Kind of unsanitary, ya know? Bird flu, anyone? The children here, who are learning how to go to the bathroom, just squat down and poop or pee on the sidewalk. They wear clothes that are opened in the back, so they can do this easily. I’m guessing it saves a lot of money on diapers and really trains them for the squatting toilets. Anyway, nothing surprises me anymore! And I am definitely becoming more patient…
2. We’ve made some good friends here and we vent to each other when we have “Bad China Days,” as we refer to them, or are a little homesick. I haven’t gotten homesick a lot. It’s mainly when I see pictures of Seattle or after I get emails from friends and family that I miss. It’s hard not being able sharing in memories with your friends and family, but the ones we’re making here are hard to pass up. You do make a mini-family when you live overseas, so that’s been really cool.
3. The first week of October is a holiday for all the ex-pats in China. We get a week off, so from October 1st-8th we visited Toby (Trav’s little brother) and Debbie (his wife) in Italy. They live in downtown Rome and we saw just about everything there is to see- The Trevi Fountain, The Pantheon, the Roman Forum, Sistine Chapel (very awesome), the Vatican Museum, San Pietro, and the Spanish Steps. And so many churches that I lost count! My favorite sight was the Coliseum. It’s truly magnificent. In fact, when Travis and I got off the subway and went outside, we both actually had a tear in our eyes. I know that sounds super cheesy, but it’s really breathtaking. I’ve always wanted to see it, so we got a guided tour and learned about all the history and stuff. It was nice to be in a country where you could actually make out what they’re saying and you could actually read some words. In China, they look like an ink-blot test. One of the days, we took a train and spent the night in Florence. We stayed in a hotel right next to Cathedral Square (where the Duomo and Baptistery is). We also saw the Ponte Vecco (old bridge) and the statue of David. The statue of David, the real one, is actually pretty cool. We walked around and stared at it for about a half-an-hour. There is something mesmerizing about it. Travis and I were both re-living our Fine Arts 101 course that we took at Wazzu. I guess we actually did learn something from that class because it was all coming back to us when we were in Rome. You know, the “Renaissance” period and all the famous works of art and the statues. I was definitely not disappointed; the food was “Oh my gawd” good- especially the pizza and gelato. I think we ate that everyday. The pizza doesn’t have sauce on it and the crust was thinner, but I liked it better. The coconut and nutella gelato was my favorite. Thanks Toby for introducing that to me! The people in Italy are gorgeous. People take good care of themselves. In general, that country is just beautiful, I suppose. We had a great visit and it was hard to leave, but we’ll be back someday. It’s a country we’d like to visit again. Next time, I’d like to go to Venice and Pompeii.
4. Travis and I both celebrated our birthdays. His was October 21st and mine was November 16th, in case you forgot. ; ) There was a huge 80’s party the night of Trav’s birthday, so that was really cool. For my birthday, I wanted American food, so we went to the “Hard Rock Café.” It was alright. It was over-priced as the rest of them, but they did have decent guacamole- so that made my day. That was first time that I chose American food instead of Mexican, Indian, or Chinese.
5. We saw our first movie in a Chinese theatre, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.” It was in English and it was great watching a real movie in a real movie theatre. The next day, I saw someone selling the DVD of it for 2 bucks. They pirate everything, it’s funny. A student said they pirate game systems too. He’s going to buy a fake X-Box 360 for twenty bucks.
6. The karaoke bars are awesome here. We went to one for our friend’s birthday. It was in a huge place with like 200 separate rooms. You rent one out and its two stories with big, fluffy couches and chairs and flat-screen televisions. Good times…
7. Thanksgiving was so much fun! Our friends had us over on the Sunday afterwards. There was about thirty of us and it was potluck style dinner. The turkeys were delivered frozen and not cooked at all, so we had to cut them up and cook them. We had to wait a little while for dinner, but we had good company and plenty of wine- so we were okay. What’s a Thanksgiving without a problem with the turkey? On the actual day of Thanksgiving and the Friday afterwards, we had to work. In fact, I totally forgot it was Thanksgiving until a student mentioned it to me. Travis and I had a Chinese dinner at home on the actual day. No big deal, really. It felt like another day.
