First Day of Class

The adventure has officially begun .... Classes began today.  It was great getting started but I have to admit I was a bit nervous, excited, uncertain ... first day "jitters."  The Dean and Assistant Dean of the English department are both delightful.  The assistant, Bing, studied at the University of Minnesota from 2006-2007.  What a small world.  We had fun talking about her experiences.  She thought Minnesota was beautiful but too cold.  She couldn't believe people went out when we had big snow storms.  I guess that means winter will be more mild here in Xi'an.  Yea!

My students are wonderful but were a little shy and hesitant to speak at first.  By the end of the 2 hour block they began opening up and participating in class discussion.  Our classes meet for 2 hours each week.  Because I will work with 9 classes of students, I decided to take a picture of everyone to help me learn names.  They were all good sports and happily posed for their picture.

I've ventured out a bit in these first 5 days ... partly out of necessity but mostly because I wanted to explore and become familiar with the area.  The largest park in Xi'an is just across the street and a wonderful place to walk and be around families having fun.  I'm also next door to an elementary school so I hear the chatter of students whenever I'm home.  Last night must have been an open house for the new students because music was playing and the street was full of young couples and young children.  The sights and sounds of school definitely made me smile.  I tried to go onto the school grounds but a guard was at the gate so I walked on.  I'll try again when I have someone with me who speaks Chinese.  I'm still at a very minimal level with my language.  I can navigate with the taxi and make purchases at the store but not much beyond a survival level :-)  Chinese is hard!

Students who met me at the airport and took me to Walmart the first day and carried everything to my apartment.

This is the building where all my classes are held.

The following are from the park across the street.  I love walking here.

Statue in the park that make me think of Plymouth Creek

Fun playground in the park

University Entrance

I arrived in China on Thursday and it's been a whirlwind.  I left Minnesota on Tuesday and Wednesday disappeared somewhere over the Pacific Ocean.  I'm mostly set up and unpacked in my apartment but am still waiting for a printer and materials in my office.  I've walked a trillion miles in the past 4 days and only got lost once.  I've been grocery shopping, set up a bank account, had blood drawn to make sure I don't have the "black plague" and completed a ton of paperwork.  I also took my first taxi ride and managed to communicate sufficiently to arrive at my destination.  Major success!