First day of classes

So I've taught three classes already this morning, and I think the kids will not be that much of a problem. I taught third grade, then second, followed by first. At 1pm I'll be teaching Pre-K, followed by K, and then I will have bus duty followed by a staff meeting. Maybe I'll buy knitting needles and yarn and knit during faculty meetings. Any other suggestions/hobbies I can do to pass the time while listening?

Yesterday was really busy-- I had the morning to prep. I made a welcome letter because there was an open house at the school from 1-3pm, but zero parents stopped in my room to talk to me... a shame really because I made 40 copies of my welcome letter which just seemed to be a waste of paper. The server went down yesterday as well so we lost access to internet, phones, copying, etc. I'm sure that was very difficult for the administrators.

Lindi and I went to a street that is about 4 min bike from campus that is lined with real Chinese restaurants. We ended up going to the crawl fish place again, but this time I had dumplings (YES!!), a broccoli dish in some sort of broth, and a tofu dish that was in a pink/red/orange sauce with lots of onions-- that last dish was wayy to big for the two of us but quite tasty. Lindi lives in Puxi so she doesn't use a bike here. To cut down on time, Lindi sat side-saddle on the back part of my bike.

Imagine that but with two adults, and the person sitting with their feet hanging off of one side of the bike. It's rather difficult to do because the weight is distributed on the bike un-evenly, but I eventually got the hang of it.

I also had the pleasure of learning a few phrases in the Shanghai dialect. Hello is "nong huoa", how are you is "nog huoa va?" Good is "huo-aa", and thank you is "xia ya". The tones are different so it's extremely difficult but one of the women (Gu Li, I think) will teach me a few words either every day or a few words week. That's a good start, right?

I still don't have internet access at home (GRR), and I think the guy from the school may be ripping us off. He made us give him 310kuai to install the internet, and he's taking FOREVER to actually do it. Very annoying.

Oh, also! A Shanghai man I met on the plane from Philly to Shanghai called me yesterday to see how I am settling in! He is really nice, has a wife and a kid, and works both in Shanghai and Philadelphia for his job. Maybe he can suggest a good place for me to buy sheets. And install cable and internet...