Life in Xi'an

The Olympics are over and I’ve flown from Beijing to my new home in Xi’an!! If you haven’t already heard, I have a photo album that you can visit to see all my pictures posted on the blog and more. I’ll be updating that often, so check it out!

Also, you can now comment on my blog postings or read other peoples comments! To comment or read other comments, read my blog (not required) and at the end, you will see a link for comments.

Here’s a brief recap of my life since Beijing:

Landing in Xi’an

For those of you who read my first entry from China about landing in Beijing, this story won’t be nearly as exciting, but I was certainly relieved I didn’t have to stand in the rain! After the short flight, I made my way to baggage, exited the terminal and was greeted by four people from my school. They helped me carry my bags to the small but luxurious bus that the school owned. In a matter of minutes, I went from being the only white person in the Xi’an airport to being on a bus with four other white people who were all talking about their favorite TV series (whether it be Lost, CSI, etc.).

After spending a week in Beijing as a tourist and having every trip be an adventure full of uncertainty, it was weird for me to pay no attention to where I was going or how I was getting there and hear people talking like everyone back in the states. During my first week, different teachers from the school would treat me to meal in order to get to know me better. Some of my first meals in Xi’an were hamburgers, Italian food, and pizza. Definitely a different experience than Beijing!

My New Apartment

My first stop was at the new apartment. I came to China with no expectation. I was thrilled to see my new apartment- it was much nicer then I was expecting! After moving in, I soon found that there was plenty of room for improvement: none of my air-conditioning units were working and I couldn’t get internet to work. This made my first couple nights in Xi’an very hot and very lonely (thankfully, that’s all worked out now).

Some of the changes I would need to get used to: no TP can be flushed, don’t drink the tap water, the beds are very hard and there is no dryer, so your clothes have to drip dry. Other than that, pretty much like any other apartment!

My New School!

After setting up my apartment (AKA unpacking) and spending a couple days in Xi’an, it was time to start school! Our school is K-12 (I think 12… not sure if we have any students that old right now) and we are located in a two-story building about 50 yards from my apartment. I could not ask for a better first year teaching experience! I am teaching a class of six 5th grade students and five of them are girls. All but one of the students is from South Korea, but they all speak English very well and are high achievers in the class. They are also a bunch of silly 5th graders. After meeting them for the first time, I had numerous nicknames (B.T., E.T., Big Happy Cheeks, Braddie Tommie, Mr. Frizzle- because I wore a tie with lizards on it and it reminded them of Mrs. Frizzle from The Magic School Bus) and they, at least the girls, are constantly trying set me up with another female teacher or find out if I have a girlfriend.

It has been a crazy first week and I have felt very unorganized and under-prepared, but from what I hear, that’s normal for a teacher for about their first three years, so I’m not too worried.

Other than school…

I managed to go out this last weekend with Carrie, a fellow teacher who just arrived, and be a real tourist for awhile. It’s nice going with Carrie because she speaks no Chinese and neither of us know anything about Xi’an so it makes everything a little more adventuresome (when I go out with other team members, they know exactly where they are and most speak Chinese really well- that’s way too easy!). We walked from our apartments to the Wild Goose Pagoda, a big tourist attraction in the city of Xi’an. It was a lot of fun and it was nice to see more of the city.

If I have encountered any culture shock yet, it’s been a little different then what you might guess. These first couple weeks, I’ve been spending all my time at the school and I haven’t gotten to experience the rest of the city much. Majority of the staff at our school seems to be from the South in the US. I’ve never been around so many Southern in my life- it’s been a real growing experience for me!

Here's a couple other adventures that you might want to check out:

The Hutong
Various trips through the City

Thanks for reading!