Hohhot Year Two, Week One

Here is a recap in pictures of my first week back, before classes started on September 1.

Welcome to our apartment building!  Same as last year.  Foreign Affairs offices are on the first floor.  My apartment is on the second floor, last window on the right (corner apartment).

 This was the painting crew last fall.  Thankful it is not me up there...

This is C.  I taught her as a Sophomore last year.  She is dear to my heart as she is one of the first students that struck up a conversation with me before classes started last year.  It was fun to reconnect with her the day after I got back into town to have lunch and hear about her summer.  Lift her up as she is interested in Studying with me this year.  What is she eating?  Yuxiang rousi.  Literally translated it means "fish-flavored pork strips," but it doesn't taste like fish, and the veggies are excellent too.  On top of rice, of course!

Together again!  Our first team dinner back.  Fun to have space in our office in our building for all of us to gather.  On the menu?  Chicken curry over rice, biscuits, lettuce salad, carrots and chocolate cake for dessert.  I am thankful for teammates that enjoy cooking.  I do not go hungry around here!

 Ordering water is often one of the first things you do in your first year when you arrive in your city.  Fortunately for me, all of my teammates speak Chinese and were willing to order water for me last year, and I let them!  This year however, it was time to step it up.  So with notes and coaching from a teammate I had some success.  We rejoice in the small victories around here!  More entertaining language stories to come, I am sure.

 

  

One of the benefits of jet-lag was getting up with the sun to walk the track across the street.

 And catching the work that was starting down the street...

 ...how else do you get up on the roof??

We had team meetings and orientation with our city team, which includes another team of teachers on a different campus.  We always enjoy the fellowship that comes with sharing a meal together.

 Our team had a city outing, which included riding the bus around town, catching the Carnival at the mall (and some ice cream), stopping at the park along the river, and having lunch at Subway.

 

And here is a lesson in managing your time well...

I had set aside my day on Saturday to get my lesson plans in order for the week.  Rule #1 in China: when you have downtime during the week to get your work done, take advantage, because you never know who will come knocking on your door on the day you had otherwise set aside to get your work done!  E and J are two students that Deborah and I taught as Freshmen last year.  We were excited that they made the 30 minute bus ride from the other campus to visit, so we made an afternoon of it, with games and noodles for lunch.

And that, my friends, was my first week back in the Blue City!  Every day is different, and I am blessed to be a part of it all.  Here are a few more pictures from a walk around campus.