8. Work is going fine for us, I can’t believe how much there is to learn about high school counseling! However, I’m starting to find my “nitch,” so to say. It’s taking a little more time then I’m used to back in the States, but the kids are really warming-up to me. That’s been nice. I won’t bore you with the details, but our counseling department is without drama and issues. I stay out of it. I have thought about moving down to the middle school, but I’ll wait and see how things pan out and if my colleague (Jenny) moves or not. It’s like being in a bad relationship- you know it’s not a right fit but you still try to make it work. I also just finished doing a series of parenting workshops with Jenny. Yup, because I’m the guru of parenting. Surprisingly enough, I guess I do know a lot more then I originally thought. You work with teens long enough and hear about all the crappy things their parents do and say, you begin to learn what works and what they need. We also got some good feedback from the parents, so that’s pretty cool. Travis, on the other hand, is still diggin’ the little ones. He’s adjusted well to teaching a different grade level and a new subject (math).
9. We need a break. Seriously. We work a lot at this school. It seems more demanding than the other international school jobs that I’ve heard about. So for the winter break, we’re going to Singapore and Australia. We are SO EXCITED!!! We didn’t get a summer because we were all stressed-out from packing, moving, storing stuff, and saying goodbye that we didn’t really enjoy it. As I’m sure you’re aware, it’s summer there. In fact, it’s in the mid 80’s. I can’t believe that I’ll be able to wear flip-flops and tank-tops soon. Big difference from the shocking cold of China (it’s been in the teens and low 20’s here). We have some friends scattered in Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney, so we’ll be traveling there and staying with them part of the time. We have three weeks off and we’re renting a car too, so we’ll be doing things off the beaten path. I’ll let you know how it goes…
As I mentioned in earlier emails, we LOVE hearing from you! Even it is to just say hello. Take care and have a wonderful holiday season with your loved ones…
Cheers,
Cara and Travis
Saturday, September 24, 2005
We Live in a Communist Country
Hello Friends and Family!
I hope all is well and that this email finds everyone happy and healthy… Travis and I are doing great here in China! We pinch ourselves because we still can’t believe we live here. In the last email I was gearing-up for the first day of school, so now it’s in full swing. The kids are really good, but some of them remind me of robots. There are a lot of high-achievers here, and with that comes perfectionism and the inability to handle disappointment. Poor things, they’re so hard on themselves. There’s immense pressure from home to succeed. I literally had to tell a kid to not do any studying for one night and that he must have fun. He didn’t even know what he liked to do for fun. He ended up reading about the civil war! Needless to say, I got him into a hobby real quick. I’m trying to teach them balance. Most students have tutors and take extra classes after school because they have their eye on the prize… an Ivy League School. I literally had a lady come to my office yesterday and tell me that she wants her son to attend an Ivy League school and that I need to make this happen. The kid is in tenth grade. Give me a break, lady. The parents have nothing to do except worry themselves sick over what college their kid will get into. Of course, we have students who are the exact opposite- the party kids. Alcohol and drugs are super cheap and super easy to get here. There’s random drug testing too. According to some kids, if we tested the whole school we’d be out of business. Instead of weed (marijuana) the kiddos smoke hash- which is the main drug of choice besides alcohol. Cigarettes cost a $1.50 a pack, so there are a significant amount of smokers too. The big difference here is that kids can get kicked-out for being tested positive and for failing a class. Totally different from the States, eh? All in all, I’m diggin’ the kids and LOVE the diversity. I just wanted to share with you the extreme cases. The staff has been really easy to get along with too, which is nice. As for Travis, he hasn’t been happier in his teaching career. It’s his first time teaching middle school (7th grade) and he absolutely loves it! The kids and parents just adore him and he’s seriously been rejuvenated. It’s great to see… He rides his bike to school and swims in the morning. A lot of the staff swim in the morning, I’m not a big fan of getting up early but I may try it and see what it’s like. I know it’s a great form of exercise.
We’ve been doing some sight-seeing, but we haven’t gone crazy. We’re going to be here for awhile and know that when people visit, we’ll see it all. Of course, we did go see the Great Wall. Whoa… it is massive and is truly an incredible sight to see. I hiked to the top and most of us took the toboggan ride down to the bottom. It kind of looks like a huge bobsled, but you ride on these scooter things that have breaks. Its hard to explain but it was really fun! You could go pretty fast on that thing too. We go to the city a lot and explore different areas and markets. We went on a lake walk with a group of people and explored some of the parks. There’s so much to do here… A typical week… Tuesdays, Travis and I take Chinese lessons- Wednesdays, someone organizes a group dinner downtown-Thursdays, its ladies night. We usually go out to eat and get massages, or pedicures/manicures-Fridays, we go to our local pub (The Pomegranate). They have live bands on Friday night. On Saturday, we go downtown and go out to eat and usually hit-up a club. This Saturday we’re going to a swing dance club. On Mondays I usually have meetings after school. And of course on Sundays we rest and sleep in. “Work hard, play hard” is our motto here. We’ve met lots of great people too, so going–out is always a good time. It should be illegal to have this much fun.
