Cool Change

Hello from HuaiYa! We have more or less settled in to our apartment on campus at HuaiYa Senior Middle school, where I will be teaching "oral English" to Class 1 students - equivalent to 9th graders in the US, I think. Anyway, I don't start teaching until the day after tomorrow (as I understand it) so I'll be able to provide more information about that soon. We arrived here on Tuesday (25 Aug) and have been getting things together, cleaning, and exploring the environs. I haven't posted pictures of the apartment because Aaron - the foreign English teacher from last year - posted them on his blog. I'll include the link below.


One street in HuaiYa, with mountains in the background

We flew up to Xi'an from Guilin on Monday, arriving too late on Monday night to do anything but grab some dumplings and a beer at a nearby night market just before midnight. The next morning, we were picked up by the school's Foreign Affairs Officer (FAO) and driven to the school, stopping for lunch at a great restaurant at the foot of TaiBaiShan. The FAO ordered about six delicious dishes for the four of us, and although we ate until we were stuffed, it looked like we didn't put a dent in the dishes. Also, conversation was a bit slow and awkward. That night, the school's headmaster and a bunch of other VIPs took us to dinner at the same restaurant. Still delicious, and a teeny bit less awkward as the guy sitting next to Matthias was very interested in Germany ("how many people have cars there? How old do you have to be to drive? How are the roads?") It was a room full of men, and since I don't know much about the NBA, I wasn't of much interest to them. Still, each one toasted our arrival with Baijiu (strong Chinese liquor), but we were able to maintain our sanity by taking small sips each time...


Tangyu - nearby scenic spot

HuaiYa is indeed a small village. However, it seems to have everything we need - a small supermarket, a bustling street market, and a number of stalls/restaurants selling hand-pulled noodles and other delicacies. We have already taken the bus to the next town, which has a couple of bigger supermarkets, a bigger street market, etc., etc. And, the weather here is much, much cooler than down in Yangshuo, to my great relief. This morning, we took the bus to TangYu the tourist town at the base of Mt. Taibai (where we had lunch and dinner on Monday.) Nothing so fancy today, though....just a bowl of noodle soup, of course. Tomorrow is the first day of school, but I don't think I'm teaching a class until Wednesday. Supposedly, I find out tonight. By tracking down Lily, an English teacher who brought us shopping on our first day here, I found out that there's 'a meeting' tonight. Not sure if I'm supposed to go or if I'll just learn my fate afterward. Anyway, I'm now reachable by cell phone, internet, and land line. They'll just have to let me know.

Link to Aaron's (former teacher's) blog with photos of our apartment and HuaiYa