A scene from the Movie “Jack?”

This week is off to a great start. Yesterday, I started my first day of classes. I am in the beginner class, with three other students - all from Korea. Yesterday it was just me and a 10 year old girl - she is a bit hyper, but very cute. She likes to draw and one of the exercises was to identify the items from an office room sketch in our text book. She and I went ahead and copied it on the blackboard - almost perfectly - although her half was a little bit better than mine. The teacher then just pointed to and wrote the chinese word for the corresponding items; chair, desk, fax machine, cell phone, etc. It was good fun.

I am happy to have most of the major things settled - I still need to get hotwater and internet in my apartment, but other than that I am good to go. I am feeling pretty excited that I will be calling this home. Tomorrow the owner comes over to figure out what’s up with the hotwater, and then I will then order internet.

I went and got my own gym membership yesterday, and have worked out the past two days. I am really excited about this summer and look forward to making some positive things happen.

On the practical tip; Last Friday I went to the police station to register. In Qingdao (and the rest of China for that matter) you must register with the police any time you change residences. This is generally done by the hotel you are staying at, but make sure that you remember to do this if you are going to be living here. It is not a big deal, and there is usually someone there that speaks English, but if you dont do it, you can get a fine up to 1000RMB ($125) and you also have to then go through a bunch of red-tape on top of that.

I had a funny side story during all of this, as well. I went with a friend and while there, I noticed the police lady seemed to have a softspot for me. I didn’t know my number, so I just had her call herself with my phone, so it would show up on caller ID. About 30 minutes later, I got a call from the lady with the school that I was going to work for, and I told her I would call her back when I got where I was going. 2O Minutes later, I gave her a ring and a women answered who spoke English, but it was noisy, so I hung up. A couple minutes later I got a text “Sorry, in a meeting” - this number I didnt recognize, so I texted back “who is this?” response: “I is Policeman.” - Uh Oh! Apparently, I got the two mixed up. I was in a dilemma at that point, and didn’t know what to do - I didn’t want this (unattractive) police women taking advantage of me with her nightstick. So, I called her back, tried to explain the mix-up which only confused matters more…..so far, no latenight knock on my door (I was there to register my address, remember.)