Things I miss:
1. Cheesy reality TV. I’m talking about the ones on MTV and Vh1. I don’t think we’ll get Survivor here either. The cool thing is that I can buy the whole season for 10 bucks.
2. Oprah, Conan O’Brien, and the Jon Stewart show.
3. Mexican food. There’s Mexican food hear, but it’s expensive and just “ok,” a little on the bland side and not spicy enough. I miss real guacamole and spicy chicken burritos.
4. Spiro’s pizza and salad (Roquefort dressing)
5. Shopping malls. I hate clothes shopping here. You have to bargain for everything and it takes forever. It’s not great quality either. They put weird, random things on clothes- like buckles and bows. It’s just wrong. I guess acid washed jeans are coming back. Lots of girls and women wear them around here. There’s no way I’m going to find a decent pair of women’s shoes with my big ass feet. An alternative is to shop at the high-end stores but they are ridiculously expensive.
6. Driving my own car to places
7. Clean air. I seriously cannot explain to you how horrible the pollution can get. It sometimes feels like you can’t breathe.
8. Of course my friends and family!
Interesting/Cool Things:
1. Most people here have drivers. It’s actually pretty cheap. You can rent a car and driver to pick you up and take you wherever you want to go. I think that costs $100 a month- and yes, that includes gas. Another thing I really don’t miss dealing with- gas prices. Most of the kids have drivers that take them and pick them up from school. There are tons of them parked in a row when school is just about to be dismissed. It’s interesting because they can just tell their driver to take them to a bar or dance club, or to their dealer’s house (in one instance). I wouldn’t recommend raising a teenager here. There are a lot of things to get you into trouble.
2. When we went on a walk around the city, I was stopped by a woman who wanted a picture. I thought she wanted me to take a picture of her, but she actually wanted to take a picture with me. I was a little taken aback, but I was like sure. The next thing I knew, all of the other family members wanted pictures of me with them. Pretty weird, huh? I guess that’s common. A lot of people who live in the country don’t visit the capitol city very much and have never seen a “westerner.”
3. Travis and I have an ayi, which is pronounced “eye-ee.” It’s basically a maid. I know, I know that sounds… weird or something… but that’s looked upon differently here. In the states, only rich people have maids and it seems like you’re stuck-up or something if you have someone clean for you. In China, it’s a much needed job for another person. Even some of the ayis, have ayis. It’s not a big deal. Everyone has one. Ours is really sweet, although I can’t remember her Chinese name. Oops. Her Western name is, Mae (coincidentally my middle name). She’s in her early forties, married, and has a son. She works half-time for us, which is four hours a day, five days a week. She cooks us awesome food on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We told her we like spicy food and she just went with it. It’s been great coming home to a cooked meal. She does all our laundry, cleans, runs errands, and organizes things. When I was sick, she brought me water and made me lunch. It was really sweet. She can’t read and doesn’t speak any English, so we do a lot of charades. I usually end-up calling the font desk and having them translate for me. One of these days I’ll be able to speak Chinese. It still sounds like noise.
4. I totally forgot to tell you about the toilets here. They are “squatting” toilets. They’re like regular toilet bowls, but flush to the ground. You stand over it, squat down, and go. There’s definitely a technique to it- squat as low as you can (less splashing back). Toilet paper is rarely provided, so bringing tissues and hand-sanitizer is a must in every purse or backpack. You may think this is weird and unsanitary, but the Chinese think Western toilets are because we (at least some people) put our butts on the seat without cleaning in-between turns. A lot of places have western toilets, but authentic places don’t. FYI- if you come and visit.
5. You have to bargain for most things here, especially at the markets. It can be rather fun at times, but very exhausting. It took us a half an hour to buy a fake North Face fleece. I don’t really have a technique. I just smile a lot and say cheaper, or “bu hao.” Which means “no good.” I did talk down a vendor for some mascara. It cost me less then a dollar, but the mascara sucks. It was fake Lancome. Oh well, it was fun.
6. The accents here are great: Scottish, British, Irish, Dutch, German, Italian, Albanian, Welsh, Australian, Norwegian, Spanish, Indian, Canadian, and of course American and all that encompasses. Did you know there’s a difference between a New Zealand accent and an Australian one? I can figure out the difference now. I have to say that the Irish accent is my favorite.
