Our admins have given us great opportunities on orientation nights to get out and see as much of Hangzhou as possible. They arranged a night out to a local amusement park for us tonight. We were able to walk around, look in the little markets, and buy food from various street vendors before we met for the Song Dynasty show, which was a musical performance of the history of the city of Hangzhou.
Loving all things music/performance based, I was captivated by the show. It had a Cirque Du Soleil kind of feel to it, and the director of the show Huang Qiaoling, was also the director of the opening of the Beijing Olympics. It was such a treat (and if you come visit me in China, I promise to take you there. HA!) It was a beautiful night to pull out my camera. It's the first time I've done so since arriving in Hangzhou. I'm hoping to brave the streets soon and get some beautiful street portraits. There is another guy here who has a love of street portraits as well, so we are hoping to go out and shoot sometime together.
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For those of you waiting for your first China Michelle moment, it arrived today.
This is my teacher desk. Or rather, it was my teacher desk- until I decided to move furniture around my classroom and it crashed into a pile in one fell swoop. My open Nalgene bottle went soaring just past my brand new school issued Mac air and I quickly tumbled to the floor landing forcefully on- you got it, the same knee that I fell and injured badly in June. (No worries, Mama- I'm just fine.) :) I was able to rescue the computer from water damage and pick myself up enough to go across the hall to my friend Heather's classroom (who is an angel and not only got me ice for my knee but tracked down an administrator to find out what on earth happens when you shatter your teacher desk into 5 pieces the first week on the job.) At this point you really just have to laugh (until your Vice Principal comes in and you cry). And that, my friends, is how I've helped initiate the poor people who are stuck working with me for the next two years. It is also how I acquired a brand spankin' new teacher desk. :) (In all honesty, I am super lucky in so many ways. I really wasn't hurt, I had someone beside me to laugh with at how ridiculous this week has been, and my admin handled it all with an amazing sense of humor. Still feeling so grateful to be at HIS!) Update: This has happened to at least two other teachers in the past two days. So I feel a little less guilty. :) It has been a nearly a week since I arrived in Hangzhou (pronounced "Hong" like Hong Kong and "Jo" like Joe). :) It was hard to believe it hasn't been longer when I looked around the room of my fellow colleagues at a welcome party thrown in our honor tonight. We spent the day broken up into groups of 5 and were given the task of navigating our way around two different parts of the city, Star Avenue and Rainbow City, on a picture scavenger hunt. It was an effort to help us become more at ease with public transportation, our surroundings, and each other. At the end of the day, we met at the home of one of our admins to reconvene, share photos and stories, and to celebrate surviving our first week in Hangzhou. Our school director, Jeff, and his wife, Andrea, gave a short speech and welcomed each of us to the HIS family with the gift of what is called a "chop," a Chinese stamp with our last name in both English and Chinese caricatures. It can be used to sign important paperwork and was given to each new staff member, their spouses, and their children. It was such a kind way of welcoming us into the HIS family. The past week has been full of settling in, sight seeing, shopping, and becoming familiar with our new surroundings, both within the school community and in the city of Hangzhou. Sometimes it still feels surreal that I live in China, but then I am reminded by the frequent stares, that I am a guest in this country. :) So far, it has been a wonderful experience. As I sat around the room tonight, engaging in conversation with my new colleagues (there are nearly 30 of us!), I was amazed at the power of human connection, and how quickly those ties can be made between strangers when placed in an environment outside of their usual surroundings, with no one to lean on but each other. Friendships happen fast in communities like this- it is one of the things I love most about living abroad. I am looking forward to seeing where the road leads us as a staff and a community in the year ahead. Welcome to the beautiful campus of Hangzhou International School. :) After 18+ hours of traveling, my group arrived in one piece at the Hangzhou Airport. There were 7 of us on the international flight from San Francisco and we were able to spend some time getting to know each other during our layover before our direct flight. We learned quickly to help each other through customs and security checkpoints. My teammates warned me that summers in China are brutal, but I still wasn't quite prepared for the shock of hot air that embraced us as we walked out of the terminal. Several of our administrators met us outside of customs and helped us transport our bags to the school travel van. They didn't quite believe us when we said how much luggage we would be bringing (Andy and his wife Jessica, along with a kind Chinese couple helped me get my bags through security, which had to have been the most ridiculous sight to see.) We ended up filling the undercarriage of the van and then had luggage up and down the aisles of the van on top. By that point, we were exhausted, but so grateful for a warm welcome and to be so well taken care of our by our administrators.
We were taken back to our apartments (I am living on campus with about 12 others) and they were kind enough to leave food, water, towels, and other necessities out for each of us upon our arrival. We've spent the past day unpacking, getting settled, and walking around Hangzhou. I was able to get an iced latte at a cafe across the street which caters to expats, owned by a woman name Luna and her husband Bamboo. They were wonderfully kind to us this morning as we woke up together in a new city. Now we're off to explore for the evening! |
AuthorMichelle is an expat and globetrotter, currently residing in Augsburg, Germany. Originally from the US, she has called Guam, China, and Germany home. Her passions include collecting children's picture books, reading, writing, traveling, and trying to remove coffee stains from freshly cleaned shirts. Archives
February 2022
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