Home Sweet Home

Here's a few pictures of my apartment. It's two bedrooms and a bathroom. The living room is the front room and the bedroom is the back room. I've hung up some pictures and done some rearranging of the furniture so it's slowly becoming more like home.

Chinese Red Bull

Yesssss!

Wal Mart

Went to Wal Mart yesterday in Zhengzhou (Jung Joe), the capital city of Henan Province, about an hour bus ride from Sias. Got some stuff for my apartment...iron, hair dryer, rugs. This was a sign on the bathroom door. I thought it was funny.

Beautiful Sias Campus

Of course there is much more but this is just a little preview of the campus. In ten years the campus has grown from 200 students to about 20,000 students. It is only 1/3 of the way built and there is nothing like it in China.
The new basketball stadium
The administration building. The other side is Chinese architecture. They say that it represents east meets west (one side is Tienanmen Square and the other is the White House).
Classrooms
The river on campus.
A pagoda.
The new Spanish Square. There is a European street, which is where I live. It has a French Street, an Italian Square, and German Street. Soon there will be a Venice Street and a Russian Street. There are shops on the first floor where students can work and the dorms are above them.

It just wouldn't be China without a few hiccups along the way...

After receiving my travel visa that said Vrum instead of Crum, I thankfully got through customs without a problem.

When checking my bags in Korean Air, they didn't zip my bag shut all the way after checking it through security and something fell out. Thankfully, I saw it and got them to close my bag so nothing else fell out.

I got to my room at Sias and was just getting settled in. Unpacking, cleaning, and just when I was rearranging my furniture I get a knock on the door. They want to move me to a different room so they can fix some unknown problem in my current room.

I'm not complaining though, just seems to be typical for the last few weeks of my life. So many unexpected turns. I'm finally in China though. Its a huge relief to be here and I'm so excited to get settled in during the next few days.

My first steps onto Sias made me remember why I love China so much. The girl that was helping me check in was so eager to take my 50lb bag. She was smaller than me but there was no way she would let me even think about touching it. The hospitality and politeness of the Chinese always impresses me.

Hoping to get some more exciting stuff on here soon. It's definitely great to be back.

Ready or Not

After months of waiting, I finally got my flight information. I will be leaving for China on Sunday. I fly out of LAX at midnight on Monday, arrive in Seoul, Korea at 5am (I wish it were only a five hour flight, but of course with the time change it will be much longer), then arrive in Zhengzhou, China around 10am on Tuesday.
I'm really excited to get there and join all of the other teachers that have been there for weeks already but I'm also sad to leave everyone in AZ. Lots of mixed emotions right now so I'm trying to focus on packing and getting everything in order before I leave. I have a feeling Sunday will be here before I know it.