Dongguan Jon: Oh my goodness...

Things are very busy here. I'm in training for some management software at school all weekend, and I've been spinning my wheels on getting some lessons together. It's been too long since I had to do lesson planning, and I don't really know where to start. Everyone is really helpful, though, and supportive.

I really lucked out with the group of co-workers here. There are two other single guys, four or five single women, and three couples. All of them have an incredible amount of experience and hearing their stories is sometimes overwhelming. Very interesting people, and I can at least get along with all of them. Also, the director of the school is an amazing person. He's been all over the world, and had some crazy experiences that he loves telling all of us about. He's also the most upbeat and interested person I've ever met. If I had to deal with half the headaches he does, I don't know if I could keep it together.

Then there's the local staff: a whole army of young Chinese women that work ridiculous hours trying to keep things running, ordering supplies, cleaning the school, etc. They all have funny english names: my favorite is Sherman, a tiny young woman who runs the front desk. I call her "the tank"

I started writing this entry a week ago, and got bogged down with trying to do some of my real work. I've made it through the first full week of school! With five different classes to prepare for, I'm barely keeping my head above water. But, the kids are mostly great. I just have to learn how to keep up with them.

We invited teachers from another startup school in nearby Nansha for a school tour and dinner. This was actually the first school that I interviewed for back in February. Now, I'm kind of glad I didn't get that job. They're out in the middle of the wilderness, a 30 minute bike ride from the nearest shops, and it's a boarding school, so they have babysitting responsibilities as well as teaching. The one nice thing is that they only have 9th grade to start. That would definitely make my life much easier. Anyway, they were very nice, and I'm sure we'll get together again.

The apartment's coming together, sort of. I am writing this from my couch on a wireless keyboard, with the computer displayed on my ridiculous tv. I checked my email in 3D this morning, just because I can. The bed's still a big issue, so hard I might as well sleep on the floor. I developed some pretty serious back pain earlier this week, which turned into a good excuse to get a massage. That helped, but I don't think the Chinese are used to working on people with body hair. I'll have to ask her to use more oil next time; my legs and stomach got plucked, and feel like they've been rug-burned.

I should really be doing schoolwork right now, but I can't get into the right mode. No video this time, but here are some pictures:

First some funny signs from my apartment complex (they're a little hard to read):