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On the record…
Learning the Chinese language is hard. I’ve only had 2 individual lessons, but I am pretty confident I can say that. I am excited to get more learned, because that allows for more to understand! It makes it interesting because it seems there is three languages to learn at once: the Chinese characters, the English equivalent (pin yin), and the ability to actually speak conversationally. But I hope to get as much as I possibly can…
Another week has flown by!
The second week, and first full week, of school has ended, and I am starting to feel the groove. I can certainly see where I have many improvements to make, though. The kids have been great, with my getting on my feet during this first couple weeks and all. And this weekend helped me get a lot of stuff accomplished for the upcoming week. Middle School Chapel on Friday went really well, which was a huge blessing. Here at the homefront, Sarah went shopping for some furniture at the antique market yesterday, and it was delivered a couple of hours ago; it’s making the apartment look better already - and we haven’t even started using it yet! We also went shopping for some lamps today, a way to accent our living room and put some atmosphere in our bedroom. We like ‘em. Oh, and in a very happy note, I bought episodes 4, 5, and 6 of Star Wars today. A very important development, let me tell you! Chinese lessons started this week for Sarah and I. We have a lot of work to do, but it will surely pay off… Other than guy’s night on Friday (I didn’t lose money in poker this time - I came home ahead) and schoolwork, things have been pretty easy going this week. China is a fun place. Come visit us sometime! Once our curtains get in, we’ll work on getting new pics of our apartment up.
First week: finished!
So, the first week of school has come and gone. I can see this year going by really quickly. I keep myself busy at school in any case, teaching five different classes (theology for 6, 7, and 8 and geography for 8 and 9), which meet for 90 minutes every other day, as well as having a homeroom class and overseeing the weekly chapels for the middle school and high school. It’s fun times. I like the smaller classes - my smallest is 9 and my largest is 17 - but I still need more room; the class with 17 doesn’t do very well in our room. I wish we could move around some more. Fortunately, our new school site is going well, and we are expecting to move in for the second half of this school year. The school is located in the newest high-tech development area in Chengdu, and as such, it’s a really big deal that we are going to be there. We are said to add credibility to the possibility of more international businesses coming to Chengdu. There was a huge to-do about the new building on Wednesday, with the American and Korean consulate generals, a big guy at Intel, a lot of other dignitaries, and about 150 members of the press in attendance. Very exciting! We’re also excited for our new apartments, to be done by next summer. Don’t get me wrong, we have wonderful apartments now, but the new ones are supposed to be even better, with a good amount of park area outside. There was discussion about a par-3 golf course going in, but unfortunately, I think that was pulled. 
Even still, it’s going to be great! Well, off to more work, planning for the upcoming week…
school has begun
Dan started school yesterday, and today is the first full day for the kids. You’ll hear more from him on this later, but my two cents is: he’s going to make a fabulous teacher! 
I’m trying to stay cool here at the apartment. I’ve been getting the shopping done early in the morning while it’s still pleasant out. It’s been really hot and sticky the past few days. I guess it’s either that or rain, so take your pick! We’ll be starting Chinese lessons next week. I am so excited! I’m making a mental top ten list of things I want to say but can’t. I’m attempting to put pictures up on my xanga site. We’ll get them added here asap, but you can go to xanga.com/pianojoy to get a sneak preview. 
the sound of music…
There’s a piano in the apartment!! I went to music street and picked out a brand-new upright. It was delivered that same afternoon by four men about my size. Amazing how they made it up six flights of stairs! I was carrying the bench in its little box and felt as though I ought to be doing more. We’re pretty much settled in - we still need curtains in the living room, but that will be done soon. School starts on Monday, and our house helper begins working for us on Monday, so within a couple of weeks we should have a good routine going. I’ll be starting piano lessons a few weeks into school with 8 or 10 students. It will be good to be teaching again.
What a day…
It’s been a very busy day here. After a wonderful breakfast of bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, and orange juice, I headed over to school for my first day of meetings and to get my room situated. Pausing for a lunch break at Subway, the afternoon was consumed with more meetings. Dinner was at Pizza Hut, followed by a leisurely stroll through the attached shopping mall to look at Nike, Dockers, New Balance, and Espirit. The evening consisted of losing some money while playing poker with some of the guys. Just an ordinary day in… China??? Not really what I would have expected; and I’m sure I won’t be eating that much western food again any time soon. (But oh, was that pizza tasty!) I’m still coming to grips with the fact that I am in a different country… I got my school schedule today! I will be teaching Theology A, B, and C (Middle School classes) as well as Ancient Civ and World Geography. I think I may be learning as much as the students for that last one. Good night!
we’re connected…
This entry is being written from the office in our apartment - we’ve gotten internet access here! (And, at about 12.5 dollars/mo. for broadband, I’m not complaining) This has been a very busy week, buying everything we need for our apartment and realizing that we need even more… but our place is starting to look like a home, and Sarah and I couldn’t be more excited. One highlight: yesterday was our version of "The amazing race," where the staff was split up into 9 teams and each given a GPS device. We were given coordinates to plug in, and had to get to different locations around Chengdu any way possible (taxi, bus, running, etc.) and perform certain tasks at each location. Riding a version of a log ride at an amusement park was a blast! Stay tuned - the contact page should have updated contact info soon…