7. There are TONS of Aussies working here, so we watch a lot of rugby and Aussie rules football or “footie.” I actually don’t mind watching, it’s pretty entertaining. As for cricket? I won’t even waste the energy… that sport is weird. Did you know that games can last weeks? Crazy.
8. I have never been so aware of being American. People point it out to me ALL THE TIME. I tapped someone on the shoulder and my friend was like, “That’s so American!” I guess? As you know, we say ‘a’s very differently. The lady (Aussie) I work with always laughs when I say “candy.” I guess we stress the ‘a’ hard or something and foreigners think that’s weird. I was reading a student’s essay that was about his culture. He wrote something like, “Chinese people are very friendly, Americans are very selfish…” He’s only fourteen. There is definitely a stereotype that Americans are selfish and materialistic. I hear that a lot. I’m sure we all know someone like that, but it’s interesting to hear that from a fourteen year-old British kid who lived in the states for a short time.
9. I think I emailed most of you about meeting Bill Clinton, Ian Ziering, and Jason Priestley? That was pretty cool. If I didn’t email you the pics, then let me know and I’ll re-send it.
The ex-patriots living in China have a holiday the first week in October, so we’re taking off to Rome, Italy. We’re going to visit Toby (Trav’s brother) and his wife Debbie because they’re teaching in the American-Overseas-School of Rome. We’re totally excited! We haven’t seen them in awhile and Debbie is pregnant! We’re looking forward to being an aunt and uncle to the new addition!
Take care and keep in touch. I love getting all your emails and promise to write back!
I hope all is well and that this email finds everyone happy and healthy… Travis and I are doing great here in China! We pinch ourselves because we still can’t believe we live here. In the last email I was gearing-up for the first day of school, so now it’s in full swing. The kids are really good, but some of them remind me of robots. There are a lot of high-achievers here, and with that comes perfectionism and the inability to handle disappointment. Poor things, they’re so hard on themselves. There’s immense pressure from home to succeed. I literally had to tell a kid to not do any studying for one night and that he must have fun. He didn’t even know what he liked to do for fun. He ended up reading about the civil war! Needless to say, I got him into a hobby real quick. I’m trying to teach them balance. Most students have tutors and take extra classes after school because they have their eye on the prize… an Ivy League School. I literally had a lady come to my office yesterday and tell me that she wants her son to attend an Ivy League school and that I need to make this happen. The kid is in tenth grade. Give me a break, lady. The parents have nothing to do except worry themselves sick over what college their kid will get into. Of course, we have students who are the exact opposite- the party kids. Alcohol and drugs are super cheap and super easy to get here. There’s random drug testing too. According to some kids, if we tested the whole school we’d be out of business. Instead of weed (marijuana) the kiddos smoke hash- which is the main drug of choice besides alcohol. Cigarettes cost a $1.50 a pack, so there are a significant amount of smokers too. The big difference here is that kids can get kicked-out for being tested positive and for failing a class. Totally different from the States, eh? All in all, I’m diggin’ the kids and LOVE the diversity. I just wanted to share with you the extreme cases. The staff has been really easy to get along with too, which is nice. As for Travis, he hasn’t been happier in his teaching career. It’s his first time teaching middle school (7th grade) and he absolutely loves it! The kids and parents just adore him and he’s seriously been rejuvenated. It’s great to see… He rides his bike to school and swims in the morning. A lot of the staff swim in the morning, I’m not a big fan of getting up early but I may try it and see what it’s like. I know it’s a great form of exercise.
We’ve been doing some sight-seeing, but we haven’t gone crazy. We’re going to be here for awhile and know that when people visit, we’ll see it all. Of course, we did go see the Great Wall. Whoa… it is massive and is truly an incredible sight to see. I hiked to the top and most of us took the toboggan ride down to the bottom. It kind of looks like a huge bobsled, but you ride on these scooter things that have breaks. Its hard to explain but it was really fun! You could go pretty fast on that thing too. We go to the city a lot and explore different areas and markets. We went on a lake walk with a group of people and explored some of the parks. There’s so much to do here… A typical week… Tuesdays, Travis and I take Chinese lessons- Wednesdays, someone organizes a group dinner downtown-Thursdays, its ladies night. We usually go out to eat and get massages, or pedicures/manicures-Fridays, we go to our local pub (The Pomegranate). They have live bands on Friday night. On Saturday, we go downtown and go out to eat and usually hit-up a club. This Saturday we’re going to a swing dance club. On Mondays I usually have meetings after school. And of course on Sundays we rest and sleep in. “Work hard, play hard” is our motto here. We’ve met lots of great people too, so going–out is always a good time. It should be illegal to have this much fun.
