Last week I got to make cookies for one of the centers of our school in Nankai. They had the flour, salt, butter, sugar and eggs all ready, but I had to tell them about the very much needed ingredients of baking soda and baking powder. Luckily they were able to find them in the regular Chinese grocery stores (strangely they're not in the big "Wal-Mart" type stores we usually go to). I didn't have any measuring cups so I had to eyeball most of it, and also I had only a toaster oven to use (with only a timer- no different settings for temperature and no idea what the set temperature is). It took a few tries, but we eventually got it to work alright and the cookies turned out pretty good. I also taught a class about it for the kids and all of the old grandmothers were asking how to make them at home apparently. :)

After that was our day off and we got together with some friends from work to go shopping. It was a big outside market-like place with lots of foods, clothes, and basically everything. They have these kind of places all over, though usually mainly with food. I got some new pants, shoes, and yarn, and all for much cheaper prices than at the main stores.

We had to go back to Beijing for a day to get our visas renewed. We got to take the train so it would only take 30 minutes to get there, and I was very impressed by the train station. It was so modern-looking and clean, and the atmosphere was just the same as an airport. Chinese people don't travel by plane too much it seems, so I suppose trains are a much bigger deal to them. While we waited, we kept hearing this loud buzzing sound and had no idea what it was. A man sat down near us and pulled out a wooden tube. Inside was a big cricket! The man took out the stopper for the wood and let the cricket out to play a bit. Now I think I want one. ;)

Once we arrived, we explored for a bit before meeting our friend. There was a beautiful park just down the street from the subway and we took lots of pictures. pic 1 pic 2 pic 3 pic 4 pic 5 pic 6 pic 7 pic 8

We got to go through some of our old stomping grounds in Beijing, and saw some of the scenic areas there too. pic 1 pic 2 While we were in that spot, a lady was singing to a crowd and a guy in a costume was walking around so of course we had to take a picture with him.

We got our papers in to get our visas renewed and went back to Tianjin the next day. Our schools were waiting for us! Lately everyone has been talking about how spring is coming and it's going to get warmer, but lately it's been super foggy and cold, and tonight the weather forecast says it will snow!!!! I for one am excited. :)

The wonderful world of Tianjin!

Our apartments are amazing! They're on the 23rd floor and never been lived in before. Unfortunately, there's still a lot of construction going on around us, so there's constant noise. But other than that, the apartments are really nice! Doors, Kitchen, Living Room, T.V., Plates .

Our company has been extremely good to us, the first night we were here in Tianjin they took us out to eat. I wish I had brought my camera because I would have loved to take pictures of the 15 or so different dishes they ordered. Chinese style eating is all about ordering different dishes that everyone shares, rather than one person ordering an individual plate for themselves. There was one dish that tasted like Chinese back home and that was the lo mein noodles, but other than that, everything was very different. Mostly it was all really good; the only thing I disliked was the goose liver pate, and that's not even Chinese. Both of our favorites was the dessert which was taro wrapped in some kind of crispy fried noodles shell. Mmm, it tasted like a Churro. Definitely need to find out how to make those.

During most of our first week, they took us on a tour of the different facilities. All of the rooms are very brightly decorated, and they even have a swimming facility. Swimming room, classroom, play area, company sign. Also, most of the classrooms have SmartBoards (the kind which is basically like a big, thin computer or iPad on the wall). Classroom. The kids are very smart too, but a little shy around us. I think they find Dave's tallness intimidating, so he's found it's better to just sit on the floor around them. Picture1, picture2. On most weekdays there are classes only in the early morning for the little kids and at night for the older kids. During the weekends, there are a lot more kids and classes. This is because we have to work around the kids' normal school times. Our days off are on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Oh yes, and they have posters of us at the school! Poster Poster 2

Our bosses are so nice and constantly buy us things. Basically everyday we go home with a bunch of nice things to eat. They also got Dave a really nice bike to ride to school with. Unfortunately we both got sick this week, so he hasn't been able to use it yet.

Ah, the best news ever: there is cheese and butter in China! I found it at our new grocery store, Carrefour. It's not too expensive either, and now that we have a toaster oven (a gift from a co-worker), we can make bread, cookies, cakes, pizza- whatever we want! I am so happy about this. I really do want to learn Chinese style cooking, but at the same time have access at least to foods from my home. Besides, everyone at work wants us to cook American food for them, so it's just as much for them as it is for me. :)