Hey, everyone! Sorry about the huge delay! Here is what has happened so far!

Feb. 7-10: The 7th was when I left for China. I flew from Billings to Seattle to Seoul to Shanghai. Korean Air is super nice! The flight was comfortable and the service was great! My favorite part was when the attendants handed out hot towels. = ) I met up with my Head Teacher and another girl who would be going to a different city in Seoul. Once we arrived in Shanghai, we went to the airport hotel. It was really nice and the interior was pretty. On the 9th, we met up with the rest of the ILP teachers before splitting up to the different cities. Our coordinator is really nice. She is the middleman between the school and us ILP teachers. Anyway, from the airport we drove to Ningbo. To get there we had to cross a really long bridge. The railing of the bridge changed color every once in a while. When we reached the school, we were told that we were going to be placed temporarily in the student dorms while the place we really would be staying was being renovated. The conditions in the dorms weren’t the best, but it was bearable. We then met some of the english teachers in the school and had dinner. The food was good and filling. The next day it rained and our coordinator took us to the nearby mall. It’s only two bus stops away! 

Feb. 11-13: This is when we decided which ILP class would be taught by whom. It was also when we found out that we will also be teaching grade school class. Surprise! First time I had heard about it. I’m teaching the 6th graders. After we got things sorted out, we went and explored the mall some more. Sunday we all went to church! There is a little group in Ningbo that has permission to hold church, so that is where we will be going every Sunday. They feed us lunch, too. = ) Monday we started teaching. That was complete chaos. Teaching was difficult and the kids kept asking me whether I was a boy or a girl. = D

Feb. 14-20: After teaching we went wandering a little bit outside of the school. We found a little shopping area that had a candy shop, a little cake shop and a lot of restaurants. The 15th I discovered that I’m not meant for teaching, but that’s okay. I’m getting along well with the other ILP teachers and we have a lot of fun. On the 16th, one of the members of our small church group took us around more of Ningbo. We went downtown and discovered all the cool places that we’ll have to go in our spare time. = ) The next day we went to Shanghai! We managed to find the bus station that took us there fine, but we had trouble finding the hotel and when we did find it, it took us an hour to check in. As soon as we got our rooms, we dropped our stuff off and went to Peoples Square! It was pretty cool. We wandered around until it got dark. We ate at a really cool brazilian barbecue restaurant that was buffet style, but not. The side dishes and desserts were set aside on tables that you had to get yourself, but there were people who brought you meat on skewers and put it on your plate for you. There was lamb, pork, beef, sausage and the occasional roasted banana and pineapple. So yummy! There was also live entertainment. We spent Saturday walking around Peoples Square again. We went through a tunnel that was decorated with a ton of flashing lights. We also went to the World Financial Center Observatory. That was kind of freaky. = ) We met some girls who were dancing to Super Junior outside of the subway system. = ) They told us that Super Junior will be having a concert in Shanghai and all of us are pretty excited about it. On Monday we moved into our permanent housing and it’s really nice.

That’s what has happened! We will be teaching every day (except weekends). I’ll try to post again soon.


Thank you!
Synneva