ahh, comfort and new people

Ok, it has been over two weeks since my last post. This isn't good. It really shows I'm falling behind on my blogging. But the good news is that I have a set routine in my life and things are finally going along smoothly after an extremely rough start here in Shanghai. My roommates are awesome! I am building friendships with them and it is really pleasant to live with them. Come to think of it, I have the best luck with roommates. Even in college, I had great roommates. In DC, I had great roommates. I fianlly met Sarah, the other American that is living here. She moved in around 10 days after I moved in. She said that she had been living in Shanghai since July, but she moved out of her old apartment because her roommates would never talk to her. I found that a little odd because she is really cool. We got along right away and there were never any kind of awkwardness between us like when you can get from meeting someone for the first time.

Davide is still a character. Though, I love talking to him. His Italian accent is pretty amusing sometimes when he messes up some English words. Ha, I feel like I'm mocking him, but it's pretty easy. Sorry, Davide. Nonetheless, we have great conversations as well; he can talk for hours. Chris is a very lighthearted dude. He always makes jokes, though he also has some sarcasm. Chris is also very Swiss. What I mean by that, he is very banker. He is the one that organizes our apartment finances, like bills and things for the apartment. It's really nice to have someone like that so I don't have to worry about what I owe. Franck was quite shy at first, but he is being more extroverted around us now. I have talked to him, though his English is not that good. He really wants to learn more vocabulary. I have had political discussions with him about politics in USA, France and Italy. We learned a lot from each other. It's a bonus for having international roommates!

Albert is still great, still practicing his Chinese. I go out with him quite often on Monday nights to a place called Zapata's in the French Concession. Zapata's has one full hour of free beer for guys and free margarita's for girls on Monday nights. The free beer for guys is great, but the margaritas barely have a drop of alcohol in them. "Government regulations," they said, "no one can get too drunk, especially girls." Whatever. I tried getting beer once, but girls are not allowed. Albert tried to get it for me once, but the small Chinese bouncer (who is actually shorter than me) yelled at me in Mandarin and took the drink out of my hand. Ok, the dude takes his job a little too seriously. If I had a margarita, I would be drinking anyway, so what was the big deal if I had a beer? The next week, I wanted to make sure I had beer. The free beer is served in plastic cups; but if you buy it, it will be served in glass pints. All I did was buy some beer (fucking expensive--Heineken was 45 yuan and Tsingtao was 40 yuan; ok, I don't think that Chinese beer should be expensive as a Heineken, it's not that great) and Albert kept refilling the whole hour.

I love going out in the French Concession. Where Zapata's is, it's on Hengshan Road, the one street in the French Concession that is lined with bars and cool restaurants. If I had to compare Shanghai to DC, I would say that the area I live in, Jing'an District, is like DC's Dupont Circle area and the French Concession is like Georgetown. My work is really close to Hengshan Road. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

So far, I really like working at EF. The more I get to know the teachers, the more I feel comfortable there. At first, I was really introverted; mainly because I was really nervous about belonging there, especially after what happened with KaiEn. But they are a more fun bunch that KaiEn seemed like. I have gone out with them a few times already and have attended two parties with them. It was recently one of my coworkers' 30th birthday, Mike. Also, Lesley had a Thanksgiving party two days ago; it was really that night when I finally developed a friendship with them. I had gotten to know a lot of them. Though at Mike's birthday, I hung out with them but the Thanksgiving party was more relaxing and less of a threatening environment. Mike's party was at a Brazilian steakhouse followed by drinks at a really posh bar and then followed by karaoke. Karaoke? Ok, I can't sing at all, especially in front of people I was already nervous with. I just sung along (quietly, lol) with everyone else. Though they picked really good songs. Plus, I met other EF teachers at other schools. At this point, honestly, I was so worn out from meeting people. I have never had to meet and shake hands with so many people in only 5 weeks. It actually does wear you out. I remember that I kept saying that I love meeting new people, I would have never thought it could actually get tiring. Anyway, Lesley had her party at her apartment. There was chicken (turkey is not easy to get in China apparently) and stuffing. I mingled with the EF people, but only those at my school. I focus on the teachers from other schools next time.

Working at EF and teaching Chinese kids. It is a lot of fun. Managing and disciplining Chinese kids? Easier said than done. These kids are raised by their grandparents because their parents work all the time. Their grandparents give them everything they want. Let's not forget that China has a one child policy, so almost all kids are only childs. Sweet. Most classes at EF are two hours long (though there are some that are 80 minutes). Two hours with loud kids who don't always pay attention or do the work--not easy, but definitely not boring. Think about it, I will have good stories to share. For example, one class I observed, there was a girl, around 6 or 7 years old, got on all fours in the middle of the classroom with the textbook in her mouth. She just stayed there for several minutes while there were screaming 7 year olds around her, going on about their favorite TV shows, in English of course. I have learned that sometimes kids learn English better when they scream it out. But this can only apply for the High Flyers. At EF, we have levels of English according to ages: Small Stars would be 3-6 year olds with 5 levels total, High Flyers are 7-10 year olds with 11 levels total, Trailblazers are 11-15 year olds with 21 levels total, and Real English for older teenagers with 15 levels. I have only taught Trailblazers and one Real English class so far. I have gotten comfortable with the Trailblazers and its textbooks. I have my first High Flyer class this Friday.

Ok, that is it for now; and hopefully I will post again soon enough.