Year Two in China

This is the second year that I have been living in China and I am still amazed and disgusted thrilled and shocked by the things I see here. I started my time in Guangzhou but now I am living in Xi'an, mostly because I missed seeing the seasons change. Although I still wildly prefer the endless summers of south China or Taiwan to the winters of anywhere. I have started a new job working in a kindergarten slash preschool a completely different style of work from anything I have ever done before. I actually like working in the school and I like playing with the kids and the Chinese teachers are all nice and fair. Usually when I go places people talk to me like a kid because my Chinese is not very ... Ok I'm not going to lie it sucks, however, one if the teachers is very kind to me and talks to me like an adult and friend. The school nurse also has scolded me for not being social enough so the school feels very comfortable. The neighborhood that I live in is not a place that I would probably ever have ventured into if I was just travelling around in China, and most definitely wouldn't have walked down a street that looks as ruff as mine in the US. However, the people who live here are nice, there is a lot of food choices and several convience stores on each corner that it makes life fairly easy. The only downside is that the street is Far from where I work. On an average day I need to get up at 5am to make sure that I leave the house at 6:15 to walk 10-15mins to the bus station ride the bus to the subway station another 10-20min ride and then ride the subway out of town to where my school is about 45mins. However it feels like the trains are speeding up so I think the trip is actually only 30-35 mins now. Still that leaves a another 10-15min walk to the school from the metro station. Coming home is worse because the bus back to my house is over crowded and I need to wait for at least 3 buses before there is enough space to get in one. When I have more money I am going to start riding taxis to and from the metro station, even though it will be really expensive. My house is a typical Chinese house, white walls, white tile floors, a bed made of two things that resembles a wide coffee that I then place a first layer blanket over followed by my sleeping bag and then consecutive layers to make it softer and warmer. The bathroom is a bleak looking room with nothing more than a squat toilet and two cold water pipes with hose fossetts attached to them. Not exactly luxury but they are functional to a degree. The living room is also my dinning room and part closet, here I have another bed that is converted to a couch, table and shelf. This is also where I keep the cooking supplies, food and clothes that are still a little wet from washing them, or my towels after taking a shower. There is a large metal ceiling fan that really doesn't do much to direct the air or smoke from cooking out of the house but it is good for cooling the room down. I have one window and it has bars on it so it feels a little like a prison cell. However this is where I call home, and thus far it has been a good home to me. I am Chububobcat and this has been my random thought... well actually this has been my life. I hope you enjoyed reading, please leave a comment if you visit. Google has been telling me there are people reading or at least landing on the page so if you happen to stick around to this part please say Hi. Have a good weekend.