Finally Moved In!

Hey Everyone! Sorry its been so long since the previous post, but we have been EXTREMELY busy. Zoie and I are now finally settled onto our place in Shenzhen. For those of you who may not know about the layout of Shenzhen, it is a huge city comprised of seven districts. Zoie and I are located in Yantian, which is the smallest district of Shenzhen, and within Yantian, we are in a small area called Dameisha. The great part about Dameisha, although very small and not very city-like, is that it is a beach town. Our apartment is about at 10 minute walk from the public beach, which on weekdays is pretty quiet. On weekends, the public beach can get pretty crowded, especially in the summer. If that is the case, we have the option of driving about 20 minutes to a smaller private beach. It costs 20 kuai, and is supposedly a cleaner, prettier beach. Unfortunately we are a little far from everyone else. The other people in Yantian are about a 15-20 minute bus ride away, and our other close friends are at least an hour away by bus. The subway doesnt stop in our part of the city so that is sort of a bummer. Since so much has happened recently, I am going to try to outline it quickly so everyone doesnt get too bored.

Apartment: Zoie and I live in a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom apartment which is supposedly one of the nicest apartments on the program. We really lucked out with our placement, and the school we teach at is one of the best in all of Shenzhen. A few quick apartment stories. Story 1. The first night we were here, we found a HUGE roach in the bathroom. While Zoie stood on top of her bed panicking and yelling that she wanted to go back to america, I was planning my plot to kill this beast. I began by locking him in our shower and sprayed him with the bug repellent I had in my suitcase. Of course, that did not work so I tried my second technique: I tied a show to the end of a broomstick, stood on top of the toilet, and tried "stomp" out the roach with the shoe......that was unsuccessful, as the shoe did not have the requisite force needed to end the bug's life. I was running out of ideas, and not only that, but I was started to get really tired and sweaty, while at the same time I was trying to keep Zoie calm (at this point her fears were almost gone as she could only laugh at my scheming to kill this bug). And finally, I had a great idea: I stood over the shower (on top of the toilet), and held a big bottle of soap above the still creature. As I positioned the bottle in what I thought was the perfect place, I let go..... It was a direct hit, and all that was left was to sweep out the remains of the bug and revel in my victory as I tossed the carcass 5 floors off of my balcony. I went to bed a hero that night. (As Zoie was showering tonight, she found another one....we bought spray and he was dead immediately. Daniel-2, Roaches-0 ) --- Other things about the apartment. Our friends Maury and Greg spent the night here the other night so that was nice. I have a feeling that our apartment will be filled with people on the weekends, so that should be exciting. Next weekend, Greg and I are planning on staying up all night Saturday night, so we can watch the Wake Forest vs Baylor game (he went to Wake) at 3:30am, and then the Wisconsin game at 7:00am. Dad, Im counting on you to expediate the SlingBox process. So in conclusion, our apartment is great for the most part. We have found some good food around here. Cheap noodles and dumplings, and pretty soon we will start to cook some meals. We cooked raman the other night so that was a big step. I'll keep you updated on all of that.

Other: Tonight Zoie and I took the bus into Futian (another Shenzhen province) to meet with people at NYPD (NY Pizza Department). Our 12inch pizza was delicious, and it was definitely worth the 1.5 hour commute. We were going to stay at our friends, but I have been sick now for a while and Zoie wasn't feeling to well, so we decided to make the trek home. Theres quite a good story involved at the subway station, but I'll let Zoie tell that one soon. Let's just say it was the first time I have ever contemplated body-slamming a 7-9 year old. No jokes. Anyway, it was a fun night, and it was nice to meet up with people and see how everyone was doing.

School/Teachers/Contact Teacher: A few quick things about our school. We met a few people at our school and they are all really nice. They all speak really good English so that is nice. Hopefully they will want to help us with our Chinese too. We visited the school the other day, and we found out that we only teach 8 classes a week, and 40 minute classes each. The school wants us to have time to get really involved, so our work load is very small compared to most teachers. Our classes will have about 40 kids, so it really wont be too bad. Wednesday and Friday we get a free ride into the Futian (the main part of the city) for Chinese classes. We arent sure how long we will have to be at school most days, but I cant imagine being that busy. We should have a very exciting and not too stressful year. Our contact teacher and a few other teachers/deans from our school took us to dinner the other night. We had a great meal comprised of pigeon, blowfish (if its cut incorrectly, it is poisonous), and other random foods. Another thing about food is that our school provides us with free breakfast and lunch everyday. Although the food is probably terrible, it is still really nice that we get that for free. I am hoping to get really involved in the school. Zoie and I want to start some clubs, and I really want to play sports with the teachers at the school. They have really nice basketball courts and badminton courts. So I am hoping to stay in shape as well.

Train Ride: Not much to say here. The train ride was fine. It was about 24 hours, and we just kind of hung out, ate snacks, played cards and catchphrase, anything we could do to pass the time.

I cant really think of much else, although I know I am missing a lot. I'm pretty exhausted so I think I'm going to hit the hay for the day. If I wake up early, I'll check out the Red Sox game, if not, I'll finally get a lot of sleep. Not much to do tomorrow, so hopefully I can continue to get better. For those of you who have messaged me on Facebook, it is blocked so I rarely am able to get on. For everyone starting school/a new job, good luck and keep me updated! I hope to hear back from everyone whether it is a comment, or just a quick email. I am hoping that I can post pictures and videos soon. Anyway, all is well here, and I can't wait to hear back from people. Talk to everyone soon!

Love from China, Daniel