Nathaniel and Sheree back in Australia

I though that I’d add a little update from me. Hopefully I don’t repeat anything that Nat’s already written.

Well school is going GREAT. I’m really enjoying teaching my class and getting to know all of the staff. Cathy (another year 6 teacher) is helping me out a lot. She was trained in the UK and understands the British system really well. She was teaching at Yew Chung last year, so she also has the inside scoop about how they like things done.

We have to document EVERYTHING! Mainly because the parents are sooooooo anal – well they are paying US $15,000.00 not including uniforms, excursions, food and other expenses. So I understand but sometimes it just makes the day feel sooooooo long. First thing Monday I have to hand in a folder with everything that I have used in the first 5 weeks. Eventually by the end of the year I will end up giving in 9 folders with all photocopies, weekly plans, units and ideas that I used throughout the year.

So basically what I’m saying is…although I’ve had all the training, I haven’t had to deal with politics yet. That’s been the biggest learning curve – trying to show my independence, whilst not stepping on toes or upsetting the ‘apple cart’. But enough about school already…

Our Ayi (maid) started last week. She cooks fantastically and it’s a little pressure off Nat and myself. I don’t need to worry about coming home and doing a whole lot of house cleaning – I can just come home have dinner with Nat, study some Chinese (or do lesson planning) and then we can do whatever. It’s nice having our evening free.

My little kitten – Mao isn’t doing so well. We had to take him to the vet last night (a 5 min walk from our house) because he was having trouble breathing. During the week I had a cold and he caught it from me and then we found out that it had spread to his lungs and given him a lung infection. The vet checked him over really well; stuck a thermometer up his bum (he had a small fever), took a blood sample and then put him on a drip to hydrate him. He wasn’t very happy, but hopefully they will be able to make him better. We have to go back tonight – they are going to see how his fever is and check if his infection has gotten any better.

We got some skype credit – if anyone has skype add us in or email us your skype name. I would love to be able to chat with some of you over the net. That’s one thing that I’m really missing – just being able to chat with friends and family. I was using the home phone a lot, but after last months bill Nat decided that it wasn’t such a good idea. Hence the skype credit – Nat’s always looking after me. If you don’t know what skype is…it’s a free voice over IP chatting program – like MSN but heaps clearer. If 2 people have it, then we can chat for free, otherwise with credit (bought in Euro) I can call your home phone from my internet connection (0.017 Euro per minute).

Anyway I think that’s about all I have to add at the moment. We do try to keep you all updated, but sometimes it’s hard to take the time to write about our adventures when we are trying to live them at the same time. But as I said we’ll try our BEST.

LOTS and HEAPS and STACKs of love from all of us,

Sheree, Nat and Mao x x x

Last Saturday we went to the Great Wall of china which was a lot of fun. We took lots of photos and I’ve uploaded then to the gallery which you can find ???here???. After going to the Great Wall we basically relaxed for the rest of the week. Sheree had her first full day of classes on Wednesday, so we were deliberately taking it easy beforhand and then afterwards she was fairly busy getting the classroom up and running. I applied for an job teaching English. I don’t find out if I got the job for another couple of days but even if I do it doesn’t start till the 10th. I’m also starting to get into a rythm at home which is good.Mao our cat is starting to get really fluffy. When we bought him he was shaved but since we haven’t shaved him he has furs has grown so his face looks really chubby. His hair still has another cm or two to grow which will make him even cuter. My mandarin study is starting to show progress which has encouraged me to put more in even more effort. It will be interesting to see how much mandarin I can speak by the end of next month. I’m finally starting to feel like I’m settling in. The streets are starting to look more famillar and I’m getting use to walking around surrounded by chinese people .

One of the best things about the modern world is the fact that it’s really easy to get in contact with people at home. I’ve had a couple of video link ups with friends and family at home so in a way it feels like I’m just down the street. When I lived in Australia no one bothered with web cams but now that I’m overseas almost everyone has one.

Today we saw something that was so typical for China. They’ve been shutting down pirate DVD stores in Beijing. I think it’s either for the World Trade Organisation talks that are going on or for the Olympics. Anyway one of the better shops got shut down this week. We to check it out after church and he’s planning on opening a Silk Store in the same location with an enterance in the back for the DVD store which is currently downstairs in the basement and about twice as big as it was before. The reason why it’s so typical for China is that the government can say that they’ve cracked down on piracy which is true but nothing really changed it just went underground. There is no real insentive for things to change over here. In China there is a big gap between the laws and reality. I suppose it was the same back in Australia but I never noticed it in Australia.

I hope to have two products ready to launch by the end of this week or at least a beta test out. Hopefully that means that by the end of September my internet business will have made it’s first sale.Hope your all well.

Nathaniel & Sheree Brown.

Hi, Hi, Hi,

It’s been ages and I apologise…Well it’s been a great couple of weeks and I’ve really enjoyed settling down in a new place.

A short update from me…(Nat’s post should come through any day now)

My little kitten is doing well – however he is having a few settling in problems, mainly with wetting the bed, hiding behind the couch and chewing on the phone cords back there and drinking from every cup that is ever in his reach. But the good far outweigh the bad. Like last night, when I attached a peg to the fur tip on the end of his tail and he spent about 1/2 and hour chasing his tail – it was sooooooooo adorable. And now he is curled up beside me on the couch purring loudly.

School officially starts on Wednesday – my classroom is set up, which gives me till Wednesday to have my units/lessons and activities ready for the new school year. On Tuesday this week the new kids (first time to the school) are coming for an orientation day. So I will get to meet them first and give them a tour of the school with it’s new building (build over the summer) if can manage to find my way around. You know whats greatest about school…I get a cafeteria style lunch everyday – usually a choice of 3 or so different dishes, a dessert, sometimes a soup and a help yourself salad bar all for only 12 Yuan ($2) very cheap. I’ve never had this style of lunch before so it’s still a novelty, but I’m sure that after 6 months it will have totally worn off.

The Great Wall was amazing – we went today with a school tour. It was fun except for all the walking and the long day that it ended up being. I got some great bargains, my rough rule is to pay about 10% of their asking price. I got some things at the markets near the Great Wall – my best buy was a set of 4 bottles in a gift box that were all painted on the inside (called “The Great Wall and Panda”) on one side of the bottle is a paining of the Wall, and on the other is a painting of some panda bears – 4 different designs of each. The asking price was about 300 Yuan, but after thinking about it, I didn’t want them THAT much so offered 20 as my low price, she said she couldn’t do them that low and I said not to worry then…after a long discussion, more/less, more/less I finally got out with paying only 25 Yuan or about $4. A huge bargain and even all of the Chinese teachers were HUGELY impressed.

Anyway that’s enough from me for now – please keep writing, I really enjoy getting email updates…It doesn’t seem like we are that far from home when we read your emails.

All my love from abroad (doesn’t that sound exotic???).