Want to send me mail?

Please do! Here's my addy:

8 North 2nd Street
Zhong Guancun SOHO
#305 Romp N Roll
Hai Dian District, Beijing China 100080

If you want to send me things here are a list of some things I would like to have-

• Special K Cereal bars or any other granola bars
• Any thing with peanut butter in it
• Cookies
• Mac and Cheese
• DVDs
• Cute socks
• Words of encouragement

So I had a pretty rough day at work today. I was really tired all day and just kind of not in a great mood. I am already realizing that I will have some obstacles to face while I am here but I will overcome them because I'm cool like that!

We went to 7-11 for lunch and my food was actually really yummy! I am not sure what I got... I know it was chicken of some sort. There were also veggies and things I didn't recognize. The lady put some stuff in that I didn't ask for but oh well. I am already getting really good at eating with chopsticks. I am so proud of myself!

Here is my half-eaten lunch. Yes, I had a Sprite to drink of course. They pronounce Sprite as "sprit ee." I also had a delicious chocolate chip pastry of some kind. I will definitely be eating more of those.
















We practiced the summer session songs at work and I am going to continue practicing them tonight. I will try to work on not sounding like a dying cow when I sing but I am not so sure I will be able to help it. I am worried that this will be a problem. Apparently having a singing voice is a prerequisite for this job which was not really explained very well to me.

Today was a really slow day again. There were only two classes and I only observed one of them. I wish I had seen Princess class since I already know that will be my favorite. We spent a lot of time chatting in the office about different things about Romp N Roll and I am glad I could hear the viewpoints of my coworkers. I am kind of just taking everything in before I make up my mind on how I feel about it. I really can't wait to train and start leading class on my own.

Our office is pretty tight. There are five desks and when Anna comes back to work tomorrow I guess I will no longer have a desk to use in the office :(












I spent some time today people-watching from the window:
















After work, Luyin had one of the office workers take me home. We went out to catch a taxi (the first Beijing taxi for me) and it proved to be very difficult. It actually took us over 30 minutes to get one. You would think in one of the most populated cities in the world it would be easy to get a cab. That was not the case today. Ashley (which is her American name- she is Chinese) even said it was particularly difficult to get a cab today. She said it was probably because of the rain... it was barely sprinkling but everyone was walking with umbrellas. We talked to one cabbie and he said he wouldn't take us because it was too close. I live like 10km away... I think that should be a decent cab ride. I told Ashley we could take the bus but she said it was too crowded. She decided to call the cab company and get one to come pick us up. Once he came he didn't know where I lived so we had to call Luyin to give him directions. I eventually made it home and Ashley took me out to McDonald's for dinner. The fries were delicious but my chicken sandwich was so spicy that I drank my soda up super fast. The menu was in Chinese so knowing me I probably ordered the Spicy Chicken Sandwich instead of the original. I will try a different one next time. When we were walking back to my apartment we ran into a group of people exercising on the street.
















Sorry the picture is so dark... but these are the people working out! Ashley showed me around a little bit and she was very helpful. I am glad that I met her today! I think she will be a great resource and friend for me. She is going to take me shopping for some things I need during our days off next week. I will have to venture out at some point tomorrow, though, because I am very close to being out of toilet paper.

So, all-in-all there are a lot of things to adjust to. I am already missing home and I am not so happy that I am jumping for joy. But I do think that once I get to know some people and can actually be productive at work... oh and my stomach isn't majorly cramped... then I will really start to like it here!

Mandarin lesson:
Wǒ néng yǒu jī? 我能有雞？ (Can I have chicken?)