Shanghai Times

This Saturday, we celebrated Erik's 24th birthday. We had so much fun! Many of our friends came out to celebrated with us. We ate dinner at a Hot Pot resturant (Erik's favorite) and then went out afterwards. We feel lucky to have met so many cool people since we've been here. On Tuesday, Erik's birthday, we will be celebrating again! Shanghai has discovered Cold Stone icecream which I am very excited about. I want to buy an icecream cake but Erik's trying to talk me out of it. As you can imagine, it's a little expensive here. We will be going out for another of Erik's favorite foods, Japanese, on Tuesday. Here's some pictures from our fun night!

Erik's become close with his coworkers at Newave

Me and one of my Chinese girlfriends, Eileen

Me and one of our Chinese American friends, Henry

My kids had their big year end program last week. They did so well! My oldest students will be starting primary school this fall so they had their graduation ceremony from kindergarden. This last month, they've put a lot of work into practicing their songs for the program and it went very well. Now, we will just be relaxing for the next month until the fall term starts. I look forward to giving my imput about what the children should be studying next year and am much more comfortable in my role as teacher. The past month has been interesting...I've definetly experienced a lot of awkward moments when our cultural differences and my not being sure what is expected of me has created some misunderstandings. But, I'm getting used to it now. I like the people I work with and now that my Chinese has improved some, it's been easier to communicate with the other teachers. Working in this school will definetly force me to study!

I took some pictures of my kids at the program. These are my older students. I also have many 4 and 5 year olds. One of students is not even 2 yet! I enjoy teaching them because I don't really have to "teach" exactly, mostly it's just playing with them and teaching them songs. But anyways, here's some pictures!

Teaching has definetly been more challenging then I expected, but I enjoy being around the kids and they love learning English!

Erik here.

So we've been very busy with our schedules, so busy that its hard to find time to accomplish simple tasks like cooking and cleaning. Somehow, we still managed to find time to see the Transformers. I don't think Amara enjoyed it as much as Jason and I, but who doesn't love giant transforming robots?

We have also discovered the wonders of the IP-based voice comm service called SKYPE. It enables the user to dial from their computer to either a computer or an analog or digital phone. It only costs 2 cents a minute to call any phone in the world!!!!!! And it's free if you call to another computer. We encourage everyone to download it so we can maintain good communications. All you need is a microphone and speakers (you can get a webcam also, which allows users to watch each other while talking.

www.skype.com/

The only downside is, when we call people on their landline or cell phones sometimes we have to dial two or three times before they can hear us (Shawn Michael, yes, that was me calling you). So if you get a call and you can't hear anybody on the other end, it's probably us. Just remember - the second or third time is the charm.

We are having a blast and enjoying every minute of our time here. We are also very excited for the possible arrival of one of Amara's good friends.

Shanghai definetly has begun to feel like home for us. We like our apartment and the neighborhood we live in. We're also meeting many new people and making lots of friends. Erik and I often go to English Corner, which is a gathering of Chinese students who want to practice speaking in English. We've met many people by going to these and they are always anxious to practice their English with Americans.

Erik is now working too. He's a teacher at a summer camp and works many hours nearly everyday of the week. Thankfully, he'll only be this busy for 2 months. In the fall, he'll start his Chinese classes! But he will be able to save much for a travels this year!

Unlike Erik, I'm now working less because my Kindergarden has less students in the summer. It's been a nice change. I enjoy my school very much. I teach 3 to 7 year olds, so it's definitly been a challenge! Like most kids that young, my students are very active and loud. However, most are very enthusiastic about learning English and I'm already starting to see an improvement in their speaking skills. They love to play American games, such as Duck Duck Goose and Red Rover which they've never played before. They also love to sing and learn American songs. It's been a lot of fun teaching them my childhood games. I feel they are much smarter then I was in Kindergarden! Many of my 6 and 7 year olds can already read and write, and their penmenship is better then mine is now!

We are enjoying spending time with our friends. Two more friends from the US arrived here a couple weeks ago and stayed on an air mattress on our floor until they could find an apartment. We had 5 people in our small apartment for awhile! It was fun though, nice to spend so much time with good friends. We are looking forward to another friend arriving in August. Also, a close friend of mine is considering moving out here. I hope she does!

This month should be fun as more friends arrive, Erik and I will soon be paid for the first time, and we get the opportunity to bum around Shanghai more. There are still many places we have not gone yet, such as the waterpark, and I know Erik is anxious to go to the zoo. So it should be an eventful month!

Home Sweet Home. Our apartment is on the top floor, the second window.

Celebrating Tony's birthday by eating dinner at a Japanese restuarant.

Celebrating our one year anniversary by eating at a Brazillion BBQ. Our friends will soon be opening a Brazillion restuarant where they promise the food will be even better!

I just got back dropping off my Xbox 360 at my favorite video game store. The owner charged me 200 yuan (about $24) to "mod" my machine so it can play the cheaper, pirated games sold on the streets here (about $1.25 a disk). I'm going to have to rely on Amara to help me to control my video game playing.
We have also been buying up many movies. We bought Ocean's 13 the other day, and are eagerly awaiting the rest of the summer blockbusters to hit the streets - Evan Almighty, and Transformers. Our favorite DVD store from last year was raided last year and now charges too much for movies (to pay off the settlement), so we simply found another shop that was still in business.
I am enjoying my last 2-day work week. Starting next week, I will be working six days a week. But the goal is to make enough money this summer to pay for my university courses that start in the fall. As for Amara, I could not be more proud of her. She works long hours both at work and at home (preparing lesson plans). Her dedication as a teacher reminds me of my mother.