We Made It!

Though long, travel was remarkably uneventful. We were picked up at the airport by our gracious Liaison Barbara and driven the last 40 minutes to the Tourism and Culture College of Lijiang. As it is the tail end of the rainy season, the tops of the mountains have yet to reveal themselves, but the views are likely to be stunning in the winter. Our apartment is utilitarian and college cinderblock sterile. We have been sprucing things up with some fabric wall hangings, maps and a liberal dose of bleach.

Our first few days have been a whirlwind of setting up the apartment, tours around town and prepping for teaching. We are thankful for the number 11 bus which routinely takes us the 4 miles into town. The Old Town promises to be a wonderful place to explore and get lost in the maze of alleys and canals.

As predicted, we received our teaching schedules about 12 hours before classes were slated to begin. Today Shana found out that she begins teaching on Friday though she was originally told September 10. Our internet was finally connected last night and has made a huge difference in feeling connected.

Today's adventures included buying bicycles ($85 for two brand new one speed bikes complete with baskets and locks), buying a printer/copier/scanner, and a visit to the one yuan store (the equivalent of the dollar store, only one yuan is about 13 cents) and then biking back with all of our treasures.

We visited Li's kindergarten which she described as loud. It seemed quite nice and they will arrange for a driver for her each way. Kindergarten goes from 7:30am-7pm and includes three meals a day, numerous hygiene breaks and 2.5 hours of napping. We'll have to see how that goes!

So far I think Li's happiest moments have been the purchase of her new pink umbrella (giant with blue tulips), eating 2 foot long green beans and floating on a pool of water in a giant plastic bubble!

We'll post some pictures on the Picasa site.

Thank you for the bon voyage!

Many thanks to all the friends who came to wish us a fond farewell last night at the Lander City Park (and even more thanks to the organizers!). We were delighted by the number of people who promised to show up on our doorstep in China. We have no idea in what style we will be able to host you, but we will roll out whatever serves as a red carpet. Bon Voyage!