An uncomfortable update...

I'm really uncomfortable right now, laying on the hard floor because my butt was starting to fall asleep. I do have a desk in this room, but my battery was low, so I had to move the computer to the floor to be able to plug it in. Obviously, I am not yet lucky enough to have wireless. I guess I should buy an extension cord. Unfortunately, or not, it's a bit too late for me to go out (Carrefour is still open, but it's almost my bedtime). It just seemed time for an update.

Last week was my first week of school. I think it goes without saying that I survived. My classes went fine and the students are really great. Everybody is as helpful as possible, though, of course, not everything is possible. I feel like my classes are off to a good start, but I am incredibly disorganized. I have plans for a few weeks, but feel like they change a little every day. I guess that's par for the course though. I'm really not freaking out about school anymore, but I do feel like I have a lot to do to catch up.

Last weekend was pretty nice because I actually relaxed and managed to get out of the city for a day. On Friday after work, I went to our school social club's "Survivor Party." It was a barbeque and drinks at a bar sort of nearby. I had a good time talking to people and the food was o.k. I probably should have had more to eat before I started drinking, but that's a lesson that's hard to learn. Regardless of how quickly I felt tipsy or why (I'd like to blame some of it on exhaustion), it was meant to be an early night for me. I caught a cab back to the apartments with another teacher and was in bed by 11:30.

The next morning was hard. I had only had a couple of drinks, but the combination of that and lack of water and sleep was killing me. I had to be up at 6 and on the bus by 7 and I made it, with a few seconds to spare! I was off to a place that I didn't even know of and I still can't tell you the name, but it's somewhere South and West of Beijing. The ride itself was nice, there were only twelve of us on the bus, so there was plenty of room. I tried to sleep a bit, but wasn't very successful. The plastic palm trees by the side of the road were just too distracting!

We arrived at the park around 9 and the good (lead) climbers started setting up the routes for us top ropers. I was a little nervous, but not so much because I thought I would hurt myself. Actually, I was thinking, I hope I can make it up at least one of those! I think there were six different routes. I did two of them, the easiest of course. I did, however, do the second easiest one twice. I think I'm ready to do better the next time we go out. I realized that while it is more of a mental challenge, it was actually easier on my hands than climbing a fake wall, and there was less strength required.

We were at the park all day, so it was easy to get a nap in there, and then headed back to Beijing around 4:30. We went straight out to dinner (PIZZA!!) and then most of us went home to crash. I went back to the hutong because I thought it would be nice to go there and easy enough. I got home and started getting undressed and... knock, knock... crap. The neighbor was at the door so I had to get totally dressed again and see what she wanted (as if I would understand anyway!). I opened the door and she handed me something to do with the water. She said there were two bills, that much I understood, but when I looked at them I was shocked. One said Y560 and the other said Y180. I freaked out, because that's about a hundred U.S. Dollars for water! I even had a nightmare about it, well, that and the water damage in the house (I'm petrified that something bad will happen and I won't be there).

So Sunday I woke up early and did some laundry. While that was happening I laid in bed and read or re-read The Diaries of Anne Frank. I am planning on using a few excerpts for class, but once I started reading, I had some trouble putting it down again. Like any good war story, it left me really freakin' depressed! I felt like crap the whole rest of the morning.

Luckily, Dan called in the afternoon, and I was reminded why life is good and why I shouldn't be depressed. Actually, it wasn't that deep. He called, I told stories, he told stories and I was happy. It was pretty simple.

Oh, and before I left the hutong I collected a few of the bugs. It turns out they are Rolly Poly bugs or Pill bugs or whatever people call them. It also turns out that Tamara wants some for her science class. Unfortunately, they're still in the school apartment because I forgot them on my way out this morning. I hope they don't die after all the crap I went through to get them here!

Today, I asked one of the Chinese teachers about the water bill. I wanted her to translate so I knew what the heck we were supposed to pay $100 for. Turns out that instead of using decimal points, they write Chinese characters, so Y560 was actually Y5.6 and Y180 was Y1.8. The stupid thing is that if I had really looked carefully, I might have even figured that out before I had all sorts of anxiety!