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. :)
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