Settling in Beijing and getting kind of homesick

Up until this point, i was so busy and exhausted that I wasn't even able to think about anything except for making it through the day. Now, Carly and I have settled into a daily routine. We have an apartment, a grocery store, a gym, and some favorite restaurants. We have now realized that we are on our own in a big city. We hear horns honking all of the time and you can't just get in your car and drive somewhere. We have to take a shuttle, city bus, subway, or a taxi. Just going somewhere to buy something is a struggle.

It is mid-Autumn festival on October 24th. It takes its name from the fact that it is always celebrated in the middle of the autumn season. The day is also known as the Moon Festival, as at that time of the year the moon is at its roundest and brightest.

We go to the gym every night and there are rules or special classes that we don't understand. We have found out the hard way that I cannot go in the warm pool with Carly and we cannot be in the water without a swim cap. I know there is a swim team but I cannot see what days or times it is because I cannot speak Chinese. I want to take a dance class but am a little nervous because all of the instructions are in Chinese. Carly wants a turtle and they sell them at the grocery store for $4, but I don't know what kind of turtle it is or what it eats. Carly is signed up for an art class and I am sure all of the instructions will be in Chinese. We love being here, but sometimes we just want something normal. We actually went to a Burger King the other night and it tasted so good to have a beef hamburger. Unfortunately, I ordered Carly a chicken burger and the chicken was the normal spicy flavor that most Chinese food has.

We missed our shuttle to the school the other day and I was too embarrassed to ask for help. So, I figured I would try to take the city bus. We ended up way out in the middle of nowhere and I had to call a taxi to get us to the school. I ended up being 1 hour late to work and I had a coworker cover my class. He joked that he was gonna teach all of my students bad words. Everyone out here experiences lots of stress but they deal with it by laughing and joking. I am so thankful for that. I got my insurance card from the school and they are providing me and Carly with very good insurance.

I have experienced so much stress, but am able to let it roll right off, which is probably one of the most valuable things I will take away from this experience. I am sleeping better than I ever have before and am off all of my acid reflux medicine. I used to think that things couldn't get anymore stressful when I was back in the US, but I now know that it is how you handle the stress.

Carly and I went to an amusement park over the weekend and I bought her a 6 ride pass for $12. I thought it was a pretty good deal. When we took the pass to go ride a ride, they shook their head at us. I finally figured out that I had bought a pass for just 6 very particular rides. We then had to walk around the park and figure out the Chinese characters that told us what the ride names were. It look us about 4 hours to ride 6 rides, but we came away understanding a little bit more of the Chinese language. Carly had the most fun on the bumper cars.

We have also learned that the Chinese people are very kind. If I can figure out how to ask for help, they will help me. They will go out of their way to help me. So far, every parent at the school has also been very kind to me. They really respect me as a teacher. My biggest annoyance is how much they push their kids. They want me to give their child lots of homework, but the child is involved in so many outside activities that they don't even have time to finish it. One Mom came in to talk to me about her son and listed every single assignment that I had given and wanted to make sure that her son understood everything. Another Mom freaked out because her daughter had missed one problem on her math test. They expect perfection. I do understand why, but I really feel bad for these kids. There are so many people in this country that only the top performers make it. There are people working at fast food restaurants that have college degrees.

I have started to realize that we need to slow down a bit. Carly has been struggling to wake up in the morning and I haven't even had more than 10 minutes to read to her at night. Now that we know our surroundings and where to get things, I am gonna try to get home a little earlier. Carly says that she has a whole group of friends that she meets at recess and she also has many staff kids that are her friends.

We had a picnic at the school this week and Carly had me dance a salsa with her. It is a bit of a struggle to play a teacher and a parent at the same time. I tried to be a leader as a teacher but also a parent to Carly. Carly has started eating kind of messy and I realized that it is because Chinese people eat that way. There are also people selling animals on the street everywhere. Carly fell in love with some kittens, but there is no way I am buying any of those.

Carly and I are excited to have a week off of school for the 1st week of October for National Day. We are going on an overnight camping trip on The Great Wall of China. The National Day of the People's Republic of China (国庆节 guóqìng jié) is celebrated every year on October 1. It is a public holiday in the People's Republic of China to celebrate their national day. The PRC was founded on October 1, 1949 with a ceremony at Tiananmen Square.