I Can't Believe I'm Back

These last two days have been busy... between training, getting to know my teammates, and unpacking there has been very little time to stop to breathe.  My jet lag is getting better, last night I slept a full nights sleep thank to NyQuill (used both for my jet lag and for my sore throat I picked up on the plane).  The night before I woke up at 3:30 and couldn't fall back asleep.  Ugh.

I finally feel like I've pulled my apartment together, I went shopping to get cleaning supplies to clean out all my drawers.  Here is the deal about China:  nothing is ever really clean.  Ever.  And things get dirty fast.  This is one of the reasons my mother should never live in China.  So before I put all my clean clothes away, I cleaned out my drawers and closet to at least make me feel better.

The Chinese Culture Students took us shopping and to the bank, which was incredibly helpful.  I went with two girls named Amanda and Jessica as well as another American family.  Becky and Eric and their four children ages 4 months to 10 years old.  They are really brave people. 

We took a taxi downtown to the bank and to China Mobile where I got my new cellphone.  It is a little, really basic phone; basically the cheapest they had.  Amber was able to bargin it down to 190 RMB, which is about $27.  All phones in China are pay-as-you-go phones, so I put mintues on mine and am collecting everyone's numbers.  I still need to look into getting a skype number to call people back home.  Its nice to have a new phone, though.

We then headed to a little store across from Sias called the Superman store by the other Americans here.  They call it that because it has everything one could possibly need for the teachers and if he didn't have it than he could find it.  It has now changed hands, but the name has remained.  There are a lot of names like that, since we don't know the Chinese.

While I was in the Superman store, I looked down to find this surprise:

Kittens!  They were so cute, sleeping in the box of trash bags.  There are apparently a lot of cats on campus, so I will get a little bit of a cat fix after leaving Carmella behind...

I tried to buy the whole store while I was in there, but I needed a lot of things.  White boards for my room, shampoo, trash bags, hangers, pens, paper, rags, soap, tide, a sock clothes-pin circle hanger, a clock, tp.  Lets just say I made the woman behind the counter's day.

Everything about this city reminds me of Tai'an.  They are basically the same, the stores and the streets and the styles.  It looks just like Tai'an, which is nice because I know what to expect.  Its also surprisingly comforting, knowing that its not that different and familar enough to make me feel like I know what I'm doing.  It helps prevent me from being too overwhemled.

I will post about my apartment next time.  The Chinese Culture Students are teaching a class called Survival Chinese, which I need to attend.