Things I miss:
1. Cheesy reality TV. I’m talking about the ones on MTV and Vh1. I don’t think we’ll get Survivor here either. The cool thing is that I can buy the whole season for 10 bucks.
2. Oprah, Conan O’Brien, and the Jon Stewart show.
3. Mexican food. There’s Mexican food hear, but it’s expensive and just “ok,” a little on the bland side and not spicy enough. I miss real guacamole and spicy chicken burritos.
4. Spiro’s pizza and salad (Roquefort dressing)
5. Shopping malls. I hate clothes shopping here. You have to bargain for everything and it takes forever. It’s not great quality either. They put weird, random things on clothes- like buckles and bows. It’s just wrong. I guess acid washed jeans are coming back. Lots of girls and women wear them around here. There’s no way I’m going to find a decent pair of women’s shoes with my big ass feet. An alternative is to shop at the high-end stores but they are ridiculously expensive.
6. Driving my own car to places
7. Clean air. I seriously cannot explain to you how horrible the pollution can get. It sometimes feels like you can’t breathe.
8. Of course my friends and family!
Interesting/Cool Things:
1. Most people here have drivers. It’s actually pretty cheap. You can rent a car and driver to pick you up and take you wherever you want to go. I think that costs $100 a month- and yes, that includes gas. Another thing I really don’t miss dealing with- gas prices. Most of the kids have drivers that take them and pick them up from school. There are tons of them parked in a row when school is just about to be dismissed. It’s interesting because they can just tell their driver to take them to a bar or dance club, or to their dealer’s house (in one instance). I wouldn’t recommend raising a teenager here. There are a lot of things to get you into trouble.
2. When we went on a walk around the city, I was stopped by a woman who wanted a picture. I thought she wanted me to take a picture of her, but she actually wanted to take a picture with me. I was a little taken aback, but I was like sure. The next thing I knew, all of the other family members wanted pictures of me with them. Pretty weird, huh? I guess that’s common. A lot of people who live in the country don’t visit the capitol city very much and have never seen a “westerner.”
3. Travis and I have an ayi, which is pronounced “eye-ee.” It’s basically a maid. I know, I know that sounds… weird or something… but that’s looked upon differently here. In the states, only rich people have maids and it seems like you’re stuck-up or something if you have someone clean for you. In China, it’s a much needed job for another person. Even some of the ayis, have ayis. It’s not a big deal. Everyone has one. Ours is really sweet, although I can’t remember her Chinese name. Oops. Her Western name is, Mae (coincidentally my middle name). She’s in her early forties, married, and has a son. She works half-time for us, which is four hours a day, five days a week. She cooks us awesome food on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We told her we like spicy food and she just went with it. It’s been great coming home to a cooked meal. She does all our laundry, cleans, runs errands, and organizes things. When I was sick, she brought me water and made me lunch. It was really sweet. She can’t read and doesn’t speak any English, so we do a lot of charades. I usually end-up calling the font desk and having them translate for me. One of these days I’ll be able to speak Chinese. It still sounds like noise.
4. I totally forgot to tell you about the toilets here. They are “squatting” toilets. They’re like regular toilet bowls, but flush to the ground. You stand over it, squat down, and go. There’s definitely a technique to it- squat as low as you can (less splashing back). Toilet paper is rarely provided, so bringing tissues and hand-sanitizer is a must in every purse or backpack. You may think this is weird and unsanitary, but the Chinese think Western toilets are because we (at least some people) put our butts on the seat without cleaning in-between turns. A lot of places have western toilets, but authentic places don’t. FYI- if you come and visit.
5. You have to bargain for most things here, especially at the markets. It can be rather fun at times, but very exhausting. It took us a half an hour to buy a fake North Face fleece. I don’t really have a technique. I just smile a lot and say cheaper, or “bu hao.” Which means “no good.” I did talk down a vendor for some mascara. It cost me less then a dollar, but the mascara sucks. It was fake Lancome. Oh well, it was fun.
6. The accents here are great: Scottish, British, Irish, Dutch, German, Italian, Albanian, Welsh, Australian, Norwegian, Spanish, Indian, Canadian, and of course American and all that encompasses. Did you know there’s a difference between a New Zealand accent and an Australian one? I can figure out the difference now. I have to say that the Irish accent is my favorite.
7. There are TONS of Aussies working here, so we watch a lot of rugby and Aussie rules football or “footie.” I actually don’t mind watching, it’s pretty entertaining. As for cricket? I won’t even waste the energy… that sport is weird. Did you know that games can last weeks? Crazy.
