199-10-306

This sequence of numbers has to be on all of my important forms and documents. I need it to tell the taxi where to take me home. I need to give it to my friends when they want to come by and make dumplings or watch a DVD on my laptop (since I don't have a TV yet). This sequence of numbers is my address. 199 is the number for phase 3 (the section of apartments I am in), 10 is the number of my building, and 306 is my apartment number. Phase 3 is the newest phase of apartments, which is nice, but it's also the furthest from the school and the other two phases where most of the other teachers live. The community I live in revolves around one main street - QingTong Road (pronounced, Ching Tong). I planned on taking some pictures of the street this afternoon as I waited for my laundry at the laundromat, but when I went to take the first picture, I was quickly reminded by the flashing red battery icon on my camera screen that my battery needed to be recharged. That ended my excursion right there. So, tomorrow after church, I'll take pictures and post them here on the blog.

I haven't written much about life on QingTong Road much because right now there's really not much going on, other than teacher training meetings, lesson planning at my apartment in my living room with a bowl of popcorn and a Sprite, and decorating my classroom (the theme is "Nature", so it's been fun getting all of my bulletin board visuals put up... but that's a story for another post. I'll take pictures when it's all finished). Life here in this area of Shanghai is very slow and peaceful, people walking around or riding their bikes. The same things seem to happen every day, reminding me of The Truman Show with Jim Carrey, for those of you who have seen it... There are little shops and restaurants lining the streets and our meeting place* every Sunday is down on the opposite end of the street and around the corner. Everything is right here for us.

It's very easy to get lost in our little bubble here. It reminds me too of a college campus. I see the same teachers all the time around the campus and in the restaurants and grocery store. I really need to make it a point that I venture out and get to know my Chinese friends more, not spending all my time with my Western friends. ~Perhaps I should have waited to make this post when I had the pictures as visuals, but I will post them all very soon now that my battery is charged.

School starts a week from Monday, and prior to that we have our first parent-teacher meeting in just a few days on Tuesday. I can't believe I'm actually going to be a teacher... man. Just yesterday I was playing school in my room with my stuffed animals, or Mom if she wasn't too tired from her day of "real" teaching as I called it. I'll soon feel her pain. Heh.

I bought a yellow bicycle on Thursday. I love it! I didn't think having a bike would make that much of a difference, but it actually does. It's really good to have another type of exercise and transportation available to me. I just lock it up every night at the bottom of the stairs in the apartment complex, and it's there when I wake up in the morning.

I'm sure my entries will be much more interesting once I post the pictures and once school actually starts. Thanks for the comments, everybody. It's good to know you're reading!

Sidenote: I just realized I can post video on this blog, so I'll try to see if I can get that to work!