It’s National Day here in China today! This is the anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. This morning I was up early, still 11 hrs difference ahead from New Brunswick, Canada and got dressed to try to find the Starbucks’ the VP & ESL Teacher took me to before. As I was approaching the Solano Mall, I realized I was still in a different country. The western style Solano Mall gates to the mall area were closed.
I came back to my original route and passed it to find a bakery. I found this wonderful German bakery and got a “latte”. Drinking it, I realized it didn’t have espresso, but plain morning coffee with lots of milk. “Too funny!” Going back to my school’s gates I met a few teachers waiting outside the gates for a bus that would take them to the Great Wall of China. They had booked it a few weeks ago, so I couldn’t attend, but I bookmarked it for a future trip next week for the national week off.
These are the colorful apartments for the teachers & staff!
Had my “Chinese Physical” this morning, even though, I had a physical from my physician before I was issued the “temporary VISA”. The school’s HR dept. rep. took me with a school’s driver for communication reasons. The driver & HR person picked me up at 9:30 a.m. and took me to a very plain looking building 1 hour away (even though we were still in Beijing, due to traffic). I was given a card & told to go to each room: blood test, x-ray, EKG, eye exam & hearing test. They checked my ears with a mirror (I have no idea why?). I was done in 30 mins.
When I got back from the 1 hr drive, I took a taxi to the Beijing IKEA. All teachers & staff are issued a small binder booklet that has local facilities for transportation, embassies, restaurants & cafes, hotels, shopping, and tourist destinations. Everything is written in English, with translation in Mandarin, so you can show it to the taxi driver, so they know where to take you. IKEA in Beijing is HUGE. It took me a few hours to see what they had. I found pillows to go with my “orange & lavender” L shaped module couch, duvet cover for my plain white bed and candles and light fixtures to give my apartment some color. Now, with some modifications, I can live here for the next 9 months!
We have plenty of storage for a smaller 1 bedroom!
There is only a hot plate, like a university/college dormitory!
We all have to "hang dry" our clothes, so fabric softner is a must!
They do have Western style bathrooms with showers, for my friends who had some concerns on it!
It's now very comfortable & I'll be adding some Chinese photos from my travels in the future!
Yes, I'm watching CNN International News & I love this motto for living in new areas of the world!
Front view through my apartment window! Elementary school of CIS-Beijing is lower brick building.
Left side view through my apartment window.
Right side view of Middle/High School of CIS-Beijing.
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