8. I have never been so aware of being American. People point it out to me ALL THE TIME. I tapped someone on the shoulder and my friend was like, “That’s so American!” I guess? As you know, we say ‘a’s very differently. The lady (Aussie) I work with always laughs when I say “candy.” I guess we stress the ‘a’ hard or something and foreigners think that’s weird. I was reading a student’s essay that was about his culture. He wrote something like, “Chinese people are very friendly, Americans are very selfish…” He’s only fourteen. There is definitely a stereotype that Americans are selfish and materialistic. I hear that a lot. I’m sure we all know someone like that, but it’s interesting to hear that from a fourteen year-old British kid who lived in the states for a short time.
9. I think I emailed most of you about meeting Bill Clinton, Ian Ziering, and Jason Priestley? That was pretty cool. If I didn’t email you the pics, then let me know and I’ll re-send it.
The ex-patriots living in China have a holiday the first week in October, so we’re taking off to Rome, Italy. We’re going to visit Toby (Trav’s brother) and his wife Debbie because they’re teaching in the American-Overseas-School of Rome. We’re totally excited! We haven’t seen them in awhile and Debbie is pregnant! We’re looking forward to being an aunt and uncle to the new addition!
Take care and keep in touch. I love getting all your emails and promise to write back!
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
First Impression of China
Ni hao (hello)!
I hope this email reaches everyone in good spirits and enjoying the summer... China is rad!!! Travis and I have settled-in quite nicely here. We still can't believe we're in China, it's so weird. The flight pretty much sucked, although I did get some sleep. I'm not sure how. Twelve hours is a really long time. I was sitting in the middle and had no leg room, but it worked. I watched "Hitch" on the flight and was looking forward to seeing "Million Dollar Baby" but they accidentally showed the ending (I won't spoil it, but it definitely ruined it for me). When we got off the flight, there were several administrators waiting for us and helped us with our bags. We met some of the other new hires and have hit it off great. You can't help but bond through the whole transition, cheap alcohol helps too. ; ) They took us to our place that was air-conditioned. I'm convinced now that it's the best invention ever. It's SO HOT and humid here... Just like a sauna... We live in a place called, "Capital Paradise." Our apartment is HUGE. Twelve foot ceilings, three bedrooms, and 2 baths. The furniture is a little ghetto/early 80's, but whatever. It's really not that bad. The kitchen is tiny, but it's all furnished so I can't complain. The building is about four years old and there are beautiful hard wood floors everywhere except the bedrooms. It's located in a compound that includes a huge clubhouse with an indoor/outdoor pool, restaurant, bar, hair and nail salon, massage studio, bowling alley, tennis courts, squash courts, and work-out room. The work-out place I'm not too impressed with because the machines are a little old, but I think it'll be okay. I love the convenience. Anything we buy we just put on our "tab" and pay for it at the end of the month. It's great.
The school is HUGE!!!!!! I still get lost. It's only three years old and is so gorgeous... It's one big building that holds an elementary, middle, and high school. It's three stories and it has a modern/Asian feel to it. It's truly impressive. I've never seen a school so high tech. There are enormous flat-screen TV's all throughout the hallways, rooms, and the staff lounge. I guess they're going to do morning broadcasts on it and show off student work and what's going on around the school. They're even building a 2 million dollar playground for the little ones. The school is actually located a little outside of the city. It takes about a half an hour to get into downtown Beijing. The school staff have really taken care of us and have practically held our hands throughout the entire transitioning process. Every day and night there are meetings to attend and activities planned. We went on a boat ride on lake ( Umm, I forgot) and went to a night market that was super-touristy. We've gone o lots of dinners. Travis and I tried fried scorpions and squid. It wasn't hat bad. And yes, it tastes like chicken (the scorpion, that is). I've been meeting with parents and students for the past couple of days- just getting them registered and scheduling their classes. I'm learning a lot about the IB (International Baccalaureate) diploma. I won't bore you with details, but it's a very rigorous course of study and is considered "prestigious" amongst big name colleges and universities. At least that's what has been told to me... The clientele here are much different. Most of them work in the oil industry or work for IBM computers. Pretty much big wigs. I sat with a family for over two hours making a plan for what classes their child needs to take. They are so grateful, though, which makes it worthwhile. I do feel sorry for some of the students... There is a lot of pressure to perform well and get into a good college. I haven't met one student who doesn't want to attend college. This week I'll be helping out with orientation and meeting with more parents.
A made a little list of cool and interesting things so far:
1. 22 oz. of Tsing Tao (I'm not sure if I spelled it right) beer is 35 cents. Yah, I know.
