Back in China

We arrived in Xiamen, China on February 9th and I started work on February 16th. That gave us less than a week to get to settled and used to things here in Xiamen. Luckily the transition went very smoothly, and we are having a great time. Since we have lived in China before, transitioning to a new city was not a big deal. The usual "This is China" difficulties apply, but they aren't so bad after a few months or years!

Xiamen is truly one of the nicer Chinese cities I have visited. There is a beach which is supposedly clean enough to swim at (in certain places). There are mountains with hiking trails. And there is a no honking rule in the city which makes a phenomenal impact on how enjoyable it is to stroll around downtown.

We were greeted at the bus station by a 3rd year student who was assigned to help us. She has been a pleasant and invaluable help to us especially during the first few days. She patiently and graciously gave up her time to take us to get a bank account, fill out paperwork, get a health examination, find places to eat, and find an apartment. We are very much indebted to her.

Now we have our own little apartment on the 20th floor of one of the newest buildings overlooking Xiamen. Our apartment came furnished, but we have been buying little things like kitchen appliances and pillows for the last few days. Tonight Camilla cooked our first dinner in our little kitchen.

Now that I have completed the first week of my job, I have a much better idea about what the next six months will look like. My students are great so far, although class sizes and class time are a down side. I have 14 different classes that range from five to 43 students (so far). The classes only meet for two 45 minute periods every other week. Basically, I am a facilitator of English. Lesson planning should be quite simple, but engaging 40 students in oral English with such a short amount of time is a major challenge. My students are luckily at a pretty high level and they are quite enthusiastic so far. I'm hoping to do some interesting discussions and really get them thinking and speaking.