basic necessities

I have always said that without the internet, living away from home would be pretty unbearable.

Currently, I am on day 4 without the internet. The school is undergoing a tremendous amount of construction which is the cause for the majority of these issues. However, it seems that I am the only person in our building without the ability to connect to the internet at this time.

Yesterday I called Patrick, one of my contacts at the school that speaks adequate English, and told him that I was unable to get online. He reminded me that it was Saturday and said, "I do not work on Saturdays. You must wait until Monday for me to help you."

It is a constant struggle with the school administration. Questions are continually deferred to other people.

Last week, I emailed Christina (another school contact) asking her where my classroom was located. Her response was "I cannot answer your question. Please email Grace."

Not only am I sure the Christina knows where my classroom is located, but Grace's desk is about 2 feet to the left of Christina's.

Like I said, it is a constant struggle.

My first day of teaching was wonderful; however, I worry that the large classroom sizes are going to cause a great amount of difficulty for me. I teach 4 classes with over 30 students in each.

After teaching, I had a lovely dinner with Alex, John, Jim, and Alex's girlfriend, Maggie. We celebrated my birthday and had a wonderful time catching up about our classes and summertime experiences.

My birthday cake and a lovely can of PBR.

Even with all of these difficulties I have been encountering over the past few weeks, I am still happy that I have returned. I had been greatly regretting my choice to return to China. After all, there are countless other locations around the globe I would like to spend time in, but I am glad that I have been given the opportunity to understand this culture more thoroughly. I still feel like I have so much to learn.