2. Everything delivers! Even if you just want beer. You can walk ten minutes and there's a western style grocery store, Subway, Starbucks, Dominoes Pizza, dry cleaners, tailors, and a wine bar. The Dominoes here puts tuna on the pizza and it's really nasty.
3. It's considered rude to tip, so you can get your groceries delivered and everything else you can imagine and you're not expected to tip.
4. Food can be pretty cheap. Four of us went out to dinner and had a feast of Chinese food and beer and it only cost 10 bucks. The western style restaurants are a little more spendy, but cheaper than back home.
5. There's no drinking age here. I've been told this is an issue with some of the students. Surprise-surprise.
6. The world's worst drivers are in China. They're crazy, man. They stop in the middle of the road and drive backwards, they drive down the wrong way, and they never EVER signal. It's craziness.
7. Trav and I bought some bikes and it's been so fun riding around. There are tons of bikes here! Almost everyone has one. It takes me about 10 minutes to ride to the school. I learned quickly that you need to be a defensive cyclist if you want to get anywhere and you can't be slow. I like to ride really fast and dodge all the people, it's like playing a video game. Everything here is flat, so it's easy to ride around. A lot of our friends have bikes too and they also live here in Capital Paradise, so we ride our bikes to their apartments. It reminds me of being a little kid and asking if you want to go ride bikes or something. I'm sure we're humorous to watch.
8. The shopping is great. However, electronics aren't as cheap as I thought. Travis is good at bargaining and has gotten some great deals. My friend bought the movie "Wedding Crashers" on DVD for $1.50. It was pirated and the sound was a little weird, but the picture was okay. You could actually see people walk across the movie screen. It was pretty funny. Hilarious movie, by the way. Trav bought seasons 1-5 of "South Park" for 20 bucks and I got the 6th season of "Sex in the City" for about 15 bucks.
9. My assistant principal (Lorraine) and her husband took Trav and I out and about today. She took me to this apartment where a lady sells handbags. I got a huge Luis Vuiton briefcase type thing and a Coach bag for $150. We probably could have gotten it lower, but Lorraine said we did great. I honestly think these bags are the real deal. They are NICE. The place was hand bag heaven. Every color and style you could imagine. I was loving it! I'm going back with some of my friends here.
10. Tiananmen Square (Sorry, I think I spelled that wrong) is amazing. We drove down the street where the student stood in front of the tank in 1989. It was at night and we were in a bus, but it was an amazing sight to see.
11. You can get a one hour massage for ten bucks at Capital Paradise and a ten dollar spa pedicure (remember, no tipping). I've been told that's expensive for around here.
I think that's about it for now. We haven't done a whole lot of touring the country, but we will soon enough. This place is amazing and we feel really lucky to be here for our first overseas job... All in all, everything is going well... We do miss our friends and family and think about you often. I'd love to here what's going on with you. I may not reply right away, but I promise to always write back...
Take care and keep in touch!
CT
I hope this email reaches everyone in good spirits and enjoying the summer... China is rad!!! Travis and I have settled-in quite nicely here. We still can't believe we're in China, it's so weird. The flight pretty much sucked, although I did get some sleep. I'm not sure how. Twelve hours is a really long time. I was sitting in the middle and had no leg room, but it worked. I watched "Hitch" on the flight and was looking forward to seeing "Million Dollar Baby" but they accidentally showed the ending (I won't spoil it, but it definitely ruined it for me). When we got off the flight, there were several administrators waiting for us and helped us with our bags. We met some of the other new hires and have hit it off great. You can't help but bond through the whole transition, cheap alcohol helps too. ; ) They took us to our place that was air-conditioned. I'm convinced now that it's the best invention ever. It's SO HOT and humid here... Just like a sauna... We live in a place called, "Capital Paradise." Our apartment is HUGE. Twelve foot ceilings, three bedrooms, and 2 baths. The furniture is a little ghetto/early 80's, but whatever. It's really not that bad. The kitchen is tiny, but it's all furnished so I can't complain. The building is about four years old and there are beautiful hard wood floors everywhere except the bedrooms. It's located in a compound that includes a huge clubhouse with an indoor/outdoor pool, restaurant, bar, hair and nail salon, massage studio, bowling alley, tennis courts, squash courts, and work-out room. The work-out place I'm not too impressed with because the machines are a little old, but I think it'll be okay. I love the convenience. Anything we buy we just put on our "tab" and pay for it at the end of the month. It's great.
The school is HUGE!!!!!! I still get lost. It's only three years old and is so gorgeous... It's one big building that holds an elementary, middle, and high school. It's three stories and it has a modern/Asian feel to it. It's truly impressive. I've never seen a school so high tech. There are enormous flat-screen TV's all throughout the hallways, rooms, and the staff lounge. I guess they're going to do morning broadcasts on it and show off student work and what's going on around the school. They're even building a 2 million dollar playground for the little ones. The school is actually located a little outside of the city. It takes about a half an hour to get into downtown Beijing. The school staff have really taken care of us and have practically held our hands throughout the entire transitioning process. Every day and night there are meetings to attend and activities planned. We went on a boat ride on lake ( Umm, I forgot) and went to a night market that was super-touristy. We've gone o lots of dinners. Travis and I tried fried scorpions and squid. It wasn't hat bad. And yes, it tastes like chicken (the scorpion, that is). I've been meeting with parents and students for the past couple of days- just getting them registered and scheduling their classes. I'm learning a lot about the IB (International Baccalaureate) diploma. I won't bore you with details, but it's a very rigorous course of study and is considered "prestigious" amongst big name colleges and universities. At least that's what has been told to me... The clientele here are much different. Most of them work in the oil industry or work for IBM computers. Pretty much big wigs. I sat with a family for over two hours making a plan for what classes their child needs to take. They are so grateful, though, which makes it worthwhile. I do feel sorry for some of the students... There is a lot of pressure to perform well and get into a good college. I haven't met one student who doesn't want to attend college. This week I'll be helping out with orientation and meeting with more parents.
A made a little list of cool and interesting things so far:
1. 22 oz. of Tsing Tao (I'm not sure if I spelled it right) beer is 35 cents. Yah, I know.
2. Everything delivers! Even if you just want beer. You can walk ten minutes and there's a western style grocery store, Subway, Starbucks, Dominoes Pizza, dry cleaners, tailors, and a wine bar. The Dominoes here puts tuna on the pizza and it's really nasty.
3. It's considered rude to tip, so you can get your groceries delivered and everything else you can imagine and you're not expected to tip.
4. Food can be pretty cheap. Four of us went out to dinner and had a feast of Chinese food and beer and it only cost 10 bucks. The western style restaurants are a little more spendy, but cheaper than back home.
5. There's no drinking age here. I've been told this is an issue with some of the students. Surprise-surprise.
6. The world's worst drivers are in China. They're crazy, man. They stop in the middle of the road and drive backwards, they drive down the wrong way, and they never EVER signal. It's craziness.
7. Trav and I bought some bikes and it's been so fun riding around. There are tons of bikes here! Almost everyone has one. It takes me about 10 minutes to ride to the school. I learned quickly that you need to be a defensive cyclist if you want to get anywhere and you can't be slow. I like to ride really fast and dodge all the people, it's like playing a video game. Everything here is flat, so it's easy to ride around. A lot of our friends have bikes too and they also live here in Capital Paradise, so we ride our bikes to their apartments. It reminds me of being a little kid and asking if you want to go ride bikes or something. I'm sure we're humorous to watch.
8. The shopping is great. However, electronics aren't as cheap as I thought. Travis is good at bargaining and has gotten some great deals. My friend bought the movie "Wedding Crashers" on DVD for $1.50. It was pirated and the sound was a little weird, but the picture was okay. You could actually see people walk across the movie screen. It was pretty funny. Hilarious movie, by the way. Trav bought seasons 1-5 of "South Park" for 20 bucks and I got the 6th season of "Sex in the City" for about 15 bucks.
9. My assistant principal (Lorraine) and her husband took Trav and I out and about today. She took me to this apartment where a lady sells handbags. I got a huge Luis Vuiton briefcase type thing and a Coach bag for $150. We probably could have gotten it lower, but Lorraine said we did great. I honestly think these bags are the real deal. They are NICE. The place was hand bag heaven. Every color and style you could imagine. I was loving it! I'm going back with some of my friends here.
10. Tiananmen Square (Sorry, I think I spelled that wrong) is amazing. We drove down the street where the student stood in front of the tank in 1989. It was at night and we were in a bus, but it was an amazing sight to see.
11. You can get a one hour massage for ten bucks at Capital Paradise and a ten dollar spa pedicure (remember, no tipping). I've been told that's expensive for around here.
I think that's about it for now. We haven't done a whole lot of touring the country, but we will soon enough. This place is amazing and we feel really lucky to be here for our first overseas job... All in all, everything is going well... We do miss our friends and family and think about you often. I'd love to here what's going on with you. I may not reply right away, but I promise to always write back...
Take care and keep in touch!
CT
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