First week.

It has been a week  since we arrived in Jiamusi and we are still trying to figure things out. The picture on the left is the view we have from the front of our apartment building. We are on the second floor so this is also what we see when we look out the window. The picture on the right is of the front of our apartment building. There isn't much too look at even when it isn't Winter. The front of our building faces North and on the other side of those tall buildings is the river. I have a work schedule of teaching 60+ students in each class, four different classes a day, from 8:20 to 11:30, five days a week at the local middle school. That is a total of 20 classes and over 1,200 students a week. Then I have a small kids class with 14 students every Tuesday and Friday evening from 5:00 to 6:00 at the private English school which hired me named Ivy English. And another class of 14 small kids that I teach at Ivy on Saturday and Sunday mornings from 10:30 to 11:30. I also have a class on Monday evenings where I assist another teacher. The picture with the building with all the writing on it is the public school I walk to about 3/4 of a block away each week morning. The other picture with all the people and cars is one of the two huge malls that are here. Inside it is five stories tall and the supermarket is in the basement. There are also tunnels filled with merchant booths going in all directions for three blocks from under the mall. The building on the left is where Ivy English is on the 8th floor. We are trying to adjust and are missing many of the things we had back in the states or even Beijing such as: butter, Rootbeer, Diet Coke, soft beds, dishwashers, ovens, toasters, water pressure, clothes dryers. You get the idea; it is a big difference here.