I wish the part about digging a hole to China really were true. It would be so much more convenient than the thirty hours of traveling it took to get here. On the bright side, stretching yourself to the maximum human limits during transit does help you get over the jetlag faster. Tada!
Right now life is pretty simple. Joel works all day doing teacherly things, and I play house. I'll sub when kids start to come to school, but until then I just travel all over the city foraging for the pieces to make our apartment feel like a home. It would be fun but for two pesky issues: a) I have to carry my purchases around the city with me since there's no car to drop them in between shops b) it's ridiculously hot outside. And I know, I know you think it's really hot in Memphis right now, but trust me. It's much hotter here. Proof? See below.
1. In Shanghai it doesn't just get hot, it gets extremely humid. We're talking an average of 70-80% year round. It's like living at the beach, but never getting any of the perks of the beach- you just have frizzy hair.
2. The air is full of thick, nasty smog. This means that at night not only do you not see any stars, but during the day it feels like you're wearing an extra jacket. Yes, like a track jacket made entirely of dirt.
3. Heat duration: everywhere you go is a minimum 10 minute walk. You walk to the subway- 12 minutes in the glaring heat. You walk to the bus-10 minutes and then another 5-30 minutes just standing there waiting the heat. And it doesn't let up until October.
So that's the not so great part, but fear not- we're headed for the uppers!
First of all, living here is super cheap. That's pretty self explanatory. Secondly, it's a huge, awesome city. They're hosting the world expo in Shanghai this year, so there's tons going on downtown all the time. We also live in a really fun complex. There are so many new teachers here from all over the world, and it's been really fun so far getting to know new people.
Pictures of a newly settled apartment to come soon! We love and miss you all :)
