Still Alive!

Hello all! Sorry for the long pause in communication. I don't have Internet in my apartment yet, hopefully next week. I am very busy with my teaching schedule and have little time to get to an Internet cafe. I have 15 min before I have to leave for a tutoring gig, so I will give headers and next week I will give more details.

Teaching - 2nd and 4th graders, 13 classes a week so only 13 hours a week, but I have to tutor, so thats a couple more hours a week. I love the kids, I prefer the 2nd graders to the 4th graders. My Lesson Plans are getting better. I always feel bad for the kids on Monday because they get the new lesson plan, but by Thurs and Fri I've perfected it so the other kids get the smoother lesson plan. Oh well!

Apartment - I live with another teacher, he is from Canada. We get along well and work at the same school. He takes a bike and I take the bus to get there (it takes an hour from my apartment to get there by bus!) The place is big, I have the larger room and really comfy bed, not a rock hard one like most beds in China! We have an indoor clothes line so doing laundry is a breeze. We cook dinner at home and eat out the other meals.

Extracurricular activity - I have been having a lot of friend and have made many new friends, I know thats hard to believe for some of you. One friend was sent to another city, so last weekend I took the train (by myself, yes!) and went to visit. The city was a mini version of Nanjing. Here in Nanjing there is a big block where most of the bars/clubs/restaurants are located, its called 1912 (I don't know why). So in this smaller city, Wuzi, they also have this type of block and have named it the same thing. Going out is expensive if you don't convert to USD. I've stopped doing that. I was really upset when the closest fruit selling lady wanted to charge me 11 kuai (1.50 USD) for a pound of grapes. I knew she was ripping me off because I was obviously not Chinese and can't speak well. So I told her to forget it, and went off to my fruit guy. His stand is a little further away, but he doesn't rip me off, at least not nearly as much. He sold me the same amount for 7 kuai ($1) I know, crazy that I was upset about 50 cents, but it just doesn't work here to convert the money, specially when I get paid in kuai. So I now have a fruit guy, he is this old gentleman who seems to never wear a shirt, many men at night don't wear shirts, at least in the summer. But he seems to never wear one, very odd, and he has a cute white cat that I often see sitting in the back on the watermelons grooming himself.

The last bit of news... I've decided that I will only stay for 6 months instead of 1 year. I signed a 6 month contract because it works better with my future goals. This last summer I decided I would go for law school when I get back, international law of course. So, if I stay a year I can take the LSAT in Sept, but to then get everything in by January to apply would be cutting it close. Also, I'd like to have a job working at a legal office or something along those lines. I want to have diversity for applying to schools. So, if I stay 6 months I can take the LSAT in June and have more time to get everything in order. Essays will need to be worked over several times, as well as gathering recommendation letters, ect.... I feel that I can accomplish want I want to here in China in 6 months. Everything is going great, nothing bad has happened to make me want to return early. I'm just excited to get back and get started, its a great feeling to have direction and know what I want to do in my future.

I've gotta fly! I have to teach this little guy, hes around 7 years old and so cute! We are going to play Snakes and Ladders today, I'm excited!! Don't worry there is an English language point to the game.

I love and miss everyone!