Week 2

Good Morning!
All continues to go well. We found a wonderful apartment, but we were too late and someone else took it. Apartments go very fast here, so when you see one you like, you have to act quickly. But there are a million others ones and we won't have a difficult time finding one I'm sure. We are eager to get out of the hotel we are in. It is great having a swimming pool and eating out every night, but we want to be able to relax in our own house. It will be a much shorter distance to school also. the school picks us up and drops us off every day, so we don't have to pay for our own tranport unless we want to go in early and leave late.

Schools starts on Monday. I have met most of my parents and students. I will be teaching Kindergarten. There is a heavy emphasis on reading and the school expects to have the students reading what would be the end of first grade material by the end of the year. I have 16 students and that is all I can have in my class. Not a lot of resources, paper, crayons and such, but enough to get by. I guess there is Staples store here, but very expensive. They have a store called the Graveyard where teachers pick up used school things (like a surplus store). The Singapore teachers are great at finding good deals and where to look for items we need like clothing and school supplies.

Since we are in Shanghai and not Bejing, we thought we wouldn't be able to see any olympic happenings, but last night a group of us went to a soccer game which supposedly was for the Bronze medal. It was between Belgium and Brazil. We were in the audience with about 50 Brazillians and other ex-pats. There were only a handful of Belgins. Many others from Autralia, Britain and France. It was very fun and very interesting to watch the game with people shouting out in all different languages. Brazil won! Yea! I talked a guy down from 8 USD to 4 USD for a large Brazillian flag for Edoukou. She got stopped many times to have her picture taken with different people. I think they thought she was Brazillian!

We are eating lots of Chinese food and Singaporean food. At school they make both. I have loved everything so far. We have fresh veggies and fruit every day. The Singaporean chef likesto use garlic,so that is wonderful! We have had braised beef and duck, green beans and peas, and lots of fish, fried, deep fried and baked. There is a lot od seafood here also; shrimp, scallops, crab, octopus and other things we have not identified yet.

That's our week. This is just to keep you informed of our journey. I will try to write every Saturday, because there is not enough time in the week. By the time we get back to the resort and get ready for the next day and eat, time is gone. There is a day off September 15th. Then a week off in October (the week of the first) which is National Day. It is best to go out of China during this time because many people have it off and it is very difficult to travel. For Christmas we are thinking of going to Bejing to see the sights. We are checking on the weather to see if it will be a good time to travel. So far, the fastest train there is 12 hours from Shanghai. It leaves at 7pm and arrives at 7 am. They are making a bullet train that will get there in 5 hours, but it won't be finished for a couple of years.
Take care!
Marla